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Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 10, 1909
“A Boy Mine Worker,” Like Those Who Perished in the Cherry Mine-Fire
From the International Socialist Review of December 1909:
“A Boy Mine Worker”
Note: Photograph is by Lewis Hine of Trapper Boy in a West Virginia Coal Mine, see Survey of October 2, 1909.
From the Editor’s Chair
The Murder of Illinois Miners
On Saturday, Nov. 13, fire broke out in the mine of the St. Paul Coal Company at Cherry, Ill., where 708 miners were at work. Next morning 125 men responded to roll call. A few more may have escaped, but the actual number dead in the mine is probably close to 500. The newspaper reports of the fire were so conflicting, and so obviously toned down in the interests of the mine owners, that the Review sent its own representative to Cherry, in order that we might make an accurate statement of the facts before commenting on them. He found the reporters of the capitalist papers snugly housed in Pullman cars, wined and dined by St. Paul officials. He found the surviving miners unanimous in the opinion that the death of their comrades was directly due to the action of the mine officials in keeping the men at work long after the fire started. Direct evidence that this is the case is not wanting. Our representative asked President Earling of the St. Paul Railway at what hour the fire started. He replied, “One thirty.” To the question, “Why weren’t the men notified?” his only answer was an eloquent gesture indicating that he had nothing to say.
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HE working class of Spokane are engaged in a terrific conflict, one of the most vital of the local class struggles. It is a fight for more than free speech. It is to prevent the free press and labor’s right to organize from being throttled. The writers of the associated press newspapers have lied about us systematically and unscrupulously. It is only through the medium of the Socialist and labor press that we can hope to reach the ear of the public.
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