Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-06-20
MARITIME SAYS He WAS
MARKED TO Be KILLED
continued from Flrs, paseo

to prevent strangers from leaving
the trains Think of men being
allowed to go from their homes to
their work and back, but not per-
mitted to visit their neighbors.
There are no stores within miles
except those owned by the company
or its officers, In which prices were
often twice as high as in the outside
world. The miners must buy their
food here or starve. They must pay
monthly doctor fee, whether they
were sick or well, taken out of their
wages by the company, willy nilly. A
monthly burial fee taken out of their
wages in the same manner They
must live in the company's houses
and pay whatever rents were
charged. There was coal all around,
costing the company nothing. but the
men were charged for the coal the
women and children carried to the
houses for fuel. And at the end of
the month these American citizens,
trying to be self-supporting and rear
families of American children, found
that practically their entire earnings
had been taken by the company for
food. fuel, rent and other charges
They were not even given itemized
store bills. I have company account
slips in my possession showing that
the company's charges equaled, to
penny, the earnings of the men.
Thugs Hired to Intimidate Them.
But that isn't the worst. When
these miners tried to organize, when
they protested against the outrages
worked upon them. thugs and ruff
fans hired by a private detective
agency, known as mine guards, were
brought in, and armed. The miners
were told to accept conditions, or get
off the company's land. One COM
pany owned $4,000 acres. These
miners had been born in these valleys
and lived there all their lives many
OF them. They had nothing, because
the companies had taken all their
earnings. To tell them to get off
the company's property, meant telling
them to get off the earth. When men
protested they were beaten up or
shot. Quinn Morton admitted on the
stand that he had bought rifles for
the guards and told them to use
them; that he had taken part in
shootings himself. Women and chill
dren were maltreated by the opera
tors and their hired thugs. Men were
killed and, buried like dogs, and no
arrests were made. The courts stood
open, but no one was called to ac-
count for the lawlessness. The MAJ
chinery of government. law and JUS
tice was in the hands of the mine
operators, and it refused to work.
Then we heard the stories, not
from one witness, but a hundred, of
how gatling guns We're loaded upon
fiat cars and freight cars, and these
trains were run at night through the
mining villages where the strikers
were with their families. living in
their miserable huts. and many of
them, in the middle of winter, living
in tents. Former Governor Glasscocl
told us there were sixteen of these
| machine guns sent into the district.
| These trains would run up to viii
| lage, usually single street along
| the railroad track, the mine guards
would fire a couple of rifle shots from
| the cars to incite the strikers to re-
turn the fire, and then the machine
| guns would be brought into action
and the train would move the length
! of the village at snaifs pace, spit
| ting bullets at the rate of $50 a min
ute, perforating the tents and shacks
and moving down and manning an6
killing men and women and defense
less children. ] referred to one OF
these armored trains, the one sc
much talked of, as The Death Spe
cial, and the operators and their law
yers protested. What else was it?
Morton Was on Death Special.
Quinn Morton, cultured, edu
Gated American, millionaire opera
tor, admitted he was on this train. ]
was testified that after the trip ha
been made he jubilated over the ides
that We gave EN- hell that time
Let's go back and give them anothe
round He told me he approved G
everything that had been done.
Then the troops were sent into tn
district and martial law was estah
lished. Young squifts of militia off
GERS sat in judgment and with onl
mock trials sent men to prison fo
seven years as convicts, leaving thei
families to starve, and the proceed
ings of these trials were secret
not even a public record. Men wer
recruited in New York and othe
cities to take the place of striker
given all sorts of promises of dlfferer
kinds of employment and good wage
Then they were locked in the car
under armed guards, taken to tt
mines and forced to work as miner
under armed guard. And these al
only a few of the incidents! We foun
that West Virginia had been withol
Republican form of government
The conditions are not new; the
have always been so. A few me
have become enormously rich e.
plotting the magnificent natural r
sources Of the State and the lab
OF their fellow men for their oN
benefit. Black slavery was a humai
itarian institution to the condition
that have existed there.
II went among the people
Charleston" continued the senate
"and asked them to tell me VIII
they knew and what they thought
the situation. Almost to a man al
woman. the people of the city who
! met told me they had known co
ditions were wrong, and that it W
a splendid thing for the State that '
had come there One aristocratic G
Virginia lady at whose house I call
thanked me for what / had done, al
said I was doing oGd's work. spo
in the richest church in Charlestc
at the request of a committee, ar
without mentioning the strike. tC
them that greed and avarice We
the cankers that were gnawing at
heart of civilization, and asked The
if they knew of such things in tn
state. and when | finished my
.,.n..I... tInn no stn,. aI.nd mo 10 Fl