from The Book of the Dead: Praise of the Committee

These are the lines on which a committee is formed. Almost as soon as work was begun in the tunnel men began to die among dry drills. No masks. Most of them were not from this valley. The freights brought many every day from States all up and down the Atlantic seaboard and as far inland as Kentucky, Ohio. After the work the camps were closed or burned. The ambulance was going day and night, White’s undertaking business thriving and his mother’s cornfield put to a new use. “Many of the shareholders at this meeting “were nervous about the division of the profits; “How much has the Company spent on lawsuits? “The man said $150,000. Special counsel: “I am familiar with the case. Not   :   one    :    cent. “ ‘Terms of the contract. Master liable.’ “No reply. Great corporation disowning men who made. . . .” After the lawsuits had been instituted. . . . The Committee is a true reflection of the will of the people. Every man is ill. The women are not affected, This is not a contagious disease. A medical commission, Dr. Hughes, Dr. Hayhurst examined the chest of Raymond Johnson, and Dr. Harless, a former company doctor. But he saw too many die, he has written his letter to Washington. The Committee meets regularly, wherever it can. Here are Mrs. Jones, three lost sons, husband sick, Mrs. Leek, cook for the bus cafeteria, the men: George Robinson, leader and voice, four other Negroes (three drills, one camp-boy) Blankenship, the thin friendly man, Peyton the engineer, Juanita absent, the one outsider member. Here in the noise, loud belts of the shoe-repair shop, meeting around the stove beneath the one bulb hanging. They come late in the day. Many come with them who pack the hall, wait in the thorough dark. This is a defense committee. Unfinished business: Two rounds of lawsuits, 200 cases Now as to the crooked lawyers If the men had worn masks, their use would have involved time every hour to wash the sponge at mouth. Tunnel, 3⅛ miles long. Much larger than the Holland Tunnel or Pittsburgh’s Liberty Tubes. Total cost, say, $16,000,000. This is the procedure of such a committee: To consider the bill before the Senate. To discuss relief. Active members may be cut off relief, 16-mile walk to Fayetteville for cheque— west virginia relief administration, #22991 to joe henigan, gauley bridge, one and 50/100, winona national bank. paid from state funds.