The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-02-27
STATE TO GUST
THUGS HOLDING
POLICE POWER
Coal and Iron Mine Guards
viii Be Curbed in
Pennsylvania.

BIZ United Press
HARRISBURG, Pa, Feb. 27.--
Power of Pennsyivania's state COM
missioned privately paid coal and
iron police force, is to be curtailed
by the legislature wit hthe approval
of Governor Fisher.
For years labor has sought to re-
scind the board powers conferred
upon this force by state law Such
efforts always failed.
But two weeks ago John Barcosh,
a miner employed by the Pittsburgh
Coal Company for several years, was
beaten to death in the company's
coal and iron police barracks at I'M
periaI. A lieutenant and two pri-
Yates of the company's police force
are charged with the murder, one
of the most brutal crimes in the his
tor of the state.
Barcosd first was beaten in front
of a company house, where the po-
lice claimed they were searching for
liquor. He was not accused of par
ticipating in any drinking bout, but
cam e''7r1r the house when told that
the police were beating another
man.
SIugged by Police
Immediately he was set upon,
felled, and severely manhandled,
it is charged. He was taken to the
barracks by two policemen, where a
lieutenant of coal police is alleged
to have beaten him with a poker,
stamped his ribs into his lungs, and
shattered his body so badly that he
died within a few hours in a hos
pital.
The incident caused the whole
state to burst into a flame of pro-
test. Resolutions were drawn up,
some were presented to the assem-
bly,, and the governor Immediately
ordered an investigation by the state
police.
AS result Of that investigation,
he revoked the commissions of the
three coal police, expressed his
horror at the crime, and announced
he would have legislation prepared,
imposing restrictions on the force.
Called Trouble Makers
The coal and iron police have oc-
cupied a peculiar position in the
commonwealth. They are commits
stoned by the Governor, but paid by
the coal companies for which they
work. They have been used extern
Sively in labor troubles, and the
charge has been reiterated that
they fomented rather than quelled
disorder, to perpetuate themselves
in jobs.
The United States senate COM
mittee which investigated the
bituminous strike last year was
amazed at some of the stories of
brutality told them by striking
miners.
While the Governor commissions
the men he lacks machinery for ex-
alniring into their qualifications
before appointment, or their con-
duct thereafter. Their sponsors usu-
ally are officials of the company
which wishes to employ them.
The coal and iron police have in
effect been answerable to no one,
though the companies could dis
charge them at any time. The men,
taking their cue from the roughshod
manner in which The companies
have dealt with their labor in time
of strikes, have pursued the same
policy.
Under their commissions, the
coal and iron police have complete
authority at any place in the coun-
ty wherein their employers own
property. They can make arrests
for violation of any law, even at
great distance from the property
they are presumed to police.
1t is this feature of law which is
under the heaviest fire.