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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 21, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part III
Mother Jones and Miners’ Army March from McAdoo to Hazleton
From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of October 11, 1900:
About six hundred strikers, composed of men from McAdoo and other South Side towns and the No. 3 Local of this city, gathered at McAdoo before dawn this morning, marched to the Beaver Meadow colliery of Coxe Bros. & Co., which had been kept in steady operation since the inauguration of the strike, then came around to Cuyle’s strippings east of the city and from the stripping marched right into the heart of Hazleton, the first time since the trouble began, that the town was invaded by marchers. The parade dispersed on North Wyoming street, this city, and the men returned to their homes.
Among those who participated in the march were “Mother” Jones, the well known lady organizer, and Miss Bertha Williams and Annie Petrosky, two pretty girls of about eighteen summers, whose homes are at McAdoo. It was feared, when the matchers reached Cuyle’s strippings that there would be trouble, but no violence was attempted. Many of the strikers were loud in their denunciation of the special policemen stationed near the place, but no disturbance occurred…..
[Paragraph break added.]
From the Philadelphia Times of October 12, 1900:
From The Scranton Times of October 13, 1900:
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“Mother” Mary Jones arrived in the city at 1 o’clock this morning. She came here from Hazleton, where she has been for the past two months engaged in assisting President Mitchell and the National Executive board in organizing the miners. Upon her arrival in this city Mother Jones went to the St. Charles hotel, where she registered.
She was up early this morning and went to the convention hall. To many of the delegates she was well-known, and her appearance among them was greeted with great applause. She will in all probability remain in the city until the convention adjourns. In the convention this morning she was an inspiring figure. Her words have always carried weight with the miners. In her they recognize one who is laboring diligently in their behalf. Whatever she may say in the convention in regard to the present situation will be received by the miners in the fullest and broadest sense. It will be matter for careful consideration. It is expected that Mother Jones will address the delegates before a vote is taken on the matter of accepting or rejecting the 10 per cent. offer. What her position is on that matter is hard to say. Like the other national officers, she is anxious to see the miners get all that justice demands for them.
INVITED TO NEW YORK.
New York, Oct. 13.-“Mother” Jones, of the coal strike notoriety, has been invited to New York by the Social Democratic party to help its cause by telling about the strike. The executive committee of the party announced yesterday that she had consented and would be here the latter part of the month.
“Mother” Jones is being referred to by the Socialists as “Modern Industry’s Barbara Frietchie” and “Labor’s Joan of Arc.”
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Hazleton, Pa., Oct. 13- “Mother” Mary Jones left here last night on an errand, which, if successful, will bring the great anthracite strike to a most dramatic climax. She left secretly, but before going told your correspondent here the plan.
[She said:]
I am going to save organized labor from a crushing defeat. I fear that the hot heads will refuse the 10 per cent. offer and demand so much that the operators will not even consider their proposition. Half a loaf is better than no bread. If we can get the 10 per cent. safeguarded for a year, as President Mitchell wishes, we will save the organization, strengthen it, and be in shape to go after future benefits when this agreement expires. If we invite a fight to the death, I fear we shall be crushed by troops and our organization in this region smashed, war waged upon all union men and the miners left worse off than when they went into this struggle.
I shall go to Scranton and demand to be heard, and make the effort of my life to compel the radical element to accede to reasonable terms. If I succeed, united labor will achieve the greatest victory in its history, and the great anthracite coal fields will be turned into a stronghold of unionism.
I have been abused by papers and by the operators as a “fire brand.” They say I have incited and led all the parades, raids and marches. I hope to prove my real character by bringing peace out of discord and pointing the way to victory. I have led raids here and elsewhere, but I never had a man on either side hurt. The fatal shooting at Oneida would not have occurred had I been there.
Men on strike are at a terrible nervous tension. They must give vent to their feelings. Leave them alone and they will do murder in their mad and misguided excitement. I am the safety valve of this strike. I lead the men on long marches over the mountains and work-off their surplus energy in that way. I’ll bring that convention to its senses. I’ll make the delegates yield to their extreme demands and tonight will see such a moderate and fair demand made upon the operators that public opinion will force its acceptance.
In doing this I will take nothing from the credit due President Mitchell and his assistants. They have been cool and have conducted the most peaceable strike in history. Nothing can take from their glory, but I, a woman, loved by these miners, can talk to them as even President Mitchell cannot.
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From the Philadelphia Times of October 14, 1900:
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VICTORY FOR MITCHELL
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His Conservative Policy Discernible
in the Outcome of the Convention.From a Staff Correspondent.Scranton, October 13.President John Mitchell spoke the word and the striking anthracite miners voted to accept the 10 per cent. advance in wages offered by the operators, with conditions in the shape of two additional concessions.The decision of the convention is a victory for Mitchell. The resolutions adopted embodied his idea of a settlement. It was not the opinion of the delegates upon the convention floor; they wanted other concessions, but they knew their president was a member of the resolution committee and what it presented carried with it his sanction. They gave their assent, but none too willingly. Many did not vote at all and the adoption of the resolutions was not greeted with the cheers and applause which has been so characteristic of all the other steps the strikers have taken.There is no doubt that, if left to themselves, uninfluenced by President Mitchell’s opinion, the delegates would have been less conservative in the compromise which they offer to the operators. The strikers felt that their leader knew what was best and they followed his guidance. Their confidence in him remains unshaken and full compliance with the decision of the convention is the only thought they have.There was a little fear that perhaps the radical element would prove exceptionally strong. To help tone these men down “Mother” Mary Jones, who has always been in the front rank of the radicals, was summoned to Scranton and in a speech pleaded earnestly for acceptance of the ten per cent. offer.National Organizer Dilcher called upon the men to stand by Mitchell. He charged that money had been used inside and outside the convention to defeat the best interests of the miners and that, if success was to be theirs, they must be loyal to their leader.The subject matter of the resolutions is not considered by many of the men as definite enough. They think they detect loop holes. One point raised is in regard to the adjustment of other differences. All they ask in the resolutions is that the companies agree to settle with their own employes. In the event of the companies assenting to this, but declaring they will not do this until the men return to work, there is no alternative but to yield…..———-LEADERS ARE PLEASED—–From a Staff Correspondent.Hazleton, October 13.The majority of the Executive Board of the United Mine Workers, National Organizers James and Soppitt, “Mother” Jones and several of the lesser lights, arrived at the headquarters to-night from Scranton. President Mitchell and the others are due tomorrow night or Monday.All who came back asserted that they were more than pleased with the result of the convention. Unless the operators decline to make the concessions asked, Soppitt and Mother Jones said, the men would be at work one week from Monday.Markle and a few of his kind are the only dangerous element now in the way of a settlement that will mean a victory for the miners.———-
From the Philadelphia Times of October 15, 1900:
MINERS’ WOMEN STILL BRAVE AND RESOLUTE
———-(Written for The TIMES by “Mother Jones.”)
Hazleton, October 14.
The women of the miners are just as well pleased as the men with the results of the convention of the men and they will support the strike in spirit in the future as they have in the past. While the bottom of some of their flour barrels have been reached, the local unions have replenished stocks so quickly that no additional hardships have yet visited the homes where hardships are common. Consequently no mother has yet seen her babies hungry as a result of the strike, and none will, because just as fast as hunger enters a home the committees will respond. I have taken part in a great many struggles, but I never saw the Spartan spirit so common as it has been up here. Women, young and old, have faced the deputies with the same bravery as the men, and now, should the operators fail to make the concessions asked, they will show the same fortitude in the future as they have in the past.
Mary Jones.
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Note: emphasis added throughout.
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SOURCES & IMAGES
The Plain Speaker
(Hazleton, Pennsylvania)
-Oct 11, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/501622109/
The Times
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
-Oct 12, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/53783341/
-Oct 14, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/53783363
https://www.newspapers.com/image/53783364
-Oct 15, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/53783399/
The Scranton Times
(Scranton, Pennsylvania)
-Oct 13, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/534727906/
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 20, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part II
Mother Jones with Army of Women Shuts Down Lattimer
Oct 11, 1900, Hazleton PA Plain Speaker
-Mother Jones Marches McAddo to Beaver Meadows to Hazleton
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/63705155/oct-11-1900-hazleton-pa-plain/
Tag: Great Anthracite Strike of 1900
https://weneverforget.org/tag/great-anthracite-strike-of-1900/
“The Anthracite Miners’ Strike of 1900”
-by George O. Virtue
from Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Dec., 1900), pp. 1-23
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/250711
Barbara Fritchie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Fritchie
Poem: “Barbara Frietchie”
-by John Greenleaf Whittier
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45483/barbara-frietchie
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Which Side Are You On – Dropkick Murphys