Westmoreland County Coal Strike of 1910–1911
Encyclopedia
The Westmoreland County Coal Strike of 1910–1911 was a strike
by coal miners
represented by the United Mine Workers of America. The strike is also known as the "Slovak strike" because about 70 percent of the miners were Slovak immigrants.
It began in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
, on March 9, 1910, and ended on July 1, 1911. At its height, the strike encompassed 65 mines and 15,000 coal miners. Sixteen people were killed during the strike, nearly all of them striking miners or members of their families.
The strike ended in a defeat for the union
.
, Penn
, Sewickley
, Salem
, South Huntingdon
, Hempfield
and Irwin
, and the boroughs of Murrysville, Export
and Delmont
. The coal mined in the district was unsuitable for use as coke
. However, it was ideal for gasification and conversion into coal gas.
Seven companies dominated coal mining in the Irwin Basin in 1910. In 1854, the Westmoreland Coal Company was formed to begin mining coal in the region. In 1905, it bought a controlling interest in Penn Gas Coal, a company established in 1861 to gasify coal. Penn Gas Coal, in turn, had obtained a one-third ownership in the Manor Gas Coal Company. Through these purchases, Westmoreland Coal had a near-monopoly
on the gas coal market, and was the largest bituminous coal
company in the Pennsylvania. In 1892, Robert Jamison and his sons founded the Jamison Coal and Coke Company (originally the Jamison Coal Company). In 1886, the Berwind family and Judge Allison White
founded the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. In 1902, a number of smaller coal gas companies in and around Greensburg, Pennsylvania
, merged to form the Keystone Coal and Coke Company. In 1905, Latrobe-Connellsville Coal and Coke Company was formed when Marcus W. Saxman merged three of his wholly owned or controlled coal companies.
These companies were very paternalistic. Company town
s (colloquially referred to as "coal patches") were established, company stores
founded and workers often paid in company scrip
.
and wages equal to those paid in the nearby Pittsburgh
Coal Basin. Since miners were paid by the ton, workers also wanted to standardize the size of coal wagons to ensure they were paid fairly. Miners also sought to be paid for mining "slack" (very fine coal), and for "dead work" (laying of track, shoring up tunnels, pumping out water, and removing slate and clay).
Westmoreland Coal, Penn Gas Coal and Keystone Coal and Coke strongly resisted the miners' demands and any attempt at unionization. Companies used the Coal and Iron Police
to physically intimidate and sometimes beat pro-union miners, workers were fired, and coal companies evicted families from the "coal patches" whenever miners struck.
The situation came to a head in 1910. The coal companies reduced wages by 16 percent, paying only 58 cents per ton-and-a-half of coal mined. The breaking point came when Keystone Coal and Coke announced that miners would have to begin using new safety lights and new forms of explosives—and pay for these items themselves.
had tried to organize Westmoreland County coal mines since 1883, but had little success. In February 1910, however, the lower wage rates and new expenses led miners at Keystone Coal and Coke to meet and discuss their grievances among themselves. The miners decided to invite the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to form a union.
On March 7, 1910, Van Bittner, a UMWA vice president, arrived in Westmoreland County and formed a local union. Four hundred miners signed up and paid dues. Keystone Coke and Coal immediately fired 100 miners for attending the union organizing meeting. The Keystone miners walked off the job, and the strike swiftly spread throughout the Irwin Basin.
Union recognition became the biggest issue in the strike. The workers felt that if they could win recognition of the union, their other demands would come easily.
When the miners struck on March 9, the coal companies evicted thousands of families from their company-owned homes. UMWA spent $25,000 purchasing tents and constructing shanties, and set up 25 tent cities to accommodate the homeless. Near the town of Export, more than 100 tents went up, making it the largest tent city during the strike.
Ethnic tension threatened to divide the nascent union. Slovakians comprised 70 percent of the striking miners, but the strike committee was led by native-born miners of English
, German
and Irish
descent. UMWA organizers Bittner and Frank Hayes
worked hard to overcome these divisions, however. Multi-lingual organizers were employed, each ethnic group elected its own representatives, and parades and rallies featured musicians and speakers from all groups.
Public backing for the strike was high. Westmoreland County had a long history of support for unions. Local religious leaders signed petitions in favor of the union, testified before the United States Congress
on behalf of workers, and called on the governor and state legislature to force the coal companies to submit to arbitration
.
UMWA support for the strike, however, was not nearly as strong. International union president Thomas Lewis
had not condoned the strike, and criticized efforts by leaders in surrounding UMWA Districts to drum up increased support for the strikers. But in March 1910, a special meeting of the UMWA international executive board voted to support the strike, forcing Lewis to grudgingly offer the union's resources. Eventually, the union gave more than $1 million in relief payments to the strikers. Lewis, however, continued to work to undermine the union's support for the strike. He backed an insurgent faction in District 6 to unseat leaders who supported the strike. The act led to internecine warfare in the union and charges that Lewis and his candidates were in league with mine owners.
promised immigrants a job and housing, and paid for them and their families to come to move to Pennsylvania. The flow of strikebreaker
s was small at first, but by the fall it was nearly a flood. The number of new immigrant workers was so large that the Penn Gas Coal company constructed 30 two-story houses in Hahntown to house its replacement workers, leading local residents to refer to the area as "Scab Hill."
Management often took advantage of the strikebreakers, however. Company recruiters were ordered not to tell potential workers that they would be employed as strikebreaker
s. The coal companies sought out recent immigrants who did not speak English (or who spoke or understood it poorly), and then used this handicap against the strikebreakers. If workers tried to quit, the Coal and Iron Police
prevented them from leaving and told them that they had to work off the cost of their transportation before resigning. When strikebreakers still tried to leave, the police beat them and forced them back to work. In some cases, fences were built around strikebreaker housing to intimidate the workers into staying. The abuse of strikebreakers was so severe that the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Labor held hearings on whether the coal companies had illegally forced people into peonage.
to prevent striking miners from approaching company property on the grounds that the number of strikers and the loud noises they made intimidated company employees. Although the local sheriff testified that the strikers had committed no acts of violence, the state district court issued a sweeping injunction which essentially barred the union from use of public roads:
The vague terms of the injunction led law enforcement officials to arrest miners as much as a half mile from Keystone grounds. Other coal companies quickly asked for similar injunctions which "made marching, assembling or traversing public roads illegal."
The coal companies moved aggressively to exploit the law in other ways as well. The Coal and Iron Police patrolled company property and denied admittance to union members and supporters. Union members were often arrested for using public roads which traversed company property. Small towns and villages, often encircled by coal company land, became isolated and embattled. In Herminie
, all citizens were required to obtain a pass from the local mine manager before leaving the village. Union members were denied the use of post offices or the ability to enter local courthouses, because these facilities were often on coal company property. Nearly 1,000 miners were ultimately arrested for trespass or disorderly conduct. Simply walking home in a group from a union meeting on a public highway could earn a contempt citation and a $50 fine.
In 1911, seven coal companies in Westmoreland County and Allegheny County
sued the leaders of the strike. The coal companies claimed they had suffered economic losses as high as $500,000 due to the strike and strike-related property damage. Twenty-eight officers in nearby District 5 and 17 strike leaders in Westmoreland County were arrested on charges of conspiracy, intimidation, violence and general lawlessness. Local labor unions helped the 45 men post bond of $300 each, and instituted a special per capita assessment to form a legal defense fund. But the public outcry was so extraordinary that the coal companies dropped the suits.
, local law enforcement personnel, and the Pennsylvania State Police
.
Despite this, sheriff's deputies instigated and participated in three particularly violent and deadly incidents:
Problems with the deputies were so severe that in November 1910 the Westmoreland County sheriff stopped securing them for the coal companies. The companies responded by seeking deputies from local police forces instead.
In January 1911, the Westmoreland County sheriff began deputizing striking miners as deputy sheriffs (although they served without pay). In May 1911, four sheriff's deputies were cited for contempt of court for venturing too close to coal company property. The sheriff said that the men had done so in their official capacity as deputies, but the local court fined them anyway. The Westmoreland County sheriff became so frustrated with the injunction that he refused to permit his deputies to patrol marches on public highways.
The Pennsylvania State Police
(PSP) proved to be the most violent group during the strike. The PSP had been founded in 1905 to discourage the use of private police forces in workers' strikes and to provide law enforcement when local police or sheriffs were unable or unwilling to enforce the law. But rather than enforce the law, the PSP proved the group most willing to break it. One trooper described how the State Police dealt with strikers: "We ride in, scoop them up and beat hell out of them."
The number of unprovoked violent acts committed by the PSP was extremely high and frequent. James Maurer, a socialist
member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
from Reading
, conducted a survey asking for information on State Police actions during the strike. Maurer's survey found that violence significantly increased after the arrival of the State Police, and that almost all acts of violence were committed by state troopers without provocation. Mauer was so outraged by the results of his survey that he introduced a bill to abolish the state police. Hundreds of citizens later testified before state and federal commissions that mounted State Police routinely charged onto town sidewalks or into crowds, trampling and severely injuring men, women and children (whether strikers or not). Severe beatings with fists and clubs were common, with troopers breaking into and ransacking homes without warrants, beating citizens and striking miners alike. Local police officials claimed State Police routinely beat people on the street for no reason, and resisted local police attempts to stop them. State Police troopers shot up towns "in true Western style", and fired indiscriminately into crowds or into tent cities (killing and wounding sleeping women and children). Sexual assault (including rape) was disturbingly common, and at least one hotel manager accused troopers of promoting prostitution.
State Police were also involved in a number of serious violent incidents, several of which resulted in the deaths of unarmed strikers:
During the strike, six striking miners, nine wives of striking miners, and one bystander were killed, and thousands of strikers and members of their families severely beaten or wounded.
But the miners were worse off than the employers. The winter of 1910–11 was particularly cold, and the miners and their families suffered tremendously. The union built numerous shacks and shanties, and moved miners' families out of tents and into the shacks for better protection from the elements. But not enough shelter could be erected, and 400 families spent the entire winter in tents. Hunger and disease were also beginning to become widespread among strikers' families.
In early 1911, the UMWA's support for the strikers appeared strong. In January 1911, Lewis lost the presidency of UMWA to John P. White
. White fully backed the strike, and the UMWA convention reaffirmed the union's support for the miners.
But just six months later, the UMWA called a halt to the strike. The union had disbursed more than $1 million in strike relief funds, but it was no longer financially able to keep the strike going. On July 1, 1911, the UMWA executive board voted to end to the strike. Although most miners returned to work, about 400 were blacklist
ed and forced to seek employment outside Pennsylvania.
Jones encouraged the women to bring their babies and small children with them when they were sentenced by the court in Greensburg. The presiding judge sentenced the women to pay a $30 fine or serve 30 days in jail. Unable to pay, the women were jailed. As there was no one else to care for the children, the judge was forced to jail the children along with their mothers.
While the women were being processed for imprisonment, Jones instructed them: "You sing the whole night long. You can spell one another if you get tired and hoarse. Sleep all day and sing all night and don't stop for anyone. Say you're singing to the babies. I will bring the little ones milk and fruit. Just you all sing and sing."
Unfortunately, the jail was next door to the sheriff's home, as well as several hotels, lodging houses, and other homes. The sound of women singing all through the night kept most of the townspeople awake. After five days of sleeplessness, the townspeople angrily demanded that the judge order the women's release. He did so.
The incident has become known as "the women who sang their way out of jail."
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
by coal miners
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
represented by the United Mine Workers of America. The strike is also known as the "Slovak strike" because about 70 percent of the miners were Slovak immigrants.
It began in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 369,993 people, 149,813 households, and 104,569 families residing in the county. The population density was 361 people per square mile . There were 161,058 housing units at an average density of 157 per square mile...
, on March 9, 1910, and ended on July 1, 1911. At its height, the strike encompassed 65 mines and 15,000 coal miners. Sixteen people were killed during the strike, nearly all of them striking miners or members of their families.
The strike ended in a defeat for the union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
.
Background
The Irwin Gas Coal Basin is an area in Westmoreland and Venango Counties, Pennsylvania. It encompasses the townships of North HuntingdonNorth Huntingdon Township, Pennsylvania
North Huntingdon Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 30,609 at the 2010 census.-History:Named after England’s Earl of Huntingdon, Huntingdon Township was founded on April 6, 1772 in Pennsylvania....
, Penn
Penn Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Penn Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 30.5 square miles , all of it land.-Demographics:...
, Sewickley
Sewickley, Pennsylvania
Sewickley is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, west northwest of Pittsburgh along the Ohio River. It is a residential suburb of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,827 at the 2010 census...
, Salem
Salem Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Salem Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,939 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 47.8 square miles , of which, 47.1 square miles of it is land and...
, South Huntingdon
South Huntingdon Township, Pennsylvania
South Huntingdon Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,175 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
, Hempfield
Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Hempfield Township is a township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 43,241 at the 2010 census, making it the largest suburb in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area by population.- Geography :...
and Irwin
Irwin Township, Pennsylvania
Irwin Township is a township in Venango County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,309 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , all of it land.-Demographics:...
, and the boroughs of Murrysville, Export
Export, Pennsylvania
Export is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, surrounded entirely by the Municipality of Murrysville. The population was 895 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Export is located at ....
and Delmont
Delmont, Pennsylvania
Delmont is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,497 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Delmont is located at ....
. The coal mined in the district was unsuitable for use as coke
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
. However, it was ideal for gasification and conversion into coal gas.
Seven companies dominated coal mining in the Irwin Basin in 1910. In 1854, the Westmoreland Coal Company was formed to begin mining coal in the region. In 1905, it bought a controlling interest in Penn Gas Coal, a company established in 1861 to gasify coal. Penn Gas Coal, in turn, had obtained a one-third ownership in the Manor Gas Coal Company. Through these purchases, Westmoreland Coal had a near-monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on the gas coal market, and was the largest bituminous coal
Bituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
company in the Pennsylvania. In 1892, Robert Jamison and his sons founded the Jamison Coal and Coke Company (originally the Jamison Coal Company). In 1886, the Berwind family and Judge Allison White
Allison White
Allison White was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.White was born in Pine Township, near Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. He attended the public schools and was graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania...
founded the Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. In 1902, a number of smaller coal gas companies in and around Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Greensburg is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States, and a part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. The city is named after Nathanael Greene, a major general of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War...
, merged to form the Keystone Coal and Coke Company. In 1905, Latrobe-Connellsville Coal and Coke Company was formed when Marcus W. Saxman merged three of his wholly owned or controlled coal companies.
These companies were very paternalistic. Company town
Company town
A company town is a town or city in which much or all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company...
s (colloquially referred to as "coal patches") were established, company stores
Truck system
A truck system is an arrangement in which employees are paid in commodities or some currency substitute , rather than with standard money. This limits employees' ability to choose how to spend their earnings—generally to the benefit of the employer...
founded and workers often paid in company scrip
Company scrip
Company scrip is currency issued in certain industries to pay workers. Such scrip can only be exchanged by wage-earners in company stores owned by their employers and often charging inflated prices. In the UK, such systems have been formally outlawed under Truck Acts.In the United States, mining...
.
Origins of the strike
Coal miners increasingly agitated for improved wages and working conditions after 1900. Miners demanded an eight-hour dayEight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement or 40-hour week movement, also known as the short-time movement, had its origins in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, where industrial production in large factories transformed working life and imposed long hours and poor working conditions. With working conditions...
and wages equal to those paid in the nearby Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
Coal Basin. Since miners were paid by the ton, workers also wanted to standardize the size of coal wagons to ensure they were paid fairly. Miners also sought to be paid for mining "slack" (very fine coal), and for "dead work" (laying of track, shoring up tunnels, pumping out water, and removing slate and clay).
Westmoreland Coal, Penn Gas Coal and Keystone Coal and Coke strongly resisted the miners' demands and any attempt at unionization. Companies used the Coal and Iron Police
Coal and Iron Police
The Coal and Iron Police was a private police force in the United States established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly but employed and paid by the various coal companies. The origins of the Coal and Iron Police begin in 1865...
to physically intimidate and sometimes beat pro-union miners, workers were fired, and coal companies evicted families from the "coal patches" whenever miners struck.
The situation came to a head in 1910. The coal companies reduced wages by 16 percent, paying only 58 cents per ton-and-a-half of coal mined. The breaking point came when Keystone Coal and Coke announced that miners would have to begin using new safety lights and new forms of explosives—and pay for these items themselves.
The strike
Miners' unionsTrade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
had tried to organize Westmoreland County coal mines since 1883, but had little success. In February 1910, however, the lower wage rates and new expenses led miners at Keystone Coal and Coke to meet and discuss their grievances among themselves. The miners decided to invite the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to form a union.
On March 7, 1910, Van Bittner, a UMWA vice president, arrived in Westmoreland County and formed a local union. Four hundred miners signed up and paid dues. Keystone Coke and Coal immediately fired 100 miners for attending the union organizing meeting. The Keystone miners walked off the job, and the strike swiftly spread throughout the Irwin Basin.
Union recognition became the biggest issue in the strike. The workers felt that if they could win recognition of the union, their other demands would come easily.
When the miners struck on March 9, the coal companies evicted thousands of families from their company-owned homes. UMWA spent $25,000 purchasing tents and constructing shanties, and set up 25 tent cities to accommodate the homeless. Near the town of Export, more than 100 tents went up, making it the largest tent city during the strike.
Ethnic tension threatened to divide the nascent union. Slovakians comprised 70 percent of the striking miners, but the strike committee was led by native-born miners of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
and Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
descent. UMWA organizers Bittner and Frank Hayes
Frank Hayes (unionist)
Frank J. Hayes was a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1917 to 1920.He was born in the coal mining town of What Cheer, Iowa, in 1882, but moved with his family as a boy to Illinois...
worked hard to overcome these divisions, however. Multi-lingual organizers were employed, each ethnic group elected its own representatives, and parades and rallies featured musicians and speakers from all groups.
Public backing for the strike was high. Westmoreland County had a long history of support for unions. Local religious leaders signed petitions in favor of the union, testified before the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
on behalf of workers, and called on the governor and state legislature to force the coal companies to submit to arbitration
Arbitration
Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
.
UMWA support for the strike, however, was not nearly as strong. International union president Thomas Lewis
Thomas Lewis (unionist)
Thomas L. Lewis was a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1907 to 1911.He was born in Locust Gap, Pennsylvania, and worked in the mines as a boy. He later helped found the United Mine Workers in 1890....
had not condoned the strike, and criticized efforts by leaders in surrounding UMWA Districts to drum up increased support for the strikers. But in March 1910, a special meeting of the UMWA international executive board voted to support the strike, forcing Lewis to grudgingly offer the union's resources. Eventually, the union gave more than $1 million in relief payments to the strikers. Lewis, however, continued to work to undermine the union's support for the strike. He backed an insurgent faction in District 6 to unseat leaders who supported the strike. The act led to internecine warfare in the union and charges that Lewis and his candidates were in league with mine owners.
Strikebreakers
To end the strike and break the union, the coal companies began importing thousands of Eastern European immigrants to work the mines. Coal company representatives on the East CoastEast Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
promised immigrants a job and housing, and paid for them and their families to come to move to Pennsylvania. The flow of strikebreaker
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
s was small at first, but by the fall it was nearly a flood. The number of new immigrant workers was so large that the Penn Gas Coal company constructed 30 two-story houses in Hahntown to house its replacement workers, leading local residents to refer to the area as "Scab Hill."
Management often took advantage of the strikebreakers, however. Company recruiters were ordered not to tell potential workers that they would be employed as strikebreaker
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
s. The coal companies sought out recent immigrants who did not speak English (or who spoke or understood it poorly), and then used this handicap against the strikebreakers. If workers tried to quit, the Coal and Iron Police
Coal and Iron Police
The Coal and Iron Police was a private police force in the United States established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly but employed and paid by the various coal companies. The origins of the Coal and Iron Police begin in 1865...
prevented them from leaving and told them that they had to work off the cost of their transportation before resigning. When strikebreakers still tried to leave, the police beat them and forced them back to work. In some cases, fences were built around strikebreaker housing to intimidate the workers into staying. The abuse of strikebreakers was so severe that the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Labor held hearings on whether the coal companies had illegally forced people into peonage.
Labor injunctions and other legal actions
Employers also turned to the courts for assistance. In April 1910, Keystone Coal and Coke sought a restraining orderRestraining order
A restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
to prevent striking miners from approaching company property on the grounds that the number of strikers and the loud noises they made intimidated company employees. Although the local sheriff testified that the strikers had committed no acts of violence, the state district court issued a sweeping injunction which essentially barred the union from use of public roads:
- Miners are restrained from conducting or engaging in marches to the mines, property and works of said Keystone Coal and Coke Company and from assembling at or near the works of said company for the purpose of holding meetings at such places at any time, and from assembling on the highways at such places where the employees of the said company ordinarily pass to and from their work, and from preventing said employees from going peaceably along said injunction: highways and also from attempting by noise, intimidation, threats, personal violence or by any other means to interfere with the employees of said company in their desire to labor or with any of the property of the said company until further order of this court.
The vague terms of the injunction led law enforcement officials to arrest miners as much as a half mile from Keystone grounds. Other coal companies quickly asked for similar injunctions which "made marching, assembling or traversing public roads illegal."
The coal companies moved aggressively to exploit the law in other ways as well. The Coal and Iron Police patrolled company property and denied admittance to union members and supporters. Union members were often arrested for using public roads which traversed company property. Small towns and villages, often encircled by coal company land, became isolated and embattled. In Herminie
Herminie, Pennsylvania
Herminie is a census-designated place in Sewickley Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 856 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, all citizens were required to obtain a pass from the local mine manager before leaving the village. Union members were denied the use of post offices or the ability to enter local courthouses, because these facilities were often on coal company property. Nearly 1,000 miners were ultimately arrested for trespass or disorderly conduct. Simply walking home in a group from a union meeting on a public highway could earn a contempt citation and a $50 fine.
In 1911, seven coal companies in Westmoreland County and Allegheny County
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Allegheny County is a county in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,223,348; making it the second most populous county in Pennsylvania, following Philadelphia County. The county seat is Pittsburgh...
sued the leaders of the strike. The coal companies claimed they had suffered economic losses as high as $500,000 due to the strike and strike-related property damage. Twenty-eight officers in nearby District 5 and 17 strike leaders in Westmoreland County were arrested on charges of conspiracy, intimidation, violence and general lawlessness. Local labor unions helped the 45 men post bond of $300 each, and instituted a special per capita assessment to form a legal defense fund. But the public outcry was so extraordinary that the coal companies dropped the suits.
Use of security personnel
Employers also used force to intimidate striking miners. At their disposal were the Coal and Iron PoliceCoal and Iron Police
The Coal and Iron Police was a private police force in the United States established by the Pennsylvania General Assembly but employed and paid by the various coal companies. The origins of the Coal and Iron Police begin in 1865...
, local law enforcement personnel, and the Pennsylvania State Police
Pennsylvania State Police
The Pennsylvania State Police is the state police force of Pennsylvania, responsible for statewide law enforcement. It was founded in 1905 by order of Governor Samuel Pennypacker, in response to the private police forces used by mine and mill owners to stop worker strikes and the inability or...
.
- The Coal and Iron Police primarily protected company property, protected strikebreakers, and kept strikebreakers from quitting. But in many ways, their role in the strike was quite limited.
- Sheriff's deputies and local police deputies proved to be a much bigger problem. The coal companies paid the Westmoreland County sheriff to provide deputies to protect their property and replacement workers (a common practice at the time). Although the sheriff's deputies would be acting under the color of law, they were paid for and under the control of the coal companies. The Westmoreland County sheriff obtained many deputies through "detective agencies" notorious of their strikebreaking activities, but nevertheless instructed the deputies to exercise restraint and ignore peaceful marches. He also warned them that he would dismiss deputies who committed acts of violence.
Despite this, sheriff's deputies instigated and participated in three particularly violent and deadly incidents:
- On May 8, 1910, sheriff's deputies attempted to prevent a handful of strikebreakers from permanently quitting their jobs at the Westmoreland Coal Company in the town of Yukon, Pennsylvania. About four hours after the replacement workers had returned to their boarding house, 25 sheriff's deputies and Pennsylvania state policemen broke into and searched the boarding house. A crowd of striking miners gathered and ridiculed their failure to find the workers. The furious and embarrassed sheriff's deputies then fired into the crowd. Thirty people were injured and one man killed. The Westmoreland County sheriff withdrew the commissions of 18 deputies involved in the incident, but the Westmoreland Coal Company had them sworn in as local police deputies instead.
- Shortly after the Yukon incident, a small group of miners walking home from a meeting in Export passed coal company property. A squad of 20 sheriff's deputies and State Police troopers attacked them. Several miners were severely beaten, and one miner (trying to protect a child in his arms) was killed.
- In July 1910, striking miners secured a march permit from the town of South GreensburgSouth Greensburg, PennsylvaniaSouth Greensburg is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,280 at the 2000 census.-Early history:...
. As the miners began their march, deputy sheriffs and Coal and Iron Police on horseback stopped them. Although the local chief of police stepped forward and told the deputies that the miners had permission to march, the deputies ignored him and continued to block the marchers. The miners attempted to walk away, but the deputies charged into them with their horses, swinging clubs. A riot ensued and the sheriff's deputies fired into the crowd—killing a miner. When the chief of police attempted to arrest the deputy responsible, the other deputies seized him and charged him with obstructing an officer in the performance of his duty. Outraged citizens of the town mobbed the sheriff's office and forced his release.
Problems with the deputies were so severe that in November 1910 the Westmoreland County sheriff stopped securing them for the coal companies. The companies responded by seeking deputies from local police forces instead.
In January 1911, the Westmoreland County sheriff began deputizing striking miners as deputy sheriffs (although they served without pay). In May 1911, four sheriff's deputies were cited for contempt of court for venturing too close to coal company property. The sheriff said that the men had done so in their official capacity as deputies, but the local court fined them anyway. The Westmoreland County sheriff became so frustrated with the injunction that he refused to permit his deputies to patrol marches on public highways.
The Pennsylvania State Police
Pennsylvania State Police
The Pennsylvania State Police is the state police force of Pennsylvania, responsible for statewide law enforcement. It was founded in 1905 by order of Governor Samuel Pennypacker, in response to the private police forces used by mine and mill owners to stop worker strikes and the inability or...
(PSP) proved to be the most violent group during the strike. The PSP had been founded in 1905 to discourage the use of private police forces in workers' strikes and to provide law enforcement when local police or sheriffs were unable or unwilling to enforce the law. But rather than enforce the law, the PSP proved the group most willing to break it. One trooper described how the State Police dealt with strikers: "We ride in, scoop them up and beat hell out of them."
The number of unprovoked violent acts committed by the PSP was extremely high and frequent. James Maurer, a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times , the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. Since the Constitution of 1776, written by...
from Reading
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
, conducted a survey asking for information on State Police actions during the strike. Maurer's survey found that violence significantly increased after the arrival of the State Police, and that almost all acts of violence were committed by state troopers without provocation. Mauer was so outraged by the results of his survey that he introduced a bill to abolish the state police. Hundreds of citizens later testified before state and federal commissions that mounted State Police routinely charged onto town sidewalks or into crowds, trampling and severely injuring men, women and children (whether strikers or not). Severe beatings with fists and clubs were common, with troopers breaking into and ransacking homes without warrants, beating citizens and striking miners alike. Local police officials claimed State Police routinely beat people on the street for no reason, and resisted local police attempts to stop them. State Police troopers shot up towns "in true Western style", and fired indiscriminately into crowds or into tent cities (killing and wounding sleeping women and children). Sexual assault (including rape) was disturbingly common, and at least one hotel manager accused troopers of promoting prostitution.
State Police were also involved in a number of serious violent incidents, several of which resulted in the deaths of unarmed strikers:
- In May 1910, State Police allegedly killed a man in cold blood. Several State Police officers and a coal company executive stopped and questioned four striking miners who did not speak English. An English-speaking miner who spoke their language came on the scene and told the four men to run off. They did so and escaped, but the State Police troopers chased the fifth man into a barn. The miner was shot and killed. The numerous witnesses testified that the miner was begging for his life when a State Trooper shot him. But the other troopers and a coal company executive stated that the miner was killed in self-defense, and the trooper was exonerated.
- In May 1911, State Police assaulted a group of striking miners on a public road. The miners, on their way to a meeting, walked past property owned by the Jamison Coal and Coke Company. The road narrowed where a creek ran past the property. The mounted State Police troopers blocked the mines' path at this point, then charged into the crowd. Two miners were shot and several severely beaten. A Westmoreland County sheriff's deputy accompany the miners was also badly beaten.
- In June 1911, miners secured a permit to march past facilities owned by the Penn Gas Coal Company. As the marchers peacefully walked past the company's front gate, State Police opened fire. More than 150 shots were fired, causing panic and several injuries. Westmoreland County sheriff's deputies (all miners) identified three of the troopers and went to Penn Gas Coal Company to arrest them. Instead, Pennsylvania State PolicePennsylvania State PoliceThe Pennsylvania State Police is the state police force of Pennsylvania, responsible for statewide law enforcement. It was founded in 1905 by order of Governor Samuel Pennypacker, in response to the private police forces used by mine and mill owners to stop worker strikes and the inability or...
and Coal and Iron Police arrested the deputies for violating the court injunction. A court sentenced the deputies to five days in jail. When the Westmoreland County sheriff refused to put his deputies in jail, the court ordered the sheriff's arrest and charged him with malfeasanceMalfeasanceThe expressions misfeasance and nonfeasance, and occasionally malfeasance, are used in English law with reference to the discharge of public obligations existing by common law, custom or statute.-Definition and relevant rules of law:...
. Despite the pleas of a jury, the court sentenced the sheriff to one year and three months in solitary confinement and hard labor.
During the strike, six striking miners, nine wives of striking miners, and one bystander were killed, and thousands of strikers and members of their families severely beaten or wounded.
End of the strike
By mid-1911, the strike had taken its toll on the coal companies. At least $500,000 had been spent on security, and coal production had dropped by 45 percent. The larger companies, however, used their financial reserves and income from non-mining operations (such as rental properties, company stores and even breweries) to withstand the economic pressure exerted by the miners. But all companies benefited from a significant slump in the demand for coal in 1910 and 1911, which leveled the playing field vis-a-vis their competitors.But the miners were worse off than the employers. The winter of 1910–11 was particularly cold, and the miners and their families suffered tremendously. The union built numerous shacks and shanties, and moved miners' families out of tents and into the shacks for better protection from the elements. But not enough shelter could be erected, and 400 families spent the entire winter in tents. Hunger and disease were also beginning to become widespread among strikers' families.
In early 1911, the UMWA's support for the strikers appeared strong. In January 1911, Lewis lost the presidency of UMWA to John P. White
John White (unionist)
John Phillip White was a miner and president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1911 to 1917....
. White fully backed the strike, and the UMWA convention reaffirmed the union's support for the miners.
But just six months later, the UMWA called a halt to the strike. The union had disbursed more than $1 million in strike relief funds, but it was no longer financially able to keep the strike going. On July 1, 1911, the UMWA executive board voted to end to the strike. Although most miners returned to work, about 400 were blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed and forced to seek employment outside Pennsylvania.
Women's Resistance
The Westmoreland County Coal Strike was the setting for one of the more colorful incidents in the life of Mary Harris Jones, better known as "Mother Jones". Even though she was 73 years of age, Mother Jones agreed to travel to Westmoreland County to support the United Mine Workers in their strike.Singing women
A number of miners' wives had been arrested in the summer of 1910 for harassing strikebreakers and company security personnel.Jones encouraged the women to bring their babies and small children with them when they were sentenced by the court in Greensburg. The presiding judge sentenced the women to pay a $30 fine or serve 30 days in jail. Unable to pay, the women were jailed. As there was no one else to care for the children, the judge was forced to jail the children along with their mothers.
While the women were being processed for imprisonment, Jones instructed them: "You sing the whole night long. You can spell one another if you get tired and hoarse. Sleep all day and sing all night and don't stop for anyone. Say you're singing to the babies. I will bring the little ones milk and fruit. Just you all sing and sing."
Unfortunately, the jail was next door to the sheriff's home, as well as several hotels, lodging houses, and other homes. The sound of women singing all through the night kept most of the townspeople awake. After five days of sleeplessness, the townspeople angrily demanded that the judge order the women's release. He did so.
The incident has become known as "the women who sang their way out of jail."
External links
- Penn Keystone Coal Co. Web site
- A Tribute to the Coal Miners that mined the Bituminous Coal seams at the Penn Gas No. 3 Mine (Lowber Mine), (Marchand Mine), Lowber (Blackburn), Sewickley Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. January 6, 2003. (Contains many historical photos of the Westmoreland County coal mines.)
- United Mine Workers of American Web site
- Westmoreland Coal Company Web site