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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 10, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up of June 1902, Part II
Arrested at Clarksburg, West Virginia; Taken to Parkersburg

From West Virginia’s Clarksburg Telegram of June 13, 1902:

Organizers & Agitators Enjoined
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Judge Mason Issues State Court Injunctions
and Judge Jackson Federal Injunctions.
Some Organizers Arrested.

Last Saturday [June 7] was the time fixed for a general strike among the miners in this state. In the Clarksburg and Fairmont regions but little attention has been paid to it. The day found nearly all the men at work as usual and the mines were in operation, as if there had been no order issued for a strike.

A small crowd of people composed of miners who have been idle for months, other miners, farmers, women and children, about 150 all told was addressed at Mines’ ford, by Mary Jones, known as “Mother Jones,” Saturday morning. The meeting did not result in any definite action or change the situation.

The first of the week the miners from Flemington, who obeyed the strike order, went over to Monongah and formed a marching party. For two or three days they continued to march to and fro between Monongah and Enterprise and some disorder resulted. The Fairmont Coal Company secured an injunction Tuesday [June 10] from Judge Mason at Fairmont against several of the organizers and agitators, restraining them from entering upon the company’s property or interfering with the company’s employes. Some of the organizers were arrested upon this injunction and taken to Fairmont, among whom was Thomas Hagerty and Bernard Rice, “Mother Jones” succeeded in evading arrest.

This was followed by a federal injunction Wednesday afternoon [June 11] issued by Judge John J. Jackson, at Parkersburg, restraining them from marching around or about the company’s grounds and on the roads leading to the mines. U. S. Marshall C. D. Elliott, of Parkersburg, went down the river Wednesday night with a number of deputies to serve the injunctions.

[Marshall Elliott] had summons for Thomas Hagerty, Edward McKay, Thomas Burk, Mary Jones, alias “Mother” Jones, William Morgan, Bernard Rice, J. D. Springer, John Noon, L. D. Murphy, Clyde Hawkins, Sam’l Rogers, James Lake, Charles Ashcraft, John W. Nester, Charles Henderson, Martin Henderson, Webb Poling, Jno. Marci, Edward House, Joe Bell, Orem Brown, John Edwards, Joe Paggoni, David Grace, and Gordon Rush…

[Photograph added.]

From the Danville Kentucky Advocate of June 16, 1902:

WEST VIRGINIA STRIKE.
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Effort Made to Enlist the Co-Operation
of the Railroad Men.
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Clarksburg, W. Va., June 16.-An effort is being made to induce the railroad men to refuse to handle coal mined in this district. Success in this would mean a complete suspension of mining. There is some little uneasiness among the operators. Organizers left this field Monday on the West Virginia Central to induce a strike among the miners of the Davis Elkins syndicate. Mother Jones and others addressed 300 hundred men Sunday at Willow Tree school house, near Monongahela [Monongah]. The crowd was largely composed of women, children and farmers. 

From the Parkersburg Daily Morning News of June 21, 1902:

[Mother Jones Arrested While Speaking
to Strikers at Clarksburg]

[Clarksburg, June 20]-Mother Jones’ address this afternoon was more than ordinarily bitter. She has good command of language and a powerful voice, which combined with her grey hair and commanding bearing and pleasant face give her undoubtedly much influence. She understands her power and how to use it, and while in private conversation shows a surprisingly cultivated manner and correct speech. Her language, when addressing a crowd of miners, is much after their common style and is thickly interspersed with slang and homely wit. In her speech today she denounced the mine operators as robbers, and defied Judge Jackson, placing him in the same class, and asserting that he, as well as the newspapers, and even the preachers, are in league with the interests of the mine owners against the mine workers. She was vigorously cheered at different times during her address, and especially at the close while the marshal and his deputies were making their arrests. She closed her address by urging the miners not to work, not to drink, to avoid all lawlessness and to stick together and continue to “agitate.”

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Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1902, Part II: Mother Jones Arrested with Organizers of UMWA at Clarksburg, West Virginia” →