St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 2

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1947 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SCAN LAN SAYS MEDILL PRAISED AIDS FOR GOOD JOB' ON LUG PAGE 2A 'Have to Take That Chance' Dying Miners' Notes Tel! of Love Placards Supporting Mine Inspector DECLARES CHIEF SAID Ht WOULD And Concern for Their Families u.li.i in i Miii i i in iLjMir.iiiin i i wmHiuwimmm r- im-t I-. I Or Hhr rv. Group Trapped Deep in Centralia Pit Wrote: 'Dear Wife, Goodbye' 'Be Good Boys' 'Get the Baby Baptized.

2 sr $Qst i t-V 1 smiifr Ht staff Ptif-rp-rhT. Mine rescue workers at Centralia, 111., wearing signs on their backs reading '100 for Scanlan" (Driscoll Scanlan, state mine inspector). The signs appeared Saturday after a controversy between rescue workers and Robert M. Medill, director of the Illinois State Department of Mines and Minerals, who wanted power turned on in the mine "to speed the work." The tescuers objected and Scanlan upheld them. After a test of conditions, the power remained off.

A nuiniii inn 1 have been an error, and should have been "6:30 p.m." The texts of other messages, given out today without the identities of the writers, were: "To my wife: It looks like ihe end for me. love you, honey, more than life itself. If don't make itx please do the best you can and always remember and love honey. You are the sweetest wife in the world. Goodbye, honey ind Dickey." "Goodbye (name) and (name): God bless you and two boys, your father and (name) Please do as your father has told you and listen to mom." (Addressed to two ooys) "Be good boys.

Please your father. Lord, help me." "Dear Wife: Please take care of the children. Leave all to my wife. 'Love." "Dear Wife: Goodbye. Forgive me.

Take care of all the children. Love." "Dear Mother and Sisters and Brothers: "I am fine at 5:30 p.m. It looks better, getting some air. (Name) is in bad shape, moaning and going on. (Name), take care of Mother.

Teil (name) I forgive her. See about security insurance. We won't all get out. We found a place in the air a tittle. The smoke was bad.

God bless you all. Your loving' son. "Everyone going, all are gone but Joe Ballantini, Fred Gutzler, Ned Jackson of the Joy (refers to machine) is here. Don't know about, the others." "Dear Sweetheart and sons: It's now 6 o'clock. (name) is feeling pretty low, but honey, if I don't make it, sell the house and go live with your folks.

Your mom and dad will take care of you and the boys. Please pray for me and join the church for me. Tell dad to quit the mine and take care of mom, not like this. Well baby, and my loving boys, goodbye as I am feeling weak. Lots of Bv Pnst-Dispatch Ptrr Phtoirrplierl POFERT M.

MEDILL. director of the Illinois State of Mines and Minerals. Driscoll Scanlan, state mine inspector, told the Post-Dispatch that Medill replied to his prediction of a dust explosion at the Centralia Coal Co. Mine No. 5 and a request to close the mine by saying: "We'll just have to take that chance." if- Charles Thompson of Harrisburg is a member, inquiries are pending by committees of the United States Senate and the Illinois Legislature, and by the Washington county-grand jury.

While the mourning period proclaimed by John L. Lewis does not begin until midnight tonight, local miners' unions throughout Illinois had called for a A-ork stoppage and mourning period today, before Lewis's announcement was, made. Thus it happened that, according to an announcement made by the Illinois Coal Operators' Association at its headquarters in Chicago, about 60 per cent of the state's coal mines were idle today. The CO per cent figure is believed to be an underestimate, as the Progressive Coal Miners are observing this one day by cessation of work in respect for the dead. The mines named oy the operators as being closed today are: Peabody Coal Mine 47 at Harco; same company's three mines at Taylorville.

Consolidated Coal iixe Creek Mine at Johnson City; 1 same company, mine at Nason. Chicago, Wilmington Franklin Mine No. 2 at West Frankfort. Bell Sl Zoller Mining two mines at Zeigler. Franklin County Coai two mines.

Old Ben Coal three mines in Franklin county. Seymour Mining mine in Franklin county. Valier Coal Co. mine in Franklin county. Freeman Coal Mining 'I V.

3" I V' ti mine in Williamson county. In addition, the Chicago offic was informed, about one-half the men of the Union Colliery Mining Co. mine at Dowell near DuQuoin. were out. Also reported idle was th United States Coal Co.

Bunsen- ville mine, near Georgetown. Fred Wilkey, secretary of th operators' association, said hia check indicated that at least 12,000 UMW workers had remained away from xvork, out of 18,000 to 19,000 employed in the mines. A 99 DEAD, 543 HURT IN RIOTS IN BOMBAY AND CALCUTTA BOMBAY, March 31 (UP) Official accounts of bloody rioting between Hindus and Moslems said today that 99 persons had been killed and 543 wounded in Bombay and Calcutta, India's two biggest cities with a combined population of 3.500,000. Two more persons were killed and seven A-ounded here today, increasing the Bombay toll since the. initial flareup to 42 dead and 144 injured.

In Calcutta, where street fighting began Wednesday, the casualties stood at 57 dead and 399 wounded. A weeklong curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. was imposed on the tense areas. DIRECT WITH STUDEBAKER FACTORY CARS TRUCKS PARTS -S EH VIC 4A Vcr.

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Mo. A9 hksL CLAYTON (I tsasasmseamad GOOD ALL WEEK 71 THAT PAVORITE SALAD 'BLACK MONDAY IN MINE AREA AS TOWNS MOURN Continued From Page One. Church. There, as at the high school services, it was explained that the crowds would have been much larger but for the fact that many mourners were attending private funerals. The fund for needy families of the mine victims was $12,150 from all sources, the Mayor said.

The investigating commission named by Gov. Dwight H. Green is to meet in Centralia's City Hall at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning Fresh Air Pumped In. After the body of the last victim was taken from the mine yesterday morning, the mine was closed. Fresh air is being pumped into the shaft continuously.

The litter of AM days was swept out of the miners' t.toh houses yesterday. The Red Cross and the Salvation Army closed the canteens where they had 'dispensed food and drink since a short time after the explosion, and the big shed was closed. Baskets of work clothing hung from hooks in the rafters, but the baskets of the 111 men who died in their working garments were empty. Sleeping cars, in which rescue crews had slept between shifts, were pulled away from the siding on which they had been standing near the mine tipple. Instead of the thousands of persons about the mine during the search, there were only six ardund the tipple at 7:30 o'clock last night.

They were a miner, a hoisting engineer, a. state highway patrolman and three sight-seers. Survivor Favors Stoppage. William E. Rowekamp, recording secretary of the Centralia local of the United Mine Workers, who is one of the 31 survivors of the disaster, today spoke in approval of the order of John L.

Lewis for a week's stoppage of mining. "It is a good idea," Rowekamp said. "I hope it will call to the attention of the public the appalling conditions under 'hich coal miners must work." In addition to the inquiry to be begun tomorrow by tho Governor's investigating commission, of which Illinois Supreme Court Justice ps 706 DE MUN YOU CAN COMPLETE YOUR By a Staff Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. CENTRALIA, March 31 The tragedy and pathos of the Centralia mine horror reached a climax today, when the farewell notes, written by a group of 14 or 15 of the trapped miners to their families were made public by the mine management and delivered to the men's wives. In the extreme southwestern workings of Mine No.

5, three, and one-half miles from the shaft, the men had time and consciousness which was not granted to those overtaken nearer to the source of the poisonous fumes. They used the time in writing the farewell messages, which they knew to be such. Nearly all the notes were simple expressions of love for wife and children, and poignant evidences of anxiety for their future. The notes, found in the shirt or trousers pockets of the writers, were examined by the investigators and the mine authorities, and were delivered to the families for whom they were intended. Reconstructing the scene in the distant underground chamber Room 8 on No.

23 south, fourth west it appears that the men either heard the distant explosion at 3:27 p.m. Tuesday or were warned by the stoppage of power for the cars which carried coal and men. Some may have gone far enough outside the room to see the dust pouring down the Returning to the room most distant from the deadly onrushing cloud, the miners lay on the floor, in postures where they might breathe whatever oxygen remained free of the poisoned air. In this position, it appeared, they wrote their farewells on notebook leaves or bits of wrapping paper. In a pathetic and futile effort to gain a iittle air space against imminent asphyxiation, one man removed his helmet and scooped a little hole in the coal wall at the farther side of the chamber.

He was found with his face pressed against this hole, and his back to the others. The men in the room, ail prostrate on the floor, were in differ ent postures, on their faces, backs or sides. All seemed to have lam down while conscious, nearly all were extended at full length. Ned Jackson put his message to his family on a slab of slate, with a piece of chalk. he wrote, "take care of Elva and Dickie.

NED." Raymond Buchne, whose three children are from 3 months to 8 years old, addressed his wife by her nickname, "Chub." Three lines were written below this name, of which the first and third were illegible. The middle line was "God bless you all," and the signature was "Beanie. 4:30." Some others made records of the approximate time, and the latest of these, it is believed, was an unsigned note with the words "It is seeping In on us. 6:30 a.m." The time notation is believed to Centralia disaster, Scanlan said he wanted to praise thqse who deserved praise. "I want to praise the honest and qualified state inspectors and there are a number or such men.

I want to say that I had complete and excellent co-operation from every Federal Bureau of Mines inspector who assisted in this disaster. "Every mine rescue team which worked on this job deserves the highest praise, Including the Bell Zoller team from Zeigler. John Lyons, Bell Zoller safety engineer is a fine man who did a good job. The utmost praise goes to the Navy boys (operating under the Department of Interior), for the Army men from Scott Field, the Salvation Army, churches and the Red Cross." Gov. Green Saturday night ordered all mines in Illinois "operating in violation of safety regulations" to be closed Immediately.

Green said he had ordered Medill to "conduct a survey" to see what mines should be closed under the order. riTTo'ToB SEE rar Hi SALESMEN'S DESKS LIMITED QUANTITY 'i i IHJ I 1 gf II HOMEMADE CHILI Hot to hot not too Umf I lutt ripht. at yur ntarot F-E Shot I 1 i-i: FOOD SHOPS rtl Olive 119 N. 8th 3B6.1 0Mv ffl 012 WaatilnafnM Iflia aa fL" OGEEHIfl 'CONTACT'OWNERS OF CENTRALIA PIT, Mine Director's Interference After Disaster Delayed Rescue Efforts by 48 Hours, Inspector Charges. Continued From I'age One.

Imdie by "at leat 48 hours," he aicL Not nl did Medill's handling of the work prei'lpltatn a revolt of rescue workers, who felt their lives were endangered by the slate mine department head's orders, but Sledlll was in opposition there to Federal liu-reau of Mines inspectors, Scan lan said. Scanlan also charged there was a delay in starting a sufficient number of rescue teams to the site of the mine disaster. William Williams, mine rescue superintendent at Springfield for the Department of Mines and Minerals, telephoned Scanlan's wife an hour and a half after the explosion, Scan-Ian said, and suggested she drive to the scene "to nee if the teams really were needed." Williams later denied this. He said he "couldn't recall'' the tele phone conversation with Mrs. Scanlan.

Scanlan was bitter about the move to use mine inspectors as political campaign fund collection agents. At a meeting in Medill's office last Jan. 31, be said, Medill declared a "quota" of $25,000 had heen set "by the boys" for the Department of Mines and Minerals. Leter, last March 7, he said Medill called another meeting of mine inspectors, at Springfield. "Medill said the Chicago newspapers had been calling him about solicitations." Scanlan said.

"He added that anything this big couldn't be pulled off without publicity. "Medill told us not to worry about it. Ha said an long as the boss was satisfied, we had no worries. By 'the boss he said he meant tiov. Green." Scanlan quoted Medill as stating he had told the Chicago newspapers he "hadn't heard a thing about the campaign collections himself, but would call In his in-ppectors and ask them about it." There was a good deal of laughter among the inspectors at this, Scanlan said.

Medill also told the inspectors, Scanlan said, that he "had some newspapermen all taken care of." At the earlier meeting of inspectors, when the department "quota' was announced, Scanlan reported "Medill said he himself would take care of the major companies. Jle said he already had railed on four of these firms and that 'two have come through with SKXMi each." This account of Medill's personal activities in connection with the collection was verified by a Post-Dispatch reporter tn Chicago. "Medill said one of the firms which contributed," Scanlan continued, "was tire Peabody Coal which operate1 a group of mines in Illinois and has its headquarters in Chicago. The 1945 report on the Peabody Coal Co. Mine No.

18 at West Frankfort. 111., in the Springfield office of the Department of Mines and Minerals, shows that four men were killed there in mine accidents. During the same year, 69 men were injured in the mine. R. M.

McPhail is superintendent of the mine; H. C. Harris is local mine manager and James R. Mitchell is state inspector for the district. The Post-Dispatch revealed March 19 that Louis F.

L.umaghi Jr. of St. Louis, who operates a mine near Collinsville, had been solicited for political funds by an Illinois mine inspector. It. It.

Schi-bcr. Lumaghi refused to contribute, wi iting Medill a sharp protest. The St. Louis coal operator pointed out in a letter to Medill that "the state mine inspectors in Illinois are entrusted with the duty of enforcing the mining laws to protect the lives of the men who work in the mines. Under these circumstances we do not consider it proper for them to solicit contributions from companies whose mines they inspect.

Inspectors Got Small Firms-While Medill made political fund collections from the large mine owners, Scanlan said the inspectors were to solicit the small, independent companies "My first reaction," he said "was to quit- However, I happened to know that Gov. Green was out of the state and it was possible he might not know what was going on, so I figured on staying to see what happened." Later, however, Medill reported to the inspectors that he had discussed the matter with Mark Saunders, one of Gov. Green's aids. It was then, Scanlan said, that Medill reported thai Gov. Green was satisfied.

"I want to tell you boys you are doing a good job," Kcanlan quoted Medill as telling the inspectors. "The money Is rolling In." Several of the inspectors shared Scanlan's resentment at being used as political collection agents, he said. "I told Medill that one mine at Centralia, the Marlon County Coal and Mining a co-operative mine, had had a lot of hard luck nd couldn't afford to contribute," Scanlan said. "Mediil aftked me how many men worked at the mine. I told him about 115 or 150.

He said. DURING YOUR Many Finish in 2 yrs. All Books Furnished AT AWARDED 'JJIKLW I Our Graduates Hav. i Ent.r.d Ovr SEASONABLE 500 Colleges and Univerfitltf TERMS WRIT? TODAY FOR FREE BOOKLET American School, P. O.

Boi 1164 Nam spected, and do preliminary work enabling the next shift to find 15 more bodies. For this, he said, he was called in and reprimanded by MedilL Scanlan said he wanted to talk to a Post-Dispatch reporter about Medill's record as head of the department while the rescue work was in progress. "I didn't dare, however," Scanlan said. "I was afraid he would pull me off the rescue job." Lays Delay to Medill. Scanlan declared that "if Medill and his department heads had not interfered with the rescue work we could have recovered those, bodies at.

least 48 hours sooner," He said, however, that none probably could have been saved alive, expressing the opinion that "those men died between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday." The explosion occurred just before 3:30 p.m., Tuesday. "It was a dust explosion, all right," Scanlan said. "I'm sure of that.

However we were not able to locate the source of the ignition of the dust." Scanlan, blaming the disaster it self on "politics" and public indifference, declared that rescue work further was hampered by "two representatives of Mr. Krug" (Sec retary of the Interior Krug, under whose department the mines are operating). One of these representatives, he said, was Jones whom Scanlan also had said contributed to Gov. Green's political fund. The two men from Krug's office, Scanlan said, were involved with Medill in the attempt to turn on the power machinery in the mine during rescue work.

When Scanlan objected and the rescue workers refused to go into the mine if power machinery were used tests were made of the air in the mine and an explosive mixture was found to be present, which he said might have been ignited by sparks from the machines. All of this, he said, caused a delay of three or four hours. Scanlan, 43 years old, son of a mine foreman and a man whose mine experience began at the age of 16, has been a state mine inspector since 1941. He made his statement to a Post-Dispatch reporter while resting at his modest frame cottage near the waterworks at Nashville, 111., where he lives on a salary of $3300 a year. He had taken a leading part in the rescue work at Mine'No.

5 and Is idolized by the miners there. For the first three davs sn.i nights after the disaster struck Scanlan did not take off his clothes. At a press conference today Scanlan repeated to other newspapermen some of the things he had told the Post-Dispatch reporter previously. He criticised the political setup of the whole Department of Mines and Minerals, and of the lack of civil service status for Inspectors and rescue squad members in particular. Earlier he had told the Post- Dispatch reporter this newspaper "deserves credit for having exposed political contributions of mine owners without waiting, for the disaster." He said, however, that most newspapers and radio stations had begun reporting conditions in the mines only after the Centralia disaster had occurred.

"If they had done it before," he said "this disaster probably could have been prevented." flescue Squads Are Volunteers. Scanlan pointed out that rescue squads are volunteers, not full-time employes. It is difficult to round them up in cases of emergency he said, and when they are called at a mine they are paid by the mine, not the state. He advocated that they be made full-time employes. "Some mine operators," Scanlan said, "put dollars ahead of the miners' lives- Some operators, however, do a good job and there are a lot of good superintendents, who do their best to take care of the miners." Since he was so crltlca of so many persons Involved in the WASHINGTON U.

UST ST. lOUIS. 'Good. Go out there and tell 'em to give you $1 He also said we could get $50 each from the mine managers and superintendents, in addition to the contributions by the firms. "Medill said he would contact the Hell Zeller Cos! and Mining connected with the Centralia Coal Co.

mine, although he would have preferred that I do it." In praising the collection efforts, Scanlan said Medilr announced that "John E. Jones, safety engineer for the Old Ben Coal had sent in his personal check for $50." Losing Fight for Safety. While Medill was concentrating his efforts on collecting political funds, Scanlan said he tried to enforce safety regulations. It had been a losing effort for some time, he said. March 14, 1945, he said, "I became so agitated over conditions in the Centralia Coal Co.

Mine No. 5 that I made a special trip to Belleville to see Medill, there attending a safety meeting. "His hotel room was full of mine operators when I got there, but I waited around until they left. Medill already knew how bad things were at trie Centralia mine, from my previous reports, but I wanted to tell him in person. "I told him this mine was in such a dusty and dirty condition, and insufficiently rock dusted, to keep the coal dust down, that if the coal dust was ignited an explosion would sweep from on end of the mlru to the other, and that every man in the mine would be killed." It was then that Medill told that they would have to "take that chance," Scanlan said.

"I begged him to let me shut down that mine," Scanlan said. "And later I took it upon myself, without Medill's permission, to order a partial shutdown, so the mine would operate four days a week and the other three days would be spent cleaning up. "I knew I was risking my job, but I got by with that because for some reason the company didn't complain. If the company doesn't complain they don't appoint a commission to overrule you." Scanlan said he doubted if Medill ever discovered that the Centralia Coal Co. mine had been ordered closed three days a week for three or four weeks.

Asked what Medill said when Scanlan urged him to close the Centralia mine, Scanlan said: "He said he would take it up with Mr. Young (W. P. Young, vice president of Centralia Coal president of the associated Bell Ar Zoller Mining Co.) "Mr. Young promised he would clean the mine up 'in the near but they did no clean it up." Miifcl Too Damned All the years he served under Medill, Scanlan said he was "in trouble with Medill from time to time.

He told me several times that I had a loi of ability and could go places in the coal industry, but I was 'just too damned honest'." Scanlan also said: "Medill called me to his office in Springfield March 13. 194C. I'm satisfied it was his intention to fire me. After giving me quite a lecture, he told me he wanted me to cut down the size of my reports. "He said that 'those damned hunks' at the Centralia mine wouldn't know the conditions of the mine if I (Scanlan) didn't bring them to their attention When I left he told me- I think you understand now what kind of reports I want to come in here" When rescue operations were In progress last week at the mine, Scanlan said he had started crews working on eight-hour shifts.

"'Then Medill came in and ordered shifts cut to five hours he said. "This meant that there was a lot of time lost between shifts. More time was lost because Medill and his men from Springfield kept arguing with the rescue crews about conditions in the mine. Medill didn't know anything about it. "He was lost, half the time, looking at the mine map.

But he made rescue crews come up every five hours and confer with him. "Then the Federal Bureau of Mines inspectors raised hell and Medill consented to huve the crews work six-hour shifts." Uy staying In the mine with his crew for seven hours, Scanlan said he managed to find 15 bodies, put up four, temporary walls sealing off parts of the mine already in love." "Dear Wife and Sons: Well, hon. it looks like this is the end. Please tell mom and dad I still love them. Please get the baby baptized and send (name to the Catholic school.

Well. I love you all, and please take care of them and raise them good Christians. I love them. Love to all of you. "Dear Wife: God bless you and your baby." A notice on the rocit tace aoove the bodies directed the searchers to "look in everybody's pockets.

We all have notes. Give them to our wives." Some of the bits of paper on which the men wrote were leaves from the foreman's time book. The names of all men in the group were in the book, but it was not shown whether they had been written there before or after the explosion. The men apparently made no attempt to throw up earthen walls at the entrance of the distant room in which they were found, to keep out the seeping fumes. U.S.

STEEL SAYS MINE CLOSING MAY SHUT DOWN 8 FURNACES PITTSBURGH, March 31 (UP) The United States Steel Corp. said today it might have to bank eight blast furnaces in the six-day mining holiday ordered by John L. Lewis. Other industry spokesmen, however, predicted the stoppage would have little effect on production if all miners go back to work next week. The miners' stoppage will have little effect on the volume of coal mined, since Holy week is normally a low production period.

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