Evening star., 1922-11-24
MINE FIRM T0F|GHT
REMOVAL OF BOYS
Seizure of ID Said to Be
Feeble Minded Brings
Threat From Operators.
CASE MAY GO TO COURT
Bentz Brothers Deny Charges of
Ohio Welfare Workers-say Men
Are Sane and Highly Paid.

bF the Associated Press
PITTSBURGH, November 24.-The
removal of fourteen boys" from the
Bentz stripping mine camp. near Tur-
tie creek, by Pennsylvania state
troopers and Ohio welfare workers
early yesterday is not a closed Incl
dent, but will be taken into the
courts. it was announced today at the
Offices of the company.
officers of Bentz Bros. were in con-
terence with their counsel today. and
later will go to Columbus with a
view to entering the courts of Ohio
some OF thS boys who were re-
moved from q box car bunkhouse and
tahcn INTO Ohio never were inmates
OF the institution for the feeble mind
ca: according to the Bentz brothers.
serSt. Crops, who commanded the
detail of police sent from the Green's
burg barracks. with II. H. Hauk and
}. donovan. the Ohio agents, said, in
statement to the Associated Press,
oilcial declarations of the Ohio agents
that the raid was a consequence of
that the young miners were wards
: OF ONO. and We're working for low
wages under terrible conditions"
: ScfSt. trepS said he made personal
! inspection VITO days before the raid
I and confirmed the charges.
Bentz Issues Denial.
| Frank J. Bentz. general manager of
Eentz Brothers. Il contracting firm of
I 'olumbuS, vigorously denied the
charges He authorized this state
ment:
The men who were taken away
pE lhe state police this morning have
bccn IN our employ for various peri
! p1S. Ihey have come to us from time
/ 70 time voluntarily. One of them,
Raymond baltimore of Dayton, Ohio,
mas worked for us for about seven
years and most of the others worked
with us less than seven or eight
months. They range in age from
twenty to thirty-tive years.
month or SO ago, a MIR. Donovan
and Mr.. Hauk, who said they We're
from Ohio. came here with a con-
stable from Turtle Creek and told me
we had six men here who were in
mates Of the institution for the
ittble- minded at Orient and that they
wanted them
Il called the men over and they all
denied ii. L refused to let them GO.
Examined by Doctors.
Squire Frank Riddle of Turtle
Creek advised me to make myself
doubly safe. and 1 had the men ex-
gave me an affidavit. properly attest
ed before Squire Riddle that William
stokes, Clarence Smith, Clarence
jackson, Ernest McLoud Van Emer-
son and Carl Cox were mentally and
physically able to perform the duties
to which they We're assigned.
About o'clock this morning a
squad of state police came here and
took fourteen men away. l tried to
reason with the sergeant and asked
him if we would be able to institute
habeas corpus proceedings to get the
men out. He said he was going to
take them to GreenSburg, and We
would have two days for these pro-
ceedingS.
Il drove to Greensburg. where I got
in touch with Robert Smith, a lawyer,
and laid the case before him. We
drove to the state police barracks and
were told that our men had not been
brought there. They refused to tell
us where they We're.
One Received $2:5 Month.
"A!l ur men here live in good quar-
ters. One of the men who was taken
away was steam shovel engineer. to
whom We paid 1925 a month. Four
of the men We're steam shovel fire.
men. getting S144 month. One was
a tractor operator at 60 cents an
hour, and two were driving trucks at
the same rate. The others were Ia
borers at so cents an hour"