Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-12-14
WEST VIRGINIA.
THE MINERS TROUBLE IN THE KAN
AWHA VALLEY.
An Interview With the Prosecuting Attorney
Of fayette County-The Cause Of
the Trouble and What is Need
ed to Remedy it,
A WHEELING AUTHORS TWO NOVELS.
Specin correspondrnoe or,h. Rooster.

A WHEELING AUTHORS TWO NOVELS.
SDecin Correspondence ofthe Register.
WASHINGTON. December FL met Mr.. r.
W. st. Clair, the prosecuting attorney oil
Faycttc county, here, to-day. and had con-
siderable talk with him concerning the re-
cent miners troubles in the Kanawhs sec
ton. He is middle aged, muscular and
pluCky looking individual, and seems like
the right sort Of a man to hold his own ina
rough community. He said he thought the
troubles in his seSt4n ss Of fots tRs and had
been settled in the only way in which it
was possible to settle them. 1T had come
10 lie mere question" he said, whether
the coal operators i'll the coal valley should
control their OWN property or not and
as the miners association was SO
constructed and extended that trespaSSers
could not be punished under the present
Jaws the only way 10 get along was to
meet
when trcspasScs were attempted. I ad
yiScd Wyant, one of the larger operators in
the valley, whose employees were about TO
be interfeTed with. that il lie posted his
place and warned the strikers not to come
ON il, that he would have the right to keep
them of, and, If necessary. shoot and drag
lftfll OH. wen, Salu W Nallt, II ina' II
the law. I'll keep 'em OIL, aud getting
box of shotguns he put them in the
hands of trusted employees, and has been
free from annoyance ever since.
The FaulkncrS, who have mines III the
same neighbOrhOOd, pursued the same
course and with the same success, and
Eugene Dana. who manages the CampbellS
creek mines, a little lower down get along
comfortably by exhibiting similar nerve
when threatened.
A. TO the Recent Trouble
at Stains, he said. the strike was oStrnsi-
bly, made against the railroad in the first
instance, the men admitting that the opera
tors could not pay the advance asked with
out an increase in the price paid for coal
by the e. x q. agency. The mine owners
used every effort 10 get an advance, aud
when they were unsuccessful offered their
former miners chance 10 go back To work
NJ the old prices before trying the expert
mcnt OF importing colorcd miners. The
old hands refused to take hold or allow
any one else, and got the first set Of ne
grorS imported 10 stop. by threatening
their lives if they did not. and Offering To
take care of them ii they did. IL Was in
this part of the transaction that the women
figured. assembling at the pitmouth with
pans and sticks, their husbands and friends
meanwhile congrcgdting i'll the vicinity to
the
Number OF Several Hundred.
"You may not think demonstration by
women would amount to much" added ST.
Clair, but when you come TO tackle q
crowd Of square-built English and Welsh
women, some Of whom can whip an ordi.
nary man in 4 iist.fght without any trou-
BILE. it is not SO trifing thing Anyhow
it was enough. aided by the backing at
hand, to scare out the new hands, aud some
of them craw'ed out through the air-course
in preference TO facing the mob. The next
lot brought on were negroes Of the same
cl S. and it was mere question Of pro-
tccIing or abandoning the owners in their
right to work them. The strikers, num-
bering about 100. were waiting for the ne
grUcs at the station, and the county officials
We're Pow erIrss
10 assert their authority and protect the
new hands. The Sheriff, Tyrcc, is man
of good courage and equal good sense. He
knew he could get no pass" sufficient 10
bear him out in the immediate ncighbor-
hood. He had the right To call on the near
est organized military company or battalion
for assistance without consulting the Gov
crnOr, but he thought the authority of the
Chief Executive would have weight. and
the Governor promptly gay" him prrmis-
sion to use such authority for the purpose
Of doing what he had righ, To- dp without
two companies on the ground and guarded
the negroes from intrusion Il compile Of days
until the strikers saw that they could not
intimla,c them into leaving and dispersed.
"I>n't there any other way To NEE these
trouble, when they arise
Not ut present, and under similar cir
cum.tanccS. We have no proper legislation
ON the subject Of trespasS, and you can't
very well go back 10 the common law pro
CeCding on an Information before a magiS-
trarc Besides with the influence OF the
Miners Union against you, II is almost I'M
possible {" get testimony from witnesses
who have full knowledge 0t facts. You have
10 idea Of the class you have TO deal with.
There is not so much trouble with the
Americans, Irish and negroes. but the Eng
hsh and Welsh contain good many rOu-
hlcsomc characters who work up most oi
the dcyilment Ii have received one aDony-
nous letter
Threatening NY Life,
/ have had n1. The day | shot the negro
who was cn1cayoring 10 escape ! was
threatened by mob, and at other times I
have had 10 get out ShOotng-irOnS in order
[" assert my right Ia stay where il WAS my
plain duty to be. What IN needed o. put
an end to thi, state of things. is legislation
lik" that which stopped similar troubles in
Pennsylvania. know there will bc some
WAYS some members who will not act as
they know they ought 10 act. for fear OF
losing q few votes. but the present Lcgis-
laturc is an exceptionally good one, and
there have been, think, enough cXhibi-
tons of the situation in our section 10 in
ducc prompt and proper action by the two
houses this winter.
Charlie Russell, whose industry helped
to break up the Wheeling .SapdGrf, and
who subsequently made considerable repu-
tation A. a historical novelist lives here
now, and hc told me, yesterday, that he
had couple Of brand new novels nearly
ready for the press. The scene Of one OF
them is laid in Wheeling and the heroine,
a fragile daughter Of the southland. breaks
one Of her lower limbs in the second chap
ter. The hero, a young physician, is called
in. but by an unfortunate mistake, sets"
the wrong limb. This naturally brings
about an arrangement, but mutual explain
ations and corrections follow, and what
might have been fatal separation
glideS peacefully into happy and enduring
union ] do not know that have repro
duccd the incidents exactly, but these will
suffice to show what an inviting field the
new Commonwealth is for the worker in
moral fiction. Mr.. Russell stated 10 me,
what has been called to my attention by
other nOyelists. that the absence Of n proper
international copyright law is gradually
detcrring many authors on this side OF the
waters from further attempts at works d
fiction. Under the cheap system now in
vogue Of reproducing not only the standard
but the best OF the ephemcral foreign lit
craturc of the day in the cheap Seaside and
Franklin Square editions a. ten and twenty
cents volume, ar American novel which
j. put upon the market ~ q dollar vol
ume stands very !itt!r chance of general
circulation. Ian.
Ross, the Wrestler.
LOUISVILLE. Kr., December l3.-Duncaa
c. Ross, the champion wrestler OF Americs.
has issued challenge to william huidooa
for 500 10 81. .0OO side. for mixed con-