Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 17, 1920 Tug River Field, W. V. – Scabs Arrive as Lick Creek Tent Colony Prepares for Winter
From the United Mine Workers Journal of October 15, 1920:
Bringing in Strike Breakers in the Tug River Field
The Butte Daily Bulletin September 24, 1920
Dispatches from Williamson, W. Va., say that coal operators in the Tug River strike field have begun the importation of strike breakers on an extensive scale. It is said that 125 men, recruited mainly from factories in Akron, O., and other points in that region, have been sent to Williamson to be distributed throughout that district, and across the river in Pike county, Ky.
A man believed to be Anton Skilba, of Cleveland, is at the tent colony of strikers on Lick creek, two miles up the Tug River from Williamson, suffering from a fractured skull, received in one of the numerous clashes in the mountains.
The Lick creek colony contains sixty-two tents housing 107 men, women and children. Preparations are being made to put board floors in the tents, presaging an intention to cling to the makeshift homes and continue the strike into the winter. Living conditions there are of the most primitive type. Food in many cases is cooked on stoves made of rocks and mud.
None of the children wear more than one garment. The men and women are shabby. Food is scarce and what there is of a very coarse variety.
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