N&W in 1912--Jed mine disaster

[NW Mailing List]

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Fri., March 29, 1912

BROKEN BODIES PINNED UNDER TONS OF SLATE
------
[The following N&W-related item has been excerpted from this lengthy article about the Jed mine explosion, which claimed a reported eighty lives.]

Coffins Await Trains.
    Down at the little waiting station, for there is no railroad station at Jed, a number of coffins await the arrival of trains. Nearly every passenger train which stops, and all stop there now because of  the crowds which get on and off, takes some of the bodies toward Welch, from which point they are sent out into the great beyond, where, only the men who direct the shipping and the relatives know. At Welch an extra force of men has been put on to handle the coffins which go out on every train. Trains cannot stop long, as a schedule must be maintained and these men have to hurry. As soon as a train pulls in from Jed a truck is pushed up to the baggage car door and the boxes are unloaded.  The trucks containing eastbound coffins are pushed to one side, while the trucks with bodies consigned to westbound points are placed at another convenient point, so time can be saved when the through trains pull in. No matter how many people die, train schedules must be maintained and that means hurry. In distant railroad stations people are waiting for trains and if a delay of a moment occurs complaints are made. These people are only satisfied with reading the harrowing details of an explosion. They do not want to suffer a moment's inconvenience. To them a mine explosion is but an incident of their day's work. It means but little more. How many of them will respond to the appeal for aid for the widows and orphans remains to be seen.
------
Gordon Hamilton

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20120223/4b7a945f/attachment.html>