Pray for the dead and
fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
Continue reading “WE NEVER FORGET: The Martyrs of the Mesabi Iron Range Strike of 1916”
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday August 31, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota – “Injustices, Large and Small”
From The Outlook of August 30, 1916:
THE MINING STRIKE IN MINNESOTA
-FROM THE MINERS’ POINT OF VIEWSPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE OF THE OUTLOOK
[Report of Mary Heaton Vorse, Part II]
Under the contract system, the miner contracts to mine ore for a certain price a car load. The price of this car-load may be, and is, varied at any time according to the conditions encountered. It is the mine captain who fixes the price. According to the miners, it has been the custom to sell the best places for prices varying from the virtue of the miners’ wives and daughters to presents of drinks and cigars. So universal is this custom that any reference to the graft of the captain is received in any meeting of miners by laughter and applause.
There are at present in the hands of the Federal investigators affidavits sworn to before a notary public concerning all these forms of grafts, from insulting propositions made to the women of miners’ families to affidavits that drinks or money were paid for the job.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mary Heaton Vorse on the Mesabi Iron Miners’ Strike in Minnesota, Part II”
Hellraisers Journal, Monday August 28, 1916
Mesabi Range, Minnesota-Strike Investigators on the Scene
From The Survey of August 26, 1916:
When Strike-Breakers Strike
The Demands of the Miners on the Mesaba Range
By Marion B. Cothren
[Part II]The crux of the trouble, is the demand of the underground miners, for a minimum of $3 for dry work and $3.50 for wet. The underground men are paid either by the foot or by the carload, the rate depending upon the quality of the ore mined and conditions of work—hard and wet mining for instance bringing more than soft ore and dry mining. Thus, although the captain (boss) of the mine agrees beforehand upon the rate to be given a miner, this contract price may be changed from time to time as the character of the ore changes.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: On the Mesabi, “When Strike-Breakers Strike” by Marion B Cothren, Part II”
Tuesday August 1, 1916
The Mesabi Range, Minnesota – Miners Ruled by Deputized Gunthugs
From this month’s edition of the International Socialist Review:
Friday June 30, 1916
Mesabi Iron Range, Minnesota – More Arrests in Miners’ Strike
Thursday June 29, 1916
Virginia, Minnesota – Carlo Tresca Arrested for “Criminal Libel”
Tuesday June 27, 1916
Virginia, Minnesota – Tresca Leads “Eye for Eye” Oath at Funeral
Monday June 26, 1916
Virginia, Minnesota – Funeral for John Alar Scheduled for Today
Saturday June 24, 1916
From The Labor World: Steel Trust Police Commit Murder
Friday June 23, 1916
Virginia, Minnesota – Striker Shot and Killed on Mesabi Iron Range
