The Butte Miner, 1920-08-17, p.8

The Butte Miner, Butte, 1920-08-17, p.8

Summary

A "safety-first" address (mine-safety / first-aid context) that reaches back to the 1918 influenza epidemic in Butte as its moral example: "during the dark days when influenza swept plague-like through our community, when hospitals were filled to overflowing with victims, doctors were unable to cope... and nurses simply could not be provided," it was the first-aid men of Butte who stepped in "at financial loss to themselves," doing "heroic work." The speaker ties that civic example to the mines' "No Accident" safety-first results. Atmosphere for the 1918-flu / industrial-safety layer of the Butte chapters.

In its time

Narrative

An unnamed speaker credits Butte's first-aid training with service beyond the mines, recalling the influenza epidemic when hospitals overflowed, doctors could not cope and nurses could not be found, and first-aid men volunteered at financial loss to themselves. He then reports on the "No Accident" drive that began July 19, 1920 with 18 producing mines competing under the slogan "No Accidents Below the Collar for the Next Four Weeks": counting every accident that broke the skin, 9.87 occurred per 10,000 shifts worked, with the Emma mine recording no underground accident in more than 5,000 shifts. [transcription partial column cut top and bottom; speaker unnamed]

“during the dark days when influenza swept plague-like through our community, when hospitals were filled to overflowing with victims”
“No Accidents Below the Collar for the Next Four Weeks”
“The Emma mine with more than 5,000 shifts has not had a single underground accident”

AI-generated (claude-opus-5). Verify against the transcription before quoting.

Places

Butte, Montana (subject)

Themes

Story threads

Butte Irish-American organisational life — Hibernians, Gaelic League, Erin's Daughters, RELA

Source type

news_item

Transcription

transcription: partial · confidence high

[...] "Not alone in connection with the mining business has this instruction been of inestimable advantage. You all remember that during the dark days when influenza swept plague-like through our community, when hospitals were filled to overflowing with victims, doctors were unable to cope with the disease and nurses simply could not be provided, the splendid attitude which was taken by the first-aid men of Butte in offering their services at financial loss to themselves to the community in the heroic work which they accomplished. "We have just finished a remarkable demonstration of what may be accomplished as the result of intelligent effort put forth in safety-first in the results obtained in the "No Accident" drive which terminated last night. This drive was begun on July 19, 1920, with 18 producing mines of the district taking part. The slogan adopted was "No Accidents Below the Collar for the Next Four Weeks." The general results have been good. There has been the greatest rivalry among the competing mines, and the total accident record was lowered. Counting as an injury every accident which broke the skin of the miner of employe, the latest figures available disclose that during the drive 9.87 of such accident occurred per 10,000 shifts worked. The Emma mine with more than 5,000 shifts has not had a single underground accident. The Alice mine with 1,600 shifts [...] --- [Editor's note: The Butte Miner, Tuesday, August 17, 1920, p. 8 (date and page from the Newspapers.com caption; the clipping shows neither). The clipping is one column from the middle of an article: it prints no headline and does not name the speaker. Its cut top line reads, from the lower halves of the letters, "injuries than does the Butte miner."; its cut bottom line, from the upper halves, "has also come through without an acci-". "miner of employe" and "of such accident" are as printed. Text completed from the page image: read by claude-sonnet-5-5; proofed by claude-opus-5-5, 4 Oct 2026.]

Dotted underlines mark key terms on first mention — hover or tab to one for a reference note. The wording is the source’s own.

Open questions

The speaker and organisation are not in the clipping at all (it is one column from the middle of the article; the whole clip is now transcribed, 4 Oct 2026). The full page (p. 8) would give the headline and speaker.