Mr. PEYTON. I did. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Was it dry or wet drilling? Mr. PEYTON. The heading drills, drilling straight ahead, were wet. The bench drills were dry. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. How many wet drills were in use? Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. How many drills were in use? Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Would you say there were at least 16? Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. And six of the drills were wet? Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. I am asking the same question of you that I asked the other men, namely, if the company had used all wet drills would that have been a more healthful place in which to work and would the dust have been eliminated? Mr. PEYTON. Such a procedure would have eliminated certainly much of the dust. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Would you say it would have eliminated 70 percent or 75 percent? Mr. PEYTON. I would say about 70 percent. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. And the company could have properly used all wet drills? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. MARCANTONIO. When you say these men were driven there, you mean, as a matter of fact, that they were ordered there? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; that is true. Mr. MARCANTONIO. That you know of your own personal knowledge? Mr. PEYTON. I do. . Mr. MARCANTONIO. Also, you know from having been told that in some instances the colored men were driven there with pickax handles? Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir; that is true. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Was not a test made before the work was done? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Do you know that of your own personal knowledge? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. The firm of Sprague & Honeywood, of Scranton, Pa., made that test. Mr. MARCANTONIO. What, if you know, did they find? Mr. PEYTON. I suppose they found the silica rock. I worked with Sprague and Honeywood, but I was not on this particular tunnel job. Mr. MARCANTONIO. They would find silica rock if it were present? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Was it not at that time a matter of common knowledge that silica dust or digging where there is a high percentage of silica rock is very dangerous? Mr. PEYTON. I do not know. There was not around there. Nobody knew the danger around there. Mr. MARCANTONIO. But later they did realize the danger, did they not? Mr. PEYTON. They did. Mr. MARCANTONIO. And despite that they did not use masks, as I understand. Mr. PEYTON. They did not use masks. Mr. MARCANTONIO. But it was so dangerous that the engineering staff did use masks? Mr. PEYTON. They did. Mr. MARCANTONIO. But the 2,000 men employed in the tunnel work were not given any masks? Mr. PEYTON. That is true; they were not. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Of course, the tunnel contractor, Rinehart & Dennis, were in constant communication, due to the nature of the work, with the company doing the engineering work? Mr. PEYTON. That is right. Mr. MARCANTONIO. So that it would have been within the knowledge of the general contractors that there was danger; is not that correct? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; I would say it is. Mr. RANDOLPH. To your knowledge was either Rinehart or Dennis, the tunnel contractors, ever present on the job? Mr. PEYTON. No, sir; Mr. Jones and Mr. Falkner were the men. Mr. Falkner is president of the Rinehart & Dennis Co. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Was Mr. Falkner present while the work was under way? Mr. PEYTON. He was. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Did he, if you know, ever see you engineers wearing masks? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; he did. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Did he make any inquiry as to why you were using the masks? Mr. PEYTON. No; not to my knowledge. Mr. MARCANTONIO. But he did observe you engineers while you were using the masks? Mr. PEYTON. He did. Mr. MARCANTONIO. And 2,000 men were not using masks? Mr. PEYTON. They were not using masks. Mr. RANDOLPH. Referring to the quality of equipment used, was that equipment new or old? Mr. PEYTON. Most of it was old equipment? Mr. RANDOLPH. Did the Rinehart & Dennis Co. bid against other contractors for this job? Mr. PEYTON. They did. Mr. RANDOLPH. The contract was let on a competitive bid basis? Mr. PEYTON. It was. Mr. RANDOLPH. Was there a provision in the bid that the work had to be completed within a certain number of months? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; I think it had to be completed within 4 years. That was a contract specification. Mr. RANDOLPH. How long did it take the tunnel contractors to complete the job? Mr. PEYTON. It took about a year and a half to drive through the tunnel. Mr. MARCANTONIO. As a matter of fact, the job was speeded up as soon as the Federal Power Commission claimed jurisdiction, was it not? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; I believe that is true. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Dry drilling is more speedy than wet drilling, I believe you have told us. Mr. PEYTON. I am not in position to say positively, because I do not know the business of drilling. That was, however, the talk on the job. I have heard quite a few drillers say that a drill will cut much faster when it is working dry. Mr. RANDOLPH. How many engineering jobs have you been on? Mr. PEYTON. On two. I have been on the Houser Engineering Co.'s job and the Clarke & Krebbs' job. Mr. RANDOLPH. And you found a marked difference between conditions on this and the other jobs with which you were familiar, did you not? Mr. PEYTON. On these other jobs I was not engaged in tunnel work. Mr. RANDOLPH. I refer to the matter of handling men. Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. RANDOLPH. Do you mean that the men were badly handled on this particular job? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; they were handled worse than I had ever seen them handled before. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. What percentage of the employees wore masks? Mr. PEYTON. What percentage! Mr. GRISWOLD. There were about 20 men who wore masks and 2,000 men were employed. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. While you were employed on this particular tunnel job, do you remember seeing any employees being carried out after having been overcome by dust? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; I myself was carried out. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. How many times were you carried out? Mr. PEYTON. Once I was carried out, but I have seen quite a few such instances. One night I saw 28 men carried out from no. 1 on account of carbon-monoxide poisoning. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. In other words, if there had been masks, that would not have happened? Mr. PEYTON. Masks would not have prevented that; but keeping the gasoline motors away would have done so. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Would wet drilling have prevented that? Mr. PEYTON. No; that was due to the presence of gasoline motors. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. None of those men to whom you have just referred was carried out on account of the dust? Mr. PEYTON. That is right; but there have been men that fell out in the tunnel, and they had to be carried out. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. If the contractors had possessed good equipment, would the gasoline have affected the employees? Mr. PEYTON. The company should not have employed gasoline motors in there. Mr. MARCANTONIO. What should the company have employed there in place of gasoline motors? Mr. PEYTON. It should have employed battery motors. They did use some battery motors, but it seems that they could not get around fast enough and accomplish the work, get the shift finished in good time and in proper order. There were four different headings, and they had a contest on. Each foreman wanted to see whether he could get the most yardage out in a week. They would employ any means whatsoever to get out that yardage, especially in nos. 1 and 4 headings. They were the headings that did that. Mr. GRISWOLD. Was a prize offered the foreman who did the best? Mr. PEYTON. I do not know about that. Mr. GRISWOLD. How about the subsistence of the workers who lived in these shacks; did they have a company commissary? Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir. Mr. GRISWOLD. How were payments made for this food from the company commissary? Mr. PEYTON. As I have stated before, most of the payments were made by check. Mr. GRISWOLD. Did the company make deductions from the pay rolls and give the workers the remainder, or did the company give them the money and let them pay? Mr. PEYTON. They gave each worker a check for $3 at the end of each shift. It was a small card. These men had to buy something at the store and did not have the money, therefore they had to have these checks cashed, and for cashing them the company charged 10 percent. Mr. GRISWOLD. Where did they cash the checks? Mr. PEYTON. They cashed them at the commissary. Mr. GRISWOLD. If the men did not have money, would the company give them credit at the commissary? Mr. PEYTON. The company would not do that. Mr. GRISWOLD. There was no credit? Mr. PEYTON. That is right. If the men did not have money, they could not get anything. Mr. GRISWOLD. Were the workers required to buy at the commissary? Mr. PEYTON. I do not think they were. Mr. GRISWOLD. The workers could spend their money where they pleased? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; but most of them had to buy at the commissary. Apparently the company saw to it that the workers were kept in the hole so that they would have to spend their money at the commissary and cash their checks there. Mr. GRISWOLD. Was this check a regular negotiable one, negotiable any place, or was it payable at the commissary only? Mr. PEYTON. It was payable at the commissary only. Mr. GRISWOLD. Were the workers forced to cash their checks at a place where they were forced to pay 10 percent for cashing? Mr. PEYTON. They could keep these checks until the end of the week and have them cashed, and in that event I do not think they had to pay 10 percent for cashing. 53293-36--5 Mr. GRISWOLD. They could keep the checks until the end of the week and have them cashed, but they could not get credit any place while keeping the checks until the end of the week? Mr. PEYTON. That is right. Mr. GRISWOLD. Did you know a man by the name of McCloud? Mr. PEYTON. I did. Mr. GRISWOLD. What do you know about him and his manner of handling the workers? Mr. PEYTON. He was a so-called "shack rouster. 99 He would go around to these camps and when these fellows would not show up for work he would chase them out and make them go to work. I have heard it said that he would chase men out to work who were really sick. I suppose they were sick, but he would make them go to work anyway. Mr. GRISWOLD. Have you ever seen him do that? Mr. GRISWOLD. What methods did he use to do it? Mr. PEYTON. He would just proceed to run them out and make them go to work. I did not see him use a gun or anything like that. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. He would simply tell them to get out and go to work, and they would have to do so?" Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Didn't he use any force? Mr. PEYTON. NO; the men, however, were all scared to death. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. He is what you call a "shack rouster"? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. MARCANTONIO. He was a deputy sheriff, too, was he not? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. He was appointed a deputy sheriff of that county on recommendation of Rinehart & Dennis, the tunnel contractors, was he not? Mr. PEYTON. I understand he was. Mr. RANDOLPH. Were the foremen of the Rinehart & Dennis Co. brought in from outside the State or were they local men? Mr. PEYTON. The foremen? Mr. RANDOLPH. Yes. Mr. PEYTON. They were brought in from outside the State. Mr. RANDOLPH. The regular company organization functioned there. Mr. PEYTON. Most of the supervising staff were men who had been with the company for a long time or before it started that tunnel job, I would say. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Was McLoud brought in from another State? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; as I remember it, his home was in Georgia or some other Southern State. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. I say he should have died before he left Georgia. Mr. PEYTON. I myself think so. Mr. MARCANTONIO. The reason the gasoline motors were inside the tunnel was on account of the speed required, as I gather it? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. Mr. MARCANTONIO. The reason the dry drilling was used was to effect speed? Mr. PEYTON. Yes. |