The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 30, 1915, Page 13

PAGE FOURTEEN How the Corporatlons Do It Willis J. Rutledge in Pearson’s Magazme o N explosxon ‘had occurred in. a great ‘coal. mme at : Indiana; = Eight: miners had - been kllled and” flftee - ‘jured.- The: explosxon was. ‘due to. dust and .was solely 1 e ‘ tEa.ult of the mining company,: whlch had taken no steps to .~ ‘such accxdents or protect the mmers from them = ‘As i 1s usual in such cases the company made every effort — THE NONPARTISAN LEADER _Th ‘_deputy rose, spluttering. « o Reynolds,” he cried, . i I protest 4gainst these insinuations.” : : The manner of Reynolds throughout had been calm, ; evade its responsibility. It brought down. ‘from Chicago two exi| fremely able and adroit lawyers, long skllled in such- metters, d ‘these proceeded to go about among the sumvors securmg sxgna- :tures to documents that released the company from all liabilities It ‘also prepared, likewise in customary ,way, to secure a rwhltewash for itself from any investigation. . To this end the two Chicago lawyers and others equally sklllful were much employed : Under the ‘law, the investigation ‘was held by ‘the_ coroner, the state mine inspector assisting. The attempt of the company/ .. was to establish that the explosion was accidental and unprevent- able and for some time this attempt went swimmingly -toward ‘success. The miners’ organization now brought in its attorney, Ste- phen Marion_Reynolds of Terre Haute, and one night Mr. Rey- nolds had a long and serious conference with a certain young _Finlander who was one of the survivors of the explosion. Mr. Reynolds gave the Finlander some instructions and the next day called him as a witness. The Finlander appeared on the stand to be defiant and unwilling. The following examination took place by Mr. Reynolds: : Question. “Where were you night - before last? “At the meeting of my union.” b ; Q. “What were you domg there"” A, business.” : b Q. - “Well, T guess you're rlght about that. Did you stay “until the meeting was-over?” A. “No, I was called out. e Q. “Who called you out?” A. “The pit boss of mme Q. “What did he want of you?” A. “He took me to a ho- tel”: : Answer. “That is none of your Q. “What did you do there"” A. “He took me to a private room upstairs.” ‘ Q. “Whose room ‘was 1t‘?” prietor of the hotel I guess.” the company.) Q. “Wbs was in the room?” A, bye and bye another one came in.” - , , Q. “What did they say to you?”. A. “They told me that they were part of the official investigation of the explosion and they gave.me a statement about the explosion and told me to sign it.,? Q. “Did you sign it?’? A. “No, I read it and I said it dldn’t happen like that and I wouldn’t sign it.” i By this time there was no more laughter among' the attor- neys for the company, who were looking extremely uneasy. : Q. “What happened next?” A, “They told me that I got to sign it or they wouldn’t leave me out of the room.”: Q. “And then what?” A. “Then the other gentleman came in and he told me thatl had got to sign it.” ° Q. “And did you sign it?” A. “No, I said it didn’t happen - like th’at and they couldn’t make me sign it and I got out of the room.” ’ Q. “Would you know those two nice gentlemen Aif ?ou should see them again??’ A. “Yes, T4d know them.” Q. “Do you see them anywhere now?” them, right there.” neys. There was a tense moment in the courtroom. The mmers,‘ who filled most of the benches, sat with drawn faces and were breathing hard.. The Chicago attorneys were livid with- manifest fear and half rose from their seats, : Reynolds broke:the omirious v sxlenee Beamoved with fateinl fmger outstretched stmght upon A. "‘It helonged to the pro- (Laughter among the counsel for “Two nice gentlemen and A. “Yes, that's And he pomted at the two Chlcago attor- mlttee which went straight to Govemof i‘lanley and la before him. : The governor appomted a commlttee of nine senators and nme representa.tlves to make a thorough exammatxon. e : You have mno right to oonduct thls exammatlon m any such way‘ And ; composed ? The mining companies now prepared to ’oedevxl his nvestl- i gatlon as they had the other. They produced no end: of testimony - - to show their innocence and turned up a cock- and hull story . that the explosion had been caused by a careless: ‘miner,. alleged to have opened a can of powder with-his jack-knife,,; They sent over to Illinois and got a convenient mine mspector swho'seemed to indorse their theory. Apparently everything was going their way when Reynolds walked into the. hearing and began to Tip o up the testimony with a severe cross exe:nination. Chief' counsel for the mining companies, an ex—preacher and extremely clever strategist, sprang. to hls feet thh vehement objection. “This hearing is over,” shouted the counsel no right to break in upon it now! ask that the hearing be adjourned!’ In the midst of a silence Reynolds movedv' dow front of Ralph Moss, now Congressman, then chan'ma, rof* thz house committee appointed - by thel governor, and sald 1mpres- sively: i ¢ “This investigation cannot be stopped It is not to ‘he sup- pressed ‘or hindered. You can’t stop it and—""" turximg= to the chairman of the senate comxmttee——-“You ‘can’t stop it- and. afi the powers on earth can’t stop it! If you try to choke: me ‘off now I will go through the streets crying Murder! I will ‘go to every doorstep in Indiana and shout Murder! Murder! Murder! These miners have been murdered: and your state legxslature protects the murders!” Sl “We won’t choke you off Mr Reynolds,” gasped the ished chairman of the senate committee. “Go ahead and examine : “Thls man has 1 ob;)ect tohl nestxons and as much as you please.”” The other members: of the committee nodded assent. So then Reynolds proceeded to put in- the testi- mony that showed exactly what had happened in the mine and why it had happened. The most remarkable witness was a boy who had seen the whole affair and whose courage and ‘quickness . - of ‘wit had saved many lives. His story was absolutely ‘convinc- ing and caused the utter collapse of the mining compa.mes case, The Illinois mine inspector was cross examined and fmally admxt- ted the truth and justice of Reynolds’ contention. .The Bismarck Tfibune becomes'exasperated over the fact tha.t several long-coated, clerical-looking undertakers of Chxoago charged outrageous prices for: burymg some of. .the Eastland ' | victims. One of these gouhls is reported to have charged 2 widow $284 for burymg her ‘husband. On young- man, was cherged $333 50 for hurymg is ’ the game—they phj it according is | bratfic will beat. Wh_yblame’the — The result was-that before the leglslature ‘adjourned it pass- S ed a law compellmg the mining -companies to take precautlons to prevent such explosrons, and there has niot since been one- in- an Indiana mine. T