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Hellraisers- Thursday July 24, 1902
Cincinnati, Ohio – Mother Jones Interviewed on Her Way Back to West Virginia
From The Cincinnati Post of July 23, 1902:
[Part I of II]
With a nervous little nod and a deprecating smile, “Mother Jones,” best known throughout the coal regions as “the miners’ good angel,” greeted me in her room at the Dennison House Tuesday evening. “Mother Jones” had stopped over in Cincinnati on her way from the Indianapolis convention of United Mineworkers, to speak before the Central Labor Council at Cosmopolitan Hall.
Mother Jones is at least 60 and a picture of health and comeliness. Her ample white hair is becomingly arranged in soft waves and puffs. A delicate pink tints her cheeks, smooth whiteness when she becomes excited, and her eyes are veritable Irish ones-full of humor, pathos and “the melancholy which transcends all wit.”
OUT ON BAIL
She is out on bail now. Two weeks ago she was placed on trial before Judge Jackson at Parkersburg, W. Va., with 10 miners, charged with violating an injunction order issued during the coal strike in that State. A decision in the case is to be rendered by the Judge Thursday, and “Mother Jones” has said that she wouldn’t be surprised if she were sent to jail.
Unmindful of the prison cell which may be awaiting her, however, the plucky little woman spent the day in Cincinnati shopping. From the middle of a very womanly disorder of tangled twine, torn wrapping paper and articles of feminine adornment, “Mother” Jones begged me to be seated. Considering that she had refused to see me until I had nearly exhausted a very plump and exceedingly warm-looking bell boy with plaintive messages, Mrs. Jones’ smile was a concession.
SUBJECT NEAREST HER HEART
She was unmistakably ill at ease when I opened the conversation with a remark about herself. Her slim, nervous fingers picked imaginary specks off her respectable black gown, and she eyed me with suspicion.
She picked up my note and quoted: “Dear Mrs. Jones, please see me, and you can talk about anything you wish.”
“Seeing that it is so nominated in the bond,” said she, “I choose to talk about my people, the miners.“
Softly stroking a pair of new, gray silk mitts-a purchase of the morning-the dainty old lady began to speak of the work nearest her heart, As she talked every vestige of nervousness vanished and the silk mitts were apparently forgotten.
KNOWS THE MINER’S LIFE
[Said she:]
My dear, I have lived, worked, suffered and rejoiced with the miners. They are my people. When the outside world says it knows all about the miners’ troubles and their wrongs, it has no conception of the home life or the privations and sorrow which dwell under every miner’s roof.
Tears dimmed the blue eyes of the little white-haired woman and made tremulous the vibrant tones. For the time being the noted labor organizer and adviser was only an old lady in the sixties whose motherly heart yearned for the sorrows of those dear to her, and who was denied, through force of circumstances, the shelter of home life and the tender work “Mother” uttered by her own children.
I am often sad when I think of the boys and their dreadful struggle for liberty and justice, but I am never discouraged.
Fire flashed back into her eyes, and the gray mitts were twisted into a hard knot.
Please god, the brave lads won’t have to suffer much longer. My child, the labor conditions in America will be changed before 50 years have passed. Oh, the days and nights I have spent with the miners far down under the ground.
I have watched their supreme courage slowly vanish under the test of their little ones’ cries for bread, and yet I hope
“Mine eyes shall see the glory of the coming of the Lord,” that means lightened toil for the oppressed. The coming of the Lord means the coming of justice and liberty.
As she talked at some length on the miners’ wrongs, she rose beyond the traditional meek and humble woman. The litter of dainty ribbons and pretty lawns seemed out of place as she talked of a national organization of all laboring classes with the fire of a Joan of Arc.
[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCE & IMAGES
The Cincinnati Post
(Cincinnati, Ohio)
-July 23, 1902
https://www.newspapers.com/image/761305973/
See also:
Tag: West Virginia Coalfield Strike of 1902-1903
https://weneverforget.org/tag/west-virginia-coalfield-strike-of-1902-1903/
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Miners’ Life – Kilshannig