xt7zcr5n9g1t_15 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zcr5n9g1t/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zcr5n9g1t/data/82m1.dao.xml Evans, Herndon J., 1895-1976 3.5 Cubic feet Herndon J. Evans, editor of the Pineville Sun in Bell County, Kentucky, closely followed labor unrest in the Kentucky coalfields, especially in Harlan and Bell Counties, during the early 1930s. The collection contains handbills, leaflets, pamphlets and newspaper clippings collected by Evans primarily from 1931-1933. Also included are handwritten notes, correspondence, and drafts of articles and editorials written by Evans as well as memorabilia such as Communist Party membership books and organizational charts. archival material English University of Kentucky This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed.  Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically.  Physical rights are retained by the owning repository.  Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws.  For information about permissions to reproduce or publish, contact the Special Collections Research Center. Herndon J. Evans Collection Coal miners--Kentucky Coal mines and mining--Economic conditions. Communism--Kentucky. Editors--Kentucky. Pamphlets. Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Kentucky. undated text undated 2012 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zcr5n9g1t/data/82m1/82m1_2/82m1_2_3/122025/122025.pdf section false xt7zcr5n9g1t_15 xt7zcr5n9g1t   The Sixth Con¤:nandment• V
_, ~ ·( T H O U S H A L T N 0 T K I L L • Exodus XX. 15
A if BY
” Herndon J. Evans
"Because of sex, we have love, infidelity, faithful-
ness, varietism, sensuality, and- the saint who abhoss
it all. with the exception of Alexander Hamilton and
myself, there are no individuals who, once charged with
adultery, have not been, in so far as public usefulness
is concerned, relegated to the limbo of the 1nutile.I (f
am not here to apologize, but to set forth the asininity
of this social dishonesty, which I might call social lun-
. acy."- Theodore Dreiser, THE SEEENTH COHEANDHEHT, Liberty,
April 2, April 9.
t e e a
Murder, ranging from that of the K;ng*s English to that of the
° ‘ English kings, never has been presented as one of the arts. Despite the
efforts of many outstanding personages of all times to popularize murder
it has never been acc~rded its proper place in history. Today, in spite
of the fact that we find it on every hand, it it looked upon askance by
many persons who see in it only the sordid.
Great careers have ended in ignominyg innocent persons have fac» (~
ed disgrace, all because of some crudely planned murder. Hany great men,
who, had they been permitted to carry out their murders sithout interrup·
tion and had they been permitted to conceal their crimes, might today be
rendering great public service. Few men, with the possible exception of
. Alexander the Great and Wilhelm of Germany, who operated strictly ia the
wholesale field, have been able to rise above the disgrace- attached by
many prudish and narrow-minded individuals to murder• and have gone to
their graves broken and dishonored just because some rustic detective
® happened to see them in some careless moment toss a bloody stiletto into
\ , a rose garden, pitch a smoking revolver into a stream or rake a covering *“
\\ of autumn leaves over a torso.

 fjl History is replete with fine examples of murder. Some have been
 ,e‘:’ 1K executed with a skill and finesse that is surprising; others have been
I bunglcd from the very start, handled 1n such an amatcurish manner that one
questions thc sincerity of the effort and wonders if it would not have been
better to have let the victim go unscathed.
Biblical history records the w0l1—kncwn slaying of Abel by his
brother Cain. The record shows, for those who care to read it carefully,
that the murdcyar never was given a trial though there was some sort of
investigation at the time. Truly, here was a casa where constitutional
r1ghts were denied. The American Civil Liberties Union or some other cfg- W
anization of that character should look into this matter. Then there is
the slaying of Bathsheb§*s husband, Uriah, anothar outstanding Biblical
evant, but as that had as its background a violation of the Seventh Com-
, mandmcnt, it can not be discussed hare.
Secular history records the fatal attack upon Julius Caesar.Th1s
— event was of such magnitude that Shakespeare later made Caesar the hero of
a poctical play and named the story after him. It has been played with
varying degrees of success since than by casts which, while they may not
have shown the proper realism in the actual stabbing scene, managed to
produce the same result so far as the play as a unit was c0ncerned•Ju11us
Caesar is probably the greatest example of a man who was able to risc
above his murder. "
Prudory and blackmail often are back of soma of the best execu-
N tod murders. The world is full of examples of the former. The husband ra-
\ turns home unexpected and finds his wife, not in the arms of Morpheus as
he had expected, but in tha more worldly ones of the next door neighbor. .
\\ The matter is settled out of court, due to the fact that the two prosecut-
E ion witnesses are dead and the defendant has left the country with the
X widow next door.
E Blackmail efforts often result in murder. The net result is dis-

 of
b? ccvery of the perpetrators and their ultimate conviction and incarceration.
I- ‘’AV But murder ss a fine art should not be made to suffer because of the dis-
covery. The real crime, it must be remembered, was blackmail and the indiv-
iduals concerned in the case, while they may have been adept in their chosen
profession could not be expected to be aceouplished in another art. Haver-
theless, murder as a fine art suffers by these bu glings.
In recent months we have the West Virginian, Powers, whose only
crime was the murder of his correspondence school wife and three children,
yet, a numbskull public; with the backing and moral support of the press
and church, bounded this man, brought about his trial and conviction, and
then sat complacently by and permitted his execution by the state. Powers'
technique was unsurpassed, not only in his manner of procuring the victims ‘
_ but in dispatching them when he found someone else more to his liking. Yet,
_ an ignorant and prejudiced public demanded his scalp. whereupon his career
was ended.
l Editor*s Note: The foregoing views are hr.£vane* own. He
, is, of course, unknown as a writer and this is his first, and
probably last, article, but he is a pioneer in dealing honestly
with murder. In publishing his views Liberty is not unaware
that some of his citations of famous cases may be challenged
as to facts. Liberty does not want its readers to believe that
this magazine condones murder or approves manslaughter. Liberty
is against murder and it carries this article simply as an ex-
pression of an unknown writer*s views.
s s e
%\
lx

 /2
J_,/ Carl Bernhardt, 1908 Louth A.St., Riohmondm Ind.
  John m.wh1tmore, South Main St.,Re1eterstown, md.
  Malcolm Rose, The New York Times, N.Y.C:Lty
Christian century, Chicago, Ill. _
Y The Nation, New York City.
Senator E•P.Cest1g¤·n, Washington; Z>.C.
senator M.M.1I¤gan, Senator Alben Barkley, W¤eh.D•C.
Barry Ferguson, The United Press, New York City.
Miss Margaret Wright, Knoxville Journal,Knoxv1lle,Tenn.
, Benton J’.Stong, News-Sen/c1nel,Knoxv1l1e,Tenn.
  William H.Grady, Hotel Gramercy, HEIIZIXXPIZXZXHXZXZXZXX 52 Gramercy Park,IxIorth.I»I.Y.C1t;r3»
·‘· . Mrs.Tom Ceden, 2214 Maplewood Ave., Rlchmondna.
l!re.Dw1ght P.Green, 329 Chestnut Et., `@’1nnetka,I11. Y
Mrmlethen B.Hendee, 2601 eherldan Rd. ,Peor1a,I1l.
Charles Neville Buck, Pendennis Club, Lou1sv11le,Ky.
John Lemon, J.H.W:Ln.k1er Ins.Agency, 616 B.F.Ke1th Bldg.Cleveland,O.
_ Ralph Holzworth, Wisconsin Lumber Co., Deering, Ho.
. Fred R.MarV1n, 598 Madison Ave., N.Y.C1ty. 2
-Samuel Sloan, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 383 Madison Ave., N.Y.C1ty.
Harry Giovannoll, 182 North Ashland Ave. , I.ex1ngton,I<,y.Theodore Dre1se5,2New York City.
V william Shlnnick, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill.
x

 fw J ff rllTwO ROADS TO hggggg
if {`I —..Q _
E There are two roads which lead into Harlan County. There is the
jg road "which ninds monotonously between brown hills, with squalor and untidi-
gg ness about the countryside- the squalor of the very poor? Then there is the
jg, road called "hhododendron Highway" because of the profusion of this evergreen
1 along the roadside- a road that winds like a wide,white ribbon between tpwer-
ing mountains and beside green, turbulent Cumberland River.
A It is the same road. What you see depends·altogether on the view-
point of the traveler. I have traveled this road on the right hand side and
have seen the beautiful things which justify the name, "Hhodod~ndron High-
" way". I also have traveled it on the other side and I know its sombre as-
pects. I will endeavor, also, to travel this sane highway straight down the -
A r middle, hoping that out of the cross-fire of opinion that has put harlan
County on the front pages of American newspapers, will come a view of the
real Harlan County and thereby a true report of conditions in the coal
i fields of southeastern Kentucky.
s First, let us travel the loft sidn of the road with Xargarst Lane,
feature writer of the London Daily lxpress, who came to harlan a few weeks
ago to get the inside facts on the Kentucky coal field disorders.
"To anyone who has always lived in cities and known the country as
a clean, pastoral place, and mountains as thrills that are pleasant to climb,
the Kentucky mountains in Harlan County are s long bad dream.
`"I came to them`from Pineville, 58 miles away, there I stayed in
the same little solitary hotel that proved so unfortunate for Theodore brei-
ser. l
"The road winds monotonously between brown hills, and the nearer
· you get to Harlan, the more conscious you become of a growing squalor and
untidiness about the countryside- the squalor of the very poor.
"The mining valleys run almost to the town of Harlan itself; once
you start to go through them you are hemmed in, bound to follow the trail

 `2.‘
of mines and return the way you came. The true mining ca ps are nightmarish
places. They are clusters of shacks and wastes of refuse.
I "Each shack is the size of a good·sized room, and it is divided
» into various sections. There is one shim ey and the walls and roof are of
wood. There is no plaster or other protection against the weather and cold.
V As‘a precaution against the terrible mud of winter most of the shacks are
built on high wooden piles, so that there is usually a rubbish—filled space
' under the houses where the hogs and children play.
"There is no running water in any of them, and, heaven knows, no
sanitation. The back yards are a jumble of debris, old buckets, tin cans,
bricks and pigs. The filth is·beyond description. Some families are still
making a struggle to keep up appearances and live as they used, for I saw
several droves of children coming from school in reasonably clean pinafores,
and decently clothed; but a pitiful number were barefoot and abysmally
_, dj.I‘t»Y• *
_ “As I went slowly through the camps women came out on their front
porches to stare. A surprising number had the tragic remnants of good looks;
tall, thin women with fairish hair and faces wrinkled from the sun and the
g dreary squalors of p0verty.Some had half·clad children crawling around their
feet. Some were pitifully old.
"For some distance through Evarts my car was followed at a distance
by another.My driver identified the two men in it as guards, or, as they are
colloquially known, *thugsI The 'thugs', he told me, were employed by the
mine owners to patrol and keep order, and they were often strangers imported
from other states. The owners, he said, were compelled to pay $10,000 every .
time-a guard was killed, to the dead man's relatives. According to him more i
had been killed than had been accounted for. I do not repeat the man's gos· Q
sip for any more serious reason than to show which way the wind blows. The Q
people in those valleys are afraid of the guards, and the authority they 7
stand for, the violence they sometimes have suffered at their hands." X
4

 5.
Let us begin again at Pineville and follow the right side of the
road through Harlan County. As you clear the city limits you pass The Narrows,
' the point selected in a state-wide contest as "the most beautiful spot in
Kentucky". A modern, brick county school looms ahead; a mile farther and a
modern, brick consolidated grade and high school building stands where once
the one-room boarded school beckoned to the mountain youth. Several hundred
boys and girls of the bounty attend here. A few hundred yards and the road
dips into a valley and joins Cumberland River.
` For miles and miles we travel along this winding stream. Now it
is a broad river, moving majestically under the shadow of "The Seven Sisters",
nseven huge rock pillars which attract tourists from all parts of the country.
The roadside is a mass of rhododendron and mountain laurel. In the spring-
time a laurel festival is held in the mountains and visitors from far and
near gather to honor the blossoms. The purple rhododendron had faded on the
rocky crags above us, the pink and white laurel blossoms remind one of
past wanderings through rows of peach trees in Georgia. Ferns, and here and
there dozens of varieties of spring flowers, carpet the right-of—way on each
side of the concrete highway. The *ax-like blossom of the wild magnolia
1 makes us pause for a closer view.
Far below us is Cumberland River, now but a tiny ribbon winding in
and out between rugged cliffs. Its broad expanse has been squeezed into a
stream that can't be more than ten feet across, yet, from our elevation, we
know that it still must be at least a hundred ghhdgacross at its narrowest
point. Moss-covered rocks soften the hillsides. High up on the mountain·side
gwe see a little clearing and in the center of it a farmhouse. It is made
of logs and before the open door sits the owner. He is satisfied for the
County Farm egent has told him the secret of doubling his production and he
knows that he will have plenty "come winter". He hasn't been used to much.
He, and his father before him, lived on the.same place and "brought up a
passel 0* youngins" and they "allus managed ter make out".

 Z 4.
We leave the river and wind slowly to the top of the mountain. In
the distanceawe see the smoke of Harlan Town, so designated to distinguish
it from the county of the same name. It is a city of more than 5,000soule,
despite what may have been said to the contrary. The county has a population
of 65,000. Harlan’s streets all are paved; it has hundreds of fine homes,
fine churches and excellent schools. The city schools have an enrollment of
more than 2,100 girls and boys. The Baptist Church has a membership of
about 1,200; the Christian, hethodist and Presbyterian churches about 500 to
400 each; other churches smell the total a few hundred. more than fifty
A teachers, university graduates with special training, teach the youngsters
4 in the city schools. More than 200 teachers are employed in the county.
Beyond Harlan Town are the mines. You come to the first one before
you really clear the city limits. From then on one mining camp almost merges
Vwith another as you make your way up and down the valleys. Fine rows of well-
kept cottages make up a majority of these camps. Now and then we pass an ab-
andoned camp with its poor squatters living rent-free in the abandoned, tot-
tering shacks. The operating camps are well—kept.
I we come to the mines of the Cloversplint Coal Company. This is one
of the newer mining camps and is a little above the average. H.T.Graham, the
genial general manager of the company, takes us around the camp. It is modern
in every respect. Latest equipment gives it a production of about 40,000 tons
of coal a month and furnishes employment to between 275 and·5OO men.
There is a water system as good as ¢ill be found in many cities. A
huge tank on the mountainside above the town sends water to every home and
provides fire protection through fire plugs placed at intervals along the
Vstreets. This camp has a sewage system, street lights, well-plastered houses
_ and other things which ordinarily are not associated with "typical" mining
camps. A nine months school employs three teachers for the 175 pupils in
daily attendance.A church provides the necessary religious background. The
average daily wage at this company, exclusive of superintendence and office,

 5I
is $4.55, according to mr.Graham. The company has wbrkad out a savings
account plan with one of the Harlan banks wuereby men who save a part of
V » their earnings during good times have it increased by puyxents from the
1 company when times are slack. These payments reach a muxiuum of g25 on ;lOO
deposited by the worker, plus the interest paid on the savings account by
the bank. _
while this minu is above the average there are others better equip-
ped and with more modern facilities in the camp. Hen in most mines ure allow-
ed advances of $1 a day when times are bad and coal 0:dtrs are not available.
l That may not be much when half a dozen mouths must be fed but it is better
than being dropped from the payroll entirely as so frequently occurs in our
large industrial centers. Una mine in the haulan field had an overdraft of
$10,531, during the month of June this year as a result of uivamces to sm!
ployes. Hunqrecs of families without a waga·earncr are being cured for by
Harlan bperators at this time. The men who run Harlan's mines are not the
tyrants pictured by special writers who rush in, obtain u distorted picture
of conditions, snap a few photographs of abandoned camps and label them
"typica1" Kentucky mining communities, and rush out again to give u waiting
world a vision of what they "discovcrcé". _ _
A recent visitor, whose findings were given wide publicity in the
nation, stated that he had wasn "inf0rmcd" that more than one hundred men
§Q ‘had been killed as a result cf the labor disturbances in hurlan Com ty this
W t
§wi,~¢yéar. He méaeeé-it just a bare ninety.
. Now let us travel the middle road, avoiding as much as is humanly
possible the pitfalls of exaggeration on either side.
It has been but a few decades since coal was found is Luvlan County.
Before that time lumber was the chief industry and in the springtime millions ·
of fact of lumber went out of Harlan County with each flood tide on ;x;ber—
land River. Then came the coal development and with it an influx of lubor
of all kinda. Some of our giant corporations bought mines, built mo&&wn

 6. T
V towns and soon Harlan County was spotted with more than a hundred little
r communities. While a large percentage of the labor in some mines was for-
? eign born, the vast majority was native, mountain stock, reared in the hills
i of Southeastern Kentucky.
ei The growth of the mining industry was rapid. From a production of
E a few hundred thousand tons the mines of Harlan reached a high of 14,000,000
v tons in 1928. when the war came production sas speeded up. hozens of new mines
_$» were opened up to care for the ever-growing demand. After the war, with its
g` prices of $10 to $16 a ton for coal, came the inevitable slump and since
Ai; then there has been a slow but certain weeding out process enforced in the
i;y coal industry. Oil-burners and gas expansion out out demand. Hydro—electric
development put hundreds of small steam plants out of com ission. Coal pri-
. ces started a downward march until today good block can be bought at the
mines at $1.25 a ton. The average price for éoptember was @1.61, but the un-
seasonahle weather has cut that price.
` The ninety to one hundred active mines in Harlan County during war
times have dwindled to thirty·nine at the present time. Unless there is an
immediate pick-up in the industry others will go out this year. Three passed
out in 1950. One operator, after taking a big loss, still retained his sense
of humor and posted a sign,"Opened by mistake", over his abandoned property.
with conditions going from had to worse operators were faced with
· the alternative of going broke or reducing costs of operation. They decided
that wages would have to be cut. That was almost a year ago. Today the rail-
v roads have reached the same decision. The steel corporation reached it a
few months back. The miners immediately protested a wage cut. rational labor
4 leaders backed the miners in their fight and cited the President*s request
that=the wage standard be maintained.
_ Then came the move for organization. Harlan County, with a fen ex-
ceptions, always has operated its mines on a non—union basis. oespite this
` fact locals.have sprung up and workers of the unions always have been ready

 7.
to encourage affiliation and accept memberships. with mines running but a
few days a week and wages being slashed throughout the county this immed-
iately became a fertile field for the organizer. The United Eine Qorkers
became active; men were urged to become members of the union so that they
mi ht be in position to demand the old wage scale. A mass meeting was called
for Pineville on March 1, and more than 2,000 miners gathered to hear speech-
es delivered by union leaders.
h ‘ N H I Goal operators were alert to the situation. They sent representative
~p ky`to the meeting and took the names of all their employes who attended. They
.5% §`planned to take the initiative and prevent organization of the field. The
il §\ next morning many men were discharged. In some instances the men were told
\§ iQ` that they were dropped for union activity. In other cases they were dropped
~—§§ for some infraction of mine regulations. Whatever the reason given the men
syl} realized that they were being let out because they attended the meeting at
_d.“ Pineville. They resented this interference in their right to free assembly
*M , and free speech. The operators felt that they must take immediate steps to
, 2 break up the union. The men felt that they had been grossly mistreated.
 / _ Excitement ran high in the coal field centering around Lvarts.
:p A miners who were discharged and companions who quit work in sympathy with ·
IN them moved into Evarts. Eviction notices were served on miners and the.
Federal court enjoined them against acts of violence. The population of
Evarts was doubled in a few weeks. The operators feared sabotage and had
men sworn in as deputies to guard their property and the loyal men who `
wanted to work. Many of these guards were regular employes of the company;
others were men brought from other mines; some came from other counties.
The pay was high for it was hazardous work. A few men with records as kill-
` ers found their way into some of the camps and these gave rise to the names,
"gunmen" and "thugs" so often used. The percentage of men of this type was
— far less than one per cent in the whole field.
Random shots were fired from hillsides at men going to work. The

 8. V
_ men became alarmed and refused to go to work. A tipple caught fire here, av
blast of dynamite rocked the drift mouth there. Men watched one another out
of the corner of the eye. The word "scab" was passed between Xilse Burkhart
s J and Ed Cricillis; both drew and both died in their tracks. Deputies went to
shfarrest a miner charged with beating a loyal company man. Jesse Pace, the
A$`jV deputy, was shot to death by william Burnett, who also was wounded. Stores
QJ; and commissaries here raided by armed mobs and everything was carried off.
Mk There was a lull in the trouble and then came the shooting at Evarts
Q_ in which four lives were snuffed out. miners desiring to go to Black loun-
bi tain for work were told at hvarts not to go through the town. Deputies came
rtl; in response to calls to escort the miners to Black mountain. A battle follow-
I ed and four men were killed. Two were deputies, one a commissary clerk, one
a miner. The commissary clerk was with the deputies in the car which.was rid-
dled with bullets. Two men were slain at a soup kitchen being operated for
striking miners, and the count then stood three deputies killed on one side
and three miners on the other. The two miners killed in the duel did not die
as a result of battle between deputies and miners. A short time later a res-
taurant proprietor was slain by a deputy. He was cleared in a preliminary
trial while the miners shouted “kangaroo court“. Troops came to Harlan and
order was restored.
When the trouble was at its height in Harlan representatives of the
National Miners Union came into the field. They promised improved conditions;
they raved and ranted on the "capitalistic system" which was "crushing the
life out of workers" and urged the men to "fight against the iron_heel of
oppression". "Gomrade" became the word of greeting. The National miners
Union, affiliated with the Trades Union Unity League, headed by william Z.
Foster, communist candidate for president, im ediately brought the cry of
communism in the coal fields. The United Mine “orkers were charged with
"selling out" the miners, by the representatives of the other union. Radi-
” cal newspapers, booklets and leaflets sponsored by the communist lead~rs

 9.
l were found in miners* houses. The U.M.w. of A., joined in the fight against
communism in the coal fields. The Department of Labor at Washington sent
i` representatives to study the situation. Harlan officials decided that if
_, ord r was to be maintained that the threat of comaunism must be stamped out.
l, Accordingly iron clad rulings were laid down and the officials of Harlan
County did not temporize with the foreign agitators. They brooked no inter-
ference from the outside. They had their den ideas about fighting the threat
to their only industry and only time will tell whether they pursued the
right course.
_ - Today mines are operating with the_threat of a walkout or strike
harassing the operators at every turn. Poor demand has cut the working time
and operators claim they are not making anything and are on the verge of
bankruptcy; miners claim that the operators are making h ge profits. The few
properties that are being operated full time are those run as subsidiaries
of utility plants or those where the entire output is going to a by—product
concern. The average mine today is operating on a three-day schedule.
Out of the thirty·nine mines in Harlan County about fifteen were
closed during the labor disturbances. One did not re—open; another has not
resumed operation because of lack of coal orders. Of the fifteen closed
some were down just a few days; others did not get back to_work for a month
of six weeks. with the present poor demand there is hardship in the coal
fields for operators can not make money and miners can not make a living ‘
on two and three days a week. ·
V wages vary throughout the field. One coal company, a utility sub-
sidiary, reported that on a four-day week the men are earning around $100 a
month. Another reported that their men earned $5.47 a day. Still another
reported that the average earnings of miners in his camp, based on a three-
day week, were $21.54, and that overdrafts for the same period totaled $1,558
One company reported that workers averaged $122 a month for the last ten
_ _ months while others in the same mine earned bqT$74.9l. Machine men, who draw

 _, 10. !??
much#higher pay, averaged $154 and $129.95 respectively in the same camp.
The men in all mines are paid in scrip. Scrip, in spite of stories
_ that have been sent out to the contrary, is merely an advance of pay. If a
miner has funds to run on he can draw his full pay in cash at the end of
each two weeks* period. Where scrip is drawn in advance of payday most mines
A p require the men to trade it out at the company store. -
Cuts are made through the company office for many things, and this
is another sore spot with the miners. There was a day when mines were oper-
ated almost without profit and operators made their money on house rents
* and commissary prices. Some miners now charge that that day has returned,
` Rentals run from $1 to @2 per room per month; electricity is furnished at
$1 to $2 additional. Coal is furnished in some cases at a flat rate of $1
a month, plus haulage charges of fifty cents. Some mines sell the coal at
$2 a ton, delivered. Others charge the market price, plus a haulage charge.
Cuts for the doctor range from $1.50 to $2 a month for the family; operations
and medicine come extra. Burial funds, controlled by the men, out 25 cents
to 50 cents monthly. ·
. King Coal, the sick man of American industry, is in a bad way. HB
may survive the bitter ordeal he now is passing through or he may turn the
job over to other hands. A careful and impartial study of the situation will
p convince anyone that the solution of the problem is not in the hands of paid
agitators from other fields. Wages are low, deplorable low, in the coal in»
dustry. Operators recognize this fact as well as in the miners. Small—town
` merchants also are feeling it. Operators, miners,business men of the coal
fields ask only that those who wish to study the matter take the middle
road. - O -
Herndon J. Evans

   V
° Six -
- in Pineville,Ky.,Feb.20- Enxxn women and three men, arrested in connection
with anti—communist moves of Bell County officials, are in the Ball County
· jail here awaiting the action of the grand jury which convenes Honday. The
women and men are being held on criminal syndicalism charges. A seventh
member of the group, Nrs.Clarina Michelson, was released on bond of @10,000
a week ago and has been in Knoxville awaiting the action of the grand jury,
Bell County officers, aided by city officers, swooped down on headquar-
· ters of the National Miners Union here January 4, and arrested part of the
i group. Others were arrested that day in other parts of Pineville and the
last member of the group was placed in jail February 10, for making an alleg
.ed inflamatori s eech_durin* a visit of the New York grou of writers head-
_ P e c P
. n ed by Waldo Frank. ` I
These who will have their cases presented to the grand jury Monday are
Vincent Kemenovich, Margaret Fontaine, Clarina Eichelson, Vern Stith, John
_ Harvey, mrs.Joe Weber, Doris Parks, Ann Barton, Julia Parker, alias Calla
Kuhn, and Norma Martin. Doris Parks was arrested February l0, and held
under @15,000 bonds after an examining trial in which she admitted membershi_
y in the communist art and stated she Iooked to the day when communism
P J
would rule this country.
Under Kentucky's criminal syndicalism act,pmniahmnnk if the defendants_
are inn indicted and found guilty, theT§§d§§¥y Qs Rxamxmxaxkd 21 years in
prison und or a fine of $10,000, or both. Several other cases are on the doc
et this term ald the grand jury also will investigate the killing of Barlow
Stanley by w.C;Catron-in Hiddlesboro two weeks ago.
. 1 N I '
Pinevi1le,Ky.,Feb.20— A Washington’s birthday program will be given
at the Gaines Theatre here Monday afternoon at 1:50 o'clock. The school chil
, dren and residents of the city and county are invited. There will be special
- music directed by Mrs.R.P.Caton and group singing will be led by h.H.Gaddie.
Speakers for the meeting will be Cleon K.Calvert, Pineville attorney, and
. Mrs.Anna J.Montgomery, former head of the schools here. James U.G1lbert,
gi N former assistant attorney genenal of Kentucky, will preside.
\ ` c Lvans

 t      ` P     _     V if A Y V
to  . mt  “tfi*0m tho ¤i§ht*of ' `` may 4 a meeting of the Uuioo was hold at the
 —V. E _ Evafté Theatre at which only mombors of the Union were admittodv
   `·      »     four hundred mamhszus were present. A oommi 'btee was
i _ ‘ %§gppo§£téd to advise the sheriff of the county as to tho actions
1 "$?   A
EV;;§§ (Si the deputies and demanded that they be stopped from imposing ~
tgwgaé · upoa the people. Another committee wan appointoé as ohowm by
ij the proof for too Gommomwealth to go to straight Crook in Bull
i} County amé got soma guns amé h collection you taken to hiya a
if oar to mako tho trip. James Banicls was 222 of the éaputy I 1
U %; I   ahoriffsg E. R. qh{lG9PS»W38 ouporimt¤n&omt of the mine; ani . ;
ti AW at this mooting Jonas saié, “Jim ionic}; gné Chiléova and tho °
Q law will to up more in tho morning ami they will he going to N  
I t & ·
5 » H“?1aa! Don’t shoot at their boéiaa, but shoot at thai? hoa@¤Q”` §?
E o   I Ee advissd them to bo on the street the next morning with thai? EE
· gona ana bring a red flag it they été not have a gun. Hightowey it
i sa1$,·“fol1ow your loader