Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 10, 1904 Coal Creek, Tennessee – Company Gunthugs Murder Four Men
From the Coffeyville Daily Journal of February 9, 1904:
A STRIKE TRAGEDY. ———- Four Men Killed and Three Wounded in Tennessee.
The New York Times February 8, 1904
Knoxville, Tenn., Feb. 9.-A bloody tragedy was enacted [Sunday, Feb. 7th] in the little mining town of Coal Creek, Tenn., forty miles northwest of Knoxville, as the result of which four lives were snuffed out and three persons wounded, one perhaps fatally. The clash was the culmination of the trouble between union and non-union labor. Three of the dead men were killed by guards employed by the Coal Creek Coal company, while the fourth victim, a deputy sheriff, was killed by a guard he had gone to arrest. The dead:
MONROE BLACK, miner, aged 24 years; married; leaves wife. W. W. TAYLOR, miner, aged 31; leaves wife and four children. JACOB SHARP, section hand; a bystander, aged 35; leaves wife and six children. DEPUTY SHERIFF ROBERT S. HARMON, killed by Cal Burton, a guard at the Briceville mine.
The wounded are:
A. R. Watts, merchant of Coal Creek, an innocent by stander, shot through both cheeks. Mote Cox, miner, shot through the left arm. Jeff Hoskins, engineer on the Southern railway; slightly wounded.
When the wage scale was signed in district 19, United Mine Workers of America, the Coal Creek company refused to comply with the demands of the men. They refused to resume work in the Fraterville and Thistle mines, and for several months these two mines were shut down. Efforts were made to resume with non-union men, but these were either induced to join the union or were chased away, presumably by union men. The aid of the courts was invoked to oust families of union miners from the houses owned by the company. Scores of arrests were made for trespassing, and ill feeling was thus engendered. Recently a dozen guards, in charge of Jud Reeder, who served as lieutenant of police in this city for many years, were employed to guard the mines and protect the men who had been induced to go to work.
Non-union men were being brought to the mines every few days and Reeder and his guards would go to the railroad station and meet them. Today the crowd of idlers around the station was increased. Reeder and twelve guards came from the mines to meet a few non-union men who were to arrive on the morning train. When the non-union men got off the train, they were seen by a number of small boys, who began yelling, “Scab.” The killing grew out of this taunt. It is hard to tell what the provocation was, but the miners must have crowded up and attempted to take away the non-union men bodily or offered some direct insult to the guards.
Reeder and another guard drew their pistols and began shooting, Reeder doing the most of it. Miners and bystanders were taken by surprise and before they could realize what had happened the guards had climbed into their wagons and driven back to the mines.
About 12 o’clock a dispute arose between Deputy Sheriff Bob Harmon and Guard Cal Burton [whom Harmon was attempting to arrest]. Burton shot Harmon twice, killing him instantly.
[Newsclip and emphasis added.]
It is interesting that the reporter’s account supplies the company guards with an excuse for opening up gunfire on unarmed protesters. Seems the reporter could not believe that company gunthugs would murder striking miners and bystanders for no other reason than that some small boys hollered “Scab.”
Note: Willful neglect of safety standards by the Coal Creek Coal Company led to deaths of 184 men and boys in the Fraterville Mine Explosion on May 19, 1902.
—————
From The Atlanta Constitution of February 10, 1904:
TROOPS MAY GO TO COAL CREEK ———- Governor Frazier Goes to Tennessee Mines To Investigate Trouble ———-
Knoxville, Tenn., February 9.-Governor J. B. Frazier arrived here this morning from Nashville. After a conference with parties here who are familiar with the situation at Coal Creek as a result of the fatal engagement there on Sunday [Feb. 7th] in which four men were killed and eight seriously wounded, he decided to go to Coal Creek and investigate for himself.
Governor Frazier left here at 9:30 o’clock. He was accompanied by Adjutant General Harvey H. Hannah, Judge R. M. Barton, of the court of chancery appeals, and Hon. James H. Welcker, whom the governor invited as a legal adviser. Governor Frazier declined to commit himself as to whether he did or did not favor sending state troops to Coal Creek.
Pressure has been brought to bear upon the governor to detail troops to guard the Fraterville and Thistle coal mines, in which the Coal Creek Coal Company is working non-union men. However, other pressure is simultaneously advising against such a step.
The killing Sunday was the result of putting non-union men to work in the mines. They were hooted, which precipitated the the difficulty leading to the casualties. Governor Frazier may remain at Coal Creek a day or two. He is in ill health and had intended leaving today for Hot Springs, Ark, but he deemed it his first duty to ascertain positively the situation at Coal Creek before leaving the state.
The trials of B. J. Reeder and Deputy Sheriff Bolton [Deputized Company Gunthug], which were to have occurred yesterday afternoon at Clinton were continued until Wednesday. George M. Camp, superintendent of the company’s mine, is under bond, being charged as an accessory.
Militia companies at Knoxville, Morristown, Maryville and Harriman are holding themselves in readiness to go to Coal Creek if ordered. Yesterday 200 blankets and fifty tents were shipped from Nashville to Knoxville.
Governor Addresses Miners.
At Coal Creek this afternoon Governor Frazier addressed one thousand miners assembled near the depot. Governor Frazier said that the lawless acts of the miners would have to be stopped and that if the county authorities could not cope with the situation that the state would assume instant charge. In response to a question of how many of those present would agree to see that the law was maintained every man in the great crowd raised his hand as a pledge. The governor warned them that at the least lawlessness troops would be ordered and that if there was bloodshed the responsibility would be on their heads.
Vice President M. S. Elliott, of District No. 19, United Mine Workers of America, spoke a few words to the crowd. He endorsed what the governor had said and told the men to do as the governor advised. Deputy Sheriff Link Williams has been put in charge of the sheriff’s office, Governor Frazier having removed Sheriff Moore for recent actions.
The governor has ordered the new sheriff to summon 50 citizens to act as his assistants in maintaining order, but those summoned are declining to go to Coal Creek. The governor and his party returned to Knoxville tonight and the governor intends to return to Nashville in the morning.
[Emphasis added]
The “lawless” act on the part of miners, for which the gunthugs opened fire on unarmed strikers, was that young boys “hooted” at scabs. According to the Governor, any bloodshed resulting from such a terrible act of “lawlessness” is well deserved and on the heads of the miners. Nevertheless, take note of the fact that two of the gunthugs are facing trial, and a mine superintendent is being charged as an accessory. It is a rare occurrence that company gunthugs are held to account for the murder of unarmed strikers.
Women and the American Left: A Guide to Sources -by Mari Jo Buhle G.K. Hall, 1983
May Beals Hoffpauir (1879-1956) worked as an organizer for the Socialist Party of America among the field workers of Louisiana and coal miners of Tennessee. She edited the Red Flag, a cultural magazine published in Abbeville, Louisiana, in 1907-1908
Note: Official death toll was 184, which did not include many of the boys who accompanied their fathers as helpers, and therefore, did not have tags left above. Neglect of safety standards by the Coal Creek Coal Company led to the disaster:
Historical Summary of Coal-mine Explosions in the United States -Hiram Brown Humphrey U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959 (search: fraterville) https://books.google.com/books?id=58HBaYSQzmsC
May 19, 1902; Fraterville Mine; Coal Creek, Tenn.; 184 Killed [Coal Creek Coal Company to Blame]
(From report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1902, Bureau of Mines Files)
The mine, opened in 1870, was one of the oldest in the State and had been in almost continuous operation; 200 men and boys were employed.
The furnace was not fired from Saturday night until Monday morning, and ventilation was stagnated. The mine was considered to be non-gassy although gas was known to be present in that section of the old and abandoned Knoxville Iron Company mine into which openings has recently been made.
The miners had not been in the mine more than an hour when at 7:20 a.m. thick smoke and dust were seen coming from the ventilating shaft and from the mouth of the mine.
Rescuing parties were organized and penetrated about 200 feet where they came upon the body of a victim of the afterdamp. They could go no farther and returned to await dispersal of the deadly gas.
At 4 o’clock a rescue corps again entered. Brattices had been destroyed, and along the main entry the force of the explosion was terrific; timbers and cogs placed to hold a squeeze were blown out, mine cars, wheels, and doors were shattered, and bodies were dismembered.
In other parts of the mine no heat or violence was shown, and suffocation had brought death to those whose bodies were found there.
A barricade had been placed across 15 right entry near the heading to protect miners there from the deadly afterdamp. The 26 miners found there must have lived for several hours, as notes were written as late as 2 p.m.
At first it was thought that gas had come from the old mine, but later inspectors indicated that the gas was liberated from overhanging strata by the “creep” that had begun with unusual violence shortly before the explosion. The gas accumulated because of inadequate ventilation and was ignited by the open lights. Dust was thick in the mine and was blown up and burned in the explosion. No sprinkling was done.
Recommendations by the Mine Inspector that had not been carried out were for cleaning and enlarging airways, rebuilding brattices and doors, increasing the furnace capacity, tests for gas, and removing dust.
Testimony given before the commissioner on June 6, 1902, was emphatic in condemning the laxity of the officials, as:
The mine foreman was not competent, and the company had not installed a fan as the State Inspector had recommended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fratersville Mining Disaster – When The Mines Grew Still in Fratersville -performed by Tony Thomas, lyrics by John Rice Irwin
The Unknown Miner – Fratersville Mine Disaster 1902
—————