Tag: Death on the Job

Hellraisers Journal: McKees Rocks: Faced with Brutality Surpassing Belief, “Steel Strikers Are Determined to Win”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 29, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Conditions No Longer Endurable

From the Duluth Labor World of July 24, 1909:

STEEL STRIKERS ARE DETERMINED TO WIN
—–
Hideous Brutality of Pressed Steel Car Company
Almost Surpasses Belief.
—–

CONDITION OF EMPLOYES NO LONGER ENDURABLE
—–
Startling Revelations Made by
Ex-Coroner Armstrong of Pittsburg.
—–

In spite of the fact that news dispatches from the Pittsburg strike district all emanate from prejudicial sources, enough has leaked out to reveal the exceptionally villainous character of the management of the Pressed Steel Car Company.

McKees Rocks Strike, Armed Deps, State Troops, Albq Ctz p1, July 19, 1909

By Coroner Armstrong.

Some of the facts stated by Mr. Armstrong are as follows:

Sufficient care has not always been exercised by those running the plant. The Pressed Steel Car Company kills at its works one man per cay on an average. Those running the plant didn’t care much whether they killed a few “hunkies ” or not. The company had a sort of insurance that was very dangerous to human life, since it let the company out of all damages for deaths from injuries and permitted it to become very careless. Soon after becoming coroner he was compelled to place six or seven men high in the company under arrest in order to compel them to give him information regarding deaths in the plant. He made it so hot for the company that it was compelled to take some precautions, and its death roll was, in consequence, reduced about 65 per cent.

According to the Pittsburg evening papers one of the mills has long been known as the “slaughter house” because so many men were killed there. Another plant bears the inviting name of the “last chance,” for no man ever seeks work in that mill if he has a chance on earth outside-a magnificent illustration, by the way, of the bountiful opportunities which this marvelously rich country holds out to all men.

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Hellraisers Journal: McKees Rocks Strikers Elect Committee of Four, Seek Settlement Through Socialist Attorneys

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Parasites Too Lazy, UMWC Jan 27, 1909———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday July 20, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Strikers Seek Settlement
-As the Pressed Steel Car strikers seek a settlement through Socialist Attorneys, we learn that “one a day” is the death toll for the workers within the plant.

From The Pittsburg Press of July 16, 1909:

From page 1:

PEACE MOVE BY STRIKERS
—–
Committee of Four, One from Each
Nationality, to Confer, Through
Socialist Party Attorneys,
With Officials
—–

RENEWAL OF RIOTING IF OFFERS ARE SPURNED
—–
Attorney Piekarski Offers His Services to
the Sheriff-Undercurrent of Excitement
in Schoenville This Afternoon
—–

McKees Rocks Strike Troopers Clear Streets, Ptt Prs p1, July 16, 1909

Rioting at McKees Rocks has for the present given place to an effort at compromise, and a committee of four, representing the striking employes, is now conferring with attorneys of the Socialist party, who will take up the matter of settlement with officials of the Pressed Steel Car Co.

“We demand pay by the hour-no other way,” is the only demand made by the strikers.

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Hellraisers Journal: Speech by May Wood Simons at Socialist Party Convention Brings Delegates to Tears

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Women of the World, Unite.
You have double chains to lose
and you have the world to gain.
-May Wood Simons
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday May 31, 1908
Chicago, Illinois: City of the Impoverished Men, Women and Children

From the Montana News of May 21, 1908:

Montana News, Women's Clubs, MTNs p3, May 21, 1908

Socialist Party of America Button

Extracts from the speech of May Wood Simons at the opening of the Chicago convention:

When his auditors had come back from he heights to which Wanhope had lifted them, it remained for May Wood Simons to take them down into the Valley of the Shadow. It is safe to say that such a stirring appeal to the heart of an American audience was never made before. Before Mrs. Simons had spoken for five minutes there was hardly a dry eye in the house.

The sobs of women resounded through the vast auditorium. In one of the front seats William D. Haywood, who came through his great persecution and trial at Boise without batting an eyelash-the man who did not even pale before danger and death when they menaced him and his-was crying openly.

At the press table the hardened reporters, who have seen misery in all its many forms time and again, until their very souls were calloused, were coughing suspiciously and unbidden tears were falling on the shorthand notes of the speech. It was a masterpiece of pathos, that simple description of “The State of Things as They Are.”

Plain Little Recital.

And yet there was nothing theatrical about the little statement. It did not savor of the dramatic in the least. It was just a plain little recital of fact. That was all. And yet a big six-footer just behind the writer of this article was blubbering like a baby. And he was a magazine writer, too. Not for a small magazine, but for one of the most prominent in America.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: 2,225 Coal Miners Killed on the Job in 1916, 988 in Pennsylvania

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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“Dagos are cheaper than props.”
-Mother Jone quoting a Mine Manager

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday September 19, 1917
Pennsylvania Leads Nation for Coal Mine Fatalities in 1916

From the Appeal to Reason of September 15, 1917:

Coal Mine Fatalities, 1916

Cherry (IL) Mine Disaster of 1909, McClures Mag Mar 1910
Waiting for word.

The number of persons killed in and about coal mines during the calendar year 1916 was 2,225, as compared with 2,269 in 1915, 2,454 in 1914 and 2,785 in 1913. Pennsylvania led with 988, of which 433 were in bituminous mines. Fatalities in West Virginia numbered 372, in Illinois 128, and in Alabama 119, Alaska, California, Idaho, Nevada and South Dakota had no fatalities.

Those killed underground from falls of rock, coal, etc., numbered 961; from mine cars and locomotives 390; from exploding or burning gas, 170, and from explosives, 148. Those killed on the surface numbered 150, and in shafts 49.

The number killed per 1,000 employed was 3.22 in 1914 and 3.09 in 1915. The 1916 figures were not available when this report was published.

———-

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Henry Dubb Has No Worries on the Job; the Boss Assumes ALL the Risk

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday January 14, 1917
From the American Socialist: Henry Dubb Works Risk-Free

Henry Dubb by Ryan Walker

Henry Dubb and Boss, The Risks, Ryan Walker, AmSc, Jan 13, 1917

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Hellraisers Journal: Pennsylvania Report Shows Grim Record of Death on the Job for Anthracite Coal Miners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Pray for the dead and fight
like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday December 29, 1916
Anthracite Coalfields, Pennsylvania – 333 Miners Killed in 9 Months

From the December 28th edition of the Northwest Worker:

333 MINERS MEET DEATH
IN 9 MONTHS
—–

PENNSYLVANIA REPORT SHOWS THAT
THE WAGE AVERAGE OF VICTIMS
WAS ONLY $13.80 A WEEK.
—–

PN Miners Killed on Job, Mt Carmel Item, Jan 11, 1916

HARRISBURG, Pa.-working for an average weekly wage of only $13.80, 333 anthracite coal miners in this State were killed and 6,958 disabled for periods greater than two weeks during the first nine months of 1916. These are official figures of the State Department of Labor and Industry.

There were 233 married men among those killed, and they left 481 fatherless children behind. If it were not for the workmen’s compensation act these men’s families would be left to starve, for, in the vast majority of cases, the miners had not been able to save a cent of their wages. As it is 181 of the fatal cases have been adjusted, the payments to be about $2,505 for each man killed, or a total of $453,499.80 for all cases.

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Hellraisers Journal: On the Mesabi, “When Strike-Breakers Strike” by Marion B Cothren, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday August 27, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota-“To Hell With Such Wages!”

From The Survey of August 26, 1916:

When Strike-Breakers Strike
The Demands of the Miners on the Mesaba Range
By Marion B. Cothren
[Part I]

MN Iron Miners Strike, Location, Cothren, Survey Aug 26, 1916

THE strike-breakers of 1907 have become the strikers of 1916 in the iron mines of Minnesota. Coming over in boatloads from south eastern Europe nine years ago and hired by the United States Steel Corporation to break the iron strike called at that time by the Western Federation of Miners, these polyglot nationalities speaking thirty-six different tongues have become Americanized in the melting pot of the Mesaba mines. Today Finns, Slavs, Croats, Bulgars, Italians, Rumanians, have laid down picks and shovels and are demanding an 8-hour day, a minimum wage of $3 for dry work and $3.50 for wet work in underground mines and $2.73 in open pit mines, abolition of the contract labor system, pay-day twice a month.

The last of May, so the story goes, Joe Greeni, an Italian employed underground in the Alpena mine at Virginia, Minn., opened his pay envelope to find a sum much less than he had under stood his contract called for. “To hell with such wages”, cried he, throwing his pick in the corner, whereupon he vowed never to mine another foot of ore. Second thought, however, convinced Greeni, that action was deadlier than inaction. For three days he stayed at his post, going from stope to stope, saying, “We’ve been robbed long enough, it’s time to strike!” Then he left for Aurora to begin agitation at the extreme eastern end of the range in the little St. James’ mine with its force of 40 miners.
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