The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-08
FOUR MEN KILLED
IN BLOODY FIGHT
THREE OTHERS WOUNDED
~ CLASH BETWEEN COAL CREEK
MINERS AND GUARDS.

netniI of Twelve Guards Had Gone
"a Meet Non-UniOn Men at the Sta
,;ou--"scnb," Cried Union Men.
Then the Firing Bcgan-Mincrs
and Bystanders Taken by Sur
,rise--Another killing Followed
Later.
ROCKVILLE. Tenn. Feb. IA bloody
.raeedy was enacted to-day in the lit
.lo mining town of Coal Creek, Tenn,
Fo,tv miles northwest of Knoxville, as
The result of which four persons were
killed and three, persons wounded, one
perhaps fatally.
The clash was the elimination of
trouble between union and non-union
labor and the excitement which fol-
lowed rivalled that when nearly 200
lives we're crushed out in an explo-
sion in the Fraterville mine on May
10, 1902.
Three of the dead men were killed
nv guards employed by the Coal Creek
Coal Company, while the fourth VIC
rim. a deputy sheriff, was killed by a
guard he attempted to arrest.
The dead:
Monroe Black, miner, aged "a.
w. w. Taylor, a miner, aged 81.
Jacob Sharp, section hand, q by
stander aged 80.
Deputy Sheriff Robert Harmon. kill
ed by Cal Burton, a guard at the
Briceville mine.
The wounded are:
A, r. Watts, merchant at Coal Creek,
an innocent bystander, shot through
both cheeks.
Mote Cox. miner, shot through left
arm.
Jeff Hoskins, engineer on the South
ern Railroad, slightly wounded.
When the wage scale was signed in
district No 10, United Mine Workers
of America, the Coal Greek Coal Com
pany refused to comply with the de-
mands of the men. They refused to
resume work in the Fraterville and
Thistle mines and for several months
the two mines were shut down..
Guards have recently been placed
around the mines to protect non-union
miners, and to-day a detail of twelve
IlGllt hlA0Gl VI "0ASOll
Reeder, q former police lieutenant in
this city, went to meet a few nom
union men who were to arrive on the
morning train.
When the non-union men left the
train a crowd began yelling "scab, "
and the killing grew out of this taunt.
1t is hard to tell what the provoca-
ton was, but the miners must have
crowded up and attempted to take
a fnv7 hfNa fIxr 1rs Af
fered some direct insult to the
guards. Reeder and Cotton at once
drew their pistols and began shooting.
Miners and by-standers were taken by
surprise, and before they could real
ize what had happened, the guards
had climbed into their wagon and
driven back to the mines.
Later a dispute arose between Depu-
ty Sheriff Bob Harmon and Guard Cal
Burton Burton shot Harmon twice,
killing him instantly.
The three guards, Roder, Bolton
and Burton, were placed under arres
by Sheriff Moore of Anderson county
and taken overland to Clinton the
county seat. Later, for safe keeping
they were brought to this city, where
they are being guarded tonight, none
of them having been put in Jail.
The guards claim that they were
forced to shoot and had sufficient
provocation.
Sheriff Moore has asked for troops
in view of resultant excitement, anC
Gov. Frazier has wired Lieut.. Col
Spence of the Second Battalion of the
Third Regiment, Knoxville, to have
his men i'll readiness to go to the
scene. All the guards are away from
the mines at Coal Creek tonight
leaving the non-union men and theil
families unprotected if an attack
should be made on them.