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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 29, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part IV
Found with Strikers and Army of Mining Women Marching on Panther Creek
From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of October 16, 1900:
The four thousand strikers from Hazleton, Freeland and the South Side who left McAdoo at midnight last night to close down the collieries of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. in the Panther Creek Valley, where operations have been carried on without interruption since the beginning of the strike, did not get at the mines but Nesquehoning was rendered idle and all the other collieries are somewhat crippled. The strikers were met on the outskirts of Coal Dale, which was their first objective point, by eight companies of the Fourth Regiment in command of Colonel O’Neill, of Allentown, and driven back into Tamaqua and the strikers who paraded the streets of that town were dispersed at the point of bayonet. The presence of the soldiers was a complete surprise to the marchers. Many of the latter returned home at noon today while others remained and will use their persuasive powers tonight to induce the men who are at work to join the strike movement. Several of the strikers were arrested.
The March Begins.
The strikers collected at McAdoo. Large crowds were seen wending their way over the hills to the South Side and when the word was passed along the line to move on it is estimated that there were about 3,500 men in the ranks.
The strikers from the upper Schuylkill region were to have met the McAdoo people at Hometown, but when the South Siders got there they were disappointed, as not a striker from upper Schuylkill was to be seen.
A delegation of about five hundred, comprising the strikers from Hazleton and the North Side, moved over the Beaver Meadow road and joined the South Siders at Hometown, a small place some distance north of Tamaqua. From Hometown the strikers marched about four abreast to the outskirts of Coal Dale.
“Mother” Jones There.
There were a number of women in line, among them “Mother” Jones and Miss Brennan, of McAdoo, who carried an American flag and who was to have led the men to the Coal Dale collieries.
The Honey Brook band and several drum corps were also in line. The band played almost continuously from the time the men left McAdoo until they got within a half mile of Coal Dale. The music had a wonderfully inspiring effect on the men and aroused people every where along the route.
Coal Dale Reached.
It was about 3 o’clock this morning when the strikers, marching with firm steps and shouting at the top of their voices, approached Coal Dale. The band and drum corps added to the noise and the people of the entire town were awakened. Lights soon appeared in almost every house. The descent of the marchers had been entirely unexpected and caused great excitement.
Soldiers Halt Strikers.
While the miners of the Panther Creek Valley may have been taken by surprise the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. was by no means unprepared for resisting the strikers, who received as big a surprise probably as did the populace by being confronted on the outskirts of Coal Dale by eight companies of the Fourth regiment, N. G. P., in command of Colonel O’Neill.
As soon as the coal company officials learned of he contemplated march, which had been extensively advertised, they summoned the militia. The soldiers were brought from Shenandoah last night over the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad to Tamaqua, which is on the outskirts of Schuylkill county, and taken in trolley cars from the latter town over to Coal Dale.
Correspondents in the Lead.
Colonel O’Neill and his men were stationed a short distance outside of Coal Dale eight abreast, with drawn bayonets. The newspaper correspondents were in the lead and were the first to be halted.
Mrs. Symonds, the bustling correspondent of the Philadelphia Inquirer, was mistaken by Colonel O’Neill for “Mother” Jones, who was further to the rear, and ordered to Tamaqua as fast as possible. She explained that she was a newspaper woman, but the Colonel would not be convinced and the correspondent was obliged to obey.
After ordering Mrs. Symonds to the rear the Colonel tackled the other correspondents, whom he mistook for leaders of the United Mine workers. Albert E. Hunt, of the Philadelphia North American, was spokesman for the crowd and asked permission to go through the lines, but the Colonel wouldn’t have it and all turned toward Tamaqua rather reluctantly.
Strikers Turned Back.
By this time there was plenty of excitement. The strikers were some what awed by the uniforms of the soldiers, but nevertheless determined to get through and close down work at the Panther Creek collieries. Some of the men would have gone ahead had not cooler counsel prevailed. It was agreed among the leaders that as the State militia barred their progress they would not violate the law and get into trouble.
Before word reached all the strikers to reform ranks and march to Tamaqua the soldiers had arrested thirteen of the marchers, four of them from the South Side and nine from Lansford Summit Hill. No other arrests occurred. The South Side men who fell into the hands of the militia are Charles Lepart, John McCarron, Daniel Berney, of McAdoo, and John P. Gallagher, of Silver Brook. The latter was released soon after being taken into custody. The others will probably be released before night.
Soldiers Use Bayonets.
As large bodies of strikers continued to collect in the neighborhood of Coal Dale it was feared that they would attempt to rush through the line of soldiers, so Colonel O’Neill ordered the troops to draw their bayonets and forced the marchers to retreat to Tamaqua. The troops scattered the strikers in all directions and even dispersed bodies of marching miners on the streets of Tamaqua. Most of the strikers then turned homeward in crowds of about a hundred or more. “Mother” Jones and the McAdoo women, who rode in carriages, started at 8 o’clock and arrived at McAdoo shortly before noon.
General Gobin on the Ground.
After the strikers had been dispersed the soldiers stationed themselves on the roads leading to the various collieries and afforded protection to men on their way to work. General Gobin, in command of the troops stationed at Shenandoah, was on the ground himself and directed the movements of the militia.
Nesquehoning Closed Down.
Owing to the excitement caused by the presence of the strikers many of the men in the Panther Creek Valley did not go to work and every colliery is somewhat crippled.
The Nesquehoning colliery did not start up at all this morning, but the men have been notified to report for duty as usual tomorrow. The officials did not deem it safe to keep this colliery in operation.
The Mine Workers are determined to stop work in the Panther Creek district and will use all means to bring the men there into line. Unions are to be established there this week and speakers will be sent down to appeal to the miners to join the strike.
Might Have Been Trouble.
One of the returning strikers said to-day that if special policemen or deputies would have been stationed on the Coal Dale road instead of soldiers the marchers would have moved right on. This would have precipitated trouble. A reprot spread about town this morning that twenty of the strikers had been shot . Such is not the case.
Soldiers There All Day.
The soldiers remained in the valley all day and will probably camp there tonight if there is no need of their services elsewhere.
Got a Drink and Sandwiches.
P. J. Boyle, of the Columbia House, at Tamaqua, gave every striker who applied a glass of beer and a sandwich free of charge, an act which was greatly appreciated. Many of the men carried sandwiches with them.
Had an Exciting Experience.
James Rogers, of this city, who drove to the Panther Creek, had an exciting experience. He was the first one to enter Coal Dale. All the correspondents followed. As Rogers got near the pickets of soldiers the latter commanded him to halt, but he understood little of military tactics and drove on until Colonel O’Neill grabbed his horse by the reins and ordered him to stop.
Rogers shouted to the Colonel that he was no striker and demanded to get through, but the Colonel was determined to let no one pass. Rogers could not turn his horse around without driving into the soldiers and when he failed to go back the Colonel counted three and said if he did not move toward Tamaqua he would blow the carriage to pieces. Three minutes elapsed but the carriage did not move, neither did the Colonel carry out his threat. Finally O’Neill got hold of the reins and led the horse to the rear.
Organizers To to Panther Creek.
Organizer Soppitt and William Frailey, a member of the National Executive Board of the United Mine Workers, went to the Panther Creek this afternoon and will arrange for a series of meeting to be held at Lansford, Coal Dale, Summit Hill and Nesquehoning during the remainder of the week.
Why Strikers Were Arrested.
Upon the return of the marchers at noon it was learned why the thirteen strikers were arrested during the morning. A private vehicle was stopped by the soldiers on the way from Tamaqua to Lansford and when the strikers saw this they shouted, “Drive over the hoodlums, they’re only tin soldiers,” The latter quickly formed a cordon and took the strikers into custody. John Boyle O’Reilly, one of the Lansford men who was arrested, is well known here.
“Mother Jones Insulted.
“Mother” Jones was not kindly received by the women of Tamaqua, who hooted and jeered as she passed through the town. She paid no attention to the crowd and said “They don’t know any better.”
Hazleton Contingent Home.
The Hazleton contingent arrived home at 11 o’clock today. While much fatigued by the journey they were in exceedingly good spirits because of the fact that they succeeded in crippling the collieries. They assert that the men in the Panther Creek Valley informed them before leaving that they would out on strike before the close of the week.
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From the New York Tribune of October 17, 1900:
RAID ON MINES CHECKED.
———-MARCHING STRIKERS INTERCEPTED BY TROOPS.
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AN EXCITING DAY IN THE PANTHER CREEK VALLEY.
BUT NO BLOODSHED.
—–[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE.]Tamaqua. Penn., Oct. 16.-The Panther Creek Valley, to which attention has so often been called in The Tribune’s dispatches from the Schuylkill region, was the scene to-day of one of the most exciting incidents of the present trouble in the anthracite coal region. This valley extends from the Borough of Tamaqua, in Schuylkill County, for a number of miles, and into Carbon County. Here the Lehigh Coal Company’s ten collieries are located. Seven thousand men work in them, and they have held out to the last against the United Mine Workers. Some of the collieries worked short handed at times, but a majority of the miners were satisfied. The company promised them 10 per cent increase in wages, reduction of powder to $1.50 a keg, and any other concessions the strikers might secure. Panther Creek was the only portion of the entire region which could not be effectually tied up, and it became the battleground to-day.
About 2:30 o’clock this morning people living in the northeastern part of Tamaqua were awakened by loud yells. Strikers from McAdoo, Hazleton, Mahanoy City and other places had invaded Tamaqua. The procession was headed by “Mother” Jones and about twenty-five other women. The strikers assembled at McAdoo last evening about 11 o’clock. Their forces were divided into two sections. One crossed the mountain in the direction of Tamaqua, intending to invade the Panther Creek Valley from the west. The other division took a roundabout way, intending to enter the valley at the eastern end. At Nesquehoning, or Colliery No. 3, the paraders met the miners this morning going to work and attacked them. A lively fight followed, in which two non-union men are reported to have been badly hurt. This colliery is now tied up. Stones and clubs were freely used.
When it was announced that a raid was to be made on the Panther Creek Valley, General Gobin was informed, and he at once ordered out troops. At midnight eight companies were put on board cars and started for Tamaqua, arriving here at 2 a, m. General Gobin was advised of the action of the strikers, and in order to intercept them the train was run through to a place called Seek, or No. 10 colliery, about four miles from this place. Here six of the companies left the train. The other two proceeded to Nesquehoning. Colonel O’Neill, of the 4th Regiment, had charge of the six companies, and General Gobin remained with the other two. As soon as the troops alighted at Colliery No. 10, they started in the direction of Tamaqua, but had not gone more than a mile when, at 3 a, m., they met the head of the procession of marching strikers from Tamaqua. It was as dark as pitch, and foggy. Colonel O’Neill in a loud voice commanded the strikers to halt, and they did so. He then said: “I want you people to disperse without hesitation, and return to your homes or whence you came.”
“We are on our way to Summit Hill,” replied “Mother” Jones.
“You can’t go there now,” said Colonel O’Neill. “Wait till daylight.”
“We can’t turn the horses.” said “Mother” Jones.
“You can’t? Well. I’ll turn them for you.” was the Colonel’s reply, as he gave the command to the soldiers to fix bayonets and load; adding, “And when I give the command to fire, I want you to do it.”
This caused a stampede among the strikers, and they fled in all directions toward Tamaqua, followed by the troops.
Dunkelberger’s colliery, at this place, shut down to-day. About five hundred men employed by the Lehigh and Susquehanna Coal Company live here, and they all remained at home on learning what had taken place in the night. All the collieries owned by this company in the Panther Creek Valley are badly crippled. General Gobin expects to bring the remainder of the 4th Regiment, and also the Governor’s Troop, stationed near McAdoo, to Tamaqua at once. A number of the strikers were arrested by Sheriff Toole and his deputies. Four of them were released and the others held. The 4th Regiment is encamped at Manila Park, two and a half miles from Tamaqua. When General Gobin started to head off the other division of marchers they eluded him and went to Coaldale. Striking miners are coming in by the hundreds from the neighborhood of Hazleton, and Tamaqua is filled with strangers. It is thought that they will keep on coming in during the night, and will close every colliery in the Panther Creek Valley to-morrow.
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Army Strong Mining Women, Ab 1925
https://archive.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/12/
The Plain Speaker
(Hazelton, Pennsylvania)
-Oct 16, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/501622279/
New York Tribune
(New York, New York)
-Oct 17, 1900
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1900-10-17/ed-1/seq-5/
https://www.newspapers.com/image/88131899/
See also:
Tag: Great Anthracite Strike of 1900
https://weneverforget.org/tag/great-anthracite-strike-of-1900/
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 21, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part III
Mother Jones and Miners’ Army March from McAdoo to Hazleton
Oct 17, 1900, Philadelphia Times
-Miners March on Panther Creek, Mother Jones There, Parts I & II
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64268614/oct-17-1900-philadelphia-times-miners/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64269055/oct-17-1900-philadelphia-times-miners/
Map: Panther Creek Pa-
Nesquehoning, Lansford, Summit Hill, Coaldale, Tamaqua
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Panther+Creek/@40.8543458,-75.9402458,12z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x89c5b97308e6e11b:0xcffe5243025efec!8m2!3d40.8214776!4d-75.9189157
Mother Jones Recalls These Events:
Autobiography, Chapter 12
CH Kerr, 1925
https://archive.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/12/
Chapter 12 – How the Women Mopped Up Coaldale
In Lonaconia [Lonaconing], Maryland, there was a strike. I was there. In Hazelton, Pennsylvania, a Convention was called to discuss the anthracite strike. I was there when they issued the strike call. One hundred and fifty thousand men responded. The men of Scranton and Shamokin and Coaldale and Panther Creek and Valley Battle. And I was there.
In Shamokin I met Miles Daugherty, an organizer. When he quit work and drew his pay, he gave one-half of his pay envelope to his wife and the other half he kept to rent halls and pay for lights for the union. Organizers did not draw much salary in those days and they did heroic, unselfish work.
Not far from Shamokin, in a little mountain town the priest was holding a meeting when I went in. He was speaking in the church. I spoke in an open field. The priest told the men to go back and obey their masters and their reward would be in Heaven. He denounced the strikers as children of darkness. The miners left the church in a body and marched over to my meeting.
“Boys,” I said, “this strike is called in order that you and your wives and your little on may get a bit of Heaven before you die.”
We organized the entire camp.
The fight went on. In Coaldale, in the Hazelton district, the miners were not permitted to assemble in any hall. It was necessary to the strike in that district that the Coaldale miners be organized.
I went to a nearby mining town that was thoroughly organized and asked the women if they would help me get the Coaldale men out. This was in McAdoo. I told them to leave their men at home to take care of the family. I asked them to put on their kitchen clothes and bring mops and brooms with them and a couple of tin pans. We marched over the mountains fifteen miles, beating on the tin pans as if they were cymbals. At three o’clock in the morning we met the Crack Thirteen of the militia, patrolling the roads to Coaldale. The colonel of the regiment said “Halt! Move back!”
I said, “Colonel, the working men of America will not halt nor will they ever go back. The working man is going forward!”
“I’ll charge bayonets,” said he.
“On whom?”
“On your people.”
“We are not enemies,” said I. “We are just a band of working women whose brothers and husbands are in a battle for bread. We want our brothers in Coaldale to join us in our fight. We are here on the mountain road for our children’s sake, for the nation’s sake. We are not going to hurt anyone and surely you would not hurt us.”
They kept us there till daybreak and when they saw the army of women in kitchen aprons, with dishpans and mops, they laughed and let us pass. An army of strong mining women makes a wonderfully spectacular picture.
Well, when the miners in the Coaldale camp started to go to work they were met by the McAdoo women who were beating on their pans and shouting, “Join the union! Join the union!” They joined, every last man of them, and we got so enthusiastic that we organized the street car men who promised to haul no scabs for the coal companies. As there were no other groups to organize we marched over the mountains home, beating on our pans and singing patriotic songs.
Meanwhile President Mitchell and all his organizers were sleeping in the Valley Hotel over in Hazelton. They knew nothing of our march into Coaldale until the newspaper men telephoned to him that “Mother Jones was raising hell up in the mountains with a bunch of wild women!”
He, of course, got nervous. He might have gotten more nervous if he had known how we made the mine bosses go home and how we told their wives to clean them up and make decent American citizens out of them. How we went around to the kitchen of the house where the militia were quartered and ate the breakfast that was on the table for the soldiers.
When I got back to Hazelton, Mitchell looked at me with surprise. I was worn out. Coaldale had been a strenuous night and morning and its thirty mile tramp. I assured Mitchell that no one had been hurt and no property injured. The military had acted like human beings. They took the matter as a joke. They enjoyed the morning’s fun. I told him how scared the sheriff had been. He had been talking to me without knowing who I was.
“Oh Lord,” he said, “that Mother Jones is sure a dangerous woman.”
“Why don’t you arrest her!” I asked him.
“Oh Lord, I couldn’t. I’d have that mob of women with their mops and brooms after me and the jail ain’t big enough to hold them all. They’d mop the life out of a fellow!”
Mr. Mitchell said, “My God, Mother, did you get home safe! What did you do!”
“I got five thousand men out and organized them. We had time left over so we organized the street car men and they will not haul any scabs into camp.”
“Did you get hurt, Mother!”
“No, we did the hurting.”
“Didn’t the superintendents’ bosses get after you?”
“No, we got after them. Their wives and our women were yelling around like cats. It was a great fight.”
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Which Side Are You On? – Almanac Singers