No more loyal, courageous men could be found than those southern miners,
scornfully referred to by “citizens’ alliances” as “foreigners.”
Italians and Mexicans endured to the end.
They were defeated on the industrial field but theirs was the victory of the spirit.
-Mother Jones
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Wednesday February 11, 2015
Wherever a fight is on - Mother Jones, Oct 1903-Feb 1905, Part I
A yearly summary of the activities of Mother Jones will be a feature of
Hellraisers Journal. This is the summary for the year 1904. The fall of 1903 has been included in order to bring more clarity to her role in the Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1903-04. January and February 1905 are included to help us figure out exactly when and how the break with Mitchell occurred. How, exactly, she left her employment with the United Mine Workers of America is a subject that needs more research. I am hoping that others can use what I have provided and carry on from there. I think the abbreviations are self-explanatory, but if anyone has problems with them, please let me know.
Important note: the date given for "HJ" is the date that the event was reported by Hellraisers, and not necessarily the date that the event occurred. To find the diary associated with the date, use the date and subtract 110 years. (Oct 26, 1903 is found at Hellraisers Journal for Oct 26, 2013.)
This is Part I of the 1904 summary, Part II will be published in tomorrow's Hellraiesers.
OCT 1903
HJ: Oct 26-MJ travels from the East to CO and back East again & reports to JM
HJ: Oct 29-Denver, CO, MJ brings strike authorization from JM
*SC: Oct 29-from Trinidad, CO, letter to William B Wilson
HJ: Oct 30-Trinidad, CO, MJ brings trouble for 20,000 Miners
Nov 1903
HJ: Nov 9-Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1903-04 begins
HJ: Nov 10-Trinidad, CO-Mother Jones is now in the field
HJ: Nov 11-Denver, CO-MJ holding meetings in various coal camps
HJ: Nov 16-Colorado-Northern Coal Ops offer Separate Settlement
*PF: Nov 21-Louisville, CO-MJ speaks at meeting of northern strikers:
"We Must Stand Together"
HJ: Nov 22-Louisville, CO-MJ Speaks out against Separate Settlement
HJ: Nov 26-Carbon Co, Utah-Sheriff calls for troops to be used against UMW
strikers
HJ: Nov 28-Colorado Militia Receives 1,000 Krag-Jorgensen Rifles to be used
against UMW and WFM strikers
HJ: Nov 29-Northern Colorado Coal Miners Accept Separate Settlement
HJ: Nov 30-Mitchell Gets His Victory Over MJ
Dec 1903
HJ: Dec 3-Clear Creek, UT-UMW strikers evicted, MJ driven out of Clear Creek
HJ: Dec 5-Labor World heaps praise upon MJ, "lioness defending her young"
HJ: Dec 8-Segundo, CO-Santos and Vilano killed by gunthugs
HJ: Dec 9-Mitchell returns to Ipls from CO, expects peace in CO
HJ: Dec 14-It is reported that MJ will head to Wyoming to organize coal camps there
HJ: Dec 17-New Castle, Colorado-homes of five UMW Strike leaders bombed, including
home of John R Lawson
HJ: Dec 18-Pueblo, CO-Scab attempts to start riot at union mtg where MJ and Pres Moyer
of WFM are speaking
HJ: Dec 28-Denver, CO-State FofL to start movement ag/ Gov Peabody
Jan 1904
HJ: Jan 2-Denver, CO-Gen Bell threatens MJ with bullpen
HJ: Jan 8-Trinidad, CO-MJ critically ill w/ pneumonia
HJ: Jan 9-Trinidad, CO-MJ recovery doubtful
HJ: Jan 10-Gov Wells of UT calls for deportation of UMW strikers
HJ: Jan 11-CO FofL calls conv to support WFM & UMW strikes
*SC: Jan 11, 1904-Trinidad, CO-letter of greeting from MJ to CO FofL Conv
*SC: Jan 11, 1904-to MJ in Trinidad-letter from CO FofL Conv
HJ: Jan 12-Dnv-CO FofL Conv receives letter of greeting from MJ, gravely ill in
Trinidad
HJ: Jan 13-Dnv-CO FofL Conv Requests Senate Investigation
HJ: Jan 14-Dnv-CO FofL Conv condemns military despotism, supports WFM & UMW
Strikes
HJ: Jan 20-Ipls, IN-UMWA Conv speech by John Mitchell: UMWA now the largest single
trade union the world has ever known with 340,000 members
HJ: Jan 21-Ipls, IN-UMWA Executive Com increases strike assessment to support strikes
in Colorado, WV, and PA
HJ-Jan 23-Dnv, CO-Polly Pry claims MJ could be former madam
HJ-Jan 24-Cheswick, PA-nearly 200 men entombed in Harwick Mine Disaster
HJ-Jan 27-Harwick Mine Disaster-71 bodies recovered, death toll now expected to be
all of the 171 men who were in the mine (final number was 179)
HJ-Jan 29-Ipls, IN-UMW Conv ends, votes $5,000 for relief for families of Harwick Mine
Disaster victims
Feb 1904
HJ: Feb 6-Hastings, CO-MJ on profits from Rockefeller's company towns
HJ: Feb 15-Trinidad, CO-UMWA organizers beaten, MJ not harmed
March 1904
HJ: Mar 16-Trinidad, CO-UMWA official, Chris Evans assaulted
HJ: Mar 23-Trinidad, CO-Gov Peabody orders troops into UMW strike zone
HJ: Mar 25-Trinidad, CO-District 15 of UMW meets in conv, MJ attends
*SC: Mar 26-from Dnv, CO-letter from MJ to Gov Peabody
HJ: Mar 27-Gov Peabody to deport MJ & other UMW leaders from strike zone,
Il Lavatore Italiano seized
HJ: Mar 28-Trinidad, CO-Maj Hill arrests and deports MJ and other UMW leaders
HJ: Mar 29-Denver, CO-MJ in hotel near Gov's office despite deportation
April 1904
HJ: Apr 2-Labor World: "Anarchy in Colorado," "MJ, [that] tin soldier is]
unfit to touch the hem of her garment"
HJ: Apr 3-Trinidad, CO-UMW strikers being evicted at Gray Creek & other coal camps
*SC: Arp 16-from Helper, UT-letter from MJ to JM
HJ: Apr 22-Helper UT-MJ rescued from "quarantine" by Italian strikers
HJ: Apr 23-Denver, DO-AFL Executive Council meets, Gompers says that the East stands
amazed by the lawlessness of the militia in CO
HJ: Apr 24-Carbon Co, UT-MJ submits to quarantine
HJ: Apr 27-Carbon Co, UT-120 UMW strikers taken prisoner, MJ remains in quarantine
HJ: Apr 30-Carbon Co, UT-MJ again escapes quarantine, arrested and jailed
May 1904
HJ: May 3-Southern Coalfields, CO-UMWA organizer Wardjon beaten, suffering severe
concussion
HJ: May 6-Ipls, IN-JM has ordered MJ to report to him at UMW HQ, but she is going to
California instead to recover her strength
HJ: May 10-WDC-JM talks with Pres Roosevelt ab/ CO situation (Mitchell had met with
Roosevelt at least one time before this.)
HJ: May 12-San Fransisco-MJ arrives, gives statement to press on CO & UT situations
HJ: May 25-San Francisco-speech by MJ at Alhambra Theater condemned as
"blasphemous"
HJ: May 29-Trinidad, CO-Striking Italian coal miners driven "like cattle," photographed
and registered under Bertillon system
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SOURCES
Hellraisers Journal
Oct 1903-May 1904
*SC=The Correspondence of Mother Jones
-ed by Edward M Steel
U of Pittsburgh Press, 1985
*PF=Mother Jones Speaks
-ed by Philip S Foner
NY, 1983
See also:
The Autobiography of Mother Jones
Chapter 13: The Cripple Creek Strike
(Mother Jones was very elderly when the book was written,
and here she conflates the WFM strike at Cripple Creek with
the UMWA strike in the Colorado coalfields. The two strikes were occurring
at the same time, and both sets of miners suffered under Governor
Peabody's military despotism. Company gunthugs were also deputized
and assisted in brutalizing both the metal miners and the coal miners.)
http://www.iww.org/...
IMAGE
Mother Jones, Miners' Angel
http://www.biography.com/...
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Mother Jones-Rob McNurlin