King Coal; A Novel (Paperback)

Excerpt: ...Olson. "The public doesn't know about this thing. If the story got out, there'd be such a clamour, it couldn't go on " "But how will you get it out?" "I'll give it to the newspapers They can't suppress such a thing-I don't care how prejudiced they are " "But do you think they'd believe what a miner's buddy tells them?" asked Mrs. David. "I'll find a way to make them believe me," said Hal. "I'm going to make them open that mine " SECTION 34. In the course of his wanderings about the camp, Hal had observed several wide-awake looking young men with notebooks in their hands. He could see that these young men were being made guests of the company, chatting with the bosses upon friendly terms; nevertheless, he believed that among them he might find one who had a conscience-or at any rate who would yield to the temptation of a "scoop." So, leaving the gathering at Mrs. David's, Hal went to the pit-mouth, watching out for one of these reporters; when he found him, he followed him for a while, desiring to get him where no company "spotter" might interfere. At the first chance, he stepped up, and politely asked the reporter to come into a side street, where they might converse undisturbed. The reporter obeyed the request; and Hal, concealing the intensity of his feelings, so as not to repel the other, let it be known that he had worked in North Valley for some months, and could tell much about conditions in the camp. There was the matter of adobe-dust, for example. Explosions in dry mines could be prevented by spraying the walls with this material. Did the reporter happen to know that the company's claim to have used it was entirely false? No, the reporter answered, he did not know this. He seemed interested, and asked Hal's name and occupation. Hal told him "Joe Smith," a "buddy," who had recently been chosen as check-weighman. The reporter, a lean and keen-faced young man, asked many questions-intelligent questions; incidentally he mentioned that he...