Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for January and February 1900, Found Receiving Fervent Ovation from Arnot Strikers

9th April 202010th April 2020 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote re Mother Jones at Arnot, Wellsboro PA Agitator p1, Jan 17, 1900 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 9, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for January and February 1900
Found in Pennsylvania Receiving “Fervent Ovation” from Arnot Miners

From The Wellsboro Agitator of February 28, 1900:

Mother Jones, Arnot Strike ed, Elmira NY Dly Gz p5, Oct 7, 1899

LOCAL FACTS AND COMMENTS.
—–
Recent Haps and Mishaps in this County and Its Vicinity.

[…..]

–Arnot miners, who sought work elsewhere after the strike began, are now coming home.

[…..]

–Mrs. Mary Jones, of Pittsburg, the striking miners’ champion, left this county on the 19th instant to go to Toby valley whither she had been summoned. The night before her departure there was a fervent ovation in her honor at the opera-house in Blossburg. Mr. W. B. Wilson, of Blossburg, President of the 5th District United Mine Workers of America, presided and paid Mrs. Jones a glowing tribute. Mrs. Jones’s remarks were very affecting.

[…..]

———-

[Inset added from Elmira Gazette of October 7, 1899.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Ed Boyce, President of Western Federation of Miners, Pays His Respects to General Merriam

28th January 2020 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 28, 1900
President Boyce on Gen. Merriam: “pusillanimous tool…of the mine operators…”

From the Kansas City Labor Record of January 25, 1900:

THE WARDNER TROUBLE
—–
General Merriam Censured for his Persecution
of Union Miners. Not a Union Man
Allowed to Work.
—–

—–

In the initial issue of the Miners Magazine President Boyce pays his respects to General Merriam in the following caustic manner:

The following interview with General Merriam by a reporter of the Rocky Mountain News was published in that paper Dec. 13th:

You can say for me,” said the general yesterday to a News man, “that the more Congress investigates the Coeur d’Alene troubles the better it will please me. I am pleased to know that such a movement is on foot.

“The constitution speaks for itself,” continued General Merriam. “Martial law was proclaimed by Governor Stuenenberg May 3d last. Three days after I was ordered to the scene. Arrests were made by the stale authorities, but I do not care to discuss the question. The records speak for themselves.”

Had this pusillanimous tool in the hands of the mine operators, clothed in the uniform of a general bearing the U. S. brand, been animated with no other desire than to do his duty when he reached the Coeur d’Alenes, there would be no need of a congressional investigation.

Did he not arrest every man in the country at the suggestion of the mine operators without cause or provocation and confine them in a filthy barn unfit for habitation, with instructions to shoot any man who showed his head, and denied them the right to consult with counsel?

Did he not examine and approve over his signature one of the most infamous proclamations that ever emanated from the brain of man, which denied every man the right to seek employment in the mines of Shoshone county unless he denounced organized labor and obtained a permit from Dr. France, the Bunker Hill and Sullivan company doctor, noted for his extreme prejudice against organized labor?

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for 1899, Part II: Found Standing with Striking Coal Miners of Arnot, Pennsylvania

23rd January 2020 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 23, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for the Year 1899
-Part II: Found with Striking Coal Miners of Arnot, Pennsylvania

From the Philadelphia Times of October 9, 1899:

Elmira Gazette of October 7, 1899

MINERS EVICTED
FROM THEIR HOMES
—–
Blossburg Miners Are Facing
Starvation by Reason
of Their Strike.
—–

WILL NOT YIELD A POINT
—–

Special Telegram to The Times.

Arnot, October 8.

The strike situation hereabouts is becoming serious, and the sufferings of the miners will be severe if an agreement is not soon reached with the Blossburg Coal Company. During the past week the company has discharged its superintendent, ordered the mules sold and made preparations to close down the mines permanently.

Although the strikers have been out sixteen weeks, and are facing certain starvation, they are as determined as ever not to “cave in” to the company, as they term it. The action of the miners in deciding to return to work, and then changing their minds after hearing the harangues of Mrs. Mary Jones, a woman labor agitator of Pittsburg, has apparently aroused the ire or the officials of the company.

Evicted Their Tenants.

As soon as the intention of the miners to remain out became known the company took steps to evict the men who occupied houses belonging to the company for non-payment Thus far thirty-six families have been forced from the houses which they have occupied for years. The evictions were effected by Sheriff Johnston and a force of deputies from Wellsboro. There was no show of force. Those who had no place to go were taken in by neighbors who own their own houses, and are therefore out of reach of the company’s eviction process.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for 1899, Part I: Found in Girard, Kansas, Visiting with J. A. Wayland of the Appeal to Reason

22nd January 202023rd January 2020 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 22, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for the Year 1899
-Part I: Found in Girard, Kansas, and Cleveland, Ohio

From the Western World (Girard, Kansas) of January 5, 1899:

Mother Jones is a guest of the Wayland household this week. And she is a distinguished guest, too. No woman in America or in any other country has more genuine admirers among the toiling classes than Mother Jones. She is known to every laborer in the world who cares to ascertain who is a loyal true, friend to him. In all the great strikes of the past, when suffering has run riot, Mother Jones has been one of the first to appear on the scene and render such service as was in her power. As a lecturer she has no superior, being thoroughly posted in everything bearing upon the economical conditions of the age, and she is welcomed by the thousands everywhere. That she is one of the most popular workers in the fight for a better condition on earth, need not be said.

———-

[Photograph added.]

From the Western World of February 23, 1899:

Mother Jones delivered an address from her wagon, which was drawn up on the north side of the square, last Saturday afternoon. A large crowd was in town, and many seemed greatly interested in her eloquent and forcible argument for socialism.

———-

From The Independent News (Girard, Kansas) of February 23, 1899:

Mother Jones, a Socialist teacher, made a two hours speech on the north side of the square Saturday afternoon. Mother Jones is well known over nearly all parts of the country where there are large number of laborers. She starts for Cleveland this week and from there goes into the mining country of Pittsburg, Pa.

From the Western World of March 9, 1899:

Mother Jones, the noted Socialist lecturess, who has been spending the winter with the family of J. A. Wayland, left Saturday for Chicago, to visit for a time before commencing her summer lecture tour.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones, “Dauntless as Joan of Arc,” Speaks to Striking Miners and Wives at Arnot

18th January 202018th January 2020 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 18, 1900
Arnot, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Ready to Go to Jail with Striking Miners

From The Wellsboro Agitator of January 17, 1900:

STRIKE SCENES

[…..]

Arrests Made of Those Who Took Part in the Parades
-Mother Jones Again on the Scene.
—–

The Pittsburg Post
December 31, 1899
—–

There was a new phase of the strike at Arnot last week. Some 21 of those who participated in the daily parades were arrested on the charge of “unlawful and tumultuous assembling, and making use then and there of opprobrious epithets, shouts, exclamations and other means calculated to inspire the people with terror, and to intimidate the workmen employed by the Blossburg Coal company and to prevent them from continuing work for same Company.”

The persons arrested appeared before Justice Cambers, being represented by Frank S. Hughes, Esq., of Blossburg, and the attorneys for the prosecution were H. F. Marsh and Major G. W. Merrick, of this borough. All were finally allowed to go on their own recognizance for appearance at court.

Early in the week Mrs. Mary Jones, or “Mother Jones,” as she is called at Arnot, returned to the scene and there was a great demonstration among the strikers who look upon her as their leader. Mrs. Jones blustered a good deal about the breaking up of the parades and stoutly asserted that they would be renewed and kept up. Mr. Thomas Haggerty, another leader, and Mrs. Jones decided to call a meeting of the U. M. W. at Blossburg.

On Tuesday evening a large crowd followed the band from Arnot to Blossburg. Halting on Main street “Mother” Jones, dauntless as Joan of Arc,” gray-haired and loquacious, as she is described, mounted a box and talked about maintaining the parades, and threatened that if one of the paraders was jailed they would have to take all of them, including herself. There were a great many women in the crowd, so an open meeting was held. But later the men who belonged to the order [United Mine Workers of America] held a secret session.

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Tag: January 1900