Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for December 1900: Found Leaving Pennsylvania on Her Way to Organize Miners of West Virginia

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Quote Mother Jones, Fight n Keep On, Hzltn Pln Spkr p4, Nov 15, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 8, 1901
Mother Jones News Round-Up for December 1900
Found in Leaving Pennsylvania, Headed for Coal Fields of West Virginia

From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of December 1, 1900:

WITH THE MINE WORKERS.
———-
“Mother” Jones Leaves For Virginia
–Dilcher, Here Next Week.

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900

Fred Dilcher, who is at present doing missionary work in the Lackawanna region will arrive in this city on Monday. Mr. Dilcher’s visit is for the purpose of organizing the brewery employees and clerks in Hazleton. The latter have been organized but very little interest has been taken in the local and not a meeting has been held since the union was formed. Benjamin James was present at the meeting and it was decided by a unanimous vote that a charter be applied for.

Through the Lackawanna, upper Luzerne and the greater part of Schuylkill all tradesmen have been organized and every craft is represented in the great Federation of Labor.

“Mother” Jones who has been among the miners hereabouts for some time is organizing them, leaves tomorrow morning for Montgomery, Virginia, where she will do missionary work.

[She said today:]

Conditions are worse in Virginia than anywhere, and the days of chattel slavery are nothing compared to the methods employed by the mine owners there in forcing their employees into subjugation.

Mrs. Jones informed a reporter today that she would not return to this region for several months, but she leaves Hazleton glad in the knowledge that the miners are happy and contented and that better conditions exist in the anthracite region than for many years…..

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for November 1900, Part II: Found in Freeland, PA, Fighting for Striking Silk Mill Workers

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Quote Mother Jones, Fight n Keep On, Hzltn Pln Spkr p4, Nov 15, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 18, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1900, Part II
Found in Freeland, Pennsylvania, Fighting for Silk Mill Strikers

From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of November 13, 1900:

Mother Jones on Silk Strike, Hzltn Pln Spkr p3, Nov 13, 1900

The Silk Mill Strike.

Mother Jones, Scranton Tx p1, Oct 13, 1900

The [Freeland] Grand Opera House was packed last evening with men, women and children who came to hear “Mother” Jones discuss the silk mill strike. The lack of system, cohesive organization, and sympathy, that characterized this strike in its incipient stage was amply atoned for by last night’s meeting, for “Mother” Jones appeared at her best and her pathetic appeal for justice for the little army of frail and youthful girls that sat upon the stage, touched a responsive chord in the large audience.

The boys and girls, many of whom appeared very young, were arranged on the stage with good effect, and the speaker lost no time in getting down to the core of her subject. She exhibited a little boy before the floodlights whom she claimed worked in the Freeland silk mill for one cent per hour. She next brought forward a pale-faced frail little girl who received $1.10 per week and pointed out in forcible language the decay of the Republic and the degeneration of the race if the mothers of the men of the future were permitted to be thus enslaved. The speaker gave a brief history of the abolition of child labor in England, and denounced the silk mills as vile hell holes where cursing and foul language was the order of the day. She denounced the men who employ babes in violation of the law and make money by their labor as “commercial cannibals” who would find it difficult to justify their stewardship when called to answer before the Supreme Judge.

She compared the conduct of a mother living at Upper Lehigh who flogged her little girl back to work in the silk mill with the conduct of the negro mother who in the days of chattel slavery clung to her offspring with a maternal affection that the tortures of the masters lash could not sever. The speaker became dramatic as she exhibited the frail little girls that the local authorities could not control without the aid of deputy sheriffs and her sarcasm in denouncing the men who brought them here was withering and eloquent. She “roasted” a local merchant who it is alleged said that the girls should be arrested and appealed to the manhood of her audience to abolish profanity in the mill and appoint a committee to confer with the management and intercede for better conditions for the girls. She told her audience that she would personally appeal to the state factory inspector to enforce the law and closed with an earnest appeal to the men to save their money and keep away from the saloons, “You will need it all” she said “for we are on the eve of the greatest panic in the history of the world.”

“Within the next two years” she said “a financial crash will take place that will paralyze industry from ocean to ocean, and the working men should carefully husband their earnings as they will then need it.” She prophesied a social revolution with the close of the century, that will upset existing conditions and free the human race from the curse of competitive slavery.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for October 1900, Part II: Found Leading Army of Women; Lattimer Now Close Down Tight

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Quote Mother Jones re Lattimer Raid Oct 6, 1900, Ab p87, 1925———-

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

From The Scranton Times of October 6, 1900:

Lattimer Closed Mother Jones PA Anthracite Strike, Scranton Tx p1, Oct 6, 1900Lattimer Shf Mother Jones PA Anthracite Strike, Scranton Tx p1, Oct 6, 1900Hazleton, Pa.. Oct. 6. The striking miners here made a raid on the Lattimer colliery this morning and executed a unique coup. Sheriff Harvey, with a number of deputies and coal and iron police, were on hand to protect the miners who have remained at work at the colliery.

The company also made thorough preparations for offensive and defensive warfare against the raiders. They were determined to keep their miners at work, but they failed to count on the cunning of “Mother” Jones, who was operating with the raiders.
 
She, with a small band of strikers, entered the company store and persuaded the workmen to follow her out into the road.
 
She kept the men there talking to them, and the sheriff and his deputies directed all their attention to the woman. In the meantime other strikers made a detour of the mine property and talked with the men they found at work. As a result all of these men laid down their tools and left for home, and the mine is now closed tight…..
———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for October 1900, Part I: Found in Pennsylvania Supporting the Great Anthracite Strike

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Mother Jones Speaks ed, WB PA Oct 2, WB Rec Tx p6, Oct 5, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 19, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part I
Found in Pennsylvania Supporting Great Anthracite Strike

From the Wilkes-Barre Daily News of October 1, 1900:

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900

GAINS IN SCHUYLKILL.

POTTSVILLE Pa.,- Sept. 29.-About 1,500 miner., attended the mass meeting to-night of the United Mine Worker, of America. The meeting was addressed by President John Fahey, of District No. 9: Miles Dougherty, of Shamokin.k and Mother Mary Jones. Mr. Fahey said if inexperienced men were taken into the mines the death rate from explosions and other causes would be enormous. Statistics, he said, show that with inexperienced men the list of killed has numbered 30,-000 in twenty-five years. It is estimated that 2,000 strikers were added to the ranks to-day in this (Schuylkill) region .

———-

[Photograph added.]

From the Philadelphia Times of October 2, 1900:

MINERS WILL NOT ACCEPT HALF WAY VICTORY
———-

(Written for The Times by “Mother” Jones, the” famous labor leader.)

Hazleton, October 1.

The report that, the strike is likely to be settled without any more concessions being made by the operators is, as slated in The Times to-day, premature and should not be considered as truthful. The strike will never be called off for a ten per cent. increase alone, or even with the decrease in the price of powder. The United Mine Workers are too well organized to accept half way measures of relief.

There has not been a single break in the ranks to far. I have been all over the district and I can say the reports circulated by several operators that they have more men at work now than at any time since the strike are false. In the majority of the mines working only bosses, foremen, firemen, engineers and similar employes are at work. All of these reports are transparent dodges to frighten the men into returning to work. No one, however, pays much attention to them and they have had no effect. They are denied by the mine workers simply to prevent the unwary and those who are not familiar with what is transpiring from being deceived.

MARY JONES.

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Hellraisers Journal: United Mine Workers President John Mitchell Declares Victory in Great Anthracite Coal Strike

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Quote Mother Jones, If war Shamokin Sep 8, Phl Iq p2, Sept 9, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 27, 1900
Hazleton, Pennsylvania – Mitchell Declares Victory in Great Coal Strike

From the Philadelphia Times of October 26, 1900:

PA Miners Strike, Victory Mt Message, Phl Tx p1, Oct 26, 1900

Special Telegram to THE TIMES.

HAZLETON, October 25.

The great coal strike is a thing of the past.

President Mitchell, at 8 o’clock this evening, issued a statement calling the miners to return to work at all operations where the strikers’ demands have been met. The statement follows:

Temporary Headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America, Hazleton, Pa., October 25, 1900.

To the Miners and Mine Workers of the Anthracite Region.

Gentlemen: After carefully canvassing the entire strike situation, we, your officers, district and national, have concluded that your victory is so nearly complete that no good end can be served by continuing the strike longer. The contest has been in progress for thirty-nine days and the companies employing you have, with few exceptions, signified their willingness to pay the scale of wages formulated by the Scranton convention of October 12 and 13.

We are aware that some disappointment and dissatisfaction has been caused by the failure of the operators in Districts No. 1 and 7 to separate the reduction in the price of powder from the advance in wages; but after careful inquiry we are satisfied that each mine employe will actually receive an advance of ten per cent. on the wages formerly paid. In the Schuylkill and Lehigh regions the largest companies have agreed that the sliding scale should be suspended; and that wages should remain stationary at ten per cent. until April 1, 1901, thus removing one of the iniquities of which you have complained for many years.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1900, Part II: Found in Pennsylvania Supporting Great Anthracite Strike

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 13, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1900, Part II
Found in Pennsylvania Supporting Great Anthracite Strike

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of September 21, 1900:

POLISH WOMEN ATTACK POLICE

—————



From a Staff Correspondent.

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900

HAZLETON, Pa., Sept. 20.-Outside of a little flurry this morning at Shaft 40, the property of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, between a half dozen coal and iron police and a crowd of two hundred Hungarians and Polish women, the most startling thing up to noon was the arrival in Hazleton of Wharton Barker, Jr., and Mother Mary Jones. The former came up for a day’s trip only, to study the situation from the standpoint of a student, of social economics and in its political bearing; the latter will remain over until Saturday to rest up after her speech-making of the last week or so, which has worn down her voice to a whisper.

The trouble at Shaft 40, was directly due to the over officiousness of the coal and iron police in going from house to house to collect boys to work in the breakers. They had gathered in about fifty, and were returning to the shaft by way of East Diamond avenue, when a couple of hundred Hungarian women made a dash to rescue the lads. They were repulsed but made another sortie. There was some torn clothing, but nothing worse. The women got the better end of the conflict, as the discomfited officers were not able to corral more than a dozen of the lads, for duty at the colliery.

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Leads Army of Strikers’ Wives and Daughters to Coleraine and Beaver Meadows

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Quote Mother Jones, Ladies Women, NYT p3, May 23, 1914———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 27, 1900
Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Leads Army of Women from McAdoo to Coleraine

From The Philadelphia Inquirer of September 23, 1900:

PA Strike, HdLn Women Take a Hand, Phl Iq p6, Sept 23, 1900

PA Strike, Women in Demonstration Hazleton Mine, Phl Iq p6, Sept 23, 1900
Sketched on the Spot by an Inquirer Staff Artist.
—————

WOMEN FIRED TO FRENZY MARCH ON MINES AND HUGGING
THE WORKERS THEY FORCE THEM TO LEAVE THEIR POST
——-
Females Led by Mother Jones Form a Strange and
Remarkable Procession-Shouting and Waving
Their Arms They Dance to Martial Music

From a Staff Correspondent.

HAZLETON, PA., Sept. 22-Unless there is a speedy close down of the mines whose operators persist in keeping them running with armed protection, there s going to be trouble in this district. When it comes, the women will be at the bottom of it. In the early hours this morning they swooped down upon Coleraine and Beaver Meadows. They were led by Mother Jones. They marched with a band at their head, the men falling back in the rear. In the journey some of the party were girls, who gave way to the wildest abandon and danced and shouted, waving their arms in the air.

On arriving at Coleraine, emotional frenzy reached its limit. The men who on their way to work were seized, When cold argument failed some of the women threw their arms about the miners’ necks and exercised all their powers of pleading. Unable to resist the demonstrative actions of the women, the miners gave in, and consented to return to their homes.

Flushed with victory, the raiding party proceeded on to Beaver Meadow. There were about a hundred women in it, and male recruits had been picked up all along the road, so that the entire aggregation numbered five or six hundred. They reached Beaver Meadow too late for any demonstration with the miners, as they were in the colliery at work.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for August 1900, Part II: Found Visiting Massacre Site at Lattimer Near Hazleton

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 10, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for August 1900, Part II
Found Visiting Massacre Site at Lattimer, Pennsylvania

From the Freeland Tribune of August 17, 1900:

DEMANDS OF THE MINERS
——-

[…..]

Lattimer Massacre, Marchers w Flag, Sept 10, 1897
Miners marching near
Hazelton, Pennsylvania,
September 10, 1897.

As announced in Wednesday’s issue of the Tribune, the representatives of the United Mine Workers of America, in convention at Hazleton, adopted a resolution which calls upon the coal operators to meet delegates from the three districts in joint conference in Hazleton on Monday, August 27. [A] committee was appointed to correspond with the operators…..

The convention then adjourned. The delegates afterwards visited Lattimer, where the miners were killed three years ago by Sheriff Martin’s posse. On the exact spot where the men were shot down addresses were delivered, and the men rededicated themselves to the cause of labor. Speeches were made by President Mitchell, District President Duffy, “Mother” Jones and National Board Member James.

John Bernoski, of Shamokin, addressed the crowd in Polish. Frank Riecco, who carried the American Flag and was with the miners on that fatal day, was present and spoke a few words. On the way back many of the delegates visited St. Joseph’s cemetery, where the dead miners were buried.

The [strike] situation now hinges on the operators’ attitude next Monday.

—————

[Photograph added.]

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