Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 31, 1919
Mother Jones News for September 1919, Part III
Her Home? “Wherever there is a good fight for freedom going on.”
From The Pittsburgh Post of September 24, 1919:
‘Mother’ Jones Heard
in Labor Trial
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“Mother” Jones, aged organizer for the United Mine Workers, appearing yesterday as a witness before Judge Richard H. Kennedy, gave her address as “wherever there is a good fight for freedom going on.”
She testified in the hearing of a large number of appeals from fines imposed by Mayor James S. Crawford in connection with a meeting held in Duquesne last September 7.
After leaving the stand “Mother” Jones declared that had been her first experience as a witness in “a regular court trial.” She was one of the organizers arrested, but was not fined. That was the first time, she said, that she had been placed behind bars, although she had been arrested more than once.
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[Photograph added.]
From The Pittsburgh Press of September 24, 1919:
“MOTHER” JONES FREED FOR LABOR ACTIVITY.
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“Mother” Jones was freed today following her arrest in the steel mill districts Sept. 7. She came before Judge Kennedy and was permitted to go without a fine.
“What is your age?” queried the court.
“Ninety on the first day of next May.”
“Where is your home?”
“Wherever there is a good fight for freedom going on,” replied the old lady, vigorously.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 30, 1919
Mother Jones News for September 1919, Part II
Cleveland, Ohio – Mother Speaks at Convention of United Mine Workers
From the New York Tribune of September 17, 1919:
Mine Workers Urged To Aid Steel Strike
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Appeals Made to Convention by Fitzpatrick
and “Mother” Jones, Who Oppose Delay
CLEVELAND, Sept. 16.-John Fitzpatrick, chairman of the national committee for organizing the iron and steel workers, and “Mother” Jones, the aged mine worker representative, appealed to-day to the convention of the United Mine Workers of America to support the steel workers in the projected steel strike. “Mother” Jones argued openly against any postponement, telling the miners to pay no attention to contrary reports, because the strike would come off as arranged next Monday. Rescinding of the strike call, she declared, would wreck the confidence of the steel workers in their organization.
Fitzpatrick refrained from mentioning the question of possible postponement, except indirectly, in his speech, but in conversations with delegates he declared himself firmly opposed to postponement of the walkout beyond Monday as weakening the chances of success.
Hellraisers Journal –Wednesday October 29, 1919
Mother Jones News for September 1919, Part I
Duquesne, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Arrested for Organizing Steel Workers
From the New York Sun of September 8, 1919:
RAID ENDS MEETING OF STEEL WORKERS
—–
Mother Jones and Other Organizers
Seized in Duquesne.
—–
Special Dispatch to THE SUN.
PITTSBURG, Sept. 7.-Duquesne was the scene of much excitement on the part of the police and union organizers this afternoon when Police Chief Thomas Flynn and a squad of patrolmen appeared at an open air meeting at Linden and River avenues, where more than 1,000 steel workers had assembled, and arrested four labor organizers, including “Mother” Jones, the veteran organizer, and forty steel workers. The organizers were charged with holding a public meeting without a permit and the workmen were charged with illegal congregating. After staying in the Duquesne police station four hours they were released on forfeits for a hearing to-morrow.
Mother Jones with William Z. Foster
The organizers arrested besides “Mother” Jones were William Z. Foster, secretary of the national committee for organizing iron and steel workers; J. L. Beaghen, president of the Pittsburg Bricklayers Union, and an American Federation of Labor organizer, and J. M. Patterson, vice-president of the Brotherhood of Railway Car Men.
The organizers said the meeting was being held on a vacant lot, the owner of which had given permission.
Hellraisers Journal –Thursday October 16, 1919
Mother Jones News for August 1919, Part I
Clairton, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Stands with Steel Workers
From The Quarry Workers Journal of August 1919:
[T]he same spirit [of liberty] that impelled men to fight for freedom in other times is not dead now. Mother Jones, gray-haired, stooped and bent under the load of her 89 years of fighting for labor, but with a soul on fire and the flash of her eyes undimmed, hearing of the outrages [against union organizers] in North Clairton, sent a wire demanding that she be billed for a speech in North Clairton on Sunday, Aug. 10. Her offer has been accepted. Thousands of mine workers, in grateful remembrance of the many sacrifices Mother Jones has made for them, insist that they too are going to be in North Clairton and if she is going to be dragged to jail by the brutal Carnegie Steel Co police with the sanction of the municipal authorities, they want to be eye-witnesses’ to the depths to which corporate hirelings can sink.
The spirt of liberty still lives! The American Federation of Labor proposes to plant its banner in every steel center in western Pennsylvania. Other national figures in the labor movement will follow Mother Jones. Wires are pouring into the office of the national committee for organizing iron and steel workers announcing the names of men who wish to enlist “for the duration of the war.” North Clairton and other autocratic boroughs will have to back up. Democracy is on the ascendency. Justice for labor is the cry that is encircling the world and wise men will heed this cry.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 12, 1919
News from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Steel Strike Headquarters
From The Butte Daily Bulletin of October 10, 1919:
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STEEL BARONS ENDEAVORING TO DISCOURAGE STRIKERS
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LYING PAMPHLETS ARE NOW BEING CIRCULATED
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(Special United Press Wire.)
Pittsburgh, Oct. 10.-Charging distribution of unfair propaganda, leaders in the steel strike have protested against the circulation of handbills, in which the strikers are urged to collect benefits due them from strike headquarters. Union heads declare these pamphlets are being distributed by the operators in a frantic effort to create friction between the strikers and their leaders. Strike headquarters here announced that many foreigners in some districts, are storming the offices of their districts leaders in compliance with the circulars’ request.
Rioting broke out at Clairton, near here, this morning, when several foreigners it is alleged, expressed their intentions of returning to work. One man was shot and seriously wounded, three were stabbed and many were beaten, when state troops appeared on the scene and attempted to restore order.
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MORE BRUTAL THAN COSSACKS.
(Special to The Bulletin.)
Pittsburgh, Pa.-“More brutal than the German uhlans raiding Belgium! Worse than the Don cossacks in the days of the czars!”
That’s how John Fitzpatrick, lender of the great steel strike, describes the Pennsylvania state constabulary.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 7, 1919
Buffalo, New York – Steel Strikers Standing Firm as Gibraltar
From Buffalo Labor Journal of October 2, 1919:
STEEL STRIKERS HOLDING FIRMLY
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Propaganda in Sunday Papers Fails in Desired Effect
-Gunmen Modest in Their Retirement
-Big Mill and the Assessors
A flood of printer’s ink and a mountain of good white paper was utterly wasted in the campaign of propaganda which the barons of the Steel Trust and their affiliations poured forth in last Sunday’s papers of this good, old America of ours.
According to the writings of the lads employed by Kaiser Gary and his entourage, the gates of the big mills would be choked on Monday morning with the men, eager to bend their backs to the crack of the driver’s whip
Their fond anticipations failed to realize and there was no response to the weasel voice of the hired scribblers. The men are standing as firm as the rock of Old Gibraltar.
None went back-divel the wan.
In all this pyrotechnical display of the propagandists we fail to catch the sonorous voice of our old friend, False Alarm Donner. In the first week of the strike Donner could be heard with his discordant bray over the thunderous voices of both master and men. That lad made a high mark for himself as the Grand Claimant of All. He spouted interviews like a Texan oil gusher.
They have put the soft pedal on Donner and the atmosphere no longer vibrates with his amazing prognostications.
So much for friend Donner; now for the big mill with its company houses, its Moses Taylor hospital, its Smokes Creek and its favored assessments. All are interwoven closely with its desire for welfare work and its Oh! Be Joyful efforts at uplifting.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 22, 1919
Nationwide Steel Strike to Commence at Midnight
From The Washington Times of September 21, 1919:
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ONLY MIRACLE ABLE TO STOP WALKOUT,
SAY ALL OFFICIALS
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BY FRED S. FERGUSON.
United Press Staff Correspondent.
PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 21–Plans are complete for what may prove the greatest industrial battle this country has ever known, according to officials of the twenty-four steel workers unions, which will strike at midnight.
They declared it would be a fight to the finish for the right of collective bargaining, an eight-hour day, and an increased in wages.
The reports from all steel centers indicated that nothing short of a miracle would stop the strike.
Leaders of both sides declared President Wilson had taken no steps thus far to persuade steel corporation officials to meet the strikers committee.
Posses Sworn In.
State and municipal officials have taken every precaution to guard against public disorders. Posses of deputy sheriffs [deputized company gunthugs] have been sworn in many towns and cities ready for instant action. The state constabulary [Pennsylvania Cossacks] in the Pittsburgh district has been mobilized and given explicit orders.
William B. Wilson, Secretary of Labor, who is vacation at Bloomsburg, Pa., declared he had received no communication from President Wilson regarding a settlement of the steel strike.
Leaders of the steel workers’ unions reiterated their statements that they will close up every mill owned by or subsidiary to the U. S. Steel Corporation. Officials of the steel company were equally confident the strike would be a failure and declared so small a number of workers were unionized that there will be little suspension of work. They said, however, that wherever any widespread disloyalty to the company was evident, plants would be closed.
Prepared to Hold Out.
Union leaders said the men were prepared for as long a strike as was necesary to win the demands. Finances, according to W. B. Rubin, general counsel for the workers, have been provided to take care of a long drawn out fight.
Hundreds of women have begun the work of stiffening the morale of the wives and children of the workers.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 20, 1919
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Arrives to “Raise Hell”
From the Fairmont West Virginian of September 18, 1919:
———-
“I’ve Come to Raise Hell!”
Mother Jones Announces
Famous Labor Worker is
in Pittsburgh for the
Steel Strike.
—–
By LEE J. SMITS.
N. E. A. Staff Correspondent.
PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 18.-The chief of police in a steel town said: “I’d rather see a mob of armed strikers marching down Main street than have that old lady arrive on the scene.”
He meant Mother Jones.
From mine fields of West Virginia and Colorado; from every field where labor and capital have battled, come the tales of this white-haired warrior, who has been in jail more times than she can remember, who is called a demon by her foes and an angel by her friends.
She says she is 89 years old, but her voice rings out like a bugle call and she expects to see labor triumphant, not only in the steel strike, but in every industry in the United States.
“I came here to raise hell,” said Mother Jones, as she looked up from her sewing to welcome me.
WE NEVER FORGET
Fannie Sellins & Joe Starzeleski
Who Lost Their Lives in Freedom’s Cause
August 26, 1919 at West Natrona, Pennsylvania
From The Woman Today of September 1936:
Fannie Sellins
-by Lillian Henry
Gold flows down the Alleghany [Allegheny] and Monongahela Rivers and up the Ohio river to coffers in tall buildings in downtown Pittsburgh. There is a steady stream from the coal mines and steel mills-from the coal mines and the steel mills-from the plants of Jones and Laughlin, Bethlehem Steel, Carnegie, U. S. Steel, Alleghany Steel, Alleghany Valley Coal. These and many other sources fill the banks and strong boxes in Pittsburgh.
Blood has flowed along these rivers-shed at the command of the owners of the strong boxes in tall buildings, and one of their victims was Fannie Sellins, mother of four children.
Fannie Sellins’ grave stands in New Kensington on the Alleghany River. The tombstone, erected by the United Mine Workers of District No. 5, stands as a monument to those “killed by the enemies of organized labor”.
We went to see Fannie Sellins’ daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Broad, to learn about the life of this heroic woman.
[Said the former
Dorothy Sellins:]
My father died when I was two years old, and mother went to work in a garment factory in St. Louis to support her four children. We all come from the South.
Grandfather was a painter-had a regular job painting Mississippi River boats. He used to take mother and the children around to union meetings. I’ve heard union talk ever since I was a baby.
Mother worked hard to organize, not only the men, but also their women. She used to go around to the women to tell them how important it was for them to organize. She was jailed for six months in West Virginia for doing that.
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