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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 24, 1910
“Westmoreland Miner’s Strike” -a Poem by James Coles
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SOURCE & IMAGES
From: Pennsylvania History, 1997
“Worker solidarity, judicial oppression and police repression in the Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania coal miners’ strike, 1910-11”
-by Judith McDonough
-From page 5: poem source:
https://libcom.org/history/westmoreland-county-coal-miners-strike-1910-11
https://libcom.org/files/Westmoreland-strike.pdf
See also:
For more on James Coles, see:
Latrobe [PA] Bulletin of Sept 2, 1910:
-James Coles found on list of miners arrested during Westmoreland Strike.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57960534/sept-2-1910-latrobe-pa-bulletin-james/
-from last paragraph:
In the suit which the Jamison Coal and Coke Company filed, the names of the following miners are included in the writ:…..James Coles…..The bail required in each case is $500 and the sum asked from the miners is $200,000 for damaging their business.
Pittsburg National Labor Tribune-p1 of Sept 8, 1910:
-List of striking miners arrested includes James Coles of Greensburg PA.
https://www.genealogybank.com/
-Headline:
Irwin Operators Asks Courts To Make Unions Criminal. No Less Than Eighty-Seven Mine Union Leaders Made Defendants In Suits Which Have United The Labor Organizations of Whole Country in a Resolve to Win the Fight In the Irwin Mining Field.
Note: Despite much searching, was unable to find the original source for this poem. The source given by McDonough is: Ralph Cordier Collection, Specialized Collections, Indiana University of PA. The photo from that source appears to be from a newspaper or magazine, most likely from August or September of 1910, since Coles poem states that the strike had been on for five months. I suggest that local historians try checking out Greensburg Argus or Washington PA Union Labor Journal, edited by William Clark Black. Sadly, neither one is available online at this time. According to Thomas F. Kennedy, both papers covered the strike from miners’ point of view.
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Note: tune was not given for Coles’ Song/Poem
–Auld Lang Syne seems to work:
Auld Lang Syn – Frank Stanley, Feb 1910
-re lyrics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne