Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 20, 1921 Lick Creek Tent Colony, Mingo County – Attorney West Describes Raid
From The Wheeling Intelligencer of June 18, 1921:
MINE WORKERS’ LAWYER MAKES ALLEGATIONS OF RUTHLESS ACTS AT THE MINERS’ TENT COLONY ———- Declares State Police and Volunteers Were Disorderly and Destructive When They Raided the Homes of Union Miners ———-
Lick Creek Tent Colony after Raid of June 14, 1921
Special to The Intelligencer.
Charleston, Va., June 17-Secretary-treasurer Fred Mooney, of District Seventeen, United Mine Workers of America, tonight made public the following report just received from the union’s lawyer, Thomas West, who was detailed to make an investigation of the activities of the state police in raiding tent colonies of union coal miners in Mingo county:
Williamson, W. Va., June 16.
H. W. Houston, Charleston, W. Va.
Dear Sir-On yesterday morning I visited the Lick Creek tent colony for the purpose of taking some statements regarding the outrage perpetrated there on the day before [June 14]. I found that the state police and their volunteer confederates [company gunthugs] had ripped up twenty or more tents. Some of them had probably a hundred slits up them, averaging about six feet each, and had knocked the legs out from under their cooking stoves and the stove pipes down, and where they found anything cooking on the stove they swiped it off into the coal box, as a rule found just back of the stove. They found some tables set for dinner and they turned these with the legs up and the dishes and food left on the under side.
They broke open every trunk and rifled every drawer. They dumped all the clothes they found out into the middle of the floor and kicked them all over the place. They dumped an organ out of one man’s tent over the hill and hit a phonograph with an axe or some other heavy tool.
They poured kerosene oil into a churn of milk found in one of the tents and in others they found such oil and poured it into the meal and flour. In one tent they found a considerable quantity of canned fruit and they put this on the bed clothes after turning them upside down on the bed and broke it up. They put the mattresses on the floor and ripped them open and put the springs on top of them.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 24, 1921 Mingo County, West Virginia – Martial Law Used Against Union Miners
From the Minnesota Daily Star of May 24, 1921
JAIL ORGANIZER OF MINE UNION Martial Law in Mingo Is Used as Weapon Against Men
-from The Socialist and Labor Star of May 31, 1912
Washington, May 21.-Jailing of union organizers by state police has begun in Mingo county, according to word received here this morning by Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney, president and secretary of District 17.
A. D. Lavinder, organizer in the Matewan district, was arrested late yesterday in Williamson by constabulary for carrying a pistol. He was roughly handled and put in jail where he isnow held incommunicado.
Lavinder had a permit to carry weapons but under the proclamation of martial law weapons may be carried only in one’s home or place of business.
Several other union men were arrested yesterday in Mingo county.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 2, 1921 Secretary-Treasure Fred Mooney Reports on Trip to Mexico City
From the United Mine Workers Journal of April 1, 1921:
Circular Sent Out by Secretary-Treasurer Mooney
Fred Mooney, secretary-treasurer of District 17, has sent a circular letter to all local unions of that district entitled, “An Open Declaration of War,” in which he tells of the great attack that is being made on organized labor by that element of employers opposed to labor unions. He shows that the declaration of these employers in favor of the open shop is a declaration of war against labor. He calls upon organized labor everywhere to stand together in this crisis. He urges more thorough organization of workers into unions, so that they may be in position to meet the attack and defeat the effort that is being made to destroy labor unions.
Another circular which Secretary Mooney has sent out deals with his recent trip to Mexico City as representative of District 17 to the Pan-American Labor Congress. Among the interesting passages in this circular is the following:
Progress was reported from every quarter of Mexico and for many independent countries of South America. Four states of Mexico reported the election of Socialist or Labor Party Governors; in four different states of Mexico it constitutes a violation of law for an employer to hire non-union labor when union men are on strike to better their conditions. The federal constitution of Mexico provides that any employer who discharges an employe for union activities shall pay the employe three months’ wages in advance.
Mexico today has one of the most liberal and friendly governments towards the workers that is in existence on the Western Hemisphere, and the workers are building up a strong labor movement, their chief desire is to be let alone to work out their own destiny. The Mexican Regional Confederation of Labor has a membership of 450,000, among which are 82,000 railroad men, 7,000 munition workers, 18,000 carpenters, 3,000 miners, the remainder is composed of different trades. Luis N. Morones, president of the Confederation of Labor, is also chief of Military Commissariat, and one of the reservations made by him when accepting government appointment was that his service to his government should not interfere with his activities in the Federation of Labor, and that every employe under him must be permitted to join the Federation of Labor if they so desired; this was granted. Every member of the Federation of Labor who is elected or appointed to any government position must pay one-sixth of his salary each month into the treasury of the Federation of Labor. Morones is well educated, a born leader, knows no fear when fighting for his class—he was sentenced to be shot four different times during the revolution.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 27, 1921 Mother Jones News Round-Up for January 1921, Part I: –Found Traveling from West Virginia to Mexico City with Fred Mooney
From The Sacramento Bee of January 4, 1921:
LEAVES FOR MEXICO.
CHARLESTON (W. Va.), January 4.-Fred Mooney, Secretary of District No. 17, United Mine workers of America, left to-day for Mexico City to attend the Pan-American Labor Conference next week. Mooney was accompanied by “Mother Jones.”
Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 18, 1921 Williamson, West Virginia – Daughter of Defendant Testifies for State
From the Baltimore Sun of February 13, 1921:
By John W. Owens. Staff Correspondent of The Sun.
Williamson, W. Va., Feb. 12.-The taking of testimony for the prosecution in the trial of Sid Hatfield and others for the Matewan killings was started finally today, after weeks of fighting over preliminaries and was sufficiently dramatic to warrant the lurid predictions that have been made since the indictments were returned and to justify what has been written about the feudist spirit of the people of these hills.
AGAINST OWN FATHER. [And Brother]
When court adjourned, shortly before noon, the daughter of one of the men on trial for murder [and sister of another] was on the stand for the prosecution, smilingly giving testimony which the prosecution hopes to pass as a foundation for its contention that Albert Felts and six other Baldwin-Felts detectives were killed at Matewan on May 19 as the result of deliberate and premeditated murder plans. The girl witness had been preceded by another girl, her cousin, and the niece of the girl’s father, whose testimony was offered to the same end.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 11, 1921 Mexico City – Mother Jones Attends Pan-American Labor Conference
From The Pittsburg Press of January 9, 1921:
“MOTHER” JONES WILL BE OBREGON’S GUEST. —–
Charleston, W. Va., Jan. 8.-Treasuring an invitation to be the guest of President Alvaro Obregon, of Mexico, during her stay in Mexico City, “Mother” Jones left here accompanied by Fred Mooney, secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of this district, to attend the Pan-American labor conference. She has been in West Virginia working among the miners for some time.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 8, 1901 Mother Jones News Round-Up for December 1900 Found in Leaving Pennsylvania, Headed for Coal Fields of West Virginia
From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of December 1, 1900:
WITH THE MINE WORKERS. ———- “Mother” Jones Leaves For Virginia –Dilcher, Here Next Week.
Fred Dilcher, who is at present doing missionary work in the Lackawanna region will arrive in this city on Monday. Mr. Dilcher’s visit is for the purpose of organizing the brewery employees and clerks in Hazleton. The latter have been organized but very little interest has been taken in the local and not a meeting has been held since the union was formed. Benjamin James was present at the meeting and it was decided by a unanimous vote that a charter be applied for.
Through the Lackawanna, upper Luzerne and the greater part of Schuylkill all tradesmen have been organized and every craft is represented in the great Federation of Labor.
“Mother” Jones who has been among the miners hereabouts for some time is organizing them, leaves tomorrow morning for Montgomery, Virginia, where she will do missionary work.
[She said today:]
Conditions are worse in Virginia than anywhere, and the days of chattel slavery are nothing compared to the methods employed by the mine owners there in forcing their employees into subjugation.
Mrs. Jones informed a reporter today that she would not return to this region for several months, but she leaves Hazleton glad in the knowledge that the miners are happy and contented and that better conditions exist in the anthracite region than for many years…..
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 21, 1920 Mingo County, West Virginia – “Civil War Has Become a Fact”
From The Literary Digest of December 18, 1920:
WEST VIRGINIA’S WAR
THE BIGGEST AND BLOODIEST FEUD in the history of West Virginia, say special correspondents on the ground, continues in the vicinity of Williamson, in the bituminous coal-mining district [note: photo above incorrectly states “anthracite field”]. With the private feud on a gigantic scale is combined an industrial war-a strike and lockout. “The issue of the open versus the closed shop is being put to the acid test,” says John J. Leary, Jr., in the New York World, and the scene of the battle between coal-operators and miners is said to be just across the river from the county in which the McCoy-Hatfield feud was waged a generation ago. The strike in the Williamson coal-field began in May with an attempt of the United Mine Workers to unionize the men, we are told by the New York Herald, and the death-toll since that time is thirty-nine. Six hundred men have been wounded. Mine-workers, on one hand, and mine-guards, private detectives, and deputy sheriffs, on the other, have staged a civil war, during which time the estimated loss in production of coal has been 5,000,000 tons and the loss to the miners $3,500,000 in wages, according to the figures of The Herald. Many coal-plants and at least one power-house have been dynamited, declares the New York World, while Mr. Leary continues in that paper:
Murders and killings on both sides have been frequent; hundreds of families have been driven from their poor homes; civil war has become a fact. Back of the mountaineers are the 400,000 union coal-miners of the country. Back of them the sympathy, and, if necessary, the support of the other 3,600,000 members of the American Federation of Labor.
Back of the operators are the open-shop interests. Quietly, but none the less effectively, they are protecting and sustaining the smaller operators who have small resources. They are assisting with advice and with experts in such matters. Likewise they are assisting in Charleston, the capital of the State.
Meantime, the deadlock.
At any time it may flare up again with heavy loss of life on one side or the other, or both.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 20, 1900 Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1900, Part IV Found Standing with Silk Mill Strikers of Wilkes-Barre and Carbondale
From the Wilkes-Barre Daily News of November 27, 1900:
The trouble at the Hass-Goldsmith Silk Mill is causing a great deal of discussion in labor circles. Mother Jones, one of the most prominent agitators in this country, arrived in town last evening and had lengthy conference with the employes. She expressed a desire that the young women should arrange for a mass meeting, to which the public will be invited.
Mother Jones is in the best of health and spirits and feels elated over the success of the miners’ strike. She is an intelligent woman, and despite the fact that many disagree with her on questions agitating the public mind, they must acknowledge that she is a very clever woman. Mrs. Jones was interviewed yesterday afternoon at Hotel Hart by a News reporter. Among other things she said:
The employes of the Hess-Goldsmith mill sent for me and this evening they will come to my hotel and we will have a conference. From what I can learn the women, boys and girls, have just cause to complain. They are treated something similar to the children at the Freeland silk mills. There one boy received one cent per hour and worked 13½ hours per day. Do you wonder why the employes complain? It is not unusual to see a boy or girl prematurely aged. What is the reason? It is plain to be seen. These little ones are driven from daylight till dawn by a crowd of slave drivers who have not the slightest conception of the honor or respect due womankind. The factories steal from the parents the most desirable jewel, the light, the joy of the home-those bright faced little children. There was a time-I am sorry to say that it is fast disappearing-that she first thing asked a child in the morning by the mother was: “Dear, do you know your lessons?” But this is changed now to, “You must work hard and earn a few cents to-day.”
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 11, 1920 Mother Jones News for October & November 1920 “Veteran Organizer” Found in West Virginia and Washington D. C.
From The Charleston Daily Mail of October 2, 1920:
COAL COMPANIES AFTER RESTRAINT ON MINERS ———- Petition Federal Court for Injunction to Prevent Officials Organizing. ———-
The United Mine Workers have made defendants in two injunction suits brought in the southern district federal court by the Red Jacket Coal company of Red Jacket, Mingo County, and the Pond Creek Colliery to restrain them from interfering with employes of the two companies in efforts to unionize the mines operated by the coal concerns. Notices were reported as served yesterday evening from the United States marshal’s office, and arguments will be heard October 11, at Huntington.
John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America; William Green, secretary and treasurer of the United Mine Workers; C. F. [Frank] Keeney, president of district No, 17, United Mine Workers; Fred Mooney, secretary and treasurer of the district; Harold W. Houston, attorney; Mary Harris, (“Mother Jones“), J. A. Baumgardner, president of Local Union, No. 4804, at Williamson; C. L. McShan, secretary of the local union; Dock Wolford, president of Local Union No. 4181 and Bud Auzier, secretary of the union, and a score of others are named in the petition.
Petitions in both cases are said to be based on the allegation that activities of agents and organizers of the mine workers interfere with contracts which the companies have made with the miners and would prevent the delivery of coal to customers. The further charge is made that the purpose of the United Mine Workers in organizing is illegal.
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The trouble at the Hass-Goldsmith Silk Mill is causing a great deal of discussion in labor circles. Mother Jones, one of the most prominent agitators in this country, arrived in town last evening and had lengthy conference with the employes. She expressed a desire that the young women should arrange for a mass meeting, to which the public will be invited.
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The United Mine Workers have made defendants in two injunction suits brought in the southern district federal court by the Red Jacket Coal company of Red Jacket, Mingo County, and the Pond Creek Colliery to restrain them from interfering with employes of the two companies in efforts to unionize the mines operated by the coal concerns. Notices were reported as served yesterday evening from the United States marshal’s office, and arguments will be heard October 11, at Huntington.