Another Man Dead At Mines

Can the churches do anything for dying men?  I ask this question not as a minister, but as a man seeking to save men in the common walks of life.  Save their bodies in order that time may be given them to save their souls.

Are Guernsey county and Cambridge churches and their ministers able to stop the violent deaths that are occurring every week in and around Cambridge? Something must be done to preserve the lives and put laboring men where they can earn their daily bread without the danger of sacrificing their lives, thus filling their homes with pain and poverty prolonged.

Nine men dead is the record of one mine in Guernsey county, where there are so many mines and miners; five Americans, four Slavishmen, killed and others crippled for life within the sound of church bells.  Boys, young men, from 16 to 30 years old, killed almost weekly and no voice raised against this dreadful slaughter.  Strong young men, fathers, husbands, who are trying honestly to earn a living for themselves and their families in the mines of this Christian community.

Jesus came, not to destroy but to save men’s lives and the ministers and churches of Cambridge should be like their Master in this respect and start out at once to save men’s lives.  Some deary capital punishment for criminals yet sit idly by while innocent, honest miners are electrocuted, mangled in the mines, some of which are located beneath the church properties.

At Harmony church I have been holding a meeting among the miners for two weeks and in that brief time four have been killed and others crippled in the mines owned and worked by rich men and corporations, some of whose individual owners are members of churches or have families of their own, but pay no attention unless absolutely compelled by law, to exposed wires to trolley overhead, dangling chains for speeding motors, all of which expose the men to death.

Ministers, churches, Christians of Cambridge and Guernsey county, I call upon you to investigate, learn the facts, and act in these matters as Jesus acted, seek and save men’s lives.  It is your duty to save their lives and God’s privileges and power to save their souls.

What will the ministers and churches do about it? Will the mangled, murdered miners be left to cry out as of old “What meanest thou, Oh sleeper! Arise and call upon they God, that so we perish not.”

Richard S. Martin, National Evangelist R. D. 6