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Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 27, 1911
Mother Jones News Round-Up for August 1911, Part II
Mother Jones Accompanies Samuel Gompers on Visit to Jailed Miners
On Sunday, August 20th, Mother Jones accompanied Gompers on his visit to the miners jailed by Injunction Judge Whitford, which visit was described in the August 29th edition of The Joliet News (Illinois):
President Gompers [while in Denver] en route to the Pacific coast expressed a desire to visit the coal miners who have been made the victims of the abuse of the injunction writ in the strike in the northern coal fields of the state. The committee in charge made suitable arrangements and a trip was made to the quarters of the miners in the jail, where Mother Jones, on behalf of Mr. Gompers, presented the prisoners with a large bouquet of flowers. An informal and impromptu meeting was held and a few remarks made by Mr. Gompers. The prisoner have been accorded the privileges of the court yard and following the meeting inside the jail all retired to the court yard where, with the grated windows of county jail serving as a background, a group picture was taken, President Gompers and Mother Jones being the central figures.
[Photograph added.]
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From The Denver Post of August 21, 1911:
GOMPERS VISITS MINERS IN JAIL
———-“Distortions of law” and “byplays of justice” were terms applied to the injunctions issued by District Judge Greeley W. Whitford in the miners’ trouble of northern Colorado by Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, in a speech at Eagles’ hall in the Club building at 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon [August 20th].
Later in the day he visited the miners in jail and told them they were martyrs to labor’s cause and deserved to be ranked with Lincoln and Jefferson in their devotion to the people. He told the men thy suffered no moral stigma and the good their imprisonment is doing for labor could not be measured in words…..
From The Rocky Mountain News of August 15, 1911:
MOTHER JONES WOULD BURN
INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION
—————WOMEN OF COLORADO SPRINGS
TOLD NOT TO GIVE TO CHURCH,
BUT TO WORK FOR HUMANITY
———-Special to the News.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Aug. 14.-“For God’s sake,” thundered Mother Jones at the women of Little Lunnon tonight, “quit going to church, quit talking Christ’s doctrine, until you learn what Christianity and humanity is.”
Mother Jones, who was chief speaker at a Socialist meeting, told these women that instead of going to matinees and picture shows, they should stay at home and teach their children how to fight the battle against the master.
“I don’t see that your ballot has done much for the coal miners and their children or kept the miners out of jail,” she said.
The speaker left the impression with many that in her opinion women were responsible for most of the despicable things in humanity, nor could they hope, she said, for any betterment of conditions until they educate themselves and take part, by becoming members of labor unions, in the reformation of these conditions.
She said that in view of such conditions, “the declaration of independence ought to be burned up.”
Mother Jones placed Morgan and Burns in the same category. She thundered her amazement that men with red blood in them could be sitting still instead of “going out and hanging them.”
Fred Warren’s address was a plea for socialism. Warren is editor of the Appeal to Reason. The audience which heard him comfortably filled Temple theater, the largest auditorium in the city. Many of them were tourists and some fo them delegates to the State Federation of Labor, which is holding its convention here, although tonight’s meeting had no connection with the convention’s program.
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From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of August 17, 1911:
State Federation in Annual Session
———-The sixteenth annual convention of the Colorado State Federation of Labor is in session in Colorado Springs this week, it looks to the casual observer that the U. M. W. of A. and W. F. of M. are in complete control…..
SECOND DAY-AFTERNOON SESSION [Tuesday August 5th]
President McLennon called the convention to order at the appointed time…..
After accepting a further report of the Credentials committee, president McLennon introduced “Mother” Jones to the delegates. She made a lengthy but interesting talk to the convention which was greatly appreciated…..
From The Denver Post of August 19, 1911:
As the result of conference to be held this afternoon between labor officials of national reputation and Denver people who have been interested in an effort to bring about a settlement of the strike of miners in the Northern Colorado coal fields, it is expected that not only will the strike be called off, but that the fourteen miners who are now serving sentences in the county jail for contempt of court will be released.
John P. White, president of the United Mine Workers, arrived in Denver at 1 o’clock this afternoon in response to telegrams stating that the operators were in a receptive mood and would probably listen to terms of settlement of the strike…..
Added importance was given the conference today by the fact that Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, took part in it. He arrives at 1 o’clock, with President White…With Attorney Hilton the two leaders went into session at the Albany hotel and are expected to have some offer to make the coal companies…..
Attorney Hilton is representing John P. White, president of the United Mine Workers, in the negotiations and was employed by “Mother” Jones, the famous worker among the mining camps of the country, at White’s suggestion…..
“The proposition to be offered is this,” said Attorney Hilton. “The strike is to be declared off, all men are to be taken back as union men without any conditions or restrictions; the men in jail are all to be released and all proceedings in court are to be dismissed.”…..
The strike has been a severe drain on the organization. It has been on since April, 1910, and of late the miners’ union has been paying $1,000 a day to the families of the strikers. The original demands are to be dropped in the settlement.
One of the controlling factors was the distress among the miners’ families. “Mother Jones has spent much time among the families of the miners and asserts that they are ready togo back to work under proper conditions. It was her detailed reports of conditions to President White that influenced him to come to Colorado, as well as this information of the prospects of a settlement furnished by Attorney Hilton…..
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From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of August 24, 1911:
MINERS RELEASED BY SUPREME COURT
———-
Doyle and Crawford Must Await
Further Action of Higher Tribunal.
———-NEGOTIATIONS FOR SETTLEMENT OFF
———-Twelve of the fourteen striking coal miners of Northern Colorado, who were sent to jail by Judge Greeley W. Whitford for contempt of court, were Wednesday noon admitted to bail by Justice George W. Musser of the supreme court.
Justice Musser issued an order for stay of execution of Judge Whitford’s sentence against the twelve until the entire supreme court shall have passed upon the application for a writ of supersedeas for all the imprisoned men, which will be presented to the full court in about three weeks.
Attorneys for the prisoners and for the coal operators agreed that such an order might be issued, provided it should not apply to William Crawford, secretary of the miners’ organization, and Edward Doyle, a former president of the Lafayette local union, who wrote articles bitterly assailing Judge Whitford. Crawford and Doyle were adjudged guilty of criminal contempt and Attorney James H. Blood, for the operators, refused to admit any possibility of their right to be admitted to bail…..
This is the agreement entered into between Attorney Blood for the operators and Attorney Hilton for the miners, which was repudiated by the mine owners when a conference was called with President White of United Mine Workers of America, Monday.
Negotiations for a settlement of the strike f the Northern Colorado coal miners, which has been on for seventeen months, have failed. After spending 48 hours in Denver trying to get together with the mine operators, John P. White, international President of the United Mine Workers of America, gave up in disgust and left Monday afternoon for Pittsburg, Pa., to attend a meeting of the executive board of the organization. He was accompanied by John R. Lawson, who represents the Colorado district on the board…..
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From The Indianapolis Star of August 31, 1911:
“Mother” Jones in Indianapolis-“Mother” Jones, known throughout the country as the “friend of the miners,” arrived in Indianapolis last evening en route from Colorado to central Pennsylvania. She is staying a the Oneida Hotel and will depart this morning for the central Pennsylvania coal fields. “Mother” Jones said she expects to be in the Pennsylvania district labor day and visit with “some of her boys,” as she calls the miners. She has not visited them for seventeen years.
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Note: Emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, Injunction Shroud, Bff Exp p7, Apr 24, 1909
https://www.newspapers.com/image/344471675/
The Joliet Daily News
(Joliet, Illinois)
-Aug 29, 1911
https://www.newspapers.com/image/548615813/
The Denver Post
(Denver, Colorado)
-Aug 21, 1911, page 4
-Aug 19, 1911, page 2
https://www.genealogybank.com/
The Rocky Mountain News
(Denver, Colorado)
-Aug 15, 1911, page 3
https://www.genealogybank.com/
United Labor Bulletin
(Denver, Colorado)
-Aug 17, 1911
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1911-08-17/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1911-08-17/ed-1/seq-2/
-Aug 24, 1911
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1911-08-24/ed-1/seq-1/
The Indianapolis Star
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-Aug 31, 1911
https://www.newspapers.com/image/6755860/
IMAGE
Mother Jones, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1910-06-18/ed-1/seq-5/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for August 1911, Part I: Found Defended at Convention of Western Federation of Miners
Tag: Colorado Miners Jailed by Judge Whitford 1911
https://weneverforget.org/tag/colorado-miners-jailed-by-judge-whitford-1911/
Tag: Northern Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1910-1911
https://weneverforget.org/tag/northern-colorado-coalfield-strike-of-1910-1911/
Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Mines and Mining
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Mines and Mining
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1914
(search: whitford)
(search: northern colorado coal strike 1910)
https://books.google.com/books?id=92IvAQAAMAAJ
Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado: In the Matter of the Hearing Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Mines and Mining (House Committee)
Brief for the Striking Miners by Edward P. Costigan, Horace N Hawkins, James H. Brewster
See page 20: “The 1910 Strike”
U.S. Government Printing Office, 1914
Note: “The 1910 Strike,” states strike was still ongoing as of 1914, however, the strike was effectivly lost by 1912.
https://books.google.com/books?id=ri8yAQAAMAAJ
Out of the Depths:
The Story of John R. Lawson, a Labor Leader
-by Barron B. Beshoar
Golden Bell Press, 1957
pages 31-3, re Northern Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1910-1911
https://books.google.com/books?id=u8p-AAAAMAAJ
The Correspondence of Mother Jones
-ed by Edward M. Steel
U of Pittsburgh Press, 1985
https://books.google.com/books?id=EZ2xAAAAIAAJ
https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057897435
-pages 95-97 (147 of 416):
Aug 7, 1911-Mother Jones, from Denver, to Speaker Clark, U. S. House of Reps, letter on behalf of Mexican Revolutionaries.
Aug 8, 1911-Mother Jones, from Denver, to Attorney Thomas Morgan of Chicago, letter re SPA Sec Barnes: “…..I think the Socialist of this Country owe me a debt of gratitude for the exposure. They jumped all over me, but now they see that I was right, and perhaps they will wake up, and perhaps they won’t…..”
https://digital.library.pitt.edu/islandora/object/pitt%3A31735057897435/viewer#page/146/mode/2up
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The Union Forever, γνωστό και σαν
Colorado Strike Song, τραγούδι της Απεργίας του Κολοράντο