Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 27, 1900 Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Leads Army of Women from McAdoo to Coleraine
From The Philadelphia Inquirer of September 23, 1900:
Sketched on the Spot by an Inquirer Staff Artist. —————
WOMEN FIRED TO FRENZY MARCH ON MINES AND HUGGING THE WORKERS THEY FORCE THEM TO LEAVE THEIR POST ——- Females Led by Mother Jones Form a Strange and Remarkable Procession-Shouting and Waving Their Arms They Dance to Martial Music
From a Staff Correspondent.
HAZLETON, PA., Sept. 22-Unless there is a speedy close down of the mines whose operators persist in keeping them running with armed protection, there s going to be trouble in this district. When it comes, the women will be at the bottom of it. In the early hours this morning they swooped down upon Coleraine and Beaver Meadows. They were led by Mother Jones. They marched with a band at their head, the men falling back in the rear. In the journey some of the party were girls, who gave way to the wildest abandon and danced and shouted, waving their arms in the air.
On arriving at Coleraine, emotional frenzy reached its limit. The men who on their way to work were seized, When cold argument failed some of the women threw their arms about the miners’ necks and exercised all their powers of pleading. Unable to resist the demonstrative actions of the women, the miners gave in, and consented to return to their homes.
Flushed with victory, the raiding party proceeded on to Beaver Meadow. There were about a hundred women in it, and male recruits had been picked up all along the road, so that the entire aggregation numbered five or six hundred. They reached Beaver Meadow too late for any demonstration with the miners, as they were in the colliery at work.
While here an incident occurred that, had the men lost their heads., might have precipitated a riot. One of the women of the party was seized rather roughly by the arm by a deputy and ordered off the premises, which belong to the Cross Creek Coal Company. Some of the men were disposed to make it warm for the representative of the law, but cooler counsel prevailed…..
[Emphasis added.]
From the Philadelphia Times of September 23, 1900:
WOMEN’S TEARS KEPT THEM OUT
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Wives and Daughters of Miners Doing
Excellent Missionary Work.
Special Telegram to THE TIMES.
Hazleton, September 22.
The one dramatic feature in connection with the strike in this region to-day was the march of five hundred women from McAdoo to Coleraine at an early hour this morning. The marchers were headed by Mother Jones, who is doing yeoman service in the cause of labor.
All of the marchers carried brooms and one young Irish girl named Alice McGee amused the crowd by dancing jigs and reels at points along the march.
By the time the marchers reached Coleraine they were joined by a crowd of at least 1,000 men, who were just going to work. The women, who were all wives and daughters of the miners, and who know what it is to endure the hardships of a strike, appealed to the men, and with good effect. Some of the more hardened, however, refused to listen to the appeals, and not until the women approached them and threw their arms about their necks, putting forth appeals that would melt the hardest heart, did they consent to yield. Dinner cans were handed over to the fair maidens by most of the men and those who refused to listen to reason and entered the mines were principally bosses and favorites of the operators.
The work completed at Coleraine, the march was resumed to the Beaver Meadow colliery, but here the miners had reported earlier, and had been lowered down the slope some time before the arrival of the marchers, so that but little was accomplished.
Retracing their steps they returned to Coleraine, where a meeting had been called to receive the answer to a list of grievances presented several days ago. None of the committee was present and after waiting for some time, Organizer James, who was present, demanded that some one of the committee step forward and and announce the result.
Finally one of the men mustered up courage and stopped to the platform. He informed the assemblage that the operators of the Van Wickle mine had prepared an answer, but the result would not be made public until the men returned to work. This was met with a volley of hisses, and the boss was compelled to retire.
Immediately following this scene Organizer James addressed the miners at some length, at the conclusion of which they proceeded to the school house, where fully 500 miners signed the roll and vowed allegiance to the United Mine Workers.
It can be asserted that not a wheel will he turned at Coleraine and Beaver Meadow on Monday.
Note: Coleraine Colliery no longer exists. Coleraine was located in Banks Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, at what is now the town of Junedale, between McAdoo and Beaver Meadows. See:
-re Coleraine Colliery and Van Wickle Estate: History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania
-by Frederick Charles Brenckman
J. J. Nungesser, 1913
(search: coleraine colliery van wickle) https://books.google.com/books?id=VyIUAAAAYAAJ -from page 169:
Coleraine colliery, now owned and operated by the A. S. Van Wickle Estate, was the second to be opened in the township.
For historic photos of Coleraine and Beaver Meadows, see: Around Hazleton
-by Richard W. Funk
Arcadia Publishing, 2005
(search separately: “coleraine” “beaver meadows”) https://books.google.com/books?id=bNpi3BC5zEQC
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I Am A Union Woman – Deborah Holland Lyrics by Aunt Molly Jackson
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