The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-02
MINERS READY
TO QUIT IF u. S.
SOLDIERS COME
Until Then VIII Fight
and Fight Like
HelI!P'
BY HAROLD d. JACOBS.

| Omitted Press Staff Correspondent
With the Miners in the Field,
Logan County (By Courier to Mad
ison), Sept. Messengers arriv-
! ing at the mines field headquar-
| ters here today with messages that
| federal troops were on their way
were greeted with cheers from the
embattled ranks.
Word of the governments action
was rushed up to the firing line and
| spread through the hills from
mouth to mouth. Everywhere it
was taken as a signal to prepare
to stop fighting.
| Desultory firing continued, how
ever, along this section of the front.
| With the Miners in the Field, Lo-
gan County-tBy Courier to Madi-
son, ". Va)-Sept 2.-West Vir-
ginia's civil war was about at an
end today.
| The army OF crusading miners,
perhaps six thousand strong, pre-
pared to lay down or pocket its
arms and return home when fed
eral troops arrived on the battle
field.
| L
was all that saved this region from
being the scene of one of The blood
| lest battles in industrial warfare in
history. l can make this statement
authoritatiyely after a thorough
personal survey of the situation in
the battle zone and conversation
with hundreds Of embattled min
ers. They had reached a point
| etIIh
but that of the United States gov
ernment.
Expected Square Deal From L. S.
! The miners were obsessed with
the single idea that the only Ia"
under which they could get
/ square deal was that administered
at Washington and they were going
on fighting until that law was in
yoked.
| MY observations during visit to
| the vicinity of the firing line IN
this region convinced me OF the
| danger that the skirInishing might
i, at any moment flare up into a ma
| jor engagement with casualties on
both sides numbering hundreds
where today there had only been
scores.
The minute the federal troops
| come in here we will throw down
| our arms and go home. Until then
we will f1ght-and fight like hell,
a leader of the miners told me-
| I'VE can't trust anybody now but
| the United States government. We
were double-crossed by the state
and county authorities. Our own
officials are powerless without gov
ernment backing.
| viii Lick OF Get Licked
IF the regulars don't come in,
Wen have to settle this ourselves.
Well 4ght the state constabulary
and mine guard thugs until we lick
them or get licked. And before
we're licked practically every union
miner in West Virginia will be on
! the firing line"
| This conversation was punctu-
ated by the sharp cracking of rife
, fire and the occasional staccato rat
| Ting of machine gun, pop-popping
somewhere beyond the little wood
| ed hill that was our shelter from
| the fire.
The echoes of the deep hiI1sides
magnified this desultory firing into
the auditory proportions of a gen
eral engagement. The sniping was
apparently confined TO a narrow
valley through which runs tiny
creek. The miners were hidden by
the trees and dense underbrush.
Two Miners Wounded.
At this particular point the shoot
! ing had been practically continuous
for three days. The net casualties
among the miners here were two
wounded. In return, they say they
killed at least one man and believe
they 'pinked" several others.
The line here was held by per
haps 200 men. They believed twice
their number was opposing them.
They were content to hold the pass
for the time being but were eager
to take part in general advance
They were more anxious, how
ever, for the appearance Of o. ID.
and the end of it all.
It is impossible to get a concep-
ton of what has been happening
in this region without travelling
along the miners lines of com
munication."
/ Correspondent Describes District.
In company with Philip Murray,
vice president of the United Mine
workers, and Dick Toney. secre-
tary for this sub-district, / motored
from Marmet. where the first con-
centration took place the middle OF
the month, to Sharples, where the
killings which resulted in the re-
mobilization OF the miners occur
red.
This is a distance of nearly sew
enty miles over a so-caIled read
which is nothing but the half dry
|. bed of a river for miles at &