Show AWFUL CALAMITY the lives of ninety nine men were snuffed out in an instant when thomas roberts fire boss in the pioneer coal mine of the kemmerer wyo coal company on the instant struck a match to light his safety lamp the explosion is said to have shook the country about the mine like an earthquake and it was counted a miracle that all of the men in the mine were no not killed it is said there were between and men in the workings vor kings when the catastrophe occurred so that approximately two thirds of the working force lost their ilves and this happened in one of the mines of a company compan y that is rated as among the best managed in western coal fields and by a man who has the reputation of being constantly on the alert to see that every precaution is taken to protect the lives and health and well being of every employee in a moment of apparent thoughtlessness the one man of all trusted men employed in the mine the fire boss lights a match maich and every ever thought of and provision for safety goes for naught there is no such thing as making provision for the prevention of accidents such as this we can do everything that human ingenuity mechanics and science can suggest and then of a sudden we learn that to err is hun human lan and that the human factor is ever present and unaccountable the the shadow of this awful and unpreventable disaster will pass on and tie busy world will forget until something else happens of chent importance to shock our nerves and cause us to ino momentarily m tn slow down in our headlong rush through life and then we shall be off again no matter what we do no matte rhoy we strive to avoid the final reckoning in the midst of life we were re in death |