Year To Temper Justice With Mercy And Abolish Death Penalty Is Upon Us

After Syracuse Debacle, Weakened Penguins Struggle To Move Past Losing Streak

BY ROBERT HOWELLS
 Tuesday, January 04, 2000 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 6 





Remember when?... Accidents in the mines &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; By Robert Howells &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Living in the patch, I recall just once when I saw the ambulance pull up to
the mine shaft to pick up mine accident victims. (There were other times but I
was in school.) The Susquehanna ambulance was painted black and was called the
"Black Maria." I remember the women and children in the patch gathering in the
front yard waiting for information. The usual questions. were asked: "Who was
it?", "How many involved?", "How did it happen?" Later, someone would come to
give the information. This time it was not someone from the patch. The results
of serious mine accidents could be seen in the community. There were men with
one or two legs or arms missing. Men with one eye. Men with blue scars on
their faces and arms indicating cuts that occurred while they were working.
Probably, the most common characteristic was not the result of accidents but
from breathing the dust. It was the terrible cough that the men had who
suffered from anthra-silicosis or black lung. People often said they were
"coughing their lungs out." On Saturday nights, when the stores were open and
the streets were filled with people, you would see one or two men who had lost
their legs, sitting on the sidewalk with a cap in their lap, begging.
Remember, this was before social security was enacted and the men had little
or no income. Almost all families had friends or relatives who were injured in
the mines. My neighbor had been burned in a gas explosion and was left with
terrible scars on his face and arms. His nose and ears were almost burned off.
His hair was missing from his face and his lips were two or three times their
normal size. And yet, he still went back to the mines to work. I had a twenty
year old cousin who was killed in an explosion and an uncle who was injured
while workng on Good Friday. He never worked on Good Friday after that. My
father, who worked in the mines all of his life, had only one eye and was more
accident prone than the average miner. He was injured six times but I remember
only the last two. They were laying track inside the mine and carrying the
track by hand. One man missed the cue to set it down and dropped it. It
crushed my father's thumb and he was unable to use it much after that. Another
time, he was coupling cars in the mine when the motorman started before the
signal and the cars came together crushing his arm. He was never able to flex
it completely after that. Finally, (this happened before I was born) there was
a fall of rock in my father's section. When the rescuers found him, he was
sitting on the floor of the mine with a rock across his legs and another rock
on his back bending him over the first rock. After extricating him, they took
him to the hospital in the ambulance. (Ironically, my mother saw the ambulance
pass the house but never realized that it contained her husband.) Later that
evening, his buddy brought his glasses and dinner pail to the house and told
her that "Dai" was in the hospital. Going across the street to get his mother
and sister, the three ladies went to the hospital where they found him
lying-on a bed, unwashed and still in his mining clothes. The nurse told them
that he wasn't expected to live. (Evidently, they were waiting for the
undertaker to clean him up.) My mother then went to summon our family doctor
who came to the hospital and instructed the nurses to wash him. He told them
that "Dai" was going to live. He had two broken pelvis bones. Well, my father
didn't die and after many months of hospitalization and recuperation, (you
guessed it) he went back to work in the mines. This experience was not unique
but was typical of many, many mining families during the early 20's The men
always returned to the mines because it was the only thing they knew and
mining seemed to "be in their blood." In a sense, they were slaves to the
industry. I'm sorry if this message seemed a little personal, but I thought
some on the list might be interested. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Remember When?... Accidents In The Mines Living