You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Tuesday March 8, 1904
From The Inter Ocean: Mitchell Arranges Settlement In Central Competitive Field
MITCHELL PREVENTS BIG COAL STRIKE
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MEN WILL VOTE ON TERMS OFFERED
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PITTSBURG, Pa., March 7.-There will be no coal strike. This has been arranged between the operators and the United Mine Workers' officials, owing to the efforts of President John Mitchell. It was the intention of President Mitchell of the United Mine Workers to seek an interview with President Roosevelt and to have him use his influence indirectly to get the operators to pay the scale demanded by the miners.
This will not be necessary unless a hitch occurs in the negotiations, when the original program of bringing national politics into play will be carried out. F. L. Robbins, head of the operators' association, said: "The miners undoubtedly will accept the proposition. The question is to be submitted to a referendum vote of the men, and it does not seem possible that they will vote against the acceptance of the terms offered. In my opinion, Western Pennsylvania and Ohio miners will vote almost solidly for the two-year scale.
Doubts Illinois.
"In Indiana and Illinois, however, the vote will be divided. The operators have been a unit in this matter from the start despite reports to the contrary. I think the miners will be foolish to reject so favorable a proposition particularly as their leaders have advised them to accept."
....A number of coal miners who were at headquarters today took an entirely different view of the situation. Some of them declared positively that the miners would accept nothing that called for a reduction from the present scale.
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Miners Accept Referendum.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., March 7.-The United Mine Workers in national convention voted today to refer the final decision as to accepting the wage offer of the operators to the locals. The vote of the locals will be cast on March 15, and the result will be counted at the national headquarters in this city March 17. Only the miners of the four states forming the central competitive district will be allowed to vote.
SOURCE
The Inter Ocean
(Chicago, Illinois)
-of Mar 8, 1904
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Sunday March 8, 1914
From The Indianapolis Star: House Committee Hears Testimony on Italian Hall Disaster
Calumet Witnesses Repeat Charges That Man Wearing Alliance Button Started
Christmas Eve Death Rush.
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CALUMET, Mich., March 7.-Persons who testified before the coroner's inquest last January that a man wearing a "Citizens' Alliance" button started the Christmas eve panic, here in Italian Hall today, repeated their assertions before Representatives Taylor of Arkansas and Casey of Pennsylvania, congressional investigators.
Description of the man varied as greatly as it did before the coroner's jury, which body disregarded this line of testimony in reaching an open verdict.
O. N. Hilton was present to represent the Western Federation of Miners, but he was not allowed to question the witnesses as the full committee at Houghton had agreed that Anthony Lucas, prosecutor of Houghton County, and the committee members should do all the questioning.
Wore Button on Coat.
Mrs. Josephine Leskela testified that she was near the middle of the hall when a man who stood alongside her yelled "fire, fire" and then started for the door. She said he was a large man with a long overcoat and that he wore the button of the Citizens' Alliance on his coat.
John Burogr, 18 years old, said the cry of "fire" was given by a short stout man.
"He wore a long overcoat with the fur collar turned up and had a Citizens' Alliance button on his breast pocket," said this witness.
Could Not See Lettering.
Mrs. Mary Koskolos said a large stout man cried "fire, rush," and the panic started. She said he wore a button, but she could not distinguish the lettering on it.
Mrs. Elisha Lesh heard a male voice cry "fire" twice in English, and then its Slavonic equivalent, "watra."
Mrs. Anna Lustig, who lost a little boy in the rush, was positive that the man who cried "fire" wore the insignia of the Citizens' Alliance.
Another 12-year-old boy, Frank Shaltz, said he heard a man, wearing a "white button, with a red inscription," cry "fire." He said the man had a dark mustache and he recognized him as one he had seen on the street several weeks before, carrying a club.
This One Saw Two Men.
Eric Ericcson testified that he heard some one behind him yell "fire." He turned to see who had uttered the cry and saw two well-dressed men moving toward the door. Both wore Citizens' Alliance buttons, he said. He could not swear that either of these men raised the cry.
Charles Olsen said he was standing on a chair when he heard a cry of "fire" in English, and no other language. He saw the man, he said, and he described him as being 5 feet 8 inches in height and wearing a dark gray overcoat and gray cap. The witness thought the button the man wore on his coat was the badge of the Citizens' Alliance, although he was not close enough to say positively.
Paul Jakkola said he was standing in the vestibule when a man wearing the alliance button came up the stairway and shouted "fire" twice. Witness said he was a good-sized man, wearing a coat with a corduroy collar and a fur cap pulled over his forehead. He had a dark mustache.
SOURCE
The Indianapolis Star
(Indianapolis, Indiana)
-of Mar 8, 1914
Photos
Työmies Headline Dec 26, 1913
http://lawcha.org/...
Citizens Alliance Button, Michigan Copper Strike 1913
http://www.copperrange.org/...
See also:
"WE NEVER FORGET: Christmas Eve 1913 Italian Hall Massacre"
http://www.dailykos.com/...
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The 1913 Massacre - Woody Guthrie
The piano played a slow funeral tune,
And the town was lit up by a cold Christmas moon,
The parents they cried and the miners they moaned,
"See what your greed for money has done."
-Woody Guthrie
While most of the details of the Italian Hall Massacre as related in this song are inaccurate, the title and the last verse of the song are absolutely true.