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Mr. RANDOLPH. Did you have any knowledge of the inspection made by the Bureau of Mines of the State of West Virginia? Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Did the Bureau of Mines regularly look into this matter as they would look into any mining operations in the State of West Virginia?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANDOLPH. And the contracting firm of Rinehart & Dennis was informed of these bad conditions in the tunnel, you say, throughout?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes; that was placed in evidence in the trial of some of these cases.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Have you any knowledge of the foremen being forewarned that the mine inspectors were about to visit the tunnel for the purpose of making an inspection?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. What was the practice by the contractor when the mine inspectors were coming to the job?

Mr. PEYTON. The evidence placed before the court at the time of these trials showed that somebody would be kept watching in the tunnel to see when the inspectors came in. When the inspectors would come in the one or ones who were watching would inform the foremen and then the process of operation would be changed temporarily while the inspectors were in the mines. For instance, if the men were doing dry drilling at the time the inspectors came, they would stop gradually and go to wet drilling, and also they would get the gasoline motors out of the heading.

Mr. GRISWOLD. You say that this was introduced in evidence in court? Have you knowledge of these warnings?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes.

Mr. GRISWOLD. Tell the committee about your personal knowledge of them.

Mr. PEYTON. I have been in there several times when the inspectors came into the tunnel, and I have seen the men stop the dry drilling while the inspectors were there. The contractor was warned to keep these gasoline motors out of the heading. The Bureau of Mines did not tell the contractor to keep the gasoline motors out of the tunnel entirely, but it told the contractor to keep the gasoline motors away from the head; but when the inspectors were not about they used these gasoline motors up at the head.

Mr. GRISWOLD. You yourself have seen that?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes; I have.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Did you or anybody else report that violation of mining laws to the Bureau of Mines?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes; they received letters about using these motors in the place where they should not use them.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Do you yourself feel that the Bureau of Mines of the State of West Virginia was negligent also?

Mr. PEYTON. I do.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Who was chief of the bureau of mines for the State of West Virginia at that time?

Mr. PEYTON. His name was Lambie.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Did he himself come upon the job?

Mr. PEYTON. He did.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Did you ever talk to him?

Mr. PEYTON. No: I did not.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Did you know anybody who talked to him?
Mr. PEYTON. He talked to the foremen.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Did the foremen tell you what the conversation was?

Mr. PEYTON. No; they never did.

Mr. RANDOLPH. You say that Rinehart & Dennis, the tunnel contractors, and the State of West Virginia, through this bureau of mines, were negligent?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. When you say that the engineering staff of the New Kanawha Power Co. used respiratories, how many men used those?

Mr. PEYTON. About 20 men.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. And the men who worked for Rinehart & Dennis, the tunnel contractors, did not use respiratories?

Mr. PEYTON. They did not.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. About how many men were involved throughout the period of the tunnel construction? How many worked for Rinehart & Dennis, the tunnel contractors?

Mr. PEYTON. I would say 1,000 men in each shift, at all four headings.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. So that 2,000 men were not using respirators? Mr. PEYTON. They were not.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Why did you people use respirators?

Mr. PEYTON. Because our company provided them for us for our safety. The company told us to use them.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Who, personally, provided them?

Mr. PEYTON. Mr. R. E. Buckley, field chief of the New Kanawha Power Co.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. That was just for the engineering staff?
Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANDOLPH. You have told us that you have silicosis.

Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Therefore, you feel that the respirator was not of much value?

Mr. PEYTON. We were there 7 or 8 months before we had the respiratories.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. For 7 or 8 months even some of your men did not have these respirators?

Mr. PEYTON. That is right.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Your company, the New Kanawha Power Co., discovered the bad condition and tried to correct it. It was honest in trying to correct the evil. That much should be said for your company.

Mr. PEYTON. Yes.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. But the firm of Rinehart & Dennis, the tunnel contractors, did not try to correct this evil even after your company, the New Kanawha Power Co., learned just what was the trouble? Mr. PEYTON. That is right.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. The firm of Rinehart & Dennis Co., the tunnel contractors, kept on with their dry drilling after you folks began to use respirators?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes; that is true.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. And the tunnel contractors, Rinehart & Dennis, kept on using gasoline motors?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. The tunnel contractors, Rinehart & Dennis, did not change their methods of work?

Mr. PEYTON. It did not.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Even though your company found it necessary to have you use respirators after 7 months' work?

Mr. PEYTON. That is right.

Mr. RANDOLPH. How many men do you believe died in the construction of this tunnel as the result of silicosis?

Mr. PEYTON. I could not say; but I know quite a few white men died as a result of it.

Mr. RANDOLPH. How many have you actual knowledge of, approximately? The reason I am asking that is you live right in that vicinity?

Mr. PEYTON. I do.

Mr. RANDOLPH. That is why I am asking you for your personal observation.

Mr. PEYTON. I have actual knowledge of 15.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Those were 15 men with whom you were acquainted?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Do you know whether there were other men who died and with whom you were not acquainted?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. That has reference to white men?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Have you any knowledge as to the number of colored men who died as the result of this tunnel operation?

Mr. PEYTON. I would say that between 300 and 1,400 died as a result of that.

Mr. RANDOLPH. White men, do you mean?

Mr. PEYTON. I mean white and colored, all told.

Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Can you substantiate the statements of preceding witnesses that if the company had used wet drills in its operation that dust could have been eliminated?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes.

Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Can you substantiate the statement that you were unable to see 10 feet in front of you, although there were lights in the tunnel?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes; it was very difficult for us to see more than 10 feet when the drilling was going on in the tunnel.

Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. It has been testified here by Miss Allen that she was informed that many men working in that tunnel operation were driven back into the tunnel under most dangerous conditions. Do you also make that statement?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir; I do.

Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Tell us something about it.

Mr. PEYTON. Several times after the blasts had been shot off in the tunnel, just a few minutes after that, the foreman would start the colored men back into the tunnel. They would say, "Come on, old Negroes, lets us get back; let us get out of here." It seemed that the contractors were trying to drive ahead and get through the quickest and cheapest way they could, regardless of human welfare.

Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Did you say that the foremen employed by the tunnel contractor would drive the colored men right into the tunnel whether they wanted to go or not?

Mr. PEYTON. Yes, sir; in the face of the results of those blasts. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Do you remember whether there was any force used?

Mr. PEYTON. In connection with that I can tell you only what I have heard. The only intimidation they used was to speak to them in a commanding way. I have heard quite a few times that they used pick handles or drill steel and knocked them in the head with it.

Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. There has been a statement made before this subcommittee that shortly after some of these colored people died, probably within an hour, they were buried. Do you know whether or not that is a fact?

Mr. PEYTON. I do not know anything about that.

Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Is it a fact that 10 or 15 of these workers were compelled to sleep in a small shack 10 by 12 feet? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; that is true.

Mr. GRISWOLD. The company charged shack rent for these quarters that were provided for the workers, did it not?

Mr. PEYTON. It did.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Will you please describe those living quarters? Mr. PEYTON. The shacks in which the workers lived were about 12 by 15. I do not know how many workers lived in each shack, but there were quite a few of them. At the end of each shift, the company would give the colored men, and they may have given some of the white men, or all of them, a check for $3 for working 12 hours. They would give them a check for $3 at the end of each shift, and then charge each worker 10 percent for cashing the check. Mr. DUNN of Pennsylvania. Who did that?

Mr. PEYTON. Rinehart & Dennis, the tunnel contractors.

Mr. RANDOLPH. Where does the firm of Rinehart & Dennis come from?

Mr. PEYTON. They belong at Charlottesville.

Mr. RANDOLPH. In what State?

Mr. PEYTON. Virginia.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Besides charging the workers 10 percent for cashing the checks, they also charged the workers for shack rent? Mr. PEYTON. They charged them shack rent, doctors' fees, hospital fees, and I think they charged some of them for electricity. Mr. MARCANTONIO. Was there any electricity cut in at these shacks? Mr. PEYTON. It was cut in at some of them, and it was not cut in at some of them.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. The meters governing this electric current were not in the shacks, were they?

Mr. PEYTON. They were not.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. A statement has been made by Rinehart & Dennis, the tunnel contractors, that there is a silicosis racket on, that the best equipment obtainable, the best modern equipment available, and the most efficient equipment available, was used on this tunnel job. You, Mr. Peyton, are an engineer. What is your opinion with reference to the efficiency and excellence of the equipment used on that job?

Mr. PEYTON. I think they had very poor equipment, indeed.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Please give us a detailed statement as to why, in your opinion, that equipment was poor and inadequate.

Mr. PEYTON. In the first place, their ventilation system was very poor, indeed.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. In what respect was it very poor.

Mr. PEYTON. It was too small to take care of the number of men that worked in that tunnel. They had about an 18-inch fan and a vent tube that was about 3 feet in diameter. It was about 3 feet in circumference.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Had you seen other similar work performed prior to this tunnel construction?

Mr. PEYTON. Not tunnel work.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Had you seen such mine work performed? Mr. PEYTON. Yes; I had.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Compare the kind of vent tubes used in the mine work with which you were familiar with the vent tubes used in this particular tunnel work.

Mr. PEYTON. In mine work they have a large fan. They drive an air current about the same size as the mine, and the air goes all through the place and makes it habitable. There is no such provision in a tunnel operation. There is no favorable comparison between the two systems.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Is the diameter of the fan about the diameter of the heading?

Mr. PEYTON. No, sir.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. It is not?

Mr. PEYTON. It is not.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. How would you compare the diameter of the fan with the diameter of the heading?

Mr. PEYTON. The diameter of the fan was very small.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. What else have you to say with regard to the equipment in question?

Mr. PEYTON. This vent tube used in there all the way through the tunnel was full of holes where rocks had fallen down.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Was that not repaired?

Mr. PEYTON. It was not; and, naturally, this air would come out of these holes in this vent tube and it would not get to the men at the heading.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. So that you, as an engineer, tell this committee that the air would not reach the place where the men were working?

Mr. PEYTON. The air did not reach the place the men were working, because it came out the holes where rocks had torn into the vent tube all the way through.

Mr. MARCANTONIO. Referring to the matter of drilling, did you observe what kind of drilling was being done?

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