Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for June 1900, Part III: Mother Jones Returns to Georges Creek District to Assist Striking Miners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 12, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1900, Part III
Found Returning to Georges Creek Coal District to Assist Striking Miners

From the Washington Times of June 28, 1900:

WARRANTS FOR STRIKERS.
—–
The Lonaconing Editor’s Assailants
to be Arrested.

Mother Jones, Atlanta Constitution p9, June 8, 1900CUMBERLAND, June 27.-Warrants have been issued for the arrest of Lonaconing rioters. Joseph J. Robinson, editor of the Lonaconing Star, Robert A. L. Dick, who addressed tho anti-strike meeting; Mayor Thompson and others have made information. It is expected that another batch will be sworn out in the case of the brutal assault on James Stapleton, the roadsman yesterday. The region is being patrolled by union miners and a fresh outbreak is expected at any time. “Mother” Jones, the famous woman agitator, has returned to the region and is lending to the excitement.

Hugh Muir, a prominent resident of Lonaconing and a member of the United Mine Workers, was here yesterday to obtain advice regarding entering a libel suit against one of the strike leaders. The charge grows out of a publication by a strike organization. The organization seems to be divided and is believed by many to be disintegrating.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for June 1900, Part II: “Labor’s Joan of Arc” -Leads Strikers, Comforts Wife and Child

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 11, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1900, Part II
Fondly Remembered in Birmingham as “Labor’s Joan of Arc”

From the Birmingham Labor Advocate of June 16, 1900:

MOTHER JONES
—–
“I Have Devoted Myself to Humanity.”
—–

LABOR’S JOAN OF ARC
—–
Comforts the Wife and Child,
Touches as With a Mother’s Hand
the Brow of the Sick,
and Leads the Strikers.
—–

Mother Jones, Atlanta Constitution p9, June 8, 1900Mother Jones, who is distinguishing herself and honoring her dear old gray head by her efforts in labor’s cause in Pennsylvania and Maryland, is well and affectionately known in Birmingham, where she labored a few years ago, largely in the interest of cotton mill serfs. God bless her. No truer, braver or more devoted champion of the right ever graced the earth.

We are making history, and she will live in its pages. Her life will be held up as an example to emulate in that better day when right shall rule.

The following article is clipped from the editorial page of the Philadelphia North American, illustrated by a double column likeness of our well-beloved sister:

“Mother” Mary Jones comes to the front again, as is evidenced from the reports from the George’s Creek coal mining region of Maryland. By talking to the miners and their families there she has persuaded them to remain on strike. The scenes attending the speech-making of Mother Jones are intensely dramatic, as, indeed, they well might have been, judging by the Meyersdale situation and the character of the woman labor leader.

Mrs. Mary Jones is better known among the workmen of the United States and especially among the miners, as “Mother.” She has earned the title by the truly motherly manner in which she cares for the families of those men who happen to be on strike in her neighborhood. As she says, “the women are great factors in a strike.” By controlling the women and children, Mother Jones is able to win many strikes for the men.

“A man can face the devil.” says Mother Jones, “but he can’t stand out against capitalism and its servants when the wife points to the little children and says there is no bread.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for June 1900, Part I: Found Marching with Striking Miners of Georges Creek Coal District

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 10, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for June 1900, Part I
Found Marching with Striking Miners of Georges Creek Coal District

From the Baltimore Sun of June 1, 1900:

THE MINERS’ STRIKE
—–
Mother Jones Rallies The Union Men
At Knapp’s Meadow.

(Special Dispatch to the Baltimore Sun.)

Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900CUMBERLAND, Md., May 31.-“Mother” Jones, the noted woman organizer of Punxsutawney, Pa., arrived in the George’s creek mining region today accompanied by District President Allan Barber. They had been attending the miners’ celebration at Dubois, Pa. Mother Jones was accorded great honors. She at once took hold of affairs, Organizer William Warner and Thomas Haggerty becoming secondary in importance.

This afternoon over three hundred miners from Frostburg, Eckhart and Vale Summit, headed by Mother Jones, who is regarded as a Joan of Arc in the present struggle, started on a march to Knapp’s Meadow, one mile from Lonaconing, where a meeting had been called today. The circular call was supposed to have been issued from non-union sources and the union men proceeded to capture the meeting. Mother Jones rode in a carriage and Organizers Warner and Haggerty followed on foot. The procession marched to music from a bass drum, a fife and a horn. A number of banners were carried bearing inscriptions demanding 60 cents a ton. The procession marched and countermarched through the main streets of Lonaconing. But few miners of Lonaconing participated in the parade and but few attended the meeting at Knapp’s Meadow.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for April & May, 1900: Found Speaking at Meeting of Coal Miners in Windber, Pennsylvania

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote JA Wayland, Mother Jones, AtR p1, Mar 17, 1900———-

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.

Mother Jones, Kenosha Ns WI p7, June 26, 1900An 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.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Fred D. Warren on “Seditious Libel” and the Free Press Fight at New Castle, Pennsylvania, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH, Win Workers to Revolution, ISR p1096, June 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 7, 1910
New Castle, Pennsylvania – Socialist Rally Behind Free Press

From the International Socialist Review of July 1910:

The Free Press Fight at New Castle, Pa.

By FRED D. WARREN
———-

[Part II of II.]

New Castle PA, Warren at Apple Orchard ed, ISR p36, July 1910

While the jury was deliberating and the judge and his friends scheming to overthrow the right of free press, there was something of importance transpiring in another quarter of the trust-ridden town.

From the surrounding cities came Socialists and their friends by the thousand. Every incoming railroad train was crowded. A special of nine coaches was required to bring the delegation from Pittsburg. The inter-urban service was taxed to its utmost capacity by the Socialists from nearby cities. The visitors were met by the local committee on arrangements and the line of march was through the principal streets to County Head quarters, located in the very heart of the city. It was an inspiring revolutionary spectacle and one that New Castle will not soon forget. Comrade John W. Slayton, nominated for Governor the day before, was called for and from the window overlooking the street spoke for a few minutes. When Slayton’s tall form and kindly features appeared there arose a lusty cheer that resounded from hill to hill and caused smug New Castle to pause and inquire into the cause of this sudden outburst of enthusiasm.

In the afternoon, in Cascade Park, fully 15,000 persons had gathered to hear the speakers. The mounted police were on hand promptly and refused to allow the speaking to take place as arranged. The park was a private one, it was explained, owned by the street car company. Comrade Ries, of Ohio, who is always on the job, rented an apple orchard a few hundred yards distant from the park entrance. Perhaps one-third of the immense throng, (it being impossible in the confusion to get word to all) marched to the new location where the program was continued. The mounted police were on hand, but our rent receipt for the use of the orchard, forced them to respect our “property rights.” The meeting had dispersed before the blue laws of Pennsylvania against a Sunday political meeting, could be invoked.

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Hellraisers Journal: Fred D. Warren on “Seditious Libel” and the Free Press Fight at New Castle, Pennsylvania, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH, Win Workers to Revolution, ISR p1096, June 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 6, 1910
New Castle, Pennsylvania – Free Press on Trial for “Seditious Libel”

From the International Socialist Review of July 1910:

The Free Press Fight at New Castle, Pa.

By FRED D. WARREN
———-

[Part I of I.]

New Castle PA, Jailed for Free Press, ISR Cv, July 1910

Letter T, ISR p894, Apr 1910HE case against the comrades comprising the committee engaged in the publication of the New Castle Free Press, charged with “seditious libel,” was tried under what was known as the old English common law. This law against “seditious libel” was framed at a time when kings ruled by divine right, and in order to establish the guilt of the “pestiferous” McKeever, Hartman, McCarty and White, the prosecutor of Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, cited a case that occurred during the reign of Charles II. A score of Irish peasants raised a rebellion, so the prosecutor read, against the English land lords. These Irish peasants were arrested, charged with “seditious libel” and sentenced to prison. That was nearly four hundred years ago, yet we find a fossilized county prosecutor referring to it today in an effort to convict these four comrades of ours. It would be laughable were it not for the serious consequences that are likely to follow this New Castle trial for “seditious libel.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Samuel Gompers Demands Senate Investigation of Government by Gunthug in West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 5, 1920
Gompers Demands Investigation of Government by Gunthug in West Virginia

From the United Mine Workers Journal of July 1, 1920:

Asks Investigation of Killing at Matewan

Gompers, Ogden Standard Examiner p1, June 7, 1920
When Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, heard of the killing of ten men in a battle between coal company gunmen and coal miners at Matewan, W. Va., he sent a letter to Senator Kenyon, chairman of the Senate committee on labor and education, asking him to have his committee make an investigation of the case. His letter was as follows:

The men were shot and killed by an armed band of men sent into the state by the order of and in the pay of private interests. The men who were killed were interested only in seeing that the statutes and the constitution of the state and of the United States were respected, according to the newspaper reports of the outbreak. I am of the opinion that the invasion of West Virginia by an armed band of men in the pay of absentee owners of West Virginia mining property constitutes a suspension of the constitutional guarantees.

It will be remembered that a public official, testifying in the investigation of 1912-13 before the committee of which you are now chairman, swore that the constitution of the United States did not apply in West Virginia. It was brought out that miners had been kidnapped and given long sentences by drumhead court martial. This official was not rebuked by West Virginia for his testimony as to its lawlessness. On the contrary, he was appointed by the governor of the state to be the impartial investigator of crime against the miners, their wives and their children, in the mining camp of Guyan Valley, and this within the year.

For a generation the only law in the mining camps of West Virginia, save in those few instances where the power of organized labor and outraged public opinion has forced a return to constitutional methods, has been the law of the thug and the gunman disguised as deputy sheriffs and usurping the police power of the land. The blackjack and the pistol, the high-powered rifle and the machine gun have been substituted for statute law, judges and juries.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mingo County W.V. Holds First Mine Workers Convention; District is 100% Organized

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 4, 1920
Williamson, West Virginia – Mine Workers Hold First Mingo County Convention

From the United Mine Workers Journal of July 1, 1920:

Williamson Conv ed, Mother Jones, UMWJ p7, July 1, 1920

Every coal miner in Mingo county, W. Va., is now a member of the United Mine Workers of America. Mingo county, up to this time, has been one of the worst hotbeds of anti-unionism in the entire state of West Virginia. It was only a few weeks ago that a gang of Baldwin-Felts gunmen undertook to clean out the union from that field, and as a result there was a battle in the streets of Matewan, Mingo county, in which seven of the gunmen, Mayor Testerman and two miners were killed. This battle seemed to mark the end of the reign of the vicious gunmen system of terrorism in Mingo county, for soon afterward the remainder of the thugs disappeared from that county.

The international union and the District 17 organization sent a number of organizers into Mingo county at once and instituted an intensive campaign of organization. The miners were ready and anxious to join the union, but they had been prevented from exercising this right by the brutality of the Baldwin-Felts thugs in the employ of the coal companies. Once these outlaws were out of the way there was a great rush for membership in the union.

Mingo county is now 100 per cent organized. Approximately 6,000 new members have been taken in in that county since the Matewan battle.

The first convention of the United Mine Workers of America ever held in Mingo county was held at Williamson, the county seat, on June 23. The sessions were held in the court house, the purpose of the convention being to formulate a set of demands as to wages and working conditions to be presented to the operators. The above photograph was taken on the court house steps, and it shows the delegates, some of the officials of District 17, and also some of the international organizers who were active in effecting the organization.

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Hellraisers Journal: 6,000 Miners Strike for Union Recognition in Newly Organized Williamson Field, Tug River District

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 3, 1920
Coal Strike Affects 5,000 Miners in Mingo County and 1,000 in Pike County

From The Charleston Daily Mail of June 30, 1920:

WILLIAMSON DISTRICT MINERS
TO QUIT TONIGHT
—–

Mingo Strike Effective at Midnight, Cton Dly Ml p1, June 30, 1920

About 5,000 mine workers of Mingo county W. Va., and 1,000 in Pike county, Ky., will be affected by a strike order issued from the Summers street headquarters of District 17, United Mine Workers to take effect at midnight tonight, according to officials of that organization, who that virtually all the miners of Mingo county and those employed on Kentucky side of the Tug river, and along Pond creek in Pike county, will strike.

Williamson Conv crpd, Mother Jones, UMWJ p7, July 1, 1920
United Mine Workers Journal of June 1, 1920
Note Mother Jones at center front.
—–

Many of the Kentucky mine workers, it is said, live in Mingo county and only recently joined the miners’ union. The recent affiliation with the union of the men affected by the strike order, it is said, is the cause of the present situation.

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