Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1913-06-14
WEST VIRGINIA
TROUBLES
aired
DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY THAT
STATE IN RECENT STRIKE IN
COAL DISTRICTS INVESTIGATED
BY SENATE COMMITTEE.
MANY WITNESSES
ARE ASKED TO TESTIFY


happy and contented people living
wholesome lives among the hills O.
West Virginia, thrown into reign O
terror, by an industrial strike, was
described to the senate mine strike
Investigating committee today. For
mer Governor Glasscock and grouI
of the men and women brought in
from the hills to tell their own stories
described conditions to the commit
tee.
The men and women Of the strike
region told how the detectives
brought into the strike zone by the
operators precipitated the troubles.
when these guards paraded up and
down the creek, with their rifles on
their shoulders, then trouble broke
out" said Ed Bragg, a grizzled old
mountaineer, who for nine years as
a deputy sheriff, preserved law and
order on Paint creek, single handed.
81 never saw more happy and
contented people up to that time than
our people on Paint creek"
Former Governor Glasscock told
the committee, under cross eXamina-
ton, that the principal complaints of
the miners that came to him con-
cerned the mine guards.
Mr. Glasscock made it clear to the
committee that he had made two at
tempts to secure an agreement be-
trate their differences. In both cases,
he said, the miners were willing to
arbitrate but the operators declined.
c. d. Honaker, conductor on the
Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, was
today's first witness before the mine
probe committee He said that prior
to April 80, 1913, mine guards in Cab
in creek. rode on trains by virtue of
passes. He gave the committee the
names of a number of guards and the
numbers of the passes they carried.
These guards, he said were all arm
ed Mr.. Honaker said his train had
been stoned, three times during. the
strike.
Former Governor Glasscock was re-
called to the stand for cross examina-
tion and said that the first trouble
broke out at Boomer, unionized mine
outside of the Paint and Cabin creek
districts.
A lengthy correspondence between
the governor and the operators on the
question of arbitration was placed in
the record after his first proposal was
refused by the operators. Mr.. Glass
cock framed new proposition, which
he believed eliminated the question
of the recognition of the union. This
second proposal, he said, was like
wise rejected by the operators al
though accepted by the miners.
Senator Kenyon took up the ques-
tion of ownership of lands on Paint |
and Cabin creeks.
ION Paint Creek" said Mr.. Glass
cock, Il have understood that out |
side men were heavy stockholders. |
The Cabin creek mines, however, are
owned by West Virginia interests
The witness named Judge Christian
of Virginia, former Representative
Connell of Scranton, Pa, and John Fl.
Jones, of Pittsburgh, as some of the
outsiders who owned land in the Paint
creek district.
Under cross-examination by attor- /
neys for the miners, Mr.. Glasscock
told of calling statewide peace con-
ference which assembled at the state
house and which was attended by
some 400 or 500 representative citi-
zens from all over the state. The OBJ
ject of the meeting was to discuss
means of preventing and settling la
Dor disputes.
"Was the attitude of the represen-
tative operators friendly toward that
asked Senator Belcher
Il thought decidedly otherwise
said Mr. Glasscock
He said that resolution presented
by an attorney for the operators, out
lining the terms on which they would
in the conference, precipi-
lated an acrimonious debate.
'The meeting thus broke up" he
said, much to my modification and
disgust"
After Mr.. Glasscock was examined
The miners attorneys began to call
he women of the strike region. The
attorneys of the state objected to re-
opening the question of trial under
martial law.
w. A. Abbott, delivery wagon
lriyer for an "outside store" in the 9
strike zone said that mine guards pre- I
rented him from delivering supplies s
]. H. Pike of Holly Grove, said a
hat mine guards shot the lock of his
loor. He described the shooting up Y
If Holly Grove from the armored
rain. The train was dark, he said.
,ut he could see the flashes of guns
IN the train. /
what did you do when the bullets |
,egan to fy?" asked Senator Kenyon. 9
"Just stood and looked at them," a
aid the miner. t
Pike said that he was one of the
,arty at the home of Cristo Estep, o
whose widow last night told the COM
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