Brains as Well as Brawn

But this advancement through the years couldn't come from mere hard work as a miner.  It's a wise farmer who looks over the fence of his neighbor, Mr. FRANCIS declares.  I learned about mining the last day I was in a mine, he will tell you.  When one of my men got to know all about mines and said, "You can't tell me anything about mining", I let him go, he said.  At this time Mr. FRANCIS had become a noted expert in mining, receiving as much as $300.00 for a day's visit to a mine.  People had confidence in me, he said.  I might never have seen the buyer of the mine and the owner whom I knew might offer me as high as 15% if the sale went through, but he made honest reports nevertheless.  All this time his lack of education worried him.  I kept my mouth shut to keep people from knowing how ignorant I was, he said.  He went back to Proctor and developed new mines for the Company.

Mayor of Jellico, Tennessee

He was living in Jellico and citizens told him he was shirking his duty as a citizen by not holding public office.  They elected him mayor in 1914 over his protest.  At the next election he refused to campaign and lost the election by about 7 votes, but by the next election both political parties were anxious to have him for mayor.  Again he was elected without opposition, but would not accept.  They even let him select his own school board.  I don't know why you should elect an ordinary coal miner with the town full of doctors and lawyers, he said to the people.

Converted at Last

All my life, Mr. FRANCIS said, I had looked at the people inside the churches and said to myself, I am better than they are.  I wouldn't think of doing the things they do.  I was a moral man.  I never swore.  I kept my men from swearing and they were pretty rough men.  I was never drunk in my life.  I was afraid if I joined the church that I would do those things that church goers do.  Then one night in 1923 I attended one of Dr. Fred BROWN's revival services at First Baptist Church of Jellico.  I usually avoided revival services because when they asked for every one who wanted to be prayed for, who wanted to go to Heaven, stand; I just sat there and felt that I was bad for the morale of the meeting.  But I loved music and wanted to hear the people sing and for that reason I attended.  It was Saint Patrick's Day.  Dr. BROWN said that God gave man the will power to resist His kindness and to push His hand away.  I was living in a fine house, had a splendid large family and believed I had done it all myself.  But I thought of the circumstances.  All the neighbors who had families smaller than mine, had deaths, but mine had none.  It must be that He is kind to me, I said.  I have made investments in mines but none in my soul and my soul is my greatest possession.  I was pushing His hand away.  I got up and walked right down the aisle and made a short statement.

Since 1923 Mr. FRANCIS' children, Mrs. John W. WILLIAMS, Louis FRANCIS, J. D. VAN HUSS and Mrs. G. W. STONE have all lived close to him.  He is living at 2129 N. Broadway and his children live nearby.  Tom and Paul FRANCIS are at LaFollette, Mrs. T. R. HILL lives in Toledo, Ohio.  Other children and 16 grand children together with four great grand children, are scattered about.

Back to Mines at 80

His wife died September 5, 1933.  He went up to the mines, got his tools and went to work.  He was 80 years old.  He worked there two or three weeks and his sons persuaded him to return to Knoxville.  He had intended to round out 75 years as a miner.  Now he stays at home and reads on many topics.  He is interested in astronomy.  He will tell you of the cosmic ray, its tremendous power and the mystery surrounding it.

Led Rescue Party

Mr. FRANCIS led the rescue party entering the Fraterville mine disaster of Coal Creek in which 184 men perished.  He was in Jellico when he received a telegram calling him to the mine.  Two years before he had detected gas in the mine when inspecting a fault in the seam.  He warned against it and cautioned against open flame lamps.  He took out all of the 184 bodies.  A man can die going over the top out in the air with men around him in the light, but to die like a rat in a hole in the ground with no air is terrible.  You feel like you would burst, Mr. FRANCIS said.

Mined Biggest Block

A less gruesome experience for Mr. FRANCIS was the mining of the largest single block of coal ever mined in Tennessee.  It weighed 3800 pounds.  It took him two to three days, he said.  He can mine a bigger one still when he can find a bigger entrance.  Mr. FRANCIS had an uneasiness in passing out the position of mine inspector to politicians.  Mine inspecting should be done by mining men, he declared.  Mine safety depends in a large measure on the mine inspectors.  Lawyers and people who have never been inside a mine in their lives, have been appointed, he said.  The above pages were written by a Mr. ROBINSON, reporter for The Knoxville Sentinel, June 7, 1936.