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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 16, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part I
U. M. W. of A. Organizers Surrounded by Injunctions in West Virginia
From the Wilkes-Barre Semi-Weekly Record of July 1, 1902:
[Yet Another Injunction.]
Indianapolis, Ind., June 29.-“If the courts continue issuing injunctions against us there will be but one proposition open. Some one will have to furnish the 400,000 mine workers of this country with balloons in which they can hold meetings privately or publicly and not disobey the mandates of the courts,” said W. B. Wilson, secretary and treasurer of the mine workers’ organization, yesterday when informed that Federal Judge Keller, at Fairmont, had enjoined him, Chris Evans, “Mother” Jones and others connected with the organization from interfering with miners.
No papers have been served on Wilson. He said he had not been in Judge Keller’s district, but If his business calls him there he will go. He declared that if he has been enjoined from holding a private conference on business that concerns the organization he will disobey the injunction.
[Photographs added.]
From The Clarksburg Telegram of July 4, 1902:
“MOTHER” JONES MUST BE GOOD
———-
Judge Jackson Continues the Case and Cautions Her.
—–“Mother” Jones trial at Parkersburg has been continued to July 11.
When United States Court convened Friday the attorneys for “Mother” Jones and the other strike leaders announced that they would introduce no more evidence and they were ready to rest their case. The prosecution had nothing further to introduce and when it was ascertained that the attorneys wished to argue the case the court announced that it would continue it untill July 11, when the lawyers would be given an opportunity to be heard. The defendants were released under bond. In releasing them the court said:
I have been sitting here for three or four days investigating whether you have violated this injunction or not. That question I shall determine when the case comes up for final disposition on the 11th day of July, as soon as the argument is over and I can reach a conclusion; but I want to say to you that you have a duty, under the recognizance that you have taken here, to perform; that the duty is to abstain-I mean abstain from trying to induce anybody who is employed in these mines from leaving work or from disseminating your own peculiar doctrines that you bring from the other states into this state to disturb the peace and harmony of those who are engaged in the lawful pursuits of mining in this state.
You are citizens, that is true, of the United States, but while you are citizens of the United States you owe obligations to any state you are in, just as much as you do to the state in which you have a permanent residence. The constitution of the United States don’t guarantee rights to the citizens to go into the domain of another state and excite the people to violence or to commit unlawful acts. There is no such provision in the constitution; and, as liberal as the constitution is as to personal rights, the constitution does not protect the person in illegal or unlawful acts in any state in the Union or in a state, particularly, where the parties do not reside.
And I shall expect you upon this occasion, each and every one of you, to observe literally (both in spirit and letter) this injunction; if you wish this court in dealing with you to consider your acts and to weigh your acts with reference to what has heretofore transpired in reference to the order of the court, it will be well for you to consider these things and to act accordingly.
The remarks of Judge Jackson were a warning to the defendants not to interfere with the miners or incite them to strike, as a further violation will result in their rearrest and it will make it harder for them in the present cases.
From the Indianapolis Sunday Journal of July 6, 1902:
WILL VIOLATE INJUNCTION.
———-
Secretary Wilson, of the Mine Workers,
Will Go to West Virginia.W. B. Wilson, secretary of the United Mine Workers, will leave this evening at 6 o’clock, for Clarksburg, W. Va., where, with “Mother” Jones, he will speak tomorrow night to a public meeting of miners. In taking part in the meeting Secretary Wilson puts his head in the lion’s mouth; that is to say, he will violate the injunction granted by the federal judge of the Southern district of West Virginia, which declared that he must not hold meetings with the miners within that jurisdiction.
[Said Mr. Wilson yesterday:]
I realize that I am liable to be arrested, but I am not permitting that to worry me. I have made arrangements so that the financial affairs of the organization will run along smoothly in other hands should I be placed in jail. You can depend upon it that the affairs of the order will not suffer.
“Mother” Jones and I are billed to speak to the miners to-morrow evening at Clarksburg. Tuesday evening we will address another big meeting at Fairmount. As both of these towns are in the jurisdiction of Judge Keller, they may try to enforce the injunction, but, as I say, I am not troubling myself about that. We will address a public meeting of orderly men, and it would be a high-handed proceeding to attempt to interfere with it.
Secretary Wilson believes that the injunction order cannot be sustained by a fair construction of constitutional law and that Judge Keller went beyond his powers in issuing the injunction in Philadelphia, which is not within his jurisdiction.
From The Knoxville Sentinel of July 7, 1902:
“MOTHER” JONES
———-ADDRESSED UNITED MINE WORKERS
AT JELLICO.
———-
Hurled Vindictives at Coal Operators,
and Urged Miners to Unity and Persistence.
———-Special to The Sentinel.
Jellico, July 7.-“Mother Jones,” who with others was recently arrested in West Virginia for alleged violation of an injunction issued by Judge John J. Jackson, of the United States court, to prevent interference with mines or the property of certain coal companies, spoke here Saturday night. The talk was under the auspices of the United Mine Workers of America, and was heard by about 500 miners. She referred to her arrest and imprisonment as “an outrage on the liberties of American citizens.” She urged the miners to unity and to be persistent in their just demands of the operators.
She left Sunday morning for Briceville, Tracy City and Whitwell, where she will speak.
During her speech here she hurled vindictives at the corporations in no unmeasured terms.
“Mother” Jones returns to Fairmont, West Virginia, July 10, where she will await the decision of the court in her case, which is set for July 11.
From the Reading Times of July 9, 1902:
INJUNCTION SERVED.
———-
Attempt is Made to Prevent Speeches
by Officers of the Strikers.
———-(Special to The Times.)
Clarksburg, W. Va., July 8.-Secretary and Treasurer W. B. Wilson, of the United Mine Workers of America, who spoke here last night, was served with an injunction this morning as he was leaving the hotel to catch a train for Fairmont, where he and “Mother” Jones are billed to speak tonight. The injunction was served by Deputy Marshall Law.
From the Oklahoma Socialist of July 10, 1902:
Mother Jones.
———-Parkersburg Jail, West Virginia.
June 23, 1902My Dear Comrade Greenbaum
[National Secretary of Socialist Party of America]:Knowing you are anxious to hear from me, I drop the comrades a line. All human liberty is dead in America.
Tell the boys not to go out and mock the silent dead on the inglorious Fourth of July. On Thursday night I was served with a federal injunction, warned not to hold a meeting in sight of that most sacred of things in America the coal company property. The meeting was billed several days before. The ground belonged to the United Mine Workers. The striking miners assembled there, so did many farmers and many other citizens. I was the only speaker. I told the miners to beg their craftsman to join us. When I got through I was placed under arrest by the U.S. Marshall along with eleven others who not said a word, put on the train, brought from Clarksburg to Parkersburg at twelve at night, lodged in jail with murderers and thieves but who to me were much more civilized than Coal Barons.
Poor things, they told sad tales of the causes that led to their crimes. They said they hoped we would stay with them. We ordered breakfast in and divided with these unfortunates. You should see them enjoy it. There was not one of these criminals that could not be made a good citizen with proper economic conditions. Yet men vote for their own enslavement.
We go to trial before the czar of West Virginia. I look for him to give me six months because I have been giving the injunction H—. Tell the comrades I will be ready for fight when I come out.
Fraternally,
Mother Jones.[Paragraph breaks added.]
Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
Quote John Mitchell to Mother Jones re WV Fairmont Field, May 10, 1902
https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057897435/viewer#page/82/mode/2up
Wilkes-Barre Semi-Weekly Record
(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)
-July 1, 1902
https://www.newspapers.com/image/390492613
The Clarksburg Telegram
(Clarksburg, West Virginia)
-July 4, 1902
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84037844/1902-07-04/ed-1/seq-2/
The Sunday Journal
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-July 6, 1902
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1902-07-06/ed-1/seq-3/
The Knoxville Sentinel
(Knoxville, Tennessee)
-July 7, 1902
https://www.newspapers.com/image/585627008
Reading Times
(Reading, Pennsylvania)
-July 9, 1902
https://www.newspapers.com/image/46495236
Oklahoma Socialist
(Newkirk, Oklahoma)
-July 10, 1902
https://www.newspapers.com/image/582807776
IMAGES
Mother Jones , Phl Inq p24, June 22, 1902
https://www.newspapers.com/image/168338244
WBW Ipl Jr p3, July 18, 1902
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015679/1902-07-18/ed-1/seq-3/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for June 1902
Part I: Strike Is On in West Virginia Coalfields; U. S. Judge Jackson Issues Injunction
Part II: Mother Jones Arrested with Organizers of UMWA at Clarksburg, West Virginia
Part III: On Trial Before Old Injunction Judge John J. Jackson at Parkersburg, W. V.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 8, 1902
U. M. W. Secretary Wilson and Mother Jones to Brave Injunction in West Virginia
Leon Greenbaum (1866-1925)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Greenbaum
Tag: West Virginia Coalfield Strike of 1902-1903
https://weneverforget.org/tag/west-virginia-coalfield-strike-of-1902-1903/
Tag: Mother Jones v Judge Jackson 1902
https://weneverforget.org/tag/mother-jones-v-judge-jackson-1902/
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She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain -Ken Carson and the Choraliers