Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for August 1900, Part I: Found Visiting Jailed Strikers of Georges Creek Coal District

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Quote Mother Jones, Shoulder to Shoulder, Blt Sun p10, July 26, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 9, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for August 1900, Part I
Found Visiting Jailed Strikers of Georges Creek Coal District

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of August 5, 1900:

STRIKE LEADER GOES TO PRISON
FOR SIX MONTHS
——-
Woman Sympathizer Creates a Sensation
in a Maryland Jail

Special to The Inquirer.

Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900

CUMBERLAND, Md., Aug. 4.-William Warner, the strike leader, was sentenced this afternoon to six months in the House of Correction, having been convicted of unlawful assembly during trouble which arose at an anti-strike meeting. Seventeen miners were also sentenced. They were visited at the jail this afternoon by Mother Jones, the woman labor organizer, who created a sensation by proposing three cheers in the jail for the strikers and three hisses “for the blacklegs.” She led the cheering, as well as the hissing. Warner, who is from Pittsburg, took an appeal.

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[Photograph added.]

From the Washington Evening Star of August 7, 1900:

CENTRAL LABOR UNION
——-

ADDRESS ON MINING STRIKE IN
GEORGE’S CREEK REGION.
——-
“Mother” Jones Describes the Situation There-
Business Matters Discussed by the Delegates.
——-

President H. W. Szegedy occupied the chair at the meeting last evening of the Central Labor Union, and Mr. J. H. Brinkman was secretary. The meeting was largely attended, delegates from thirty-nine organizations being present.

Immediately after roll call the order of business was suspended and “Mother” Jones, whose home is in the George’s Creek, Maryland, strike region, where she has recently taken a prominent part in the mining troubles, was introduced and made an address, in which she related the present condition of affairs there and told of the causes which led to the strike. She said, among other things, that she represented the most oppressed among the toilers of the world. She stated that before the strike the miners were the absolute chattel property of the coal operators, and asserted that in the matter of weighing the coal the miners were debarred from having a representative present, although they were willing to pay for his services.

She further stated that the operators had established and maintained a rule that for the smallest particle of slate found in a car of coal the miner who was responsible therefore was docked 500 pounds; that the wages had been so reduced that it was necessary for the miners to put their male children, at the age of twelve years, at work in the mines, in order that the family might receive a certain kind of support. She declared that notwithstanding its inhibition by law, the company store system prevails, and here the miner was forced to deal, whether he wanted to or not, and here he was always charged a higher figure than the general retail price elsewhere. By this means, the speaker asserted, the miners were always in debt to the operators. The miners were also forbidden, she declared, to attend labor meetings, and a short time before the present strike was begun one hundred of the men were discharged because they went to hear addresses delivered by Mr. Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, and Organizer Mitchell of the same body.

The Prosecutions.

The charge of riotous assemblage which had, she said, been made against the most prominent strike leaders, and under which twelve of them had been sent to the Maryland house of correction by the criminal court of Allegheny county, was not proved at the trial, but the prosecution was at the instigation of the coal operators for the purpose of getting rid of the men upon whom the strikers depended for leadership and advice.

The remarks of Mrs. Jones were enthusiastically applauded, and at the close of the speech she was accorded a reception…..

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[Paragraph break added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of August 10, 1900:

TO AID MARYLAND MINERS
——-
Clearfield Region Workers Will Devise A Plan.

Clearfield, Pa., Aug. 9.-Delegates representing organized and unorganized miners of District No. 2, United Mine Workers of America, met in convention here today in response to the call of the national officers. The object is to devise ways and means of assisting the 800 miners blacklisted in Maryland.

National Secretary-Treasurer W. B. Wilson and National Organizers McKay, Haggerty and Warner are here assisting the district officers. State Senator D. E. Dick, of Maryland, and “Mother” Mary Jones, of Chicago, addressed the convention in behalf of the Maryland miners.

No definite action was taken, but the sentiment was in favor of maintaining the blacklisted men and their families until such time as the Maryland operators recognize the Altoona scale.

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From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of August 14, 1900:

MINERS MEET HERE
——-
First Session of Mine Workers’ Convention
Held Yesterday.
——-

PRESIDENT MITCHELL’S ADDRESS.
——-
About Two Hundred Delegates in Attendance-
Various Committees Appointed-
The Wage Scale, “Mother” Jones Speaks.
——-

The United Mine Workers of the Luzerne, the Lackawanna and the Susquehanna district opened their convention in the Grand Opera House here yesterday morning, with about two hundred delegate in attendance. The morning session was taken up with the election of permanent officers and the appointment of the various committees. In the afternoon President Mitchell, of the National Mine Worker, delivered an important address in which be said that the miner of the anthracite coal region were paid less for the same amount of labor than the miner in other parts of the country, that an unjust system of dockage prevailed and that the price of powder was exorbitant. “Mother” Jones, who is a prominent figure at all gatherings of miners and labor conventions, also spoke…..

She urged the men to become thoroughly organized in which she said, lay their only hope of a betterment of existing conditions…..

From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of August 15, 1900:

Last Night’s Mass Meeting

A big open air mass meeting was held at the corner of Broad and Pine Streets last night. A large crowd was present which listened attentively to everything the speakers said. Among those who talked were President Mitchell, members of the National Board and district organizers and “Mother” Jones. Several foreign speakers were also heard.

“Mother” Jones paid her respects to the coal operators and their families. She said that some of the operators in the anthracite region built better kennels for their dogs than they did houses for their tenant miners. She accused the clergy of preaching made-to -order sermons for the benefit of the rich and ignoring the grievances of the poor. There was only one way, she argued, to remedy this, and that was in organization of the laboring classes.

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From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of August 16, 1900:

BIG PICNIC AT PARK.
——-
Mrs. Jones Advises Young [Women]
to Marry Only Union Men.

One of the largest picnics of the season was held at Hazle Park yesterday afternoon and last evening under the auspices of St. Gabriel’s congregation. The pavilion was crowded all afternoon and evening. The many other amusements offered were greatly enjoyed by old and young alike…..

Last evening especially was the park crowded, among the guests present being delegates who were in attendance at the United Mine Workers convention. Having accepted the invitation to deliver addresses, President Mitchell and the National Board members of the Mine Workers each made a speech on the labor question.

The principal address was delivered by “Mother” Jones, who derided the trusts, corporations and everything else which bore the ear mark of monopoly. She advised young women before marrying to ascertain whether their proposed husbands were union men, and if not to cast them aside. She was very often loudly applauded. At the conclusion of her remarks Rev. Father Phillips occupied the stand and thanked the audience in general.

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Note: Emphasis added throughout.

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SOURCES

Quote Mother Jones, Shoulder to Shoulder, Blt Sun p10, July 26, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/365314988/

The Philadelphia Inquirer
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
-Aug 5, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/167435628/

The Evening Star
(Washington, District of Columbia)
-Aug 7, 1900
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1900-08-07/ed-1/seq-12/

The Sun
(Baltimore Maryland)
-Aug 10, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/365321378

The Plain Speaker
(Hazleton, Pennsylvania)
-Aug 14, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/501620085/
-Aug 15, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/98096252
-Aug 16, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/98096296/

IMAGE
Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/595263678/

See also:

Tag: Georges Creek MD Coal Strike of 1900
https://weneverforget.org/tag/georges-creek-md-coal-strike-of-1900/

Tag: Great Anthracite Strike of 1900
https://weneverforget.org/tag/great-anthracite-strike-of-1900/

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 8, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1900
Found Speaking in Baltimore for Striking Miners of Georges Creek Coal District

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A Miners Life – Kilshannig