The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-12-11
HBAR'TRENDING TALES
MINERS PRESENT DAMAGING EVl.
pENcE BEFORE ANTHRACITE
STRIKE COMMISSION. ri
WIDOWS HARD STRUGGLE

Recites How Husband Was Killed in
the MarkIe Mines and She and Her
Two Boys Worked Thirteen Years
to Pay Up House Rent and Coal
ei'l-Decrepit Miner Tells How
Eviction Caused His Wife's Death.
Scranton, Pa, Dec. 1O.-Tales of
eviction from houses owned by G. B.
Markle & Co., the narration of the
death Of wife as result of an en-
forced removal from her home, and the
story of q mother whose husband was
killed in the Markle mines, of how she
and her two boys struggled years to
pay the Markles the back rent and
coal bill she owed them, were the
principal features of the days sessions
OF the coal strike commission. The
testimony, as presented by some of the
witnesses whose lives are given up to
the coal mining industry, was at times
pathetic and surprising to the COM
m1ssioners, who listened to it with I'M
divided attention.
The miners during the afternoon
concluded the calling of witnesses
against the Markle company, which
concern and the conditions surround.
ing it have been prominently before
the commissioners since last Satur.
day. In the absence of Samuel Dick
son of Philadelphia and George R.
Redford of Wilkesbarre, attorneys for
the Markle company, who are reported
to be unavoidably absent, only a per-
tunctory crOss.examinatiOn has been
carried on by J. H. Torrey of Scranton,
who is representing another company
before the commission, and who had
been asked to care for the interests
OF G. B. Markle & Co. as best he could.
There has been considerable surprise
expressed that the company has not
made greater efforts to refute some of
the seemingly damaging testimony
that has been presented. It is ex-
pected, however, that the company
will do so later. The attorneys for the
large companies have nothing to say
regarding the character of the testi-
mony being presented, but those rep
resenting the miners are we'll pleased.
After closing the Markle case, the
representatives of the miners called
witnesses who had formerly been en-
ployed in the mines of several CON-
panies to show that blacklist exists
and that some of the companies
Had Broken the Agreement
which ended the strike and resulted
in the appointment of the arbitration
commission. 1t is the intention of the
lawyers for the miners to take up in
the morning the conditions of the COL
lieries of the Lehigh Valley company
and others in the Hazleton region.
The eighteen-year-old Hungarian
slate picker employed by the Markle
company said that before the strike he
received eighty-five cents, now he re-
ceived only seventy-fve cents a day.
The company never notified him Of
the reduction and he still does the
same work. He said the breaker boss,
who stands over the pickers, often
dubbed him, kicked him and swore
at him for not picking slate faster.
Mrs. Kate Burns of Jeddo was then
called to the stand and told a story
OF how she and her two boys worked
thirteen years to pay off an accumu-
lated house rent and coal bill due to
the Markle company, the narration of
which deeply interested the commits
sioners. She was examined by Law
yer barrow and in answer to his ques-
lions she said her husband was an
engineer inside the Markle mines.
TIE husband was killed underground,
leaving her with four children, the old
est of which was boy of eight years.
The company never offered her
penny, but the employees gave her
about $3.50 to defray the funeral ex-
penses. After her husband had been
killed, she moved from her four-room
house into one containing only two,
one room above the other, and for the
next six years she struggled as best
she could to get along. She took in
washing, scrubbed for the neighbors
and once in a while she was given
work cleaning the Offices of the Marl1le
company. During these six years she
said she kept her children at school
and when the eldest was fourteen
years old she sent him to the mines to
+. Help Earn the Daily Bread
At the end Of the first month the lad
brought home his wage statement,
showing that the mother owed 1896
for back rent. The boys wages for
the month had been taken off the bill
and he came home empty handed.
She submitted to this and in the course
of time her next boy was old enough
to help earn a living and he, too, was
sent to the colliery. Like the other
boy the second boy received no pay,
his earnings being deducted for rent.
The mother on the witness stand was
by this time yelling up, and when she
added that the money she earned for
cleaning the Markle office was never
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