The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-10
MARKLE THE MARK
AT WHICH TESTIMONY OF THE
MINERS WAS AIMED.
THE COMMISSIONERS STARED
IN WONDER WHEN CONDITIONS
WE'RE DIVULGED.


of the MarkIe Company and the
Insfstence of That Company Upon
Payment to the Last Penny Heard
by the COmmissiOn-SOme Stories
Caused the Commissioners the
Greatest Surprise-Eyidence Show
ed Cruel Severity.
Scranton, Pa, Dec. 9.-Tales of evic-
tions from houses owned by G. B. Mar
kle. the narration of the death of a
wife as a result of an enforced removal
from her home, and the story of a
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 to-day's sessions of the
Coal Strike Commission. The testi-
mony, 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
missioners, who listened to it with I'M
divided attention.
After closing the Markle case, the
representatives of the miners called
witnesses who had formerly been en-
ployed in the mines Of several COM
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 tomorrow the con-
6itiOnS a tho pnlliariaG of the / .ahigl
Valley Company and others in the
Hazleton region.
He Moved His Sick.
Henry McColl, a Marlxle miner, told
how his family, incluVing his mother
in-law, who was a hundred years Did,
was set out on the road with their
household goods. He gave a graphic
description of how he was injured
many times in the mines. The COM
pany gave him nothing until after the
employees took up a collection for him,
then he was given $50. after being on
the injured list for two years. The
company took out of the collection the
rent he owed.
In answer to other questions he said
he was one of the thirteen eVicted by
the Markle company. Then followed
the most pathetic story yet told the
commission The old miner, decrepit
II OAll many lOlO, GA
animation, how the eviction was car
ried on. The wife was sick and her
mother 100 years old, was blind and
unable to walk. The day on which
they were evicted was rainy He took
them best he could to Hazleton, seven
miles away, and placed them in a cold,
damp, empty house.
I'VE were greatly worried because
of our having been turned out of our
house, and one night the witness said,
between sobs, "she died"
"She died?" exclaimed Judge Gray,
who was pacing to and fro across the
ROOM as he quickly turned when he
heard the mans last words.
Eyes, sir, she died, and buried her
yesterday"
| No one cared to cross examine him
and Judge Gray said, THAT is all Mr.
| MoColl, and that is enough"
How Widow and Orphans Worked.
Mrs. Kate Burns of Jeddo told q
story of how she and her two boys
| worked thirteen years to pay off an
| accumulated house rent and coal bill
| due to the Markle Company, the mar
| ration of which deeply interested the
| commissioners. She was examined by
Lawyer Darrow, and in answer to his
| questions she said her husband was an
| engineer inside the Markle mines. The
| HuSDdHQ WAS hllleu Underground, leaV-
ing her with four children, the eldest
of whom was a boy of 8 years. The
| company never offered her a penny
| but the employees gave her about $3.50
| to defray the funeral expenses.
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 wash
| ing, scrubbed for the neighbors and
| once in a while she was given work
| cleaning the office of the Markle Com
| ipanY. When the eldest child was
| fourteen years old, she sent him to the
mines. At the end of the first month
| the boy brought home his wage state
| n.ent, 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 hand
| ed. In the course of time her next boy
| was old enough to earn living, and,
| he, too, was sent to the colliery. Like
| the older brother, the second boy re-
| ceived no pay, his earnings being de-
Quoted 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
given her, but kept by the company for
rent, the commissioners looked at one
another in surprise. She said it took
| the three of them thirteen years to
make up the debt.