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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 3, 1912
“The Battling Miners of West Virginia” by Edward H. Kintzer, Part II
From the International Socialist Review of October 1912:
The Battling Miners of West Virginia
By EDWARD H. KINTZER
Socialist Candidate for State Auditor of West Virginia.[Part II of II]
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Send the Politicians Here.
In this situation the pure and simple politicians could learn a lesson in tactics. It is one of the unusual conditions in America’s industrial wars, in which are engaged men who understand the importance of political action, but who feel how hopelessly lost they would be to depend solely upon this in the present crisis. Many of these strikers are members of the Socialist party. To suggest to them that sabotage or other than political acts or taking a timely vacation from work would exclude them from the sacred circle where politics is crowned king, would cause them to question your sanity.
Nor are the miners alone in this fight. There is a bond of sympathy between workers in the region that is worthy of note. It is an example of the class consciousness that is permeating industry all over the world.
The railroaders who haul the mine guards understand that they (the mine guards) are not spying upon them; that it is the miners who are being hounded, but their hatred for the guards has precipitated several fatalities.
Dead bodies of two guards were found under a structural steel bridge, apparently having fallen while walking the ties. Yet it is the boast of train crews that they loathe these human bloodhounds. Numerous such circumstances have come to light.
The favorite position of the guards while traveling the coal region is to perch themselves on the pilot of the engine. On one occasion three guards boarded the pilot. The engineer of the freight train was particularly hostile to them. He opened wide the throttle and went at a speed that none of his crew knew the train to make before. But they understood. Anything that could happen was welcome. Sharp curves had no terrors for the engineer. What this mad race meant might only be guessed at. Whether or not what happened was by design or accident, all the miners and most of the railroaders considered it more than just. Rounding a curve, with the complacency of the guards taxed to the utmost, the strain upon the crew being unusual, a cow attempted to cross the track. The guards say there was plenty of time to slow down and allow her to cross. The engineer declared that it was impossible unless he unbuckled his train. Result: Before the bovine could wink her tranquil eye she was unrecognizable, with quantities of her blood, hair and what-not covering the three guardsmen, who were otherwise unharmed. A hasty bath in a nearby creek restored the appearance of the guards, and with knowing winks among the crew, the train moved on.