May 30th, 1869

There is much of interest to be written about today. Ralph is awake. He's been in a coma for many days now, after being attacked and injured gravely in the mines. By the grace of God our doctors were able to revive him. He is still critically wounded, but now that he's awake, he will likely live. Sadly, it is unlikely that he will ever be the same as he was.

He'll have a nasty limp at the very best. How unfortunate. I wonder how he will support his family and children now. It would have been better for his wife if he'd perished. She could at least remarry someone who could provide for her.

Ralph is not yet in any condition to speak or be interrogated on who attacked him. Father gets me all the info from his doctors, so I know how to proceed in my investigation. He's eating and following commands, but he hasn't been able to sit up or speak yet. Hopefully he will recover enough soon to be able to clear this whole story up. It has crossed my mind that he may be afflicted with amnesia after his ordeal, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

In other news from our doctors, the miners affected by the golden crystals are not improving. Their treatments for the rash it caused have been useless. I've heard that it’s getting worse. Father is massively concerned about this, because he needs the miners to be mining. They are useless if they aren’t making us money. Along with the rash, they've developed a horrible cough. The doctors will continue to monitor them, and thankfully it doesn't appear to be contagious so far. We shouldn’t have any other miners fall ill, since the rest of the crystal was disposed of.

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Joe has also recovered well from the beating he received during his interrogation. We're in the process of releasing him from holding. We've learned as much as we can from him, so now it's time to let him crawl home like a mangy dog. We're not firing him from the company, because once he heals he'll still make an adequate vessel for use in the mines. He won’t be charged for any crimes, unless Ralph says he was the attacker, once he is able.

Benjamin has cooled down since his outburst. Usually he is calm and sensible, and thankfully he seems to be staying that way. All the rumours and talk about recent events has the men easily riled up.

I did recently hear one slightly concerning thing from Benjamin. Several miners, including himself, are taking some ‘security’ measures for themselves. They're stockpiling weapons, guns, and ammunition. Benjamin said that in all the chaos that's been happening recently, it's necessary to have the measures to defend their homes. They think that the other miners and town bums will be inclined to steal or deface things in all the chaos. That the higher-ups in the company aren’t looking at them with everything else going on, so there's a window of opportunity for crime. The last thing we need right now is skirmishes amongst the miners, but it's of little concern. I know everything that there is to know about this company, and I know that we have it handled. All will be revealed soon.