The Lattimer Massacre 1897
Between 1870 and 1897 more than thirty thousand anthracite coal miners in in northeastern Pennsylvania were killed in the mines where they worked. This abysmal safety record stood alongside already low wages, which were reduced further by the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Company in August of 1897. At the same time wages were reduced, fees to residents in the company housing were increased. After a strike by teenaged mule drivers that summer, the company agreed to restore wages.
When the new wage scale was announced on September 1 it was limited to just a few workers. The strike resumed and on September 3 over 3,000 striking miners shut down four of the mines in the area. Meanwhile the UMW actively recruited striking miners involved in the shutdown as well as those still working at nearby mines. On September 10 a group of striking miners numbering about 400 marched to support a newly formed UMW union in Lattimer, owned by Calvin Pardee. Pardee’s mine had not yet been shut down, and the marching workers were confronted on the way by local law enforcement and ordered to disperse.
Most of the marchers were immigrant Slavic, German, or Polish workers. As they marched sheriff’s deputies kept their colleagues in Lattimer informed of their progress and when the miners arrived in Lattimer they found over 150 well-armed deputies awaiting them. After being ordered again to disperse, the miners refused and a scuffle began.
The deputies opened fire, and when the shooting ended 19 miners were dead and up to 49 wounded, all of them shot in the back according to news reports. Late in the day the National Guard was deployed throughout the area to restore order and protect property, but that did not prevent the destruction of the home of mine supervisor Gomer Jones by striking miners two days later. By September 24 calm was restored and the Guard withdrawn.
The Luzerne County Sheriff and 73 deputies were tried for murder in the aftermath, all were acquitted. The UMW experienced a surge in growth during the strikes and in the days which followed, ending several years of struggling for its existence in eastern Pennsylvania. Its growing size increased its negotiating power with the owners and allowed it to win several concessions – including increased wages – within a few years of the Lattimer Massacre.