1902 Wilkes-Barre Record Almanac

Luzerne County in 1901

The year 1901 in Luzerne County was marked by labor disturbances about the
 mines and other industries.  There were general strikes of the machinists and 
stationary firemen, also local strikes at silk mills and mines, which are noted in
 detail in another article in this almanac.  These strikes cost the loss of hundreds 
of thousands of dollars in wages.  There was uneasiness among the miners 
during the entire year but a general demand was postponed until the expiration
 of the contract in April 1902.

There were several changes among the judiciary during the year.  On January
 7 Judge Stanley Woodward retired after more than twenty years' service on the 
bench and Judge John Lynch became president judge.  George S. Ferris having
 been elected to the bench, took his seat at the beginning of the year.  An
 additional law judge having been grated Luzerne County by the legislature, 
Frank W. Wheaton was appointed by the governor on July 17 and he was 
elected for ten years at the following November election.  The death on July 
20 of Judge Alfred Darte of the Orphans' Court caused a vacancy on that 
bench and special primaries were held by the Republican party, at which 
Mayor Francis M. Nichols of Wilkes-Barre was nominated.  Mayor Nichols
 was appointed in October to fill the term to Jan. 1, but he declined in order 
to give his time to his campaign and on October 8 the governor named George
 H. Troutman.  Andrew M. Freas having been elected over F. M. Nichols in 
November will take his seat on January 1.

January 18 Alexander Mitchell of Wilkes-Barre retired as superintendent of the 
Wyoming division of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, after thirty years' service.  
Delegations of employes called upon him at intervals for a couple of weeks
 and presented him with testimonials and substantial tokens of esteem.  Mr. 
Mitchell was succeeded by John T. Keith of the Hazleton division.

February 3 Rev. Mr. Dillionis was nearly killed in a riot at Pittston.  He claimed
 to be a convert from the Roman Catholic faith and announced that he would
 preach to the people of his nationality (Polish) in that city. Several times he was 
stopped by Mayor Corcoran on the ground that if he were allowed to proceed there
 might be trouble.  This action was the result of injunctions and suits at law and the 
courts decided that Dillionis would be allowed to speak.  On the date in question he
 began preaching in a certain hall, when a gang on the outside demanded admission. 
 Gaining access to the hall, trouble began.  Some yelled for Dillionis, some uttered
 threats and others made a rush to secure him.  He was defended by a couple of 
ministers and other friends and for a time there was pandemonium.  Finally Dillionis
 was caught and dragged down stairs and some members of the crowd made threats 
of death.  Dillionis was taken from the crowd by an officer of the law and he was taken
 out of the back door of the squire's office to the home of a friend.  He made no more
 attempts to speak in Pittston.

February 12 Ralph J. White of Sweet Valley, sentenced to fifteen years for the 
murder of a nephew, suicided in jail and thus escaped the penitentiary.  The 
cemetery officials at Sweet Valley refused to allow his body to be interred in the
 cemetery and for twelve days it lay at the home of deceased's sister.  Finally the
 court ordered the sheriff to proceed to the cemetery and see that there was no 
interference with the interment, the grave diggers having several times been forced
 to stop making the grave.  On the morning of May 15 it was found that the body had 
been stolen from the grave during the night.  May 20 the body was found at the
 bottom of a pond about a mile from the cemetery, having been traced by the 
footprints of the bodysnatchers and the places where they placed the coffin on 
the ground to rest.  The coffin had been weighted and sunk.  The body was 
reinterred and the grave was filled with stones and hardened cement.

April 1 Arthur Jackson retired as warden of the Luzerne County prison and George 
J. Llewellyn took his place.  Deputy Arthur E. Detro remained but most of the 
watchmen were changed.

There was also a change in the board of prison commissioners during the year,
 Col. E. B. Beaumont and John J. Brazelle retiring and W. A. Banfield and Dr. F. C. 
Johnson taking their places.

The county went through a smallpox siege during the year. The first case appeared
 April 24 at Larksville, a young man named Lyons being stricken.  How he contracted 
the disease is not positively known but he had visited a friend in New Jersey who wore
 a suit of clothing which came from a house in which there had been a smallpox patient. 
 The house in which the Lyons young man was ill was quarantined and many other 
precautions were taken.  There were no more new cases until May 3, when five more 
appeared in the same town.  Dr. Atherton of West Pittston, an immune, was given 
charge of the cases and immune nurses were secured.  Guards were placed within 
quarantine distance of the houses.  May 7 a case appeared in another part of Plymouth
 Township.  May 13 there were two deaths at Larksville, the first fatalities.  May 20 a 
case appeared at Luzerne Borough.  About this time Dr. Atherton relinquished charge
 of the cases and Dr. Lewis Edwards of Kingston was placed in charge.  Cases also 
appeared in Edwardsville, Kingston and Plymouth.  May 27 an order was issued in 
Wilkes-Barre that all who had not been successfully vaccinated within five years must
 be vaccinated.  It was announced that those who were too poor to pay would be 
vaccinated free at city hall and for several days the lower floor was crowded day and 
evening.  The Board of School Government also passed a resolution that all school 
children must be vaccinated.  Free vaccination was offered and other sanitary 
regulations were put into effect in about all places in the upper end of the county.

June 2 a case of smallpox appeared in Wilkes-Barre - a foreigner on Murray street
 in whose house a christening, attended by West Side foreigners, had taken place. 
 He and his child and the child of a neighbor were the only Wilkes-Barre cases and 
none of them proved fatal.  The authorities of the city, as soon as the disease appeared,
 began methods of precaution.  After considerable effort an old building between Lehigh 
and Empire streets, near Mallinckrodt Convent, was secured to be used a a temporary 
emergency hospital but the citizens in that section strenuously objected.  There were
 threats that the building would be burned and policemen were stationed there for some
 weeks to guard it.  An injunction in the courts was applied for and in the meantime the 
patients remained in their quarantined homes, attended by Dr. F. Wagner and nurses. 
 No emergency hospital was used and the project to build a permanent one was deferred
 until December, when a site in Wilkes-Barre township was selected.  One case appeared
 in the Hazleton region.  

In November there was a fresh outbreak in Plymouth, there being new cases almost
 every day.  Up to Dec. 1 there had been ninety-one cases and eighteen deaths in the
 county, all on the West Side but three cases in Wilkes-Barre and one in Hazleton.

The weather of the year in the county went to extremes.  The summer was unusually hot.
  July 5 was the thirteenth day that the mercury was above 90 in Wilkes-Barre and 
several days it was 100 and over.  There were many prostrations and deaths in
 Wilkes-Barre and vicinity.  The summer was also marked by unusually heavy rains 
and severe thunder storms, four people being killed by lightning in the upper end in 
one day.  The winter was also severe in continued cold, and the mercury dropped to
 below zero in Wilkes-Barre in December.  The spring was cold and very wet and 
crops were greatly damaged.  On April 25 there had been only one day of sunshine 
in three weeks.  Ice two feet thick was during the winter of 1900 harvested at Bear 
Creek and other places.

During the year the Free Bridge Association got in its work and displayed unaccostomed 
activity.  It took advantage of an act of the last legislature compelling county commissioners
 to free the bridges of a county upon petition and grand jury recommendation to that effect. 
 Although the commissioners were ready to proceed with the erection of a new court house
 upon disposition of the injunction before the court, they were compelled under the act to 
take the required steps looking to freeing the bridges.  Representatives of the two bridge
 companies in Wilkes-Barre and two in Pittston met the county commissioners and set
 prices upon the structures.  The prices were considered too high and nothing was done 
by the county commissioners for some weeks.  At a meeting of the association October 
21 the attorney was instructed to make efforts to compel the commissioners to act.  In 
November the association petitioned the court for the appointment of viewers to assess
 the value of the bridges.  The commissioners made answer and there were counter
 statements and answers and certain taxpayers also raised the question of the constitutionality
 of the Act. This will have to be disposed of by the court.  

The county commissioners announced that the finances of the county would not warrant 
expending six or seven hundred thousand dollars for freeing the bridges and a like 
amount for a new court house without materially raising the valuation of property, 
thereby increasing taxation.  In view of urgent necessity for enlarged court house facilities 
the free bridge agitation at this time was by many considered unfortunate.  The litigation
 in regard to court house site remained pending at the close of the year, as noted under 
a separate head.

May 17 the people of the county were shocked by hearing of the death in New York City 
of Father E. S. Phillips, rector of the Hazelton Catholic Church.  The circumstances of the
 finding of his body in the apartments of a rheumatic cure "doctor" are too well known to 
need repetition.  Father Phillips was known all over the country for his efforts in behalf of
 a settlement of the miners' strike.  The funeral in Pittston was attended by thousands of 
people.

September 2.  Labor Day, was observed by monster demonstrations in Wilkes-Barre,
 Pittston and Hazleton.  Thousands of miners and members of other labor unions paraded 
the streets and the day was a general holiday, nearly all business being suspended.  
October 29 was observed as Mitchell day, the anniversary of the settlement of the mine 
strike, and there were again great demonstrations, particularly in Wilkes-Barre, which 
place President Mitchell honored with his presence.

September 8 Father Eugene A. Garvey, rector of St. John's Catholic Church in Pittston, 
was consecrated in the cathedral at Scranton as bishop of the new diocese of Altoona.
  The ceremony was performed by Cardinal Martinelli.  September 25 Bishop Garvey 
was installed at the cathedral in Altoona.

During the year seven young men from Luzerne County met death in foreign countries 
while in the army and navy, either by accident or disease.

After many years of agitation the pond hole bridges on the flats between Wilkes-Barre
 and Kingston were completed during the year and at no time during the freshets was 
traffic either on the road or for street cars cut off, as was generally the case several
 times in the course of a year before the bridges were built.  The agitation was carried 
through by the Wilkes-Barre Board of Trade and the money was raised by a committee 
of the board.  There are two bridges, one at the Kingston end and the other at the
Wilkes-Barre end, and they are good, substantial structures, the cost being about
 $40,000.

In regard to capital crimes the county has not so bad a record as in some former years.
  There were six murders and one case undetermined.  In 1900 there were seven murders.

Politically there was considerable of interest in the course of the year.  The Crawford
 County system of voting at the primaries was again tried by the Republicans and the
 vote for some of the candidates was so close that the official count was needed to 
decide.  The death of Judge Darte of the Orphans' Court necessitated the holding of
 primaries the second time.  The vote as between candidates Isaac P. Hand and F. M. 
Nichols was so close that this time also the official count was needed and it was found
 that Nichols was the nominee.

The Democratic Garman-Lenahan embroglio remained unhealed during the greater
 part of the year.  In August the factional leaders got together and after repeated 
conferences there was a show of harmony by agreeing upon J. Ridgway Wright as
 chairman.  In anticipation of another such a factional fracas at the Democratic county
 convention as occurred the previous year a great crowd gathered at the armory in 
Wilkes-Barre but there was no trouble of any sort and a ticket was named in peace. 
 A county committee was later appointed but factional differences now and then 
cropped out.

Half-hearted efforts for the division of the county, with Hazleton as the new county 
seat, were again made at the last legislature, but did not attract much attention and
 were not very seriously considered.

During the year the Borough of Duryea was created out of Marcy Township, the 
Borough of Conyngham out of part of Conyngham Township, and the Borough of 
McKinley out of part of Kingston Township.

Court House Question
The Record Almanac has from year to year noted the progress of the movement to
 build a new court house for Luzerne County.  There is not much to say for the year 1901.

May 28 there was argument on the application for an injunction to restrain the city
 from transferring to the county the river common site.  July 2 there was argument 
on an application for an injunction to restrain the county commissioners from proceeding
 with the erection of the building.

The activity of the free bridge people during the year placed the county commissioners
 in a dilemma, the law requiring them to free the bridges on certain conditions being 
complied with and the county being badly in need of a new court house, there not being
 money enough for both without increase of taxes.

In November the free bridge people petitioned the court for the appointment of viewers 
to appraise the value of the bridges with the object of compelling the county commissioners
 to purchase.  The case was pending at the close of the year.

October 1 an opinion was received from Judge Endlich of Reading, who heard argument 
in the injunction proceedings, denying the injunction and finding that the county commissioners 
have the right to build on the river common site, to accept the site from the city and the city 
has a right to transfer it.  The opinion was a lengthy one and went exhaustively into the case
.  The petitioners filed exceptions to the opinion October 9 and announced their intention of
 carrying the case to the Supreme Court, meaning a delay of probably over a year before
 there is a final decision.

November 8 Judge Endlich heard argument on the exceptions to his opinion and the same 
day filed an opinion dismissing the exceptions.

STRIKES DURING THE YEAR
The year 1901 was one of strikes.  They affected not only the mines but other industries as
 well and some of them were decidedly stubborn and hundreds of thousands of dollars were 
lost in wages.  There were ominous rumblings during the greater part of the year among the
 miners, the latter commanding recognition as a union and predicting a final strike to settle
 this question at the expiration of the contract in April 1902.  A number of important 
conventions were held during the year by the United Mine Workers.  In September president 
Mitchell of the United Mine Workers went to New York City to confer with the coal company 
presidents regarding a joint conference next April.  Nothing definite resulted up to the close 
of the year.

January the employes of the South Wilkes-Barre silk mill went on strike because some of
 the employes who were discharged were not reinstated.  Other differences also developed. 
 The addressed by various labor leaders.  Several conferences were held but without avail. 
 In May arbitrators were appointed at the suggestion of the Board of Trade and May 24 of the
 same month the decision was rendered to the effect that some of the loom fixers in dispute 
should be reinstated and a few should remain discharged.  The result, although not altogether
 satisfactory to the strikers, was accepted and they went to work.  They later got the non-union
 loom fixers to join the union.

In January also the Bamford silk ribbon mill employes went on strike for an increase in wages.
  These girls also held weekly meetings and repeated efforts at settlement were in vain.  March 
12 a settlement that some of the girls receive an increase and the others also as they become 
more proficient.  A few days later the employes again went out, claiming that the management 
did not abide by the terms of the agreement and discriminated against certain strikers.  The 
employes remained out until May 25 when, mainly through the instrumentality of Central Labor 
Union and Board of Trade committees the trouble was settled.  During the strike crowds of 
sympathizers gathered at the mill and broke windows and engaged in other riotous demonstrations.  
Superintendent Spears was hit on the head with a stone and was badly cut.  Windows of a street 
car containing strikers were broken.

There was a strike of about six months at the Pittston silk mill and it was settled in August.  At the
 Avoca silk mill there was also a strike of several months' duration.

At the Blue Ridge Canning factory's plant in Luzerne Borough the girls formed a union and struck
 on account of a difference as to wages. The plant was subsequently operated with non-union hands.

March 27 president John Mitchell, Father Phillips of Hazleton and delegations of the Hazleton 
and Pottsville Boards of Trade saw J. Pierpont Morgan in New York City relative to the anthracite
 situation, upon this interview depending whether or not there would be a strike of the miners for 
recognition, for a joint conference and for the settlement of certain other questions.  The anthracite
 region was at this time in a fever of excitement, fearing another general strike.  Mr. Morgan 
assured the visitors that he would do all in his power to prevent a strike and intimated that if 
the United Mine Workers' officers showed their ability to hold control of the miners there might
 be definite results regarding recognition in 1902.  President Mitchell and his officers met in 
Wilkes-Barre on March 29 and announced that there would be no strike; that the question would
 not be taken up again until April, 1902.  In August a convention was held in Hazleton and a 
lengthy statement was issued.  The convention decided that there must be no interference
 regarding the right of the committees to examine the working cards of United Mine Workers
 at the various mines, there having been some trouble and strikes on this score.  All of the 
operators thereafter conceded this question.  The convention also considered the recommendation
 by the Hazleton district that work be stopped at all of the mines for a certain period if in the 
opinion of the United Mine Workers too much coal for the market requirements is being mined 
and if at the expiration of the idle time the operators refuse to start again, then to declare a strike
 at such mines, the idea being to prevent stocking up coal to be used in case of a strike.  No 
definite action was taken by the convention.

There was short strike at the Bartel Brewing Co. plant in Edwardsville because the management 
would not sign a certain agreement, but in a few days the employes were back at work again.

The car repairers at the Ashley shops went on strike April 11 because the company would not
 reinstate twenty-seven men who had been dismissed, the company claiming lack of work and 
the men claiming that activity in the union caused the discharge.  The strike was ended April 
13 by the men being reinstated.

April 17 the employes at the Bertels tinware factory in Wilkes-Barre and the Trethaway factory 
in Parsons went on strike for a reduction in the hours of work and for the adjustment of other 
complaints.  There were several efforts at settlement and arbitration committees were appointed
 but nothing was accomplished and by August both factories were run non-union with reduced forces.

April 16 twelve hundred employes of the Prospect mine of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company 
were thrown idle to a strike caused by the discharge of a driver boy.  The strike was not 
sanctioned and was declared off the 23d by a committee of the United Mine Workers.

The miners at the Maltby mine of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company struck because certain 
employes were discharged.  This proved to be one of the most stubborn strikes of the year.
  In September a conference was held but no settlement was reached.

Also during the second week in April there was a strike at the Forty Fort and Harry E. collieries
 of the Temple Iron Company because certain driver boys were discharged for refusing to
haul cars to miners who could not show their working cards.  This strike lasted from April
 12 to April 18.

April 20 the breaker boys at Baltimore No. 3, D. & H., East End, struck because a few of 
their number were discharged.  They were ordered back the 22d.

During June there were strikes at the Morgan & Menzl\ies knitting mill at Ashley, the Morgan
 knitting mill at Lee Park and the Templeton knitting mill at Plymouth.  The wage question 
and other grievances were the cause.  The strikes lasted from three weeks to a couple of months.

May 20 occurred the strike of the machinists for a nine hour day, the strike being general
 throughout the country.  The machinists at the Lehigh Valley Railroad shops, the Dickson 
shops in Wilkes-Barre and the Central railroad shops in Ashley went out.  The demands of
 the machinists employed at other industries in this vicinity were granted.  At the three places
 mentioned non-union men were employed.  The Lehigh Valley shops strike was declared off
 July 23 without any concessions being granted.  The Dickson shops men went back to work 
July 20.  The Ashley shops machinists declared their strike off also July 23, without concessions.
  When the machinists at the latter place went out the car repairers went out in sympathy and
 they refused to go back with the machinists unless the company would grant to take them all 
back and give the laborers a slight advance.  This the company refused to do. In August the 
men gave in and made application for their former positions.  Some industries that had granted
 the nine hour day went back to ten hours later.

June 18 the miners at the Keystone and Forty Fort collieries went out because the companies
 would not discharge certain non-union employes.  At the former mine the strike was ended 
June 20 and at the latter mine June 29 by the employes in question leaving.

June 27 the strike at the Mocanaqua mine of the West End Coal Company opposite Shickshinny 
was declared off after being on for about two months.  The strike was the result of a disagreement
 in regard to certain inside work.

July 15 the Kingston Coal Company went out on account of a disagreement regarding the pay 
for rock cutting.  The strike was settled July 18 by a compromise.

In August the men at the Woodward mine of the D. L. & W. at Edwardsville went out because 
the company would not allow a committed of United Mine Workers to examine the union cards
 of the men at the head of the shaft.  The men were ordered back in a few weeks pending a 
decision of the question.  For the same reason there were strikes of a day or two at a few 
other mines.  During the remainder of the year there was no interference on the part of the 
officials with the working card privilege.
 
July 16 occurred the strike of the stationary firemen, which seemed to center in the
 anthracite region.  They struck for a reduction in the hours of work from twelve to 
eight.  The large mining corporations did not grant the request and steam was kept
 up for the pumps by the bosses and other employes.  The aid of the United Mine 
Workers was sought but the latter refused on the ground that the firemen were not 
members of their organization and they could not strike in sympathy because of the
 contract with the operators lasting until April, 1902.  After a stormy conference 
between the officers of the firemen and United Mine Workers the former on July 22
 declared their strike off without concessions.  Not all of the companies would agree 
to take back all of their former employes and the United Mine Workers offered to do
 all in their power to have all reinstated but they were not successful in every case.

August 14 the Ganoga Ice Company employes in Wilkes-Barre struck because of the 
discharge of a stable boss who was given a day off and took three, the men claiming
 that his activity in the union was at the bottom of the discharge.  The company hired
non-union men.  The strike was declared off in a few weeks.

September 28 the miners at the Maffet mine at Sugar Notch struck because their 
pay was behind and for other reasons.  The strike was settled Dec. 1, another 
company taking charge.

September 23 the machinists at the Exeter Machine Works in West Pittston struck 
because the company restored the ten hour day, having granted the nine hour demand 
at the machinists' trouble in May.  In the evening of the same day the machinists decided
 to return to work.
At the North Wilkes-Barre lace mill the winding and threading department had some
 difficulty and work was stopped three days in July.  In October the bleachers and 
finishers were idle four and a half days.  In March the carding department was out 
a day and a half.

During the latter part of October the Temple Iron Company, having mines in Luzerne
 and Lackawanna counties, posted a notice at the Forty Fort, Harry E., and Mt. Lookout 
mines at Forty Fort and Wyoming to the effect that all miners who struck at other collieries 
and had secured work there should be discharged.  The order was aimed at the strikers 
of the Maltby mine of the Lehigh Valley Coal Co.  The United Mine Workers were aroused 
by this order and a conference was held with superintendent Thorne.  He agreed that all who
 were hired with the knowledge that they were strikers from the Maltby should be reinstated
 but that those who were hired without such knowledge should not be reinstated.  This 
answer was not satisfactory and on November 6 the executive board of the United Mine 
Workers declared a strike to go into effect on November 11.  The company, anticipating
 the strike order suspended operations at the Forty Fort and Wyoming mines until further
 orders.  November 9, two days before the time for the strike order to go into effect, the 
company decided to reinstate all of the discharged men and a strike was averted.


Typed by Dawn Gabriel, 18 Jan 2009