Tag: West Virginia Martial Law 1912

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part III: “Revolution Is Here…Tyranny, Robbery and Oppression Must Go”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote re Mother Jones, Halo of Lustre, John ONeill, Mnrs Mag p3, Sept 26, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 23, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1912, Part III
Speaks at Charleston, West Virginia: “Oppression of the People Must Go!”

September 21, 1912, Charleston, West Virginia
-Mother Jones Speaks at Public Meeting Following Parade of Strikers’ Children:

Mother Jones, NE State Jr p2, Sept 19, 1912

I want to say to those children, they will be free; they will not be serfs. We have entered West Virginia-I have-and a hundred thousand miners have pledged their support to me, “If you need us, Mother, we will be there.” Five thousand men last Sunday night said, “We are ready, Mother, when you call on us.”

The revolution is here. We can tie up every wheel, every railroad in the State, when we want to do it. Tyranny, robbery and oppression of the people must go. The children must be educated. The childhood will rise to grander woman and grander man in happy homes and happy families-then we will need no saloons. We will need no saloons, nor any of your prohibition. As long as you rob us, of course we drink. The poison food you give us needs some other narcotic to knock the poison out of it. They charge you $2.40 for a bushel of potatoes at the “pluck-me” store. Ten pounds of slate in 9700 pounds of coal and you are docked-then they go and “give for Jesus.” “How charming Mr. Cabell is, he gives us $500.00.”

Let us, my friends, stand up like men. I have worked for the best interests of the working people for seventy-five years. I don’t need any one to protect me. I protect myself. I don’t break the law. Nobody molests me, except John Laing. John is the only dog in West Virginia that attacks a woman. He is the only fellow that would do that. I am not afraid of John Laing. I would give him a punch in the stomach and knock him over the railroad. I don’t know who punched him-he lost his pistol. I put my hand on him and told him to go home to his mother. I gave him a punch in the stomach, and he fell over the railroad track and lost his pistol. He didn’t know he lost it until he reached home.

He said, “You are disturbing my miners.” My slaves! Scabs! Dogs!

[…..]

Shame! Forever shame! on the men and women in the State of West Virginia that stand for such a picture as we have here today-[Referring to the children of the coal camps who marched in the parade]-Shame! When the history is written, what will it be, my friends, when the history of this crime, starvation and murder of the innocents, so they can fill the operators’ pockets, and build dog kennels for the workers. Is it right? Will it ever be right?

Now, I understand Mr. White is going to speak at the court house. He will have something to tell you.

This strike ain’t going to end until we get a check-weighman on the tipple. That is the law. It is on the statute books-that your coal will be weighed….

You miners here have stood for it, you have starved your children, starved yourselves, you have lived in dog-kennels-they wouldn’t build one for their dogs as bad as yours. You have lived in them and permitted them to rob you, and then got the militia for the robbers. You can get all the militia in the state, we will fight it to the finish-if the men don’t fight the women will. They won’t stand for it.

Be good, boys, don’t drink. Subscribe for the Labor Argus. If I was sentenced to sixteen months to jail, and these guys found it out I would be in jail longer. I don’t worry about it. I am down at the Fleetwood when ever they want to put me in jail for violation of the law, come along for me, come. There is coming a day when I will take the whole bunch of you and put you in jail. (Applause.)

[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of September 22, 1912:

LABOR CONFERENCE VAIN
———-
Refusal To Take Up Kanawha Coal Troubles
Keeps Union Men Away.
———-

Charleston, W. Va., Sept 21.-The representatives of the commercial and civic bodies of West Virginia called by Governor Glasscock to consider the labor situation adjourned this afternoon after an exciting session without having accomplished anything.

International President John P. White, of the United Mine Workers of America, with Vice-President Hayes, announced early in the day that they would have nothing to do with the conference because they had learned that it was not the purpose of those in charge of the meeting to permit a discussion of the strike situation in the Kanawha coal field, where 1,200 West Virginia militiamen are maintaining martial law……

Hayes Addresses Strikers.

Vice-President Hayes addressed a large audience of striking miners and their sympathizers, and Mother Jones talked to another audience almost within the shadow of the State Capitol…..

Children Parade Streets.

One of the striking features of the day was the appearance on the streets of 100 children of striking miners, brought down from the mountains by “Mother” Jones.

They paraded the streets to the music of a band and bearing banners with these legends,

We are the babes that sleep in the woods.

We want to go to school and not to the mines.

The children, miners’ leaders say, were among those compelled to live much in the open since martial law was declared.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part III: “Revolution Is Here…Tyranny, Robbery and Oppression Must Go”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part I: Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Rather sleep in guard house, Day Book p2, Sept 9, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 21, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for September 1912, Part I
Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.

From the Baltimore Sun of September 1, 1912:

TROUBLE AT CABIN CREEK.

Mother Jones, Rock Isl Argus p8, Sept 12, 1912

Trouble broke out afresh tonight at Cabin Creek Junction. Just what caused it cannot be learned at this time, but it is said it was started by the miners, who opened fire on the mine guards, seriously wounding two of them. If any or the miners were killed or wounded it is not known at this time. The wounded guards were hurried off to the hospital and their names are kept secret. Several of the guards who have been here for a long time have been marked by the miners, and it is possible that the injured men are of that number.

MILITIA RUSHED TO SCENE.

As a result of the battle tonight, five companies of militia which had been ordered home were rushed to the scene of the trouble.

Before they could arrive, however, a company from headquarters at Camp Pratt, on Paint creek, was rushed to Cabin Creek Junction…

Unless the situation improves materially within the next 48 hours martial law probably will be declared….It is admitted in official circles that the situation is more critical now than at any time since the miners went on strike in the Kanawha field last April. In case martial law is declared more troops will be needed.

MORE OUTBREAKS EXPECTED.

Further outbreaks between strikers and guards are expected at any or all of a dozen places on Paint and Cabin creeks as a result of the tense feeling which exists. In every instance the arrival of the militia has been sufficient to restore order.

Up to the present the strikers have been friendly to the militia, although a change may occur at any time.

“Mother” Jones has sent out word that the militia provost must be removed from the trains on the two creeks, but this guard will not be abandoned. As a result an attack on the passenger trains on either creek would cause little surprise. Close watch is being kept on the railway tracks to prevent the dynamiting of trains.

“Mother” Jones is scheduled to speak at Kingston tomorrow and orders have been issued to the militia to prevent such meeting. 

[…..]

Dogged Mother Jones’ Footsteps.

[T]he statement that the operators, or their agents, the mine guards, would prevent one individual from visiting another may seem to be overdrawn. It is not. Here is a case to illustrate:

About 10 days ago Mother Jones went to Kayford to hold a meeting. An account of that meeting was given in THE SUN of last Sunday [Aug 25th]. It was held after considerable trouble. She arrived at Kayford in the early afternoon and had tramped a good distance up the road before she reached the place. At every step she took she was followed by mine guards. She had had nothing to eat from the time she had an early breakfast and she was hungry. One of the miners, Lawrence Dwyer, the man who had arranged the meeting, asked her and the correspondent of THE SUN to go to his cabin for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. The invitation was accepted and we started to Dwyer’s house. No sooner had we stepped off the road and started up the lane leading to the cabin than Mayfield, the chief of the guards, ordered us off with an oath, threatening to arrest us if we took another step. His manner was rough in the extreme, especially to the white-haired old woman who really needed her cup of tea.

Dwyer remonstrated, saying he thought he had the right to take anyone he pleased to his house. He was told, with an oath, that he thought too much. Perhaps that is true. He is not fat. Like Cassius, “he hath a lean and hungry look,” and be certainly “thinks too much” for the peace of mind of the guards. However, Mother Jones went without her tea and she kept off private property.

Felts Blames Her For Trouble.

Later she came to a place where the road ran through the bed of the creek and she attempted to leave the county road on which she had been trudging and walk along the railroad track. Again she was ordered off. Even the railroad track was private property. This time the correspondent of THE SUN protested to Detective Felts. Felts was pleasant enough, but he was firm.

“That woman is old enough to be your grandmother,” he was told, “and no matter how much you may be opposed to her, remember that she is an old woman.”

“That makes no difference,” was the reply. “She is responsible for all the agitation and trouble that is taking place in these mines, and even though she is an old woman we do not propose to allow her any privileges here, or to show her any courtesies. She has got to keep to the public road, and keep off private property.“

That is the point. It would have been a “privilege” if she had been permitted to walk on the railroad track; it would have been a “courtesy” to have permitted her to go to Dwyer’s for her cup of tea. She might have done either, or both, by the grace and the favor of the company, but she could do neither as a matter of right.

[Photograph added.]

From the Baltimore Evening Sun of September 5, 1912:

3,000 MINERS TO MARCH IN
PROTEST TO CHARLESTON
———-
“Mother” Jones Will Lead Delegation
Before Governor Glasscock.
———-

MAYOR OF ESKDALE PLACED UNDER ARREST
———-
Court-Martial Disposing Of Cases Rapidly
-All Civil laws Suspended.
———-

Charleston, W. Va., Sept. 5.-Three thousand miners of that part of the Kanawha coal district which is not under martial law are coming to the State House at Charleston tomorrow to make a demonstration against the guard system in behalf of the men who are striking.

They will march through the streets of Charleston led by “Mother” Jones.

“Martial law is all right, but what after martial law?” is the legend to be displayed on a banner in the parade.

Governor Glasscock will be urged to come out and answer that question. “Mother” Jones will make a direct appeal to Glasscock.

Could Have Been Settled Long Ago.

[Said Mother Jones:]

The guard system will come back as soon as the soldiers are withdrawn. Months ago Governor Glasscock could have settled all difficulties by declaring that there shall be no guards. He did nothing at all; now the State and the miners are paying heavily.

Mayor And Miners Looked Up.

Martial law reached out last night and caught 20 miners and guards, including the Mayor of Eskdale, in the strike zone. The men were charged with disorderly conduct. They occupy joint jail quarters in the railroad station at Paint Creek Junction, which, has been turned into a prison.

Court-Martial Working Quickly.

The court-martial is working as quickly as a city court. In two days the military judges have tried 15 men. The verdicts were sealed and sent to Governor Glasscock for approval. The court can fix any penalty within its discretion. All statutory penalties are suspended.

The military authorities today ordered a Socialist paper that has been circulating in the “war” district suppressed as inflammatory. Free speech is one of the constitutional guarantees suspended by martial law.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for September 1912, Part I: Found Speaking at Mass Meeting of Striking Miners at Charleston, W. Va.” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The Wheeling Majority: “Soldiers Evict Miners’ Families” by G. H. Edmunds-Militia Aids Operators

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Better to Die Fighting, Sac Str p1, June 3, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal –Friday October 18, 1912
West Virginia Militia Aids Coal Operators in Evicting Miners’ Families

From The Wheeling Majority of October 17, 1912:

SOLDIERS EVICT MINERS’ FAMILIES
———-
(By G. H. Edmunds.)
—–

WV Militia Escort Miners to Court Martial, Cmg Ntn p2, Oct 12, 1912

In commenting on the troubles in the strike fields of Kanawha county, Gov. Glasscock mentioned the “invisible government” as being largely responsible for the troubles existing, and many of the citizens of this state have wondered what the “invisible government” was, but on Monday last, every one was brought face to face with this “Gila monster.” We beheld a monster with one head but two faces, a second Janus, too subtle for description.

Remember, Baldwin guards were driven out under the martial law proclamation, and everything went fine in the strike zone so far as peace and quiet was concerned, but, on Monday what do we find.

We find the militia of the state of West Virginia being used by the coal operators to evict miners from their homes, without any process of law whatsoever.

Never before has anything of the kind happened in any of the strikes of the country. Result: More than 100 families, aggregating 500 men, women and children are sitting by the roadside in the mountains of West Virginia with no place to lay their heads but on the hard rocks of the mountains, and absolutely no redress whatsoever. The governor has been appealed to, and his reply to the appeal was that the miners had redress in the civil courts, yet this same governor has suspended the civil courts and instituted martial law in their stead, and yet he tells the miners to go to the civil courts.

Yes, the government of West Virginia is “invisible.”

There seems to be a “power behind the throne” in this fight. Soldiers being used as strike breakers, and putting hundreds of women and children out in the cold to live in the open air in October, without any semblance of law. These people had a right to remain in the houses occupied by them until legally dispossessed, because, in law the fact that they were in the houses, and entered legally, gave them the right of remaining in said houses until legally dispossessed. The miners of West Virginia are being wrongfully treated by the governor, who is the commander in-chief of the state militia.

Strike breaking militia! Oh, shame on the fair name of West Virginia! The way that the militia is being used to evict the miners is done in this wise: The coal company sends several men to a miner’s house to put his household goods into the road. If the miner objects to having his goods put out without due process of law, the militia will arrest him and put him in the guard house. A squad of soldiers follows the evicting army and sees that no miner resists the process.

Yet in the face of all of this, and the hardships that the miners are being put into by the attitude of the governor of the state with their children half clad, hungry and barefooted, sickness in almost every home, no doctor, no money, only the charity of the Miners’ union to look to, and with a cold winter almost upon them, yet these hardships are more to be desired than peonage under the guard system. We are hoping that the governor will soon see the error of his way and do something to redeem the fair name of the great state of West Virginia.

[Photograph, emphasis and paragraph break added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Martial Law Declared in Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike District of West Virginia; Militia Collects Weapons

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, UMW Strong, Speech Charleston WV Levee, Aug 1, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 5, 1912
Martial Law Declared in Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike Zone

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of September 4, 1912:

HdLn WV Martial Law Declared, Wlg Int p1, Sept 4, 1912

Special Dispatch to the Intelligencer.

CHARLESTON, W. Va., September 3.-With more than 200,000 rounds of ammunition, seven modern Colts’ machine guns, fifteen hundred rifles of various kinds, from the highest priced and most modern make, down to the ordinary 22-caliber and bushels of revolvers, that is the term used by the militia authorities in answering the question as to the number of concealed weapons they now have-is the sum total of artillery the state captured during the first twelve hours of martial law in the Paint and Cabin Creek section of Kanawha county and of the Kanawha coal district.

Promptly at 6 o’clock this morning the proclamation went into effect. The nine companies of state militia with every available officer was scattered through the district and promptly at the hour fixed swooped down on store and cabin, operators residence and fortifications constructed by the coal operators and took possession of all firearms and other dangerous weapons. In no instance today was it necessary to arrest in order to secure weapons. That the miners and any of the mine guards had an idea that martial law was coming and got beyond the reach of the militia is definitely known.

Attack a Surprise.

This district is mountainous, making it possible for great numbers of men to conceal themselves and then attempt to escape under cover. While some may be successful the militia has stretched out along the boundary line to guard against just such a condition. The territory embraced in the proclamation is about twenty miles in length and from seven to twelve miles wide and contains at the present time about 18,000 or 20,000 people. Under the West Virginia law the rules and regulations of the regular army control in case of martial law is:

“A court-martial and a military commission have been appointed which may try offenses committed by either soldiers or citizens in the territory under martial law,” said Governor Glasscock today.

“For this duty I have selected men in whom I have the highest confidence because their power is almost ultimate and they may impose such punishment, including death, as they deem proper in the exigencies of the occasion.” 

[…..]

[Emphasis added.]

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