Tag: UMW District 17

Hellraisers Journal: John W. Brown on Miners’ Strike in Paint Creek/Cabin Creek, West Virginia: “This Is War and War Is Hell”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Get Rid of Mine Guards, Charleston WV, Aug 15, 1912, Steel Speeches p95—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 15, 1912
“This Is War and War Is Hell” by John W. Brown, Socialist and U. M. W. Organizer

From The Coming Nation of October 12, 1912:

WV Mine War by JW Brown, Cmg Ntn p5, Oct 12, 1912

[Part I of III]

WV Mine War, Text Coal Miners Story, Cmg Ntn p5, Oct 12, 1912—–

“COD walks on sea and land, but the devil reigns in the coal fields of West Virginia.” This was uttered by Gen. C. D. Elliott and the reference was to the civil war now going on in the Kanawha valley where the coal miners and the coal barons have grappled in a life and death struggle which can only end in the surrender of either one of the contending forces. “And the devil is greed,” says General Elliott. Greed personified in a handful of mercenary plutocrats who know no more, care no more for the rights of humanity than do the lean dogs who lick their grimy hands.

The details of this terrible struggle do not differ from that which could be written of all the other coal fields, and forms but another page in the development of American capitalism.

A Long Story of Stealing

First comes the usual questionable and fraudulent land titles, then corrupt legislation, then the usurpation of the courts and finally the general debauchery and degradation of the whole body politic. The Moloch of capitalism is never satisfied. It has no heart, no soul, no conscience. It has but one object, one purpose, and that is to make profit. It stands with open mouth crying, “give, give,” and the people of West Virginia have given, given and given again, first their lands, then their labor, and now the insatiable beast demands the half starved babes. The present strike in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek districts has a shadowy background reaching back some ten years or more.

In 1902 the coal miners of West Virginia organized under the auspices of the United Mine Workers of America. Immediately following, the coal barons began their present fight against the union and a general strike followed. During this strike of 1902, Judge Jackson and Judge Keller issued their nefarious injunctions which if obeyed by the miners would have been nothing short of wholesale suicide. Naturally, the miners refused to bow to these injunctions and there followed a reign of rapine and legalized murder such as is seldom found in the pages of human history. Among which is recorded what is now known as the Stanford city massacre [Stanaford Massacre.].

An American Pogrom

WV Mine War, Mother Jones Speaks at Mass Meeting, Cmg Ntn p5, Oct 12, 1912

Dan Cunningham, at that time a United States deputy marshall armed with injunction and eviction papers and preceded by an army of professional murderers went to Stanford city in the night and at daylight made a murderous attack upon the helpless and defenseless miners, murdering them as they slept. Unarmed, old age, fathers and mothers, youths and even suckling babes were shot down like wild beasts and not even the prayers of pregnant mothers could prevail against this thirst for human blood.

There is always a point beyond which lies desperation and revolt. This point was reached during the strike of 1902 and for the time being both the federal authorities and the coal barons were baffled. But not for long. The Baldwin-Felts detective agency, an organization composed of ex-convicts and professional strike-breakers entered the field and agreed by contract to break the strike and from that day until this there has existed in West Virginia, a state of guerrilla warfare that beggars either pen or tongue to portray.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: John W. Brown on Miners’ Strike in Paint Creek/Cabin Creek, West Virginia: “This Is War and War Is Hell”” →

Hellraisers Journal: The West Virginia Treason Trials, Powerful Forces Work to Convict Union Miners in Charles Town

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 9, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Powerful Forces Work to Covict Union Miners

From The Bottle Maker of October 1922:

HdLn WV Treason Trials, Bottle Maker p27, Oct 1922

Newsclip WV Treason Trial, W Allen Convicted, Charles Town Spirit of Jefferson p2, Oct 3, 1922
Charles Town Spirit of Jefferson
October 3, 1922

Charlestown, W. Va., Sept. 5.—Industrial feudalism, allied with and enthroned upon a local aristocracy, and exploiting the naivette of guileless farmers and and unsuspecting rural population, is moving mercilessly and relentlessly in the ancient court house of this town to defeat and destroy organized labor in West Virginia, drive labor unions from the borders of the State, and take a new lease upon control and domination of government in West Virginia.

In this undertaking, industrial oppression and vengence is masquerading behind the law and the prosecuting power of the State, utilizing the executive machinery of the State, and subsidizing newspapers and news dispatches, to accomplish the end sought.

Walter Allen, a young official of the United Mine Workers in West Virginia, is on trial in Charles Town on a charge of treason against the State. Allen is one of twenty-three officials of this union who were indicted in the coal-tainted courts of Logan county last year on the charge of treason. More than 500 others are indicted on charges of conspiracy or murder. These indictments were found after the union miners of Kanawha, Fayette, and Raleigh counties rebelling against the venal industrial conditions of Logan and Mingo counties, and finding that gunmen of the coal operators prevented peaceful union organization, had attempted to right their wrongs by an invasion of those counties directed against company gunmen.

William Blizzard, president of sub-district No. 2 of this union, was another of the twenty-three. Blizzard was acquitted last May after a trial of five weeks, but no such fortune seems to be in prospect for Allen. Every resource at the command of a great and entrenched industrial feudalism in West Virginia-a feudalism that makes governors, elects legislatures, and controls political parties and newspapers—is being brought to bear to convict Allen and all of his associates, and through their confinement in the State prison, break up the miners’ union, and drive unionism as a whole from the State.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: The West Virginia Treason Trials, Powerful Forces Work to Convict Union Miners in Charles Town” →

Hellraisers Journal: “The Battle Ground of Coal” by James M. Cain-Union Organization and the Miners’ War in West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 8, 1922
“The Battle Ground of Coal” by James M. Cain

From The Atlantic Monthly of October 1922:

THE BATTLE GROUND OF COAL

BY JAMES M. CAIN

I

Battle of Blair Mt, WV Today by Bushnell, Guards, Gunthugs, Spies, UMWJ p5, Sept 15, 1921

As you leave the Ohio River at Kenova, and wind down the Norfolk and Western Railroad beside the Big Sandy and Tug rivers, you come into a section where there is being fought the bitterest and most unrelenting war in modern industrial history. The country furnishes a suitable setting. Rocky hills, small mountains, rise on each side. They are gashed by ‘creeks’; looking up these, you see that the wild region extends for miles back from the railroad. There is no soft, mellow outline about these hills. They are sharp and jagged; about their tops grows a stunted, scraggly forest. Their color is raw: glaring reds and yellows, hard, waterstreaked grays. Here and there you see the blue-black ribbon of coal.

In this untamed section of West Virginia two tremendous forces have staked out a battle ground. These are the United Mine Workers of America and the most powerful group of nonunion coal-operators in the country. It is a battle to the bitter end; neither side asks quarter, neither side gives it. It is a battle for enormous stakes, on which money is lavished; it is fought through the courts, through the press, with matching of sharp wits to secure public approval. But more than this, it is actually fought with deadly weapons on both sides; many lives have already been lost; many may yet be forfeited.

As the train carries you southeastward, you see some signs of it. You pass many coal mines, and some of these are closed down. At the stations, pairs of men in military uniform scrutinize all who alight. These are the West Virginia State Police; a strong force of them is on duty here, for bloodshed became so frequent that one of these counties, Mingo, was placed under martial law. You pass occasional clusters of tents-squalid, wretched places, where swarms of men, women, and children are quartered. Everywhere you are sensible of an atmosphere of tension, covert alertness, sinister suspicion. It is not by accident that these State policemen appear always in pairs.

If you get off the train at Williamson, county seat of Mingo, you will be at the fighting front. People there will tell you that this struggle has been going on for three years. They will tell you of the bloody day at Matewan, May 1920, when ten men, including the mayor of the town, fell in a pistol battle that lasted less than a minute.They will tell you of guerrilla warfare that went on for months; how Federal troops had to be called in twice. They will tell you of the ‘three days’ battle,’ which resulted, in May, 1921, in the declaration of martial law. Union partisans will tell you of the exercises on May 30 last, when the graves of a score of union fallen were decorated with all the ceremony accorded soldiers who have died for the flag. The operators will tell you of attacks from ambush: how their men have been shot down from behind; how witnesses for trials were mysteriously killed before they could testify. The atrocity list and quantity of propaganda give this war quite an orthodox flavor. It is very hard to sift out the truth.

II

Back in 1898, when the coal industry was quite as unsettled as it is now, the union and the big operators evolved a working plan to stabilize conditions and equalize opportunity. This was the conference in the Central Competitive Field, whereby a wage scale was arrived at for this region, and scales in all other union districts were computed by using this scale as a basis and making allowances for different operating conditions, freight rates, and so forth. This was in order to give all districts an equal chance at the market. Coal is probably the most fluid commodity sold: coal from one section competes with coal from another section remote from the first. It is not analogous to a trade-marked article, for which an arbitrary price can be obtained by advertising campaigns and kindred methods. No amount of advertising can make coal of a given grade from one section outsell the same grade from another section at a higher price. This peculiarity of the coal market was the reason for the basic wage-scale arrangement which gave all districts as nearly equal chances as possible, and precluded the possibility that a miscalculated rate might put whole mining fields out of business altogether.

The plan worked fairly well for a time. Within a few years, however, it was discovered that large new areas of coal lands had been developed, and that most of these were being worked with nonunion labor. They had been left out of the original calculation, largely because the existence of such large virgin fields was not known until after the opening of the present century. Some of them were in Pennsylvania, but most, and by far the largest, were in southern West Virginia. Employing nonunion labor, they worked at a lower wage-scale than the union areas, and had become a formidable factor in the industry, for they were underselling union coal constantly. In the years just preceding the war, their effect on the market-and particularly the greater number of days their labor worked during the year-had become definitely noticeable. During the war, there was demand for everybody’s coal, and there was no pinch then. The pinch came, however, in the year following the peace.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “The Battle Ground of Coal” by James M. Cain-Union Organization and the Miners’ War in West Virginia” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1912, Part IV: Found On the Ground in W. V. Strike Zone, Shadowed by Mine Guards

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Get Rid of Mine Guards, Charleston WV, Aug 15, 1912, Steel Speeches p95—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday September 20, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for August 1912, Part IV
Found on the Ground in West Virginia Strike Zone, Shadowed by Mine Guards

From The Wheeling Majority of August 15, 1912:

Kanawha Miners Still on Strike
———-

[Mother Jones on the Ground.]

(By G. H. Edmunds.)

Mother Jones, Tacoma Tx p3, Feb 14, 1912

Charleston. W. Va., Aug. 15.—(Special.)-The great strike of the miners of the Kanawha valley is still on, and is spreading daily. When this strike started it was confined to the mines along Paint Creek and Little Coal river and Briar creek, but it now embraces the entire Cabin Creek and Big Coal river district. The miners of this section voluntarily organized themselves into local unions and then applied to the district organization to admit them into the district of West Virginia, which is District No. 17, U. M. W. of A. In all, there are close to 4,000 miners and 40 mines affected. The miners are demanding the right to organize, and also are demanding the doing away with the mine guard system. The guard system has become unbearable, and it has been definitely decided among the miners that it must go…..

The Demands.

The demands in brief are:

1. The recognition by the operators of their right to organize.
2. The abolition of the guard system.
3. The recognition of the union as in affect on the Kanawha river between the operators and miners.
4. The short ton of 2,000 pounds in lieu of the long ton of 2,240 pounds.
5. Nine hours to constitute a work day in lieu of a 10-hour day.
6. Semi-monthly pay.  [State law, but unenforced.]
7. The right to purchase goods at any place desired.

Demands Reasonable.

Now, anyone can see that these demands are reasonable, and should not be refused to any body of workmen. There has been all kinds of trouble since the strike started. Miner after miner has been shot, killed and beaten up by the guards, until the governor was compelled to send the militia to Paint Creek. Cabin Creek is now the battle ground, and all eyes are looking in that direction.

“Mother” Jones is on the ground, and the miners are organizing daily. By next Monday not a mine on the Creek will be operating…..

[Photograph and paragraph break added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of August 20, 1912:

WV Strike Scenes, Blt Sun p2, Aug 20, 19121. Sentry on guard at Mucklow, W. Va. More than a hundred bullets struck this house on the morning of July 26, when strikers shot up the town.
2. Striking miner’s family living at Holly Grove, on Paint Creek, W. Va., in tent furnished by United Mine Workers’ organization. At the time the picture was taken the husband and father had walked 12 miles to hear “Mother” Jones speak. Several hundred miners live in the Holly Grove Camp.
3. View of miners’ camp at Holly Grove, W. Va.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1912, Part IV: Found On the Ground in W. V. Strike Zone, Shadowed by Mine Guards” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The North American Review: “The Miners and the Law of Treason” by James G. Randall, Part II

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 4, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Miners on Trial for Treason Against the State, Part II

From The North American Review of September 1922:

THE MINERS AND THE LAW OF TREASON

BY JAMES G. RANDALL

[Part II of II]

Billy Blizzard and Family, Lt Dg p14, June 17, 1922

Turning to the case of the miners, we find that the offense for which they (or rather a selected number of them) are held is treason against the State of West Virginia. In the Constitution of the State of West Virginia there is the following provision:

Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. Treason shall be punished, according to the character of the acts committed, by the infliction of one or more of the penalties of death, imprisonment or fine, as may be prescribed by law.

It will be noticed that the provisions in the West Virginia Constitution resemble those of the Federal Constitution in the definition of the offense and the requirements as to evidence sustaining the overt act, but that the State Constitution goes farther than that of the United States in that it specifies the general nature of the punishment. An examination of the West Virginia code shows that the punishment, as further defined by the Legislature, shall be death, or, at the discretion of the jury, confinement in the penitentiary not less than three nor more than ten years and confiscation of the real and personal estate. Withholding knowledge of treason, attempting to justify armed insurrection by written or printed words, or engaging in an unlawful assemblage, are punishable by lesser penalties, thus indicating that these offenses are regarded as distinct from treason itself. As to what constitutes “levying war” against the State, this is largely a matter for interpretation by the court, and it appears that Judge Woods has made considerable use of Federal as well as State decisions in determining his rulings.

The acts for which the miners are on trial took place in connection with the serious outbreak of August, 1921. As a climax of years of growing hostility, during which the United Mine Workers had made repeated efforts to unionize the mine fields of Logan and Mingo counties, several hundred men assembled on August 20 at Marmet, West Virginia, with the intention of making some kind of demonstration or attack, the exact purpose of which is disputed. An important feature of the case is that the Governor had previously proclaimed martial law in Mingo County, and had sent State troops into that county to preserve order. It is the contention of the prosecution that the acts of the miners constituted a defiance of this martial law, and an intention to resist the troops.

An appeal by “Mother Jones”, a well-known leader among the miners, failed to disperse them, and the armed force, picturesquely uniformed in blue overalls and red bandanna handkerchiefs, proceeded on their march. The first violence occurred at Sharples in Boone County, where a small force of State police was resisted by the miners while seeking to serve warrants upon men wanted by the Logan County authorities. Several miners were killed and from this time the march assumed much more alarming proportions. By the time the Boone-Logan county line was reached the invaders numbered about eight thousand. Don Chafin, sheriff of Logan County, raised a defending force of approximately two thousand which he commanded until, after some delay, Governor Morgan commissioned Colonel Eubanks to take charge with State troops. For over a week the opposing “armies” confronted each other over an extended mountainous battle-front in the neighborhood of Blair, and there was considerable detached fighting. On the defending side three deputy sheriffs were killed, and it was for their deaths that the indictments for murder were drawn. Probably more than twenty of the invaders lost their lives.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The North American Review: “The Miners and the Law of Treason” by James G. Randall, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The North American Review: “The Miners and the Law of Treason” by James G. Randall, Part I

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 3, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Miners on Trial for Treason Against the State, Part I

From The North American Review of September 1922:

THE MINERS AND THE LAW OF TREASON

BY JAMES G. RANDALL

[Part I of II]

Battle of Blair Mt, WV Today by Bushnell, Guards, Gunthugs, Spies, UMWJ p5, Sept 15, 1921

Once again the quiet village of Charles Town, West Virginia, in the historic Shenandoah valley, has furnished the setting for a memorable State trial. As in 1859, when John Brown went to the gallows for a traitorous assault which was misconceived as a stroke for Abolition, so in the present year the eyes of the nation have been focused upon this same little county seat while hundreds of miners have faced trial on indictments for murder and treason in connection with the “insurrection” of August, 1921. Twenty-four of the miners who were associated with the armed march of several thousand men directed against the coal fields of Logan and Mingo counties have been charged with the grave offense of “treason”, and it is with this phase of the question that the present article proposes to deal. Many circumstances unite to make the trials notable. The long continued efforts of the United Mine Workers to unionize the West Virginia fields, the elaborate litigation which included several federal injunction suits, the huge scale as well as the gravity of the indictments, the intensity of the industrial disputes involved, and the challenge to the State authorities to uphold elemental social order and yet deal fairly with both sides in an unusually bitter struggle-all these factors lift the case above the level of an ordinary criminal proceeding. Without attempting, however, to discuss the industrial phases of the “miners’ war”, the writer proposes to view the cases from a restricted angle and to consider their relation to the history of treason in our legal system.

Though the charge against the miners is the rara avis of treason against a State, the analogy of this crime with treason against the United States is very close, and it may therefore be useful to recall some of the outstanding points in the history of national treason. Treason is the only crime which the Federal Constitution undertakes to define. It consists “only in levying war against the United States or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort”. To prove treason, the commission of an overt act must be established by at least two witnesses, unless there is a confession in open court. Congress has no authority to fix the nature of the crime, and can neither enlarge nor restrict the offense beyond the constitutional definition. Congress may, however, fix the punishment, and among the acts passed by the first Congress ever assembled under the Constitution was the Treason Law of 1790, which established the penalty of death for this highest of crimes.

In the course of time a well recognized body of principles has grown up around the law of treason. Thus it is recognized that “constructive treason” has no place in our legal system. There must be an actual levying of war. A mere plotting, gathering of arms, or assemblage of men is not treason, in case no overt act is committed. The “levying war”, however, has been rather broadly defined by our courts. Besides formal or declared war, it includes an insurrection or combination which forcibly opposes the Government or resists the execution of its laws. Engaging in an insurrection to prevent the execution of a law is treason, because this act amounts to levying war. The mere uttering of words of treasonable import does not constitute the crime, nor is mere sympathy with the enemy sufficient to warrant conviction.

Treason differs from other crimes in that there are no accessories. All are principals, including those whose acts would, in the case of felonies, make them accessories. Those who take part in the conspiracy which culminates in treason are principals, even though absent when the overt act is committed.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The North American Review: “The Miners and the Law of Treason” by James G. Randall, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks from Steps of Capitol at Charleston, W. V., Demands Removal of Mine Guards

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, I Will Be With You, Cton WV, Aug 15, 1912, Speeches, Steel, p104—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 22, 1912
Charleston, West Virginia – Mother Jones Demands Removal of Mine Guards

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of August 16, 1912:

HdLn Miners v Gunthugs, MJ Speaks Aug 15, Wlg Int p1, Aug 16, 1912

August 15, 1912, Charleston, West Virginia
-Mother Jones Speaks to Striking Miners from Steps of Capitol

NsClp Mother Jones Speaks Aug 15 Charleston WV, Wlg Int p1, Aug 16, 1912
Wheeling Intelligencer
August 16, 1912

This, my friends, marks, in my estimation, the most remarkable move ever made in the State of West Virginia. It is a day that will mark history in the long ages to come. What is it? It is an uprising of the oppressed against the master class.

From this day on, my friends, Virginia–West Virginia–shall march in the front of the nation’s states. To me, I think, the proper thing to do is to read the purpose of our meeting here today–why these men have laid down their tools, why these men have come to the State House.

To His Excellency, William E. Glasscock,
Governor of the State of West Virginia:

It is respectfully represented unto your Excellency that the owners of the various coal mines doing business along the valley of Cabin Creek, Kanawha County, West Virginia, are maintaining and have at present in their employ a large force of armed guards, armed with Winchesters, a dangerous and deadly weapon; also having in their possession three Gatling guns, which they have stationed at commanding positions overlooking the Cabin Creek Valley, which said weapons said guards use for the purpose of brow-beating, intimidating and menacing the lives of all the citizens who live in said valley, and whose business calls them into said valley, who are not in accord with the management of the coal companies, which guards are cruel and their conduct toward the citizens is such that it would be impossible to give a detailed account of.

Therefore, suffice it to say, however, that they beat, abuse, maim and hold up citizens without process of law, deny freedom of speech, a provision guaranteed by the Constitution, deny the citizens to assemble in a peaceable manner for the purpose of discussing questions in which they are concerned. Said guards also hold up a vast body of laboring men who live at the mines, and so conduct themselves that a great number of men, women and children live in a state of constant fear, unrest and dread.

We hold that the stationing of said guards along the public highways, and public places is a menace to the general welfare of the state. That such action on the part of the companies in maintaining such guards is detrimental to the best interests of society and an outrage against the honor and dignity of the State of West Virginia. (Loud applause.)

As citizens interested in the public weal and general welfare, and believing that law and order, and peace, should ever abide, that the spirit of brotherly love and justice and freedom should everywhere exist, we must tender our petition that you would bring to bear all the powers of your office as Chief Executive of this State, for the purpose of disarming said guards and restoring to the citizens of said valley all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and said State.

In duty bound, in behalf of the miners
of the State of West Virginia.

I want to say with all due respect to the Governor–I want to say to you that the Governor will not, cannot do anything, for this reason: The Governor was placed in this building by Scott and Elkins and he don’t dare oppose them. (Loud applause.) Therefore, you are asking the Governor of the State to do something that he cannot do without betraying the class he belongs to. (Loud applause.)

I remember the Governor in a state [Altgeld of Illinois], when Grover Cleveland was perched in the White House–Grover Cleveland said he would send the Federal troops out, and the Governor of that state said, “Will you? If you do I will meet your Federal troops with the state troops, and we will have it out.” Old Grover never sent the troops–he took back water. (Applause, and cries of: “Yes, he did.”)

You see, my friends, how quickly the Governor sent his militia when the coal operators got scared to death. (Applause.)

I have no objection to the militia. I would always prefer the militia, but there was no need in this county for the militia, none whatsoever. They were law-abiding people, and the women and children. They were held up on the highways, caught in their homes and pulled out like rats and beaten up–some of them. I said, “If there is no one else in the State of West Virginia to protest, I will protest.” (Loud applause, and cries of: “Yes, she will; Mother will.”)

The womanhood of this State shall not be oppressed and beaten and abused by a lot of contemptible, damnable blood-hounds, hired by the operators. They wouldn’t keep their dogs where they keep you fellows. You know that. They have a good place for their dogs and a slave to take care of them. The mine owners’ wives will take the dogs up, and say, “I love you, dea-h” (trying to imitate by tone of voice).

Now, my friends, the day for petting dogs is done; the day for raising children to a nobler manhood and better womanhood is here. (Applause and cries of: “Amen! Amen!”)

You have suffered, I know how you have suffered. I was with you nearly three years in this state. I went to jail, went to the Federal courts, but I never took any back water. I still unfurl the red flag of industrial freedom, no tyrant’s face shall you know, and I call you today into that freedom, long perched on the bosom (Interrupted by applause).

I am back again to find you, my friends, in a state of industrial peonage–after ten years absence I find you in a state of industrial peonage.

The Superintendent at Acme–I went up there, and they said we were unlawful–we had an unlawful mob along. Well, I will tell you the truth, we took a couple of guns, because we knew we were going to meet some thugs, and by jimminy (interrupted by applause).

We will prepare for the job, just like Lincoln and Washington did. We took lessons from them, and we are here to prepare for the job.

Well, when I came out on the public road the Superintendent–you know the poor salary slave–he came out and told me that there were Notary Publics there and a squire–one had a peg leg, and the balance had pegs in their skulls. (Applause.)

They forbid me speaking on the highway, and said that if I didn’t discontinue I would be arrested. Well, I want to tell you one thing, I don’t run to jail, but when the blood-hounds undertake to put me in jail I will go there. I have gone there. I would have had the little peg-leg Squire arrest me only I knew this meeting was going to be pulled off today to let the world know what was going on in West Virginia. When I get through with them, by the Eternal God they will be glad to let me alone.

I am not afraid of jails. We build the jails, and when we get ready we will put them behind the bars. That may happen very soon–things happen overnight.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks from Steps of Capitol at Charleston, W. V., Demands Removal of Mine Guards” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1902, Part III: Found in Cincinnati on Her Way Back to West Virginia to Face Possible Jail Term

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Going to Jail, Cnc Pst p6, July 23, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 18, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1902, Part III
Found Speaking at Central Labor Council Meeting in Cincinnati

From The North Adams Transcript of July 21, 1902:

PATHETIC FAREWELL FOR “MOTHER” JONES
———-
On Leaving Indianapolis to Go
to Jail for Contempt

Mother Jones , Phl Inq p24, June 22, 1902

Indianapolis, Ind., July 21-An affecting scene was witnessed in the United Mine Workers’ headquarters last evening when “Mother” Jones bade the miners goodby and boarding a train for West Virginia.

“Mother” Jones was on trial early last week with several striking miners for contempt of court in holding public meetings in the face of an injunction, and she was found guilty. She now returns to receive sentence, and it is believed she will be sent to jail.

Many of the delegates to the recent convention are still here, and in the crowd gathered in the headquarters not a single dry eye was to be seen when “Mother” said goodby. Men whose faces were as hard as parchment with the work in the mines and with the hardship of their lives wiped the tears away with their rough hands and some of them left the room.

“Mother” Jones cheered them up and made little of the coming ordeal, but the miners knew she was doing it for them, and if she were their own mother they could not have a warmer love in their hearts for her.

[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of July 22, 1902:

Charleston, W. Va., July 21.-Upon the application of the Collins Colliery, Federal Judge Keller today issued attachments for the arrest of John Richards, president of District No. 17, United Mine Workers of America, and 35 other members who took part in meetings near that mine. Special complaint was made against a meeting of July 17 as an alleged violation of the injunction issued against National Secretary Wilson, “Mother” Jones and others. After their arrest today Richards and 10 others were taken before the United States Commissioner at Hinton, where they gave bonds, and the hearing was set for next Friday in Charleston.

Judge Guthrie, of the State Court, issued an attachment for the arrest of 10 miners on complaint of the Kanawha and Hocking Coal Company, which held that they had violated an injunction of his court.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1902, Part III: Found in Cincinnati on Her Way Back to West Virginia to Face Possible Jail Term” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Wheeling Majority: “Hot Times in West Virginia”-Mother Jones Working Night and Day

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Life Work Mission, WV Cton Gz, June 11, 1912, per ISR p648, Mar 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 7, 1912
Charleston, West Virginia – Cossacks Rule Paint Creek, Mother Jones at Work

From The Wheeling Majority of July 4, 1912:

Hot Times In West Virginia
———-

[Mother Jones Working Night and Day]

(By G. H. Edmunds.)

Mother Jones WV , Cnc Pst p1, June 11, 1912

Charleston, W. Va., July 3.—(Special.)—You talk about the cossacks of Russia and the state police of Pennsylvania, but the guard system of West Virginia has all these backed off the boards. The guards along Paint Creek have taken the law in their hands, and are openly defying the law in all its phases. They are evicting the miners in open violation of the law up to date, we have been unable to check them. The law firm of Littlepage, Matheney and Littlepage sought to enjoin the coal companies, and here is what happened.

District Judge Burdette did the “fade-away” act’ to perfection. When our attorney went to his court (after having a time set to hear the injunction), and there and then found that the judge had left the community and no one could say where he had gone or when he would return. So the coal companies are still evicting our people. If Kellar, the great magician, wants to learn a few new tricks along the “fade-away” line, he might do well to consult his honor, Judge Burdette.

Assaulting Children.

Assault after assault has been committed upon defenseless men, women and children. But the sheriff of Kanawha county has done absolutely nothing about it at all. We hope that the miners will not forget Judge Burdette when election day comes. If he is afraid to perform the duties of his office, then he is not competent to fill that high office. I know it is pretty hard to go up against such a proposition as issuing or refusing an injunction as the one prayed for, yet it was the plain duty of Judge Burdette to have stood his ground and decided this case on its merits. Judge Burdette stands indicted for rank cowardice before all the people of this county. Will they forget or condone this act? Lots could be said about Kanawha county justice, but we will save it for campaign dope. Board Member Watkins Reports a good meeting at McClannahan, just across the mountain from Raymond City. We are glad to see these men coming out of the kinks at last. There are scores of good men over there and now that they have started again we bid them God speed.

Boys, don’t stop until every man in your locality is a union man and a Socialist. The “man catchers” from Burnwell “caught” two colored brothers in their net of deception, but upon their arrival at Burnwell, they found out about the strike and they left, walking 17 miles, and they informed the guards they would spend a year in the penitentiary before they would work as strike breakers. Pretty good union men, these.

Mother Jones There.

Mother Jones is still here and well and working night and day. She bears her 80 years as if they were 50. We expect big things next week. At this time we have 21 guards on trial for entering the homes of the miners without leave or warrant.

The miners are still firm and there will be no break away from our ranks. Organizers Batley and Davis left for their homes to spend the 4th of July. Organizer G. H. Edmunds and Vice President Frank J. Hayes will speak at Buxton, Ia., on the Fourth. Great credit is due the Majority for the gallant advocacy of the miners’ cause during this strike. All miners should subscribe to this paper, because he is our friend, and we should stand by our friends. Editor Hilton, has been fearless in his defense of our cause.

All mine workers are requested to stay away from West Virginia until notified officially that the strike is ended. 

[Photograph, emphasis and paragraph breaks added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Wheeling Majority: Strikers Along Paint Creek Are Standing Firm; Union Ranks Remain Intact

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones on Swearing & Praying, UMWC 1909—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 28, 1912
Paint Creek District, West Virginia – Striking Miners Standing Firm

From The Wheeling Majority of June 27, 1912:

Miners Strike In Kanawha Valley
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(By G. H. Edmunds)

West Virginia Miner, Evansville IN Press, Feb 20, 1907

Charleston, W. Va., June 24.—(Special)—After two months and one week of striking, the miners along Paint Creek and other places on strike, are standing firm. No desertions from the union ranks whatsoever.

This strike was forced upon the miners by the Paint Creek operators refusing to concede the same raise in wages that was granted by the other operators. The miners agreed early in March to work after April 1st, pending a settlement of the wage question, and the operators agreed to pay to them whatever scale was agreed upon, from the first of April. One-half of the Cleveland agreement was agreed upon, and three of the largest operators in the valley have refused to pay the scale.

They [the operators] at once resorted to the armed thug, and political tools some times called sheriffs and since the inauguration of the strike, one defenseless foreigner has been killed, one negro miner shot, and scores of men, women and children beaten, intimidated and insulted by this gang of gun men.

It is a disgrace upon the county of Kanawha and the state of West Virginia that such crimes could happen right under the “shadow of the dome” of the state capital, and the Honorable Governor at Chicago, singing for Roosevelt, and the high sheriff there also, joining in the chorus, while the poor common people are being killed, beaten, intimidated and exploited, and the Governor and sheriff thoroughly familiar with the entire situation, yet they refuse to prevent this continual violation of law and society, yet they are all lined up for Teddy.

No miner in this state can afford to vote for such politicians as these men…

On June 12th, the grand jury of Kanawha county returned indictments against eight Baldwin Feltz guards for first degree murder, in connection with their killing of the Italian miner [Donato di Pietro] at Wancomah, on June 4th. The 12th was on Wednesday, and the sheriff’s office made no attempt to apprehend or arrest these indicted mine guards until the following Monday, or on the 17th.

Yet six miners that were put in jail by these same guards, without the formality of a trial, were kept there, although the grand jury could find no indictment against them. Now Mr. Glasscock [Governor of West Virginia], did you not swear that you would see that the laws were strictly enforced? Please let us know under what law are these poor miners being kept in jail?

In the fact of all these hardships the miners are going to win this strike. Large mass meetings are being held daily all over the field to enlist support for the people on strike. Sunday there was a large meeting at Plymouth, in the south end of the field, and at Cedar Grove, in the central part of the Valley, and also on Paint Creek, up amongst the miners on strike.

Each week sees a new victory for the strikes. First was the winning Winnifrede. Next the complete victory of the men on Morris Creek. Next was the last past week we had two places on the Ohio river to sign up, making four victories of which we have a right to feel proud. Another gratifying condition, at this time is we are getting the miners to stand up for their rights in the courts, and by persistent fighting we are winning here and there. Organizer No. 3 has adopted a unique way of advertising the strike, by printing one thousand placards which reads as follows: 

To all miners and other Workmen

You are hereby notified to stay away from Burnwell, Waucoma, Standard, Mucklow, Mahan, Hickory camp Tomsburg and Banner, all on Paint Creek in Kanawha county. West Va. Also from Cole river and Fort Defiance, as there is a strike of the union miners at each of these places. If you are not a strike breaker, please stay away.

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