Mother Jones Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

May 1, 1930: Labor Leader Mother Jones Celebrates 100th Birthday

On May 1, 1930, labor leader “Mother” Jones celebrated her 100^th birthday at a party in Maryland. The firebrand did what she did best: ruffle feathers. On this occasion, she denounced the nation’s prohibition on alcohol, saying it violated her right as an American to drink beer instead of water.

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones was beloved by the working class and reviled by the powerful for her colorful and often profane condemnations of coal operators and politicians. She visited West Virginia many times, describing conditions as being worse than in “Czarist Russia.” Jones was jailed in Parkersburg in 1902 for violating a court injunction. During the bloody Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike, she was held under house arrest in Kanawha County.

But her stock fell with miners in 1921. At Marmet, “Mother” Jones tried to stop the armed march on Logan County before it started. The miners felt betrayed when she held up an apparently fake telegram from President Warren Harding. Despite this setback, she kept fighting for the underdog, becoming an ardent critic of child labor in the 1920s. She died seven months after celebrating her 100^th birthday.

February 13, 1913: Mother Jones Arrested in Charleston

On February 13, 1913, labor leader Mary Harris “Mother” Jones was arrested in Charleston for agitating striking miners during the deadly Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike.

Jones was no stranger to West Virginia’s labor movement, or its jails. Since the 1890s, she’d been active in union causes across the country but felt a special affinity for miners of the Mountain State. She once reported that conditions in West Virginia “were worse than those in Czarist Russia.” During a 1902 strike, she’d been jailed in Parkersburg for violating a court injunction.

Her arrest in 1913, though, was different. By this time, much of Kanawha County had been placed under martial law, meaning that the military was in charge of law enforcement. After being taken to Pratt, she was court-martialed and held under house arrest. New governor Henry Hatfield—a licensed physician—personally visited with Jones but did little at first to free her—even though the octogenarian labor leader was reportedly suffering from pneumonia. After she was finally released, “Mother” Jones testified before Congress on the poor living and working conditions in the West Virginia coalfields.

Sept. 15, 1875 – Governor Henry Hatfield Born Near Matewan

Governor Henry Hatfield was born near Matewan on September 15, 1875.

While his Hatfield relatives were fighting their famous feud against the McCoys, Henry was away at college. He eventually became a coal-camp physician in McDowell County. Appalled by the lack of medical facilities, he fought to have three miners’ hospitals established in the state and served as director of the Welch hospital for 13 years.

Hatfield was elected to the state senate in 1908. Four years later, the 37-year-old Republican was elected governor. He pushed for progressive reforms, including the establishment of a Public Service Commission and a workers’ compensation program. He began his term in the middle of the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike, the deadliest conflict of the mine wars. He granted a pardon to labor activist “Mother” Jones and striking miners who had been convicted in military courts. He also chaired a board that essentially ended the strike.

After leaving office, he enlisted in the Army as a chief surgeon during World War I and later served one term as a U.S. senator.

Henry Hatfield died in Huntington in 1962 at age 87.