The Washington times., 1913-03-12
Mother" Jones Is
Willing to Die to
- Aid Miners Cause

PAINT CREEK JUNCTION. w. Va.
March 12.-The ethics of man-killing is
the real issue before the military court
which is to say whether Mother"
Jones, Angel Of the Mines" and forty
nine union leaders and miners are guilty
of conspiracy to murder, the charge
growing out of the recent riots and kill
ings among the strikers of Cabin Creek
and Paint Creek districts.
II a man kills another for personal
satisfactiont-hat's murder. as accepted
by the civilized world. But II a man
kills another in warts that murder?
der?" asks Attorney F. NJ. Matheny,
who is representing the miners. That s
the defense OF the men on trial-it has
been war, not murder In West Virginia.
they contend.
The governor in three proclama tions
OF martial law called 1t war" Attor-
ney Matheny has produced in evidence
these three proclamations.
The violence was aimed against a
system and not against individuals" E"
killed as the representatives of the sys-
TEN. The sysAm invited warfare by
placing machine guns on the hills. II
challenged the manhood Of men by the
conditions II created.
Whatever happened We're acts of
warfare and that a state of war existed
was recognized by the governor hir >elf.
These acts cannot be judged By tA or
dinary rules OF law or Sorai:ty;
killing Is not to be condoned. But
was this murder in the legal sense?''
mother" Jones' Health Broken.
Three weeks of Imprisonment seem to
have broken Mother Jones' robust
health. She leans heavily on the arm
OF John w. Brown, the labor orator,
who. with her, is under charges of mur-
der. as she mounts the stairs leading
to the little Odd Fellows Hall. which
10 used as a court room.
But her spirit remains unbroken She
still maintains her defiant attitude to-
ward the military court. refusing to
consider herself prisoner or as being
accused of having violated law De-
MED trial in the civil courts, she now
refuses to recognize the right of the
military court to try her
Mother Jones today pointed TO the
action Of the prosecution in attempting
TO force one of the prisoners to testify
against himself, as one of the chief
reasons for being allowed trial by civil
authorities.
1T is rule of law in Anglo-Saxon
cfviliza tion." said Mother" Jones
gained through centuries of political
struggle and warfare that prisoner
cannot be placed on the stand by the
which he is'a defendant, unless he
voluntarily valves that right
The Constitution of the United States
and OF all the States guarantee that
right she continued. But look what
happened yesterday. Judge Advocate
Wallace, prosecutor of the military
court, called to the witness stand Har-
rison Ellis. one of the miners arrested
and demanded that he testify Can
you imagine anything worse than this >
We are not afraid to testify but we de-
msnd that our rights as citizens of this
republic be recognized and whatever
the military court may say. / maintain
that no body of men in West Virginia
has the power to suspend the Constftu-
ton OF the United States
Willing To Give Life.
The point which Mother" Jones re-
fers to will not be decided until the
next session of the military court,
which probably will be held tomorrow.
Mother Jones today repeated her
declaration that she is willing to die
as she believed that her execution would
help the miners cause
IF the soldiers were to kill me-"
she said, my death would call atten-
ton of the whole United States to con-
ditions in West Virginia. II would be
worth while for that reason. | fear,
though that i shall not be executed"
Mother Jones is a prisoner at the
Martial Law Camp at Pratt, twenty
miles from Charleston. She is being
kept in a private residence, and is un-
der constant guard. She may be in
terviewed only in the presence of her
guard