The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1902-10-10
suFFERlNGs OF THE MINERS.
Mother Jones Paints a Dark Picture
of Their Lives.

Mother Jones Paints a Dark Picture
of Their Lives.
Chicago, Oct. 3.-'sIf Christ came to
America, took advantage of the lest
university education and would
then visit the a Mt h racite and
West Virginia mining regions he
never would be able to write a book
which could properly convey to the
minds of its readers the horrors that
surround the lives of miners. The hu-
man tongue n tell of miseries that
blast the lives of tho :e who earn a liv-
ing In the bowels of the earth. nor OF
the suffering OF their unfortunate wives
and children. Ny hair is while and I
am burdened with the weight of many
years, but while l have strength enough
left to use my voice it will be lifted in
behalf of those miners whose live havs
been ruined and who have been made
slaves through the avarice of those who
not only believe, but declare boldly.
they have a divine right to the earth
and the fullness thereof"
A little woman credited with
having spent thloo score years and ten
on earth, spoke as above to a reporter.
Her hair is white, but her form is
erect. Fire flashed from her eyes,, and
her voice trmbled with emotion as she
told her experience with the miners. :
Il have spent years with them" she
said. II have lived in their homes,
have partaken of their scant, coarse
fare, have Wept with them by the
deathbeds Of their loved ores, have
shared their sorrows, but alas! T cannot
say [ ever rejOiced with them. JOY is
unknown IN the mining regions of West
Virginia, as far as the miners and
their unfortunate families al con
cerned." =
The speaker was Mother" Jones,
idol of the miners, who has spent the
greater part OF her life in an effort
to organize them and improve their
conditions. ILL., ES
Any reference to West Virginia
reused the, champion of the mine RS.
When asked GLOW do the miners get
along in West Virginia." she answered.:
How do theylive? They don't live
they exist. Harriet Beecher Stowe
never dreWa picture of slavery that
compares with: the conditions OF the
miners in West Virginia The wage
slavery of that state is the blacklist.
page in American history. I tell
You, you people in the north can't
realize the amour of human misery
that exists among the unfortunates
with whom have made my home for
years.
HIIoW are tht miners housed?n she
was asked. g5s
.Housed9 Housed, did you say:?n she
cried. why, cattle have decent roofs
lover them, but the shacks they call
homes among the miners of West
Virginia would not be tolerated Ia the
worst section of your city.
1.-THE coal Operators do not
toletJ the strikers indulge insthe luxury
of aboard roof, and i women and
children are driven out to die on the
lmountain sides. AT Piney Ridge
three weeks ag0I saw 4 mother with
her babe, s months old, thrown ont
Itof theSshack called home by the % fie-
ers ofthe la#. Al old. gray haired
grandmother vas thrown out with.
Ithem.
aTsfle feeble old grandmother took
the babe o 81 3, |, and 5 fifth tears
streaming down her cheeks said: Ny,
poor babe, how oon they have be-
gun to persecnte you. 5E
aThtee hours later the babe died
nndersGod,s sunlight, could recite
hundreds OF cases nstas bad as this.
They thoiggsh 81 they world break their
spirits VEIN they threw them out 81 the
sbaelss but women and childrsn i'd
Hrnany cases have been given shelter Id
barns and can I've on the mountain