MAY NOT BE LIABLE
POSSIBILITY THAT UNION PACIFIC COAL COMPANY WILL ESCAPE
HAVING TO PAY THE DEATH LOSS.
Laramie Republican (No 210 April 16, 1908, page 3)
PAGE AND RESEARCH PROVIDED BY LYNNE KUDERKO
HANNA BASIN MUSEUM VOLUNTEER
Intimation That Men Who Entered Hanna Mine to Rescue Entombed Comrades, and Were Themselves Made Victims of Second Explosion, Did So at Their Own Risk—Sad Story of Pretty English Maiden.
Hanna, the little wind-swept camp on the Wyoming plains, is itself again. The cry for bread from the parched throats of forty-two widows and 118 orphans has been answered, and all Wyoming, as well as her sister states, have poured of their fullness into the desolate community, writes Elizabeth Kelly in the Denver Post. The doors of the “company” store are swung wide open and there is food and there is clothing for the present; but what of the future?
Company Disclaims Liability.
There is a vague rumor afloat in Wyoming which has not penetrated Hanna just yet, for which fact due gratitude should be expressed, that the company operating the mines at Hanna, in which fifty-nine men went to their death on March 28, will not assume liability for the death of any of the forty-one men who went in the relief expedition. Definite plans to oppose any measure to force payment are quietly being made, the railroad contending that under the employers' liability law they are responsible for the first disaster which snuffed out the lives of eighteen miners, but those of the band which followed David Elias into the treacherous depths did so of their own volition and not under instructions from the company. A fine point, however, will be made in case the widows undertake to fight for their claims, in that it is held that if the lamps were given the members of the relief expedition by officers of the mine the company is technically responsible.
No Free Transportation.
Then another feature of the settlement which will be a sore blow to the widows and orphans when the truth is made known is that there is not likely to be any railroad transportation for those who want to go far from the scene of the disaster. After the explosion in June, 1903, the company furnished transportation even to Finland and other points across the water for those who had come far from home to the mining district. In addition to this, $500 was given to each widow and $50 to each child rendered fatherless by the catastrophe.
Hepburn Law Rules.
But this year it is different. The Hepburn law is in effect and there are no passes. The widows and orphans must stay near the scene of their misery unless the generous-hearted public sends funds to defray the expense of travel. But Hanna does not know all that today. Hanna still lives and hopes and waits. Hanna is waiting until the bodies of the lost miners are extracted in order that decent burial may be given the dead men. Perhaps the saddest heart in all Hanna pulsates in the breast of Edith Birchall, a little English girl, whose father, brother and two uncles, for whom she kept house, were killed with the relief expedition. She is just 18 and the second oldest of nine children. Seven of them are with the mother in Liverpool, England. Two years ago Edith Birchall came with her father and brother to this country [George Birchall and Andrew Birchall]. They were to work in the mines.
Easier for Them.
"It was easier work for them," said the girl yesterday in telling how she had come to make her home in Hanna. "At home the men folks had to work on their hands and knees all day because the English mines have only 'low coal' in them. But up here the veins were four times as thick and they could stand all day. So my father and my brother wrote home after we had been here awhile and told my two uncles about it. My uncles, John and Andrew Hoy, came last October, the very last day, and I kept house for all of them. The men have only been working three days a week this year because there wasn't much to do. One of my uncles had never been able to give me a cent for board because he was paying the railroad back for his transportation. He would have had it all paid up next payday and then I was going to get my money. It took all he had to send home. He has a wife and seven children in England. The oldest is in a blind school in Liverpool. My other uncle was married three days before he came to America.
All Went to Death.
"My men folks, four of them, all went to the mine when the explosion came and got to work. I stayed home and cooked supper. I waited until 1 o’clock the next morning for them to come and then learned that they had been killed. My brother sent a cablegram to England as soon as the first explosion was over to tell my mother he was safe, but I had to send another Sunday telling her they were all dead. I don’t know what I will do. I want to stay in America if I can, for in England I did housework all day long, and the washing, too, and only made what in United States money would be 75 cents a week. I could make $1.25 now with my experience. I would like to stay and keep boarders when the new miners come in, if my mother will let me.” Edith Birchall has the sympathy of every woman in Hanna. She has had a hard life for a young girl, with four men to cook for, and now she has only the little baby, an orphan whom she was raising, to keep her company. Her house on the hill is as neat as one could wish and attractively arranged.
Mother of Seven
Mrs. Robert Warburton, the mother of seven children, only one of whom is old enough to help earn the living, is another pitiable case. Her oldest child is just 15 and is engaged in driving a refuse wagon. Five women in Hanna rendered widows by the Hanna disaster of two weeks ago, lost their first husbands in the explosion in 1903. One of these women is Mrs. William Johnson, a colored woman, who has no children and who will leave Hanna immediately. Mrs. Gus Raimey is another who has twice been made a widow by the Hanna mine. She has two children. Mrs. Robert Herrin, whose husband went down with the first miners, has four children, the oldest of whom is 7. Mrs. Jack Rimmer has four babies, the oldest 5 years of age; and Mrs. Thomas Flint has five, the oldest of whom is 7. Mrs. Frank Collins' husband, who distinguished himself in the rescue work following the disaster of five years ago, was killed in the recent explosion, where again he was working to save others. He left two small children.
Begged Him to Wait.
Matt Huhtala, a Finn, left a wife and six children. His friends begged him not to go into the mine because he was not a young man, but he was determined. They even threw him from the wagon while driving to the entrance to the mine, but he ran quickly and, finding a lamp, made his way into the shaft. He was blown through the mouth of the mine and across the dump. Mrs. Alfred Dodds is left with a family of four small children, the oldest being 6. Practically all of these women expect to leave Hanna if transportation can be arranged.
Legislature May Act.
Governor B. B. Brooks of Wyoming has written David Thomas, prosecuting attorney at Evanston, that he would like to see the legislature do something for the family of David Elias, the mine inspector who led the relief expedition into the mine. Mr. Thomas and Mr. Elias were boyhood friends. The mine inspector left five children. The governor in his letter says that the last report of Elias will have a place by itself in Wyoming's history as being a masterpiece. He comments upon the care with which it was prepared. If the company eliminates from its settlement the widows and orphans of the relief expedition, there are only eighteen men whose families will receive help from the company.
**
[Note: Edith Birchall remained in Hanna and later that year married Carl Erickson, the father of the baby she was caring for. Together, they raised his daughter, Margaret, and their three children.]
Company Disclaims Liability.
There is a vague rumor afloat in Wyoming which has not penetrated Hanna just yet, for which fact due gratitude should be expressed, that the company operating the mines at Hanna, in which fifty-nine men went to their death on March 28, will not assume liability for the death of any of the forty-one men who went in the relief expedition. Definite plans to oppose any measure to force payment are quietly being made, the railroad contending that under the employers' liability law they are responsible for the first disaster which snuffed out the lives of eighteen miners, but those of the band which followed David Elias into the treacherous depths did so of their own volition and not under instructions from the company. A fine point, however, will be made in case the widows undertake to fight for their claims, in that it is held that if the lamps were given the members of the relief expedition by officers of the mine the company is technically responsible.
No Free Transportation.
Then another feature of the settlement which will be a sore blow to the widows and orphans when the truth is made known is that there is not likely to be any railroad transportation for those who want to go far from the scene of the disaster. After the explosion in June, 1903, the company furnished transportation even to Finland and other points across the water for those who had come far from home to the mining district. In addition to this, $500 was given to each widow and $50 to each child rendered fatherless by the catastrophe.
Hepburn Law Rules.
But this year it is different. The Hepburn law is in effect and there are no passes. The widows and orphans must stay near the scene of their misery unless the generous-hearted public sends funds to defray the expense of travel. But Hanna does not know all that today. Hanna still lives and hopes and waits. Hanna is waiting until the bodies of the lost miners are extracted in order that decent burial may be given the dead men. Perhaps the saddest heart in all Hanna pulsates in the breast of Edith Birchall, a little English girl, whose father, brother and two uncles, for whom she kept house, were killed with the relief expedition. She is just 18 and the second oldest of nine children. Seven of them are with the mother in Liverpool, England. Two years ago Edith Birchall came with her father and brother to this country [George Birchall and Andrew Birchall]. They were to work in the mines.
Easier for Them.
"It was easier work for them," said the girl yesterday in telling how she had come to make her home in Hanna. "At home the men folks had to work on their hands and knees all day because the English mines have only 'low coal' in them. But up here the veins were four times as thick and they could stand all day. So my father and my brother wrote home after we had been here awhile and told my two uncles about it. My uncles, John and Andrew Hoy, came last October, the very last day, and I kept house for all of them. The men have only been working three days a week this year because there wasn't much to do. One of my uncles had never been able to give me a cent for board because he was paying the railroad back for his transportation. He would have had it all paid up next payday and then I was going to get my money. It took all he had to send home. He has a wife and seven children in England. The oldest is in a blind school in Liverpool. My other uncle was married three days before he came to America.
All Went to Death.
"My men folks, four of them, all went to the mine when the explosion came and got to work. I stayed home and cooked supper. I waited until 1 o’clock the next morning for them to come and then learned that they had been killed. My brother sent a cablegram to England as soon as the first explosion was over to tell my mother he was safe, but I had to send another Sunday telling her they were all dead. I don’t know what I will do. I want to stay in America if I can, for in England I did housework all day long, and the washing, too, and only made what in United States money would be 75 cents a week. I could make $1.25 now with my experience. I would like to stay and keep boarders when the new miners come in, if my mother will let me.” Edith Birchall has the sympathy of every woman in Hanna. She has had a hard life for a young girl, with four men to cook for, and now she has only the little baby, an orphan whom she was raising, to keep her company. Her house on the hill is as neat as one could wish and attractively arranged.
Mother of Seven
Mrs. Robert Warburton, the mother of seven children, only one of whom is old enough to help earn the living, is another pitiable case. Her oldest child is just 15 and is engaged in driving a refuse wagon. Five women in Hanna rendered widows by the Hanna disaster of two weeks ago, lost their first husbands in the explosion in 1903. One of these women is Mrs. William Johnson, a colored woman, who has no children and who will leave Hanna immediately. Mrs. Gus Raimey is another who has twice been made a widow by the Hanna mine. She has two children. Mrs. Robert Herrin, whose husband went down with the first miners, has four children, the oldest of whom is 7. Mrs. Jack Rimmer has four babies, the oldest 5 years of age; and Mrs. Thomas Flint has five, the oldest of whom is 7. Mrs. Frank Collins' husband, who distinguished himself in the rescue work following the disaster of five years ago, was killed in the recent explosion, where again he was working to save others. He left two small children.
Begged Him to Wait.
Matt Huhtala, a Finn, left a wife and six children. His friends begged him not to go into the mine because he was not a young man, but he was determined. They even threw him from the wagon while driving to the entrance to the mine, but he ran quickly and, finding a lamp, made his way into the shaft. He was blown through the mouth of the mine and across the dump. Mrs. Alfred Dodds is left with a family of four small children, the oldest being 6. Practically all of these women expect to leave Hanna if transportation can be arranged.
Legislature May Act.
Governor B. B. Brooks of Wyoming has written David Thomas, prosecuting attorney at Evanston, that he would like to see the legislature do something for the family of David Elias, the mine inspector who led the relief expedition into the mine. Mr. Thomas and Mr. Elias were boyhood friends. The mine inspector left five children. The governor in his letter says that the last report of Elias will have a place by itself in Wyoming's history as being a masterpiece. He comments upon the care with which it was prepared. If the company eliminates from its settlement the widows and orphans of the relief expedition, there are only eighteen men whose families will receive help from the company.
**
[Note: Edith Birchall remained in Hanna and later that year married Carl Erickson, the father of the baby she was caring for. Together, they raised his daughter, Margaret, and their three children.]