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Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 12, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia – Mother Jones Meets with Governor Hatfield
From The Washington Times of May 8, 1913:
“Mother” Jones Out of Martial Law Zone
———-
CHARLESTON. W. Va., May 8.-For the first time since her arrest last February in connection with the coal mine strike, “Mother” Mary Jones, known as the “Angel of the Mines,” was today outside the martial law zone, although technically under surveillance of the military authorities.
“Mother” Jones was brought to Charleston last night, and had an hour’s conversation with Governor Hatfield. She will talk with the governor again today. The aged woman said today her conversation with the chief executive was purely on economic questions. She is not under guard while here, and will not be placed under strict surveillance unless she attempts to make a speech.
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[Photograph and emphasis added.]
From the Duluth Labor World of May 10, 1913:
HATFIELD ADMITS HE’S AN AUTOCRAT
———-
Governor Of West Virginia Attempts to Deny
Charges of Peonage and Tyranny.
———-MOTHER JONES STILL IN MILITARY PRISON
———-
Hatfield Makes Evasive Statement In Which
He Calls His Accusers Liars.
———-CHARLESTON, W. Va., May 8.-Gov. Henry Hatfield of West Virginia, in a statement last night, attacked Senator John W. Kern of Indiana, who is expected to bring up a resolution which he introduced some time ago in the United States senate providing for federal investigation of conditions in the West Virginia coal fields. The governor declares the senator has been misinformed; that the coal strike is over; that he intends to arrest any person “aiding and abetting lawlessness, and that he courts a thorough investigation.” In his statement the governor says:
“I am informed that Senator Kern has made a statement that peonage exists in West Virginia and that Mrs. Mary (Mother) Jones has been on trial before a drum-head military court for the last 30 days.
“In reply to the senator’s statement relative to peonage, I wish to say that his allegation is a fabrication. Mrs. Jones is not now, nor has she at any time since her arrest been in prison. She is being detained (and is not in any way confined) at a pleasant boarding house with a private family on the banks of the Kanawha River at Pratt, W. Va.
Sure, He Is a Czar.
“I do not intend to permit Mrs. Jones or any other person to come into West Virginia and make speeches that have a tendency to produce riot and bloodshed, such as was evidenced under the administration of Governor Glasscock. We have evidence in abundance to prove that the kind of speeches made by Mrs. Jones and her co-workers did bring about a riotous state which resulted in murder and the destruction of property. We have a dozen of the same class of people confined in different jails of the state, some of them guilty of murder, others guilty of aiding and abetting by furnishing the necessary firearms and ammunition with which to commit murder.
Why Should He Fear?
“The honorable body of which Senator Kern is a member has a perfect right to investigate West Virginia or any part of it. I shall be delighted to have such an investigation and will use my best efforts to aid the investigation committee in any way I can. But Senator Kern must remember that I am responsible to the people of West Virginia for the maintenance of law and order, and it will be maintained by me during my term office at any hazard, and when it comes necessary to detain or jail people to accomplish this purpose, it will be done unhesitatingly.
“The long drawn out strike at Paint and Cabin creeks is at an end. Fewer than 50 people are today out work in that section, and before the middle of the week everyone will have been cared for.
Let Investigation Show Who Lies!
“I note that one of the statements of Senator Kern is to the effect that he knows positively that one newspaper correspondent was ejected during the trial of ‘Mother’ Jones and deported from the state. I can use no better terms and cannot express myself more forcibly than to say that this was a wilful and deliberate lie on the part of the one who informed Senator Kern, and it would not at all surprise me to learn that the senator knew this to be the case when he made the statement.”
———-
WASHINGTON, May 8.-Determined to bring about congressional inquiry into the conditions of peonage, terrorism and suspension of civil rights in the coal fields of West Virginia, was announced by Senator Kern, Indiana majority leader of the upper house, today, after he read Governor Hatfield’s attack and had received from ex-Senator Watson, West Virginia, a telegraphic plea that the investigation be dropped.
WATSON IS ONE OF THE WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINE OWNERS.
Kern Is Determined.
[Declared Senator Kern:]
Peonage is the question. Reports of the hunting of men across the hills as though they were escaped convicts, or wild beasts is the question and we are going to have an inquiry. Charges of violation of contract labor laws and use of martial law are among the things we will probe.
Last Inquiry Suppressed.
I propose to have it shown that when federal experts investigated the conditions last year, whole pages of the report were suppressed by the department of commerce and labor.
Do you realize that down there, within 250 miles of the national capitol, a drumhead courtmartial has for the past 30 days been trying “Mother” Jones, a woman 80 years of age, who for 40 years has been engaged in humanitarian work and is one of the very greatest women in this country. She is said to know more people than any other American woman.
There are a few things that a congressional investigation of West Virginia peonage should consider.
[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, WV Court Martial, No Plea to Make,
Ptt Pst p3, Mar 8, 1913
https://www.newspapers.com/article/pittsburgh-daily-post-mar-8-1913-pittsb/123676845/
The Washington Times
(Washington, District of Columbia)
-May 8, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1913-05-08/ed-1/seq-1/
The Labor World
(Duluth, Minnesota)
-May 10, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1913-05-10/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78000395/1913-05-10/ed-1/seq-6/
IMAGE
WV Militia v Miners n Mother Jones, Missoulian p6, Feb 21, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025316/1913-02-21/ed-1/seq-6/
See also
Everybody’s Magazine, Volume 28
North American Company, 1913
-May 1913
“Sweet Land of Liberty-Feudalism and Civil War
in the United States of America, Now” -by M. Michelson
(search: “sweet land of liberty”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=3Z7PAAAAMAAJ
https://archive.org/details/sim_everybodys-magazine_1913-05_28_5/page/614/mode/2up?view=theater
Literary Digest of May 10, 1913, p1045
–”Peace in West Virginia”
(search: “mother jones”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=iFJFAQAAMAAJ
Tag: West Virginia Court Martial of Mother Jones + 48 of 1913
https://weneverforget.org/tag/west-virginia-court-martial-of-mother-jones-48-of-1913/
Tag: Senate Investigation of Paint Creek Coal Fields of West Virginia of 1913
https://weneverforget.org/tag/senate-investigation-of-paint-creek-coal-fields-of-west-virginia-of-1913/
Tag: Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike of 1912-1913
https://weneverforget.org/tag/paint-creek-cabin-creek-strike-of-1912-1913/
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Mother Jones, No More Deaths For Dollars – Ed Pickford