From Introduction: "The lack of comparable and accurate statistics of coal-mine accidents in the united States as a whole led the Bureau of Mines in 1911 to undertake the collection of such data. The mining departments of the leading foreign coal-producing countries have long taken cognizance of the importance of statistics. The bureau feels that in presenting the tables embodied in this report it is offering the and comparable statistics of coal-min accidents for the country as a whole that have ever been published."

Interview with John Reas, a Navy WWII veteran and POW from New Albany, Indiana, who survived the sinking of the USS Houston (CA-30). Reas discusses his assignment to the Houston and prewar operations in the Pacific, the start of the war and convoy duty, being bombed by 54 Japanese planes, the Battle of Sunda Strait, the sinking, capture by the Japanese, experiences in internment at Bicycle Camp in Batavia, transfer to Thanbyuzayat, work on the Burma Railway, the USS Houston Survivors List, liberation, and life after the war. In appendix is the USS Houston Survivors list, letters of his regarding the list, brief accounts written by Reas of different experiences in the war, a letter by Lanson H. Harris confirming how the list was given to OSS officers, and a photo of Reas' wallet that he carried through the war.