Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1902, Part III: Found in Cincinnati on Her Way Back to West Virginia to Face Possible Jail Term

18th August 202218th August 2022 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Going to Jail, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 18, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part III
Found Speaking at Central Labor Council Meeting in Cincinnati

From The North Adams Transcript of July 21, 1902:

PATHETIC FAREWELL FOR “MOTHER” JONES
———-
On Leaving Indianapolis to Go
to Jail for Contempt

Indianapolis, Ind., July 21-An affecting scene was witnessed in the United Mine Workers’ headquarters last evening when “Mother” Jones bade the miners goodby and boarding a train for West Virginia.

“Mother” Jones was on trial early last week with several striking miners for contempt of court in holding public meetings in the face of an injunction, and she was found guilty. She now returns to receive sentence, and it is believed she will be sent to jail.

Many of the delegates to the recent convention are still here, and in the crowd gathered in the headquarters not a single dry eye was to be seen when “Mother” said goodby. Men whose faces were as hard as parchment with the work in the mines and with the hardship of their lives wiped the tears away with their rough hands and some of them left the room.

“Mother” Jones cheered them up and made little of the coming ordeal, but the miners knew she was doing it for them, and if she were their own mother they could not have a warmer love in their hearts for her.

[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of July 22, 1902:

Charleston, W. Va., July 21.-Upon the application of the Collins Colliery, Federal Judge Keller today issued attachments for the arrest of John Richards, president of District No. 17, United Mine Workers of America, and 35 other members who took part in meetings near that mine. Special complaint was made against a meeting of July 17 as an alleged violation of the injunction issued against National Secretary Wilson, “Mother” Jones and others. After their arrest today Richards and 10 others were taken before the United States Commissioner at Hinton, where they gave bonds, and the hearing was set for next Friday in Charleston.

Judge Guthrie, of the State Court, issued an attachment for the arrest of 10 miners on complaint of the Kanawha and Hocking Coal Company, which held that they had violated an injunction of his court.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1902, Part II: Found in Court in West Virginia, Speaks at Miners’ Convention in Indianapolis

17th August 202218th August 2022 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Told the Court in WV to Stay, Ipl July 19, 1902, UMWC p86 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 17, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part II
Found in Court in West Virginia, Speaks at Miners’ Convention in Indianapolis

From the Baltimore Sun of July 12, 1902:

MOTHER JONES ARRAIGNED
—–
She Expects A Jail Sentence
From Judge Jackson.

(Special Dispatch to the Baltimore Sun.)

PARKERSBURG, W. Va., July 11.-“Mother” Jones and 11 other strike leaders, who were arrested for alleged violation of an injunction issued by Judge Jackson, appeared in court today. The arguments in the case were begun and will be concluded tomorrow, when a decision is expected. “Mother” Jones expects a jail sentence for herself.

[Photograph added.]

From the Appeal to Reason of July 12, 1902:

In Darkest America.

Comrade McGeorge, of Clarksburg, W. Va., sends the following clipping from th Daily News of that place, regarding the arrest [June 20] and trial [June 24-27] of “Mother”‘ Jones for organizing the miners, who are more brutally treated and less paid than probably in any other section of the nation. The miners have been enjoined from talking to the non-union miners, from holding meetings in the vicinity, and from circulating literature! Great is the constitution-but not when federal judges don’t want it. The Dred Scot decisions are numerous nowadays. But the item will interest thousands of friends of that grand old woman-Mother Jones:

“You are not a citizen of West Virginia. Why do you not stay where you belong, instead of coming to our state to stir up trouble among the miners? What business have you the here? thundered Judge Jackson from bench.”

“Judge,” softly replied Mother Jones and every lawyer and each member of the crowd that thronged the court room, hung upon her every utterance, “I am a citizen of the United States, and as such I think I have the right to come to West Virginia or where ever my duty may call me.”

All day Thursday [June 26] “Mother” Jones was on the stand at United States court, and she was subjected to one of the most rigid examinations that has ever been heard here. But never for an instant did she lose her quiet and dignified demeanor, nor did the questions of the district attorney confuse her in the least. On the other hand, she was one of the shrewdest witnesses that ever took the stand at United States court and from the time she was called in the morning until late in the evening it was a veritable battle of brains, and “Mother” Jones was not always worsted. The court room was crowded and the old silver haired woman won many friends by her sweet, dignified manner and shrewdness with which she met every question of the attorneys. When the day was over she was visibly worn out and it was with a sigh of deep relief that she left the witness stand.

The examination of “Mother” Jones was in many ways a treat that those who heard it will not soon forget. Her story was straight forward but in many places her love for the miners brought out the pathetic side of the trouble, while again, on several occasions the court room was in a roar of laughter at some witty repartee between the witness and Judge Blizzard [District Attorney Reese Blizzard], or at some element of humor injected into the proceedings by Judge Jackson.

When asked if she had not said that the operators were the same sort of people that had crucified Christ, the witness replied that she had made such a remark.

“Well,” questioned Judge Blizzard, “do you not think the crucifixion of Christ was the worst crime ever committed?”

“No,” answered the witness in loud tones, “it was not nearly so bad as the crucifixion of little boys in the coal mines who are daily being robbed of their manhood and their intellect by what they are through necessity compelled to undergo. Christ could have saved himself, the boys cannot.”

“Mother” Jones, when first put on the stand, stated that she was sixty years old, having been born in Ireland, coming to this country at the age of six years. She had been, she said, working among the miners for the past thirty years.

She, in answer to questions, denied that she had ever counselled the violation of the law in any respect, but had always asked the miners, to stay sober, to obey the law, and to fight their battles by peaceable methods. She stated that she had no intention of violating the injunction when the meeting was held at Clarksburg on Friday, as the property on which the meeting was held was leased by the miners, and was thought to be far enough away from the property of the mine operators and the homes of the miners. She had come to this state on the invitation and was here to organize the miners. She denied the statement that more trouble occurs where strikers are organized than where they are not.

She stated that she had been at Paterson, N. J., on several occasions, and had lately had an invitation to go there, but denied that she knew that city was a hotbed of anarchists, or that she had ever met or worked with any of the anarchists.

Judge Jackson asked her if she had ever met Emma Goldman, she replied in negative.

To the Judge’s facetious question if she knew Carrie Nation she laughingly returned a similar answer.

The witness denied many of the statements that had been made with regard to her attempts to stir up trouble, or intentionally violating the injunctions, and she stated that she had the highest respect for the courts and sought always to obey the laws of hr country.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1902, Part I: Organizers for United Mine Workers Surrounded by Injunctions in West Virginia

16th August 202216th August 2022 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote John Mitchell to Mother Jones re WV Fairmont Field, May 10, 1902 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 16, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part I
U. M. W. of A. Organizers Surrounded by Injunctions in West Virginia

From the Wilkes-Barre Semi-Weekly Record of July 1, 1902:

[Yet Another Injunction.]

Indianapolis, Ind., June 29.-“If the courts continue issuing injunctions against us there will be but one proposition open. Some one will have to furnish the 400,000 mine workers of this country with balloons in which they can hold meetings privately or publicly and not disobey the mandates of the courts,” said W. B. Wilson, secretary and treasurer of the mine workers’ organization, yesterday when informed that Federal Judge Keller, at Fairmont, had enjoined him, Chris Evans, “Mother” Jones and others connected with the organization from interfering with miners.

No papers have been served on Wilson. He said he had not been in Judge Keller’s district, but If his business calls him there he will go. He declared that if he has been enjoined from holding a private conference on business that concerns the organization he will disobey the injunction.

[Photographs added.]

From The Clarksburg Telegram of July 4, 1902:

“MOTHER” JONES MUST BE GOOD
———-
Judge Jackson Continues the Case and Cautions Her.
—–

“Mother” Jones trial at Parkersburg has been continued to July 11.

When United States Court convened Friday the attorneys for “Mother” Jones and the other strike leaders announced that they would introduce no more evidence and they were ready to rest their case. The prosecution had nothing further to introduce and when it was ascertained that the attorneys wished to argue the case the court announced that it would continue it untill July 11, when the lawyers would be given an opportunity to be heard. The defendants were released under bond. In releasing them the court said:

I have been sitting here for three or four days investigating whether you have violated this injunction or not. That question I shall determine when the case comes up for final disposition on the 11th day of July, as soon as the argument is over and I can reach a conclusion; but I want to say to you that you have a duty, under the recognizance that you have taken here, to perform; that the duty is to abstain-I mean abstain from trying to induce anybody who is employed in these mines from leaving work or from disseminating your own peculiar doctrines that you bring from the other states into this state to disturb the peace and harmony of those who are engaged in the lawful pursuits of mining in this state.

You are citizens, that is true, of the United States, but while you are citizens of the United States you owe obligations to any state you are in, just as much as you do to the state in which you have a permanent residence. The constitution of the United States don’t guarantee rights to the citizens to go into the domain of another state and excite the people to violence or to commit unlawful acts. There is no such provision in the constitution; and, as liberal as the constitution is as to personal rights, the constitution does not protect the person in illegal or unlawful acts in any state in the Union or in a state, particularly, where the parties do not reside.

And I shall expect you upon this occasion, each and every one of you, to observe literally (both in spirit and letter) this injunction; if you wish this court in dealing with you to consider your acts and to weigh your acts with reference to what has heretofore transpired in reference to the order of the court, it will be well for you to consider these things and to act accordingly.

The remarks of Judge Jackson were a warning to the defendants not to interfere with the miners or incite them to strike, as a further violation will result in their rearrest and it will make it harder for them in the present cases.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Socialist Spirit: “Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part III: Versatility, Courage and Devotion

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Quote Mother Jones, Not Afraid in PA, SF Exmr p2, Sept 22, 1900 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday August 6, 1902
“Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part III: Courage and Devotion

From The Socialist Spirit of August 1902:

“MOTHER” JONES

BY WILLIAM MAILLY

[Part III of III]

[Versatility and Power]

The most fertile writer of romance would never select a woman 60 years of age as the central figure of a story, and yet “Mother” Jones has had a career as full of diversity and adventure as could be devised by any disciple of Dumas. One can easily imagine a Joan of Arc, a D’Artagnan, or a Richard of the Lion Heart, but who would ever hit upon a little woman with grey hair as the daring leader of a crusade? There is material here for some genius to immortalize in the years to come. I have only space here for three incidents that, briefly related, will serve, perhaps, to illustrate the versatility and power of “Mother” Jones.

Several years ago, while passing through Montgomery, Alabama, after one of her investigations of conditions in the Southern cotton mills, she visited the Democratic convention, which was in session at the time. One of the delegates, an acquaintance, suggested that she address the convention, and she assented. When the proposition was made several delegates who knew “Mother” objected, but the others, with true Southern chivalry, and their historic regard for women, voted down all objections, and she was given the floor. They regretted their chivalry afterwards.

“Mother” thanked the convention for the courtesy extended to her, but immediately asked: “What about the women you have working in the mills of Alabama, sixteen hours a day, for two and three dollars a week? Don’t you think they’re entitled to some consideration?” She then proceeded to roast the Democratic state administration for its treachery toward the workers and particularly for its repeal, a few years previously, of the law prohibiting the employment of children under twelve years of age in factories. When she got through there was consternation in the convention. Several delegates remonstrated, but others took it up, and when “Mother” left they were still fighting. The papers next day denounced the attempt “to bring discord into the Democratic party by allowing a labor agitator to address the convention.”

One winter, when the snow lay deep upon the ground, “Mother” Jones’ duties as organizer took her into a Pennsylvania mining camp, where there were no friendly faces and the mine owners were prepared to fight her. She hired a room in the only boarding house, kept by a widow, in the place. Then she went out and got up her meeting. It was late when “Mother” returned; she was tired, but the rest she expected when she reached her room was not to be hers that night.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Socialist Spirit: “Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part II: Found in West Virginia for UMWA

5th August 20227th August 2022 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote John Mitchell to Mother Jones re WV Fairmont Field, May 10, 1902 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 5, 1902
“Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part II: Found in West Virginia

From The Socialist Spirit of August 1902:

“MOTHER” JONES

BY WILLIAM MAILLY

[Part II of III]

[Standing with Strikers]

During this time she was also working on the skirmish line of the trade union movement, going here and there, assisting where she could in winning battles on the economic field. She was in Chicago during the famous strike of 1894, and no great struggle but has known her since. It was her work in the bituminous miners’ strike of 1897 that first attracted universal public attention, although labor agitators almost everywhere knew her. At that time she braved a cordon of deputies in West Virginia in order to get the miners there to quit work, and in the Pittsburg district her pathway was lined with thugs employed to intimidate her, an effort which was, of course, a failure. From that time her name has been anathema to the coal operators of America.

Her exploits during these latter years would fill a good-sized book. Travelling overland through Nebraska and other western states in a waggon, speaking and distributing literature on socialism; securing employment in southern cotton mills to investigate conditions first hand; conducting a successful strike of packers in the stock yards of Omaha; another of four thousand silk mill girls in Scranton, Pa., extending over four months; a seven months’ miners’ strike at Arnot, Pa., another victory and one which marked a new era in the mining industry of that region-these and others constitute a record unequaled by anyone. For the past two years her time has almost wholly been taken up in organizing the miners of West Virginia, whose indifference to organization and subjection to the mine-owners has made that State a source of injury to the whole miners’ union.

[Organizing in West Virginia]

It is here where “Mother” has encountered more dangers than in all her experience, for the state has been heretofore entirely under control of the capitalists, and the entrance of agitators has been opposed in every shape and manner. It was for this very reason that “Mother” went there. She has been able to do what no man or any number of men could accomplish, even had they wanted to. The present strike of 20,000 men, after years of abject slavery, is the direct result of her work. Injunction after injunction has been issued against her, but she has gone right on. As I write this the news comes that, after awaiting sentence for several days, following upon being found guilty of contempt of court for violating one of these injunctions, the same judge has dismissed her with a reprimand. In this he showed more wisdom than such as he are usually credited with, but the effectiveness of the reprimand is doubted.

It remained for President John Mitchell to recognize the value of this woman’s great ability and provide the opportunity to put it to full account. Through him she has been a national organizer of the United Mine Workers for the past three years, and her work has more than justified his action. It is conceded and acknowledged by all that she has done more than anyone else to solidify the miners into a strong national organization. She has infected the whole mining industry with her enthusiasm and by her socialist teaching she has turned the thoughts of thousands of workers towards the greater mission in store for them. In view of this it is easy to understand why every one of the thousand delegates to the national convention just adjourned, wept when they bade farewell to her upon her departure to West Virginia to receive sentence from a capitalist court.

Courageous almost to the point of recklessness, she knows no danger when occasion requires it. Her defiance of a court’s injunction is not mere bravado nor shallow “playing to the galleries.” She realizes the probable cost of such action, but she believes it is necessary—some one must do these things, else there will be no progress. Underneath her apparent indifference to injunctions, Pinkerton Thugs and prison cells lies the motive born of a definite purpose. If needs be she would yield her freedom gladly if by so doing she believed the workers would the more quickly gain theirs. Nevertheless, there is nothing incendiary about her; she trusts in the efficacy of the ballot, and has no sympathy with those who teach otherwise.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Socialist Spirit: “Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part I: Working Class Joan of Arc

4th August 20227th August 2022 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Capitalists should surrender gracefully, AtR p2, Sept 14, 1901 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 4, 1902
“Mother Jones” by William Mailly, Part I: Working Class Joan of Arc

From The Socialist Spirit of August 1902:

“MOTHER” JONES

BY WILLIAM MAILLY

[Part I of III]

“Mother” Jones has been compared to Joan of Arc, but she is more than that.

The French maid derived her inspiration from the mystical creations of a brain inflamed by religious ecstasy. She was the slave of her own imagination. She fought for the “divine right of kings,” dying a victorious sacrifice to a cause which, dominant in her day, will soon cease to disfigure the world. Her rightful place as the fanatical representative of medieval mummery has already been assigned her.

But “Mother” Jones absorbs inspiration from living men and women; their hopes and fears, their scant joys and abundant sorrows, are hers also to laugh with and to weep over. She deals with things that are, to fashion the better things that will be. And her cause is the one that will release mankind from material subserviency and mental obliquity, to finally rejuvenate and glorify the world.

In this only are they alike: John of Arc was peculiarly the product of the material conditions of her time, just as “Mother” Jones is of the conditions existing to-day. Each would have been impossible at any other period. As Joan of Arc typified the superstition and mental darkness of the people who hailed and followed her as one gifted with supernatural power, so “Mother” Jones is the embodiment of the new spiritual concept and clearer mentality characteristic of the awakening working class of our day. She is the incarnation of the spirit of revolt against modern industrial conditions—the spirit which finds fullest expression in the world-wide Socialist movement.

For “Mother” Jones is, above and beyond all, one of the working class. She is flesh of their flesh, blood of their blood. She comes of them, has lived their lives, and, if necessary, would die to make their lives happier and better. She loves the workers with a passionate love stronger than the love of life itself. Her advent marks the stage of their progress towards emancipation.

It is the recognition, unconscious perhaps, of this affinity with them that constitutes the real source of her strength with the working people. Instinctively they feel she is one of them. When she speaks they listen to one of their own kind. Thus she becomes a veritable magnet that draws them together, ofttimes in spite of themselves.

For “Mother” Jones is no orator, in the technical sense of the term. Her rhetoric might be more rounded, her phrases more polished, and even her voice gentler than years of indiscriminate speaking, in and out of doors, have left it. But if they were, she would probably be less successful in her work. Her apparent weaknesses are really aids, rather than hindrances. Her language is plain, her illustrations crude but vivid, and she has a facile wit. And her voice is the more effectual because it is not sweet nor silvery, but rather harsh at times. Nevertheless, I have known that voice to arouse working men to frenzy and again soften them into tears. It is the soul that speaks.

So the working people understand and trust her. Only the demagogue or shyster among them fear her keen eye and ready tongue. She has the faculty of ferreting out such as these, and sooner or later they feel it. She is seldom deceived in her judgment of men or women. Absolutely sincere herself, she quickly detects insincerity in others. She is as impatient of hypocrisy as she is free from it. Her face tells its own story.

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