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Hellraisers Journal – Friday January 23, 1903
Mother Jones News Round-Up for December 1902, Part I
W. V: Saved from Suspicious Hotel Fire; Ill: Attends Celebration for Mitchell
From The Richmond Dispatch (Virginia) of December 3, 1902:
TO BURN “MOTHER” JONES.
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This Seemed the Object of Incendiaries
at Montgomery, W. Va.Mother Jones,
PARKERSBURG, VA., December 3.-(Special.)—”Mother” Jones, the friend of the miners, narrowly escaped with her life from a burning hotel at Montgomery, early this morning.
Mrs. A. R. Wagoner, the wife of the proprietor of the Montgomery Hotel, was aroused from her slumbers and gave the alarm. The room occupied by “Mother” Jones was full of smoke when she wakened, and in a short time she would have been suffocated.
The fire was of incendiary origin, starting in a room that had not been occupied for three days. The hotel has been on fire three times within the past few weeks, and it is supposed that it was because “Mother” Jones was stopping there.
John C. Todd, one of the guests, had a hip fractured by jumping from the third story window. All the guests lost most of their valuables and clothing.
[Photograph added.]
From Hinton Daily News (West Virginia) of December 6, 1902
Mother Jones was at Beckley yesterday and made a speech at the labor meeting.
From the Duluth Labor World of December 13, 1902:
Mother Jones was nearly suffocated in a hotel fire at Montgomery, W. Va., this week. The fire was of incendiary origin. The coal operators would not be sorry to learn that Mother Jones lost her life, and it is not improbable that some of their thugs had something to do with firing the hotel.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean of December 15, 1902:
MITCHELL IS HERE; RECEIVES OVATION
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Mine Workers’ Chief Greeted by Chicago Labor Men.
———-HAS LITTLE TO SAY
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Refuses to Discuss Matters Before the Commission.
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Goes to Spring Valley Today for Reception
and Will Hasten Back to Scranton.
———-John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers of America and the most prominent figure in the labor movement today, arrived in Chicago at 10:30 o’clock last night. He will leave at 9:15 o’clock this morning for his home in Spring Valley, where a public demonstration is planned in his honor by the residents of that city.
The train on which Mr. Mitchell arrived was delayed seven hours on account of a snowstorm, but the friends who had gathered to greet him waited patiently for his arrival. The Cabdrivers’ union sent a carriage to the depot, and he was driven to McCoy’s hotel, where he was given an ovation by the crowd in waiting in the rotunda.
[…..]
“Mother” Jones Here.
At the same hotel is “Mother” Jones, the socialist agitator and organizer of the miners of the country. She will be one of the speakers at the reception at Spring Valley today. Mrs. Jones is almost as popular among the miners as Mr. Mitchell, and while she shakes her head over the probable outcome of the investigation of the commission, she is rejoicing that the actual condition existing in the mines are being held up to the public.
[She said:]
I have been preaching about those conditions for years, but the world refused to listen. It is listening now, and whatever the final outcome may be it cannot fail to be an advantage to the suffering miners.