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Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 9, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April and May of 1900
Found Speaking to Coal Miners at Windber, Pennsylvania
From The Tyrone Herald of April 12, 1900:
Miners Would Not Strike.
An effort was made yesterday to get the 10,000 miners in the employ of the Berwind-White Coal Mining company at Windber [Pennsylvania] to strike out of sympathy for their fellow-employes at Horatio and Anita, but their effort ended in failure, as the men have steady employment at good wages and are not in a humor to give up a certainty for an uncertainty. A meeting was called for yesterday at Windber for the purpose of organizing the employes of the company into a branch of the United Mine Workers. The district officials who were present were: District President W. B. Wilson, of Blossburg; District Vice President Barney Rice, of DuBois; Secretary-treasurer Richard Gilbert, of South Fork, and “Mother” Mary Jones, the female agitator, of Chicago.
There was but a small turnout of miners at the meeting and an organization was not effected, The object was to strengthen the cause of the striking niners at Horatio and Punxsutawney. The miners at these two places have felt for the past week or more that their fight was a losing one and that, unless they could secure help from other sources, they would be compelled to call the strike off. At the DuBois shaft of the company the strike has been called off and the men are at work. A large number of Horatio and Anita men have also returned to work and it is entirely likely that the end of this week will see the end of the strike at these two points.
[Photograph added.]
From the Washington Evening Times of May 11, 1900:
CUMBERLAND, Md., May 11.-The exodus of miners from the Georges Creek coal region of Maryland continues. The majority of there men are seeking work elsewhere. Some of those who left early in the strike are writing plaintive litters about how hard they are having it in comparison with work at home.
A report that the men were going to work Jackson mine, Lonaconing, yesterday, resulted in a body of 200 miners marching from Barton to that mine to intercept them. They discovered, however, that the report was not true. The men were called out by the ringing of bells. The mine operators, it is stated, have fully decided to employ no one until the strike is ended.
District President Allen Barber was in Cumberland yesterday looking after the of the interests of the organization men in jail charged with assaulting miners who attempted to return to work. Two more arrests were made in connection with the recent rioting. One man is named Flanagan and the other is known as “Shiner” Robinson. Both furnished ball at Midland.
On the average four boats a day are being loaded at the canal wharf in Cumberland with West Virginia coal. The boat men are getting 70 cents a ton, an increase of 10 cents over last year. If it were not for the strike in Maryland the season would be busy on the canal and the boatmen could make some money.
About a dozen Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad freight crews are idle at Mount Savage. The regular trainmen on the Baltimore and Ohio are making good time, but the strike is working a hardship on the extra men.
The fact that the men who are leading strike are from regions where the mines are working and are taking the trades of the Georges Creek region is causing much comment.
The latest arrivals are Organizer Edward McKay of Pittsburg, and District Union Secretary-Treasurer W.M. Cochrane of the Meyersdale district. Organizer Warner is from the Pittsburg region, which, as well as Meyersdale region, is in full blast. Organizer Henry Stevenson, who was sent here this week to assist in keeping the strikers intact is from the Kanawha W. Va. field, where everybody is working, while Organizer Fred Dilcher is from the Ohio region, where the mines are in full operation. It is contended that the local miners are losing golden opportunities, while agitators from busy regions urge them to remain idle.
“Mother” Jones, a woman organizer, will be in the region next week to urge the strike along.
The organization proposes to open a depot of supplies and a cooperative miners store is projected. The store, it said, will be at Lonaconing, with branches at Frostberg and Midland.
Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/appeal-to-reason/000317-appealtoreason-w224.pdf
The Tyrone Herald
(Tyrone, Pennsylvania)
-Apr 12, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/13240472/
The Evening Times
(Washington, District of Columbia)
-May 11, 1900
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024441/1900-05-11/ed-1/seq-3/
IMAGE
Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/595263678/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 10, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for March 1900
Found Receiving Tributes from J. A. Wayland and Arnot Miners
Tag: Georges Creek MD Coal Strike of 1900
https://weneverforget.org/tag/georges-creek-md-coal-strike-of-1900/
-for more re Mother Jones on field of battle:
The Autobiography of Mother Jones
CH Kerr, 1925
https://archive.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/
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Gene Autry Sings “The Death of Mother Jones” 1931