In conversation with the chaplain of the prison I received the
following anecdote, which I will relate for the benefit of my readers.
It is customary in the prison, after the Sunday exercises, for such as
desire to remain and hold a sort of class meeting, or, as some call
it, experience meeting. In one of these, an old colored man arose, and
said: "Breddren, ebber since Ize been in dis prison Ize been tryin' to
git de blessin'; Ize prayed God night and day. Ize rascelled wid de
Almighty 'till my hips was sore, but Ize nebber got it. Some sez its
la'k ob faith. Some its la'k of strength, but I b'l'eves de reason am
on 'count ob de quality ob dis hash we hab ebbery day!"

Accidents are occurring almost daily. Scarcely a day passes but what
some man receives injuries. Often very severe accidents happen, and
occasionally those which prove fatal. Many men are killed outright.
These accidents are caused by the roof of the little room in which the
miner works falling in upon him, and the unexpected drop of coal. Of
course there are many things that contribute to accidents, such as bad
machinery, shafts, dirt rolling down, landslides, etc.

One day there was a fellow-prisoner working in the room adjoining me;
he complained to the mining boss that he did not want to go into that
room to work because he thought it was dangerous. The officer in
charge thought differently, and told him to go in there and go to work
or he would report him. The prisoner hadn't been in the place more
than a half hour before the roof fell and buried him. It took some
little time to get him out. When the dirt was removed, to all
appearances he was dead. He was carried to the hospital on a
stretcher, and the prison physician, Doctor Neeally, examined him, and
found that both arms were broken in two places, his legs both broken,