Tag: United Mine Workers of America

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for October 1900, Part III: Found Marching from McAdoo to Beaver Meadows and Hazleton

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Brave Mining Women, Phl Tx p5, Oct 15, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday November 21, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part III
Mother Jones and Miners’ Army March from McAdoo to Hazleton

From the Hazleton Plain Speaker of October 11, 1900:

PA Anthracite Strike Mother Jones Marches McAdoo etc, Hzltn Pln Spkr p4, Oct 11, 1900

About six hundred strikers, composed of men from McAdoo and other South Side towns and the No. 3 Local of this city, gathered at McAdoo before dawn this morning, marched to the Beaver Meadow colliery of Coxe Bros. & Co., which had been kept in steady operation since the inauguration of the strike, then came around to Cuyle’s strippings east of the city and from the stripping marched right into the heart of Hazleton, the first time since the trouble began, that the town was invaded by marchers. The parade dispersed on North Wyoming street, this city, and the men returned to their homes.

Among those who participated in the march were “Mother” Jones, the well known lady organizer, and Miss Bertha Williams and Annie Petrosky, two pretty girls of about eighteen summers, whose homes are at McAdoo. It was feared, when the matchers reached Cuyle’s strippings that there would be trouble, but no violence was attempted. Many of the strikers were loud in their denunciation of the special policemen stationed near the place, but no disturbance occurred…..

[Paragraph break added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for October 1900, Part II: Found Leading Army of Women; Lattimer Now Close Down Tight

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Lattimer Raid Oct 6, 1900, Ab p87, 1925———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 20, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part II
Mother Jones with Army of Women Shuts Down Lattimer

From The Scranton Times of October 6, 1900:

Lattimer Closed Mother Jones PA Anthracite Strike, Scranton Tx p1, Oct 6, 1900Lattimer Shf Mother Jones PA Anthracite Strike, Scranton Tx p1, Oct 6, 1900Hazleton, Pa.. Oct. 6. The striking miners here made a raid on the Lattimer colliery this morning and executed a unique coup. Sheriff Harvey, with a number of deputies and coal and iron police, were on hand to protect the miners who have remained at work at the colliery.

The company also made thorough preparations for offensive and defensive warfare against the raiders. They were determined to keep their miners at work, but they failed to count on the cunning of “Mother” Jones, who was operating with the raiders.
 
She, with a small band of strikers, entered the company store and persuaded the workmen to follow her out into the road.
 
She kept the men there talking to them, and the sheriff and his deputies directed all their attention to the woman. In the meantime other strikers made a detour of the mine property and talked with the men they found at work. As a result all of these men laid down their tools and left for home, and the mine is now closed tight…..
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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for October 1900, Part I: Found in Pennsylvania Supporting the Great Anthracite Strike

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Mother Jones Speaks ed, WB PA Oct 2, WB Rec Tx p6, Oct 5, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 19, 1900
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1900, Part I
Found in Pennsylvania Supporting Great Anthracite Strike

From the Wilkes-Barre Daily News of October 1, 1900:

Mother Jones, at Her Lecture Stand, Detail, Phl Iq p1, Sept 24, 1900

GAINS IN SCHUYLKILL.

POTTSVILLE Pa.,- Sept. 29.-About 1,500 miner., attended the mass meeting to-night of the United Mine Worker, of America. The meeting was addressed by President John Fahey, of District No. 9: Miles Dougherty, of Shamokin.k and Mother Mary Jones. Mr. Fahey said if inexperienced men were taken into the mines the death rate from explosions and other causes would be enormous. Statistics, he said, show that with inexperienced men the list of killed has numbered 30,-000 in twenty-five years. It is estimated that 2,000 strikers were added to the ranks to-day in this (Schuylkill) region .

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[Photograph added.]

From the Philadelphia Times of October 2, 1900:

MINERS WILL NOT ACCEPT HALF WAY VICTORY
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(Written for The Times by “Mother” Jones, the” famous labor leader.)

Hazleton, October 1.

The report that, the strike is likely to be settled without any more concessions being made by the operators is, as slated in The Times to-day, premature and should not be considered as truthful. The strike will never be called off for a ten per cent. increase alone, or even with the decrease in the price of powder. The United Mine Workers are too well organized to accept half way measures of relief.

There has not been a single break in the ranks to far. I have been all over the district and I can say the reports circulated by several operators that they have more men at work now than at any time since the strike are false. In the majority of the mines working only bosses, foremen, firemen, engineers and similar employes are at work. All of these reports are transparent dodges to frighten the men into returning to work. No one, however, pays much attention to them and they have had no effect. They are denied by the mine workers simply to prevent the unwary and those who are not familiar with what is transpiring from being deceived.

MARY JONES.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Labor World: “Boys in the Mines-Hard Lot of the Youthful Slate Pickers” -Long Dark Days

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Mother Jones Quote, Child Labor Man of Six Snuff Sniffer———–

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 16, 1900
Anthracite Coalfields of Pennsylvania – Hard Lot of Boys in the Mines

From the Duluth Labor World of November 10, 1900:

BOYS IN THE MINE
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HARD LOT OF THE YOUTHFUL SLATE PICKERS.
——-

Breaker Boys, Phl Iq p2, Sept 30, 1900
Philadelphia Inquirer of September 30, 1900
—–

Miners Robbed That the Trust May Monopolize
the Coalfields For All Time—At the Mercy of
the Barons and Their Rake of Partners—The Public
ls More Than Interested in Their Cause.
———-

D. L. Rhone, a resident of Wilkesbarre, Pa., writes as follows to the Philadelphia Times: The total number of employes of the anthracite mines in the year 1899 was 140,583, classified as follows: 

Mine Workers, Miners anthracite 1899, LW p1, Nov 10, 1900

In 1899 these 140,583 employes prepared for market 54,000,000 tons of coal. In 1898 it took 142,000 employes to prepare 47,000,000 tons for market, and in 1897 149,000 employes only prepared 47,000,000 tons. This shows a decrease in the number of employes of 7,000 from 1897 to 1899 inclusive and an increase of 7,000,000 tons of coal produced. The men are still going away.

The lot of the coal miner is hard indeed, and that of his laborer is still harder, while no one can uphold the lot of the little mule drivers, the runners and the slate pickers without a sigh of sympathy. The most appalling thing about the whole business is that there are 34,000 of these boys, ranging from 10 years of age upward. These 34,000 infants are confined for ten hours per day in the dark, damp mine chambers fighting, training and driving vicious mules, with no light but the greasy lamp on their caps, or for the same number of hours they are engaged in the roaring, smoking breaker, grabbing out the slate as it rattles over the iron bars.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Opines on Meeting between Bishop of Scranton and Ex-Presidents Roosevelt and Mitchell

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Last Great Battle, UMWC p420, Jan 26, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday November 15, 1910
“What I Saw in the Anthracite Fields” by Mother Jones

From The New York Call of November 14, 1910:

MOTHER JONES’ LATEST VISIT
TO THE ANTHRACITE FIELDS

Mother Jones, the friend of the miners, the Socialist apostle, is now seventy-seven years old, but her activities in behalf of the oppressed are as vigorous as ever. Only lately she paid a visit to the anthracite fields. Her account of her visit, written for The Call, is as follows:

What I Saw in the Anthracite Fields.

Mother Jones, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910

My work in connection with the Mexican cases being completed at Washington, and feeling assured that the victims of this “bloodocracy” would not be rearrested on their liberation from prison, I decided to visit the boys in the anthracite regions, investigate conditions, and see what progress, if any, had been made in the way of organization and education since the last general strike. My visit to the anthracite regions which border on the inferno followed that of Roosevelt and his ex-labor leader, John Mitchell [ex-President of United Mine Workers of America], who had visited the coal fields, so it is said, for the purpose of making some observations and investigations as to the condition of the slaves whose lifeblood is coined into profits that the few may riot in luxury.

When Roosevelt and his bodyguard arrived at Scranton they were received by the Bishop of Scranton, who wined and dined them and who remarked during the meal that it was the first time in his life he had had the honor of sitting between two Presidents. On the right of the bishop sat Mr. Roosevelt, friend of the workingman. It was he who, in order to show his friendship, sent 2,000 guns to Colorado to shoot the miners into subjection and, if they did not obey, blow their brains out, and who, while president of the United States, sent hundreds of messages to Congress, but never one in the interest of the working class. Not even when the explosion in the Monongah mine sent 700 souls, the souls of wage slaves, into the shadows and shocked the civilized world, did he find it in his sterile conscience to send a message to Congress demanding protection for the men whose labor feeds the mammoth maw of industry and warms the fireside of the world. Roosevelt’s real interest in the working class is only aroused when he seeks their votes. On the left of the bishop sat the $6,000 Civic Federation beauty [Mitchell], pet of the mine owners, decorated with diamonds, gifts from the coal barons.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for October 1910, Part II: Found in Akron, Ohio, Speaking on Socialism at Central Labor Union Hall

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 13, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for October 1910, Part II:
–Found in Akron, Ohio, Speaking on Socialism at Central Labor Union Hall

From the Akron Beacon Journal of October 14, 1910:

“MOTHER JONES” A SPEAKER HERE
—————
Famous Character Addresses
Socialists and Others.

Mother Jones crpd, WDC Tx p5, June 18, 1910

“Mother Jones,” well known among the laboring people as a speaker of ability and a woman who understands the conditions of the laboring man, spoke at the Central Labor Union hall in the Walsh block for an hour and a half Thursday evening, although she had declared she was here for a rest. Her talk was mostly devoted to socialism, and she told of reforms along the line that she considered would benefit the condition of the masses. “Mother” Jones has been called the “Stormy Petrel of the Industrial Revolution.”

She has also been called the “Angel of the Coal Miners,” and has had many interesting experiences during her life of 76 years, and the fire of her eloquence seems to burn as brightly as ever. At one time she addressed a crowd of striking miners in West Virginia in defiance of the police force and state militia.

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[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: United Mine Workers President John Mitchell Declares Victory in Great Anthracite Coal Strike

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, If war Shamokin Sep 8, Phl Iq p2, Sept 9, 1900———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 27, 1900
Hazleton, Pennsylvania – Mitchell Declares Victory in Great Coal Strike

From the Philadelphia Times of October 26, 1900:

PA Miners Strike, Victory Mt Message, Phl Tx p1, Oct 26, 1900

Special Telegram to THE TIMES.

HAZLETON, October 25.

The great coal strike is a thing of the past.

President Mitchell, at 8 o’clock this evening, issued a statement calling the miners to return to work at all operations where the strikers’ demands have been met. The statement follows:

Temporary Headquarters of the United Mine Workers of America, Hazleton, Pa., October 25, 1900.

To the Miners and Mine Workers of the Anthracite Region.

Gentlemen: After carefully canvassing the entire strike situation, we, your officers, district and national, have concluded that your victory is so nearly complete that no good end can be served by continuing the strike longer. The contest has been in progress for thirty-nine days and the companies employing you have, with few exceptions, signified their willingness to pay the scale of wages formulated by the Scranton convention of October 12 and 13.

We are aware that some disappointment and dissatisfaction has been caused by the failure of the operators in Districts No. 1 and 7 to separate the reduction in the price of powder from the advance in wages; but after careful inquiry we are satisfied that each mine employe will actually receive an advance of ten per cent. on the wages formerly paid. In the Schuylkill and Lehigh regions the largest companies have agreed that the sliding scale should be suspended; and that wages should remain stationary at ten per cent. until April 1, 1901, thus removing one of the iniquities of which you have complained for many years.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1920, Part I: “Famous Woman Leader of Miners” Found in Missouri and Illinois

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 23, 1920
Mother Jones News for September 1920, Part I
“Famous Woman Leader of Miners” Found in Missouri and Illinois

From the United Mine Workers Journal of September 1, 1920:

Mother Jones IN Dly Tx p1 crpd, July 15, 1920

Labor Day Speakers

Notice of the following assignments of speakers for celebrations of the United Mine Workers of America on Labor Day have been received at the office of the Journal:

Philip Murray, International Vice President, New Kensington, Pa .
William Green, International Secretary Treasurer, Cambridge, Ohio.
Ellis Searles, Editor of the United Mine Workers Journal, Ernest, Pa.
Samuel Pascoe, President of District 30, Novinger, Mo.
Andrew Steele, International Board Member from District 25, South Fork, Pa.
William Turnblazer, International Organizer, Spadra, Ark.
Mother Jones, Kirksville, Mo.
William Feeney, International Organizer, Midland, Ark

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From International Socialist Review: “The Cossacks Club,” Brutal Servants of Capitalism

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Constabulary n Bread, Ab Chp 23, 1925———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 20, 1910
“Have you ever been clubbed  by a Cossack” -Louis Duchez

From the International Socialist Review of October 1910:

Cossacks Club by Duchez, ISR p198, Oct 1910

Letter W, ISR p577, Jan 1920

ERE you ever on strike? Sure, you’ve been- or else you’ve never been a workingman, or woman. Very well! It’s you I am talking to.

Now, have you ever been clubbed by a Cossack? Have you ever had these brutal servants of capitalism ride into you and your fellow workers on strike, like so many sheep, and club right and left and shoot without reserve?

Perhaps the Cossacks have not been established in your state yet? Then you’ve had similar dealings with the militia, the the local “cops” or the deputies of the firm you were striking against. They’re all about the same thing. They are part of the capitalist machine to keep you and your class-my class—in submission-in slavery.

Well, I’ve had them club me when I was on strike! I’ve seen “the man on horse back” come “over the hill.” And I’ve seen the bloody trail he left behind. I’ve seen it at McKees Rocks, at Butler, at New Castle and elsewhere in Pennsylvania.

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Hellraisers Journal: Strikers at Lick Creek Tent Colony Prepare for Winter as Scabs Brought from Ohio to Tug River Field

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213———-

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

WV Mingo Co Miners Strike, Fed Troops Lick Creek, BDB p1, Sept 24, 1920
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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[Newsclip and emphasis added.]

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