Category: Hellraisers Journal

Hellraisers Journal: Samuel Gompers Demands Senate Investigation of Government by Gunthug in West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 5, 1920
Gompers Demands Investigation of Government by Gunthug in West Virginia

From the United Mine Workers Journal of July 1, 1920:

Asks Investigation of Killing at Matewan

Gompers, Ogden Standard Examiner p1, June 7, 1920
When Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, heard of the killing of ten men in a battle between coal company gunmen and coal miners at Matewan, W. Va., he sent a letter to Senator Kenyon, chairman of the Senate committee on labor and education, asking him to have his committee make an investigation of the case. His letter was as follows:

The men were shot and killed by an armed band of men sent into the state by the order of and in the pay of private interests. The men who were killed were interested only in seeing that the statutes and the constitution of the state and of the United States were respected, according to the newspaper reports of the outbreak. I am of the opinion that the invasion of West Virginia by an armed band of men in the pay of absentee owners of West Virginia mining property constitutes a suspension of the constitutional guarantees.

It will be remembered that a public official, testifying in the investigation of 1912-13 before the committee of which you are now chairman, swore that the constitution of the United States did not apply in West Virginia. It was brought out that miners had been kidnapped and given long sentences by drumhead court martial. This official was not rebuked by West Virginia for his testimony as to its lawlessness. On the contrary, he was appointed by the governor of the state to be the impartial investigator of crime against the miners, their wives and their children, in the mining camp of Guyan Valley, and this within the year.

For a generation the only law in the mining camps of West Virginia, save in those few instances where the power of organized labor and outraged public opinion has forced a return to constitutional methods, has been the law of the thug and the gunman disguised as deputy sheriffs and usurping the police power of the land. The blackjack and the pistol, the high-powered rifle and the machine gun have been substituted for statute law, judges and juries.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mingo County W.V. Holds First Mine Workers Convention; District is 100% Organized

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 4, 1920
Williamson, West Virginia – Mine Workers Hold First Mingo County Convention

From the United Mine Workers Journal of July 1, 1920:

Williamson Conv ed, Mother Jones, UMWJ p7, July 1, 1920

Every coal miner in Mingo county, W. Va., is now a member of the United Mine Workers of America. Mingo county, up to this time, has been one of the worst hotbeds of anti-unionism in the entire state of West Virginia. It was only a few weeks ago that a gang of Baldwin-Felts gunmen undertook to clean out the union from that field, and as a result there was a battle in the streets of Matewan, Mingo county, in which seven of the gunmen, Mayor Testerman and two miners were killed. This battle seemed to mark the end of the reign of the vicious gunmen system of terrorism in Mingo county, for soon afterward the remainder of the thugs disappeared from that county.

The international union and the District 17 organization sent a number of organizers into Mingo county at once and instituted an intensive campaign of organization. The miners were ready and anxious to join the union, but they had been prevented from exercising this right by the brutality of the Baldwin-Felts thugs in the employ of the coal companies. Once these outlaws were out of the way there was a great rush for membership in the union.

Mingo county is now 100 per cent organized. Approximately 6,000 new members have been taken in in that county since the Matewan battle.

The first convention of the United Mine Workers of America ever held in Mingo county was held at Williamson, the county seat, on June 23. The sessions were held in the court house, the purpose of the convention being to formulate a set of demands as to wages and working conditions to be presented to the operators. The above photograph was taken on the court house steps, and it shows the delegates, some of the officials of District 17, and also some of the international organizers who were active in effecting the organization.

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Hellraisers Journal: 6,000 Miners Strike for Union Recognition in Newly Organized Williamson Field, Tug River District

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 3, 1920
Coal Strike Affects 5,000 Miners in Mingo County and 1,000 in Pike County

From The Charleston Daily Mail of June 30, 1920:

WILLIAMSON DISTRICT MINERS
TO QUIT TONIGHT
—–

Mingo Strike Effective at Midnight, Cton Dly Ml p1, June 30, 1920

About 5,000 mine workers of Mingo county W. Va., and 1,000 in Pike county, Ky., will be affected by a strike order issued from the Summers street headquarters of District 17, United Mine Workers to take effect at midnight tonight, according to officials of that organization, who that virtually all the miners of Mingo county and those employed on Kentucky side of the Tug river, and along Pond creek in Pike county, will strike.

Williamson Conv crpd, Mother Jones, UMWJ p7, July 1, 1920
United Mine Workers Journal of June 1, 1920
Note Mother Jones at center front.
—–

Many of the Kentucky mine workers, it is said, live in Mingo county and only recently joined the miners’ union. The recent affiliation with the union of the men affected by the strike order, it is said, is the cause of the present situation.

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Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review, Volume I, Issue 1: The St. Louis Streetcar Strike and Posse Comitatus

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, re St Louis Streetcar Strike Massacre, LW p1, June 23, 1900———–

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 2, 1900
St. Louis, Missouri – Strikers Slaughtered by Posse Comitatus

From the International Socialist Review of July 1900:

The Chicago and St. Louis Strikes

[Part II of II.]

Labor Martyrs, St Louis Streetcar Strike copy, StL Rpb p1, June 11, 1900
St. Louis Republican of June 11, 1900

The St. Louis street car strike, like the one just described, started with various subjects of dispute and soon narrowed down to a question of the recognition of the right of the men to act together. From the beginning this strike was marked with acts of violence. However much this may be deplored the fact remains that so long as capital exists it is impossible for any large strike to continue for any length of time without the accompaniment of violence. This is especially true when lines of transportation are concerned.

When non-union men are so conspicuously engaged in treason to their class as they must be when they run street cars or railroad trains in time of strike it would require a stage of human development far above that of capitalism to produce the sort of human beings that will stand idly by and see their means of living taken away and not resort to violence. But before commenting further on the subject of violence during strikes a few observations are necessary. In the first place it is well to remember that the press is in the control of the present ruling capitalist class and always exaggerates any violence that may take place and in a great many instances, notably during the great railroad strike of 1894, manufactures out of whole cloth long and elaborate stories of acts of violence that never occurred at all. This in itself is sufficient proof of which class it is that deserves violence, “The wish is father to the thought.”

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Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review, Volume I, Issue 1: The Great Chicago Building Trades Lock-Out

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Proud Socialists SDP Conv, SF Cls Strgl p4, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 1, 1900
Chicago, Illinois – Great Lock-Out of Building Trades Continues

From the International Socialist Review of July 1900:

“The Chicago and St. Louis Strikes”
Part I of II.

Chicago n St Louis Strikes, ISR p58, July 1900

At the beginning there were various points of contention, but as time passed these all gave way to one main point of contention, the question of the principle of federated trades. All the building trades of Chicago are federated for such common action as may be thought necessary in the Building Trades Council. The contractors insist that this body disband as a condition to any settlement whatever.

This is, of course, an absolutely impossible condition for the laborers, the concession of which would not be a settlement at all, but a crushing defeat. It would mean the setting back of labor one step in the long upward struggle of centuries; the abandonment of one vantage point gained at terrible cost. The individual union is almost if not quite as helpless in the face of the intensely concentrated capital of today as was the individual work man before the capitalist employer of a generation ago. This was especially emphasized in the Chicago struggle as the employers were all united in a Central Contractors’ Council. The fact that the contractors never dreamed of dissolving their central body proved the purely class nature of their demand and showed that the dispute was one that could be settled only by a test of strength.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones is “one of the most conspicuous figures in the strike of the Maryland coal miners.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 30, 1900
Georges Creek Coal Region, Maryland – Mother Jones Organizing Coal Miners

From Wisconsin’s Kenosha Evening News of June 26, 1900:

MOTHER TO STRIKERS
—–

Mother Jones, Matronly Woman Organizer, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900

Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900

One of the most conspicuous figures in the strike of the Maryland coal miners is Mrs. Mary Jones, who is popularly known in labor circles as “Mother” Jones. She is an organizer and is apt to be found anywhere in the country during a strike.

“Mother” Jones is a matronly looking old lady of 60, with plump, red cheeks, pleasant blue eyes and abundant white hair.

As a writer,speaker and propagandist for socialistic doctrines, “Mother” Jones has been successful. She has been in reform movements for 20 years, mostly in the west, and for some time has been a newspaper correspondent, but her penchant is a strike, the harder the better. No matter where the trouble comes, there she goes-some way, somehow. She always refuses to take pay for her work and says she does not “help the boys” for what little money she can get.

Four years ago she stumped the state of Georgia for the child labor bill, and she tells some interesting stories about the children between 6 and 10 years working 14 hours a day for about 10 or 15 cents.

She took part in the coal miners strike of 1894, the American Railway union strike, the textile workers’ strike and countless other smaller strikes. When the miners were practically beaten in Arnatt [Arnot] last year, she went and organized the women and children. How she did it no one knows, but for nine months she held those miners together and finally won a settlement. When she left there a few weeks ago, the whole little coal region turned out in a body to see her go. Mrs. Jones says she will not leave the George’s creek coal region until the operators consent to meet the miners.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones is “one of the most conspicuous figures in the strike of the Maryland coal miners.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: Mother Jones Doing Good Work for Striking Coal Miners of Lonaconing

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 29, 1900
Lonaconing, Maryland – Mother Jones Stands with Striking Coal Miners

From the Appeal to Reason of June 23, 1900:

Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900

Mother Jones has been doing her usual amount of good work with the coal miners of Lonaconing, Pa [Maryland]. A local paper says in an account of a strike meeting: “Mother Jones was then introduced and proved herself beyond question a remarkable woman. She received liberal applause, and a number of ladies were present to hear her.”

[Drawing and emphasis added.]

From the Washington Times of June 23, 1900:

VIEWS OE MOTHER JONES
—–
Woman Labor Leader Explains Her
Interest in the Cause.

BALTIMORE, June 22.-“Mother” Jones, the widely known labor leader, was in Baltimore today in the interest of the striking coal miners of the Georges Creek region. The Federation of Labor is arranging a series of mass meetings for the near future to be addressed by her.

Mrs. Jones does not look like the fiery agitator that she has been described. A motherly, good natured face is lighted by kindly blue eyes and crowned by silver hair. She is evidently over the half-century mark, but is as active as a young girl. “I love my work and it loves me,” she said when her physical vigor was commented upon. She speaks deliberately, with a pleasant voice suggestive of an ancestry to be credited to Ireland, and uses excellent language.

“Why shouldn’t a woman take part in all efforts for the benefit of labor?” she asked in response to a question. ”

Labor is the basis of all society. A woman should surely be interested in her surroundings and her home and do her part to uplift both. When did I begin this work? So many years ago that I have forgotten. I go wherever I think I can be of use. I have taken part in strikes all over the country, and have always urged peaceful methods. All these complex problems will be solved peacefully in time through the molding of public sentiment and the ballot box.

Am I a woman’s suffragist? Well, I have never been identified with the movement or belonged to any organization that was. I think beneficial results have always followed the placing of the ballot in woman’s hands. The excellent labor laws of Australia and New Zealand came only after women began to vote. Colorado, where women vote, is the only State that has taken steps to investigate the labor laws of Australia and New Zealand with a view of adopting them.

A woman becomes no less a woman when she studies social and political conditions and takes part in public affairs. A broadened intellect teaches her to love her home better. Such a woman, as a rule, loves her home and family better than the society woman who hands her children over to hired people to rear.

“Mother” Jones returned to western Maryland today, but will come to Baltimore again next week to make several speeches.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason: Mother Jones Doing Good Work for Striking Coal Miners of Lonaconing” →

Hellraisers Journal: Eugene Debs, the Socialist Candidate for President, Greets Running Mate, Seymour Stedman

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote EVD re SP n Working Class, Atlanta Cstn p2, May 30, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 27, 1920
Atlanta Federal Penitentiary – Debs Greets Stedman with a Kiss

From the Appeal to Reason of June 26, 1920:

EVD Kisses Stedman at Atlanta Pen, AtR p2, June 26, 1920

President Should Pardon Debs

William M. Reedy, in Reedy’s Mirror.

President Wilson should order the release from prison of Eugene V. Debs. He will, if he has any place in that heart which so throbs for humanity in the abstract, for the individual man. He will, if he has any admiration for a man whose convictions defy prison and death. He will, if he has any brotherliness for another who obeys those “voices” which Wilson himself hears and obeys as Socrates did his demon. He will not doom Debs to death for his opinions based on a higher law than that of that man-made, Hobbesian God, the State. I understand that Mr. Debs is in a much weakened condition as the result of his confinement, that his physical plight is such as to make his immurement during hot weather extremely dangerous.

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Hellraisers Journal: Gunthugs Cross Tug River from Mingo County to Inflict Reign of Terror on Pike County Miners

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 26, 1920
Pike County, Kentucky – Miners Marched in Chains by Company Gunthugs

From The Buffalo Labor Journal of June 24, 1920:

Pike Co KY Terrorized by Gunthugs, Ellsworth Co Ldr KS p1, June 24, 1920

EVICTED MINERS IN CHAINS
—–

Charleston, W. Va.-When Pike county (Ky.) miners joined the union they were evicted from company houses, chained together and marched in mud and rain 30 miles by armed guards.

This is one of the sensational statements made in a report to President Keeney, district No. 17, United Mine Workers’ union, by Thomas West, attorney, who investigated Pike county mining troubles. Pike county is opposite Matewan, where several persons were recently killed by Baldwin-Feltz detectives.

[Said the investigator:]

The miners were chained together and were walked in a pouring rain to Pike, 25 or 30 miles away. Mud was almost knee deep. Pike county deputies shot a man’s hands off on the Kentucky side of Borderland. About 30 of them were terrorizing both sides of the river. The Pike county deputies were all drunk. In my opinion they constitute one of the most dangerous gangs of men I ever came in contact with.

[Newsclip added from Ellsworth County Leader of Kansas of June 24, 1920.]

From the Duluth Labor World of June 26, 1920:

MINERS HAVE NO TIME FOR
W. VA. PRIVATE POLICE
—–
Protest Against Continued Use-
Demand That U. S. Senate
Make Investigation.
—–

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., June 25.— Every possible effort is being made by the United Mine Workers of America to bring about a full and thorough investigation of conditions in West Virginia under which coal miners are employed. The recent battle between coal miners and coal company gun­men at Matewan, W. Va., in which 10 men were killed, has caused the officials of the union to redouble their efforts to induce congress to make a sweeping probe of the situation.

Operating under the guise of private detectives, hundreds of gunmen and thugs, nearly all with criminal records, are employed by coal operators of some fields of West Virginia, and these men enforce a reign of terror among the miners and their families. Miners are beaten, slugged and shot. They are arrested and thrown in prison on no valid pretext whatever.

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