The chronicle=news., 1914-11-20

Springfield, ILL.,, Nov. 2O.-Gover-
nor Dunno has taken up the plea OF
600 miners, who. after n year of
idleness. are facing actual starva-
tion at Witt, Montgomery county and
lwrote letter to Francis Peabody,
the Chicago coal magnate who owns
the mine which threw the men out
Of employment. The governor asks
that Peabody. If he possibly can, re-
lopen the mine at once and give the
600 men work by which they may
earn their bread
The pathetic situation at Witt was
conveyed to the governor through a
|committee of Ave from the Witt
Chamber of Commerce. the township
and the miners. The committees
pc persOnnal included w. p. Hagthrop
|of the Chamber of Commerce. David
Taylor. a supervisor: Hugh FrieI,
Charles Jester and John Worthing-
ton, representing the miners them
selves.
The committee called upon Con-
sressman- elect Loren +: Wheeler of
this city and Mr.. Wheeler accompa-
i MED the expedition to the state
house, where ne introduced the ap-
peal committee
Two mines are involved; one more
than the other. No. ~, Of the Pea
body company, has been idle since
last December. and in the last year
No. II, the other Peabody holding
at Witt, has worked but 30 days.
Many promises of resumption OF
operation have been made and the
miners long since destitute and COM
PEELED to live on credit, 1t Is said.
have anXious1y awaited the blowing
of Il whistle summoning them to the
shafts. The call never has come.
however. and driven to desperation
the miners. through the Witt COM
mittee. have appealed direct to the
governor. who now is going to try
to help them by appealing. in turn.
to the owner of the idle mines.
The Peabody general store, operat-
cd by the mine holding company, is
preparing to close down, tho commit
tee said, and is selling out all of its
stock as rapidly as possible.
tions in the state and everywhere are
comparatively bad. along with all
business HaRthrop said. We are
not asking for money. or supplies, or
nnything, but are laying the matter
before the state and asking for what
ever aid the governor deems possible.
The men want to work. They
appreciate what the merchants of
Witt have done for them, but the
merchants can't extend credit for
ever when the' chances Of the men
going to work are not in sight. The
Peabody mines at Kincaid are work.
ing. A division of that work would
help in the solution of the problem.
Let all men do a few days work
week and none would suffer so heav-
lily" ~
The committee said that repre-
sentative body of the Witt miners
called upon Mr. Peabody himself six
or eight weeks ago and asked for
some relief from the situation or for
definite assurance that work would
begin. but received no encourage
ment. t-
( THE men were not informed of
the true situation" Mr.. Hagthrop
said, land as result they have lived
on in Witt. just waiting from day to
day for the mine whistle to blow and
call them to work. It hasn't blown.
"Many of the miners have gone
to other mines for work some to
hnr lAIt al
ways told that n large number of
mon were ahead of them Oh the wait
ing list Some feel as If they had
been Disseminated against
The petitions. one of which was
signed by memDers of the Witt
Chamber of Commerce. mayor, city
council ana other officials and the
other signed by. 500 miners of Witt.
were presented to Governor Dunno in
the following form: a.
We, the citizens Of Witt. ILL.,.
thereby petition your excellency to
laid the people of Witt, who are al
most without exception In destitute
circumstances numbering nearly six
hundred men and their families We
have reached the limit of our credit
and the merchants who have stood
by MS during our enforced idleness
are not able to carry us any longer
The mines upon which the pco'
pie of this city depend for a liveli'
hood have only worked as follows
Mine No. .. nothing during the yeai
OF 1914; Mine No. IA has worked az
days during the year of l91 4. and M
working prospects. The miners dis
ttrict organization gave the miner!
two donations during tipt tins Of
$500 each. With winter staring III