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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 22, 1911
Greensburg, Pennsylvania – Mothers and Babes Locked Up in Rat-Infested Jail
From the Arkansas Democrat of June 20, 1911:
MOTHERS AND BABES TO JAIL
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In Famous Westmoreland Coal Strike,
Which Has Been in Progress Nearly
18 Months, Company is Said to be
Taking Severe Steps to End Trouble.
———-(By Gilson Gardner.)
Greensburg, Pa.-(Staff Special.)-The famous Westmoreland coal strike, which has been in progress nearly a year and a half, has reached a new stage. To win, the coal companies now find it necessary to send mothers with babes and little girls to the county bastile.
A little crippled girl, 14 years old, was sitting on the front porch of her home when the village scab went by on his way from work. The little girl began to laugh at the scab and to sing, “Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown?” For this the town constable, Pat McDonough, in behalf of the Westmoreland Coal Company, swore out a warrant and had it served by the deputy constable. The little crippled girl was arrested, taken to Irwin, a village two miles away, where she was brought up before the local justice of the peace-“Squire” H. L. Meeroff. Tho squire found the cripple girl guilty of “breaking the peace” and sentenced her to the county jail for 20 days. So the prisoner was taken 10 miles to Greensburg, where she was locked up in a jail provided for hardened criminals.