FROSTBURG 1882: GERMAN STRIKERS vs. GERMAN
STRIKEBREAKERS
Edited by RICHARD LOWITT
PREFACE
Several months after publication of The
Maryland Germans (Princeton, 1948) I re-
ceived a letter from Mrs. Olive Patton of
Frostburg, Maryland—a letter which I should
have liked to receive prior to the publication
of my book. It is a rare occurrence when his-
torians find that a recent letter about past
events is worthy of editing and publishing.
However, so meager is our knowledge of the
industrial and labor history of western Mary-
land that I thought this letter, based on con-
versations, memories and research was inter-
esting and important enough to be published.
One of my colleagues, Dr. Richard Lowitt
(Department of History, University of Mary-
land), who has done a great deal of research
in the history of industry and labor relations
and who therefore is much more qualified than
I myself to evaluate this letter, kindly agreed
to take over the editing job. I should like to
express to Dr. Lowitt my deep appreciation for
the competent and conscientious manner with
which he edited and annotated the following
document.
DIETER CUNZ
* * *
INTRODUCTION
The following letter gives an insight into the
activities of one of the largest Maryland cor-
porations in the second half of the nineteenth
century, as well as an interesting sidelight on
immigration history. Footnotes present the
reader with necessary background information
about persons and events discussed in the body
of the letter. Some of the text, largely mate-
rial of a genealogical nature and other informa-
tion not directly pertinent to the main theme,
has been altered or deleted. By and large,
however, the letter is presented as Mrs. Olive
Patton wrote it. Miss Helen Hough, Librarian
at the State Teachers College, Frostburg,
Maryland, who encouraged the author of this
letter, likewise aided the editor by suggesting a
preliminary bibliography.
RICHARD LOWITT
73 Bowery Street
Frostburg, Maryland
June 21, 1949
Professor Dieter Cunz
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland
Dear Professor Cunz:
I have read your book The Mary-
land Germans and found it to be very
good reading as well as informative.
As I like history, especially that of
my own state and county, I was
deeply interested in it. ...
From your book I've chosen the
names Charles F. Mayer,¹ George,
Adam and John Eckhart,² and the
German miners to write about. They
made local and state history, as they
helped to develop the mines and the
western part of our state especially
the Georges Creek region above Cum-
berland and which the city of Frost-
burg is the heart of.
Some of this history I learned from
my grandmother, Mary Martha Dud-
ley Thompson, who was half German.
. . . She came to Maryland with her
father in the 1840's and helped him
keep the Toll Gate on the National
Pike between Cumberland and Frost-
burg. . . . Grandmother married An-
drew Patrick Thompson of Eckhart
Mines, a Civil War Veteran, a mem-
ber of the organization Grand Army
of the Republic and of the local order
of the Knights of Labor.³ He was of
Irish descent and a Catholic, also a
1
Charles F. Mayer (1832-1904)—president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (1888-1896). In 1865,
after a career with the mercantile firm of his uncle, Frederick Koenig, one of the large importing merchants
of Baltimore, he became interested in the coal resources of Maryland and West Virginia. After helping
to organize several coal companies, Mayer in 1877 was elected president of the Consolidation Coal Company
and of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad. For a discussion of Mayer as president of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad see Edward Hungerford, The Story of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, (New York.
1928), II, 166-179.
2
Eckhart, George, Adam and John—early German settlers in western Maryland who probably founded
in the 1790's the community discussed in this letter. In 1814 or 1815, while the National Road was being
constructed, coal was found here and the vicinity soon became a mining area.
3
For an excellent overall study of this important early labor union, see Norman J. Ware, The Labor
Movement in the United States: 1860-1895, (New York, 1929). A monographic study of the organization
in the Maryland coal fields is sorely needed.
[72]
very faithful follower of "John Bar-
leycorn," as many a miner was and
is.
Grandmother knew the Eckharts
and often talked about them. . . .
They, the Eckharts, settled and
claimed a piece of land about two
miles long on the west side of the
old National Pike, Route 40 going
west.
4
. . . Now, the Eckhart Mines
which had the best "Big Vein"
5
of
any mine in the region, and underlay
all the Eckhart ground . . . the whole
length of Eckhart Flat and the East
end of Frostburg . . . belonged to the
Eckharts by state grant or was
claimed by squatters rights when they
settled there. You would naturally
think that the Eckharts and their
heirs would have been rich, but they
weren't. They had no deeds or papers
to show that the land legally belonged
to them. Therefore, the state of
Maryland must not have recognized
their claims to the ground and leased
it to the Consolidation Coal Com-
pany
6
without a by-your-leave, a
thank you, or any compensation to
these Germans for the settling and
opening of the mine. . . .
The Consolidation Coal Company
was chartered by the Maryland legis-
lature in 1860, when Thomas Holli-
day Hicks was Governor of this state.
Its organization was delayed by the
Civil War, but by May, 1864 its capi-
tal stock was $6,000,000 and it then
acquired 6,890 acres of coal land [from
the Mount Savage Iron Company],
together with machinery, tools and
other property of every description,
including the Cumberland and Penn-
sylvania Railroad, and equipment in
exchange for 22,000 shares of capital
stock.
7
. . .
The Maryland Mining Company
operated what is now known as the
Eckhart Mines, east of Frostburg. It
is probable that the Maryland Min-
ing Company, later renamed the
Cumberland Coal and Iron Company,
was absorbed under that name by the
Consolidation Coal Company in 1870.
8
The early importance of this concern
as a factor in the development of the
Maryland coal deposits, is shown by
the fact that in 1852 the area of the
Pittsburgh seam owned by this com-
pany, namely 6,000 acres, exceeded
by 100 percent the number of acres
owned by the second most important
[coal-mining] concern. Their mines
yielded 3,130,282 tons of coal up to
1869 and was still going strong in
1882 when the first major strike of
the region was called by the Knights
of Labor for an increase of wages on
each ton of coal dug.
9
In 1870 the Consolidation Coal
Company obtained 7,000 acres of coal
lands which included the Astor, Old
Eckhart and Hoffman mines, [through
the absorption of] the Cumberland
Coal and Iron Company whereby it
obtained the above mines as well as
the Eckhart Railroad, canal boats,
4
For an historical discussion of this famous road, the old National Pike, see Philip D. Jordan, The
National Road, (Indianapolis, 1948).
5
"Big Vein" refers to a vein in the main bituminous coal field of Allegany County. The whole
extant of this area, called the eastern coal field of Allegheny, is about thirty miles in length by an
average of four miles in breadth, mating altogether one hundred and twenty square miles lying in Maryland.
The "Big Vein," a fifteen foot vein, was the richest in the entire coal field; it gave Maryland coal its
high reputation and constituted the chief source of revenue for most of the corporations in the area.
According to an estimate made in 1854, the "Big Vein" contained 354,933,333 tons of coal; cf. J. Thomas
Scharf, History of Western Maryland, (Philadelphia, 1882), II, 1315-1316.
6
The Consolidation Coal Company, in 1877 when Charles F. Mayer became president, had a capital of
$10,250,000, owned over 7,000 acres of "Big Vein" coal lands, and 14,000 acres of smaller vein deposits;
its lands constituted two-thirds of the George Creek deposit. Aside from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
the Consolidation Coal Company was the wealthiest corporation in the state. The company was chartered
in 1860 and organized in 1864 by the consolidation of several independent coal companies; it quickly
became one of the largest and strongest in the country. Indeed, at the time of the strike discussed above,
it possessed the largest area of semi-bituminous coal property held by any single corporation in the country;
in 1880 the mines were capable of an output of 4,000 tons per day.
7
In May, 1864 the Consolidation Coal Company also acquired the Ocean Stream Coal Company and
the Frostburg Coal Company, including their lands and properties in exchange for 38,000 shares of capital
stock. Cf. Charles E. Beachley, History of the Consolidation Coal Company, (New York, 1934), 17, 23;
Scharf, op. cit., II, 1441.
8
W. L. Fairbanks and W. S. Hamill, The Coal-Mining Industry of Maryland, (Baltimore, 1932), 37.
The Maryland Mining Company was chartered in 1828,
9
Ibid., 37. The Pittsburgh seam was known throughout Maryland as the "Big Vein."
[73]
wharves at Cumberland and Balti-
more, New York barges and other
real estate. ... By these transactions
the company became the owner of
five-sixths of the "Big Vein" coal in
the region and of the outlets to it,
namely, the Baltimore and Ohio,
the Western Maryland, the Eckhart
Branch, and the Cumberland and
Pennsylvania Railroads.
10
By 1877, the Consolidation had
monopolized all of the best coal lands
and owned all the railroads tracks in
the Georges Creek region. They were
the law and the very life of Frostburg
and its surroundings. What they said
and did was right and the little fellow
had very little to say.
Charles F. Mayer of Baltimore was
elected president of this large sprawl-
ing company in 1877 and a number of
Baltimore merchants and capitalists
. . . were made directors. Thus Balti-
more financiers secured control of one
of the largest bituminous coal pro-
ducing companies in the country, and
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was
automatically assured large revenues
from the coal trade of Allegany
County.
Charles F. Mayer had keen business
insight and had had previous experi-
ence in the Despard Coal Company
of West Virginia.
11
He put these
abilities and his energy into solving
the Consolidation's problems. He had
his office at 13 German Street, Balti-
more, from 1878 to 1896 at which
time he was president of the "Con-
sol.." . . . However, this man de-
manded much from the laboring man
and gave him little in return. Most
of the profits were turned back into
mines and railroads after each in-
vestor had received a goodly share on
his investment. His methods for
breaking strikes were widely and long
used. I do not think that he would be
a very popular man today.
By 1881-82, Charles F. Mayer and
the directors, namely: William White-
write 1872-1896,
12
George B. Warren
1872-1896,
13
Robert Garrett 1876-
1896,
14
William F. Burns 1876-1896,
15
Edward de Rose 1876-1877, 1880-
1896,
16
Galloway Cheston 1877-1882,
17
10
The main line Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad extends from Cumberland to Piedmont, West
Virginia. The Eckhart Branch Railroad extends from Cumberland to Eckhart, and other mines on the eastern
edges of the coal fields. Both of these roads as well as the State Line Railroad, connecting the Cumberland
and Pennsylvania Railroad with the Pennsylvania Railroad and thereby giving Allegany coal entrance to the
New York market, were owned by the Consolidation Coal Company. Coal from Cumberland and Piedmont
would find its way to market via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to Baltimore, or by the Chesapeake and
Ohio canal to Georgetown and Alexandria. The Western Maryland Railroad had an office at Cumberland
whence freight and cars were shipped over the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to Williamsport, a distance of
over one hundred miles, and then over the tracks of this railroad to tide-water at Baltimore, the eastern
terminus of the road. The Georges Creek Railroad was another important outlet for Allegany County coal.
Its line extended from the center of the Georges Creek coal field to the city of Cumberland.
11
He helped organize this company in 1865 and served first as its vice-president and then president.
In 1871, Mayer organized the coal mining and shipping firm of Mayor, Carroll and Company. Probably
the Despard Coal Company was consolidated in this firm.
12
William Whitewrite (1815-1898)—a prominent New York financier who served for many years as
vice-president of the Union Trust Company. He was a director of a number of railroads and interested in
numerous charities and fraternal groups in his native city.
13
George B. Warren—a former mayor (1861-62) of Troy, New York, and one of this community's
prominent citizens. A director of the United National Bank and other organizations in his native city.
14
Robert Garrett (1847-1896)—banker and president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (1884-87)
as was his father, John Work Garrett (1858-84). He was one of the incorporates of the American Union
Telegraph Company which later became part of Western Union. He was also president and director of the
Baltimore Drydock Company, and a director of several other Baltimore concerns. It was he who brought
Frederick Law Olmstead to Baltimore to lay out Mt. Vernon and Washington Squares. Throughout his
entire life he was interested in philanthropic and public spirited work. For a discussion of his career as
president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, see Hungerford, op. cit., II, 160-162.
15
William F. Burns (1820-1905)—president of the Eutaw Savings Bank in Baltimore and of the
People's Gas Company until this firm was merged into the Consolidated Gas Company in 1880. He became
a director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1880, and also served for many years as a director of
the Western National Bank, the Safe Deposit and Trust Company, the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad
Company, among others.
16
Edward de Rose, (died 1916), a New York banker, a member of the Union League Club and other
similar organizations must remain a most elusive individual since extended research has yielded no further
information.
17
Galloway Cheston (1806-1881)—a prominent Baltimore merchant who served as a director of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Baltimore Savings Bank, the Farmers and Planters Bank, and the
Peabody Fire Insurance Company. For many years he was president of the Board of Trustees of John
Hopkins University, and a trustee of the Peabody Institute.
[74]
James Sloan Jr. 1882-1901,
18
superin-
tendents, mine bosses and company
men broke the first major labor strike
in the region. William T. Hamilton
19
was Governor of Maryland at that
time. I do not know who our repre-
sentatives in the legislature
20
were at
this time, but Dr. W. H. Ravens-
craft
21
was mayor of Frostburg. He
was well known and liked. He was a
member of the Frostburg Lodge 590,
the Knights of Labor and the Young
Men's Christian Association. . . .
Frostburg was hard hit and suffered
severe financial setbacks due to a five
month strike caused by labor differ-
ences. But if one had lived in Eck-
hart at that time, he or she would
have understood the labor difficulties.
Most of the miners' houses were mere
shells and there was no money to
make them comfortable. Sickness
was prevalent, and wages were so low
that if one traded at company stores,
which most did, one was always in
debt to the "Consol" or to which-
ever store be bought from. The
miners did not make enough to keep
body and soul together, let alone
dress themselves and their families.
It was nip and tuck with the wolf at
the door more than away. With such
long hours in the mines, from day-
light to dark, it is no wonder men,
yes, and even the women, turned to
drinking. Those were very hard times
and if men wanted to rise above
themselves they had to struggle and
fight for their rights. This the miners
did through the Knights of Labor.
This organization originated in
Philadelphia in 1869 as the result of
efforts put forth by a garment cutter,
Uriah Stephens. In the beginning the
affairs of the Knights were garbed in
secrecy, even the name of the society
was never mentioned but was indi-
cated by five stars. As the members
increased in numbers, all secrecy was
abandoned and a Declaration of
Principles
22
was made public. Labor,
down to the present day, has formed
its organizations on these basic princi-
ples which are part and parcel of the
"Declaration of the Rights of Man."
Through them the laboring man and
his family improved their economic,
moral, social and intellectual condi-
tions. They also have enabled him to
perform and understand his duties as
a citizen. . . .
By 1877 when Mr. Mayer became
president, the Knights had gained a
good foothold in the Georges Creek
region. By 1882 most of the "Con-
sols" miners, man and boy were
members.
The "Consol" prospered during
the first three years of Mr. Mayer's
presidency; markets for coal ex-
panded, and by 1881 about 6,000
miners were employed. "Consol"
railroads were kept busy. . . . The
company was booming in every phase
of its undertaking, but wages re-
mained the same.
23
18
James Sloan Jr. (1833-1901)—president of Farmers and Merchants National Bank which was the
depository for the State of Maryland. He was a member of the Finance Committee of the city of Baltimore
and of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. He was also a director of several other corporations in his native
city of Baltimore.—There were four other board members besides those cited in the text.
19
William T. Hamilton (1820-1888)—forty-first Governor of Maryland (1880-1884), a Democrat who
previously served as a congressman (1848-54) and United States senator (1868-1874). He was a native of
Hagerstown.
20
B. L. Turner, Reuben Anthony, and D. D. Shearer—only Turner served in the 1882 session. The
state senator representing Allegheny County at the time of the strike was John S. Combs; he was replaced
at Annapolis at the next session of the assembly.
21
W. H. Ravenscraft—had also previously served as mayor in 1877. He was a prominent figure in
many of the organizations participating in the social life of the community.
22
The Declaration of Principles of the Knights of Labor was adopted at the first session of the
General Assembly in 1878. It called for progress in the direction of the better distribution of the "material
comforts and mental and moral opportunities of mankind." In part the declaration stated that "the
alarming development and aggressiveness of great capitalists and corporations, unless checked, will inevitably
lead to the pauperization and degradation of the toiling masses." The Knights of Labor wanted to halt
this development and remedy this evil through the organization of all laborers, and the direction of their
united efforts toward measures that would eventually promulgate a new society based on cooperatives. The
first step in the direction of this change "is to secure to the workers the full enjoyment of the wealth they
create, sufficient leisure in which to develop their intellectual, moral and social facilities, all of the benefits
of recreation, and pleasures of association; in a word, to enable them to share in the gains and honors of
advancing civilization."
23
During the decade of the 1870's, when beginning in 1873 and lasting for almost seven years, the
nation experienced the most severe depression in its history to that year, the Cumberland and Pennsylvania
[75]
The Knights of Labor at this time
proclaimed themselves to the public
and working on the principle of
"strike while the iron is hot" pre-
sented a contract to the company
asking for an increase of wages in
mining,, higher rates for labor, better
working conditions and many other
stipulations, wages being the most
important.
Mr. Mayer, the directors and in-
vestors held a meeting and decided to
ignore this proposed contract, the
first ever set before them. They gave
out this statement to the Knights of
Labor miners: the wage demands
would make the cost of production
much higher than in competing
regions and that the rules and regula-
tions set up by the Knights governing
the conduct of work were as injurious
to business as the higher prices set
for labor. Altogether, he said, the
whole contract was impossible, and
to make his decision final he an-
nounced a reduction in wages. A ton
of coal was now worth only twenty-
five cents to the man who mined it,
and that had to be good clean coal,
free of slate and rock. A miner aver-
aged between four and five tons per
twelve hours by the pick and shovel
method. This was the lowest wage
ever payed in these parts for coal.
24
Labor was not only insulted because
the company would not even sit down
and talk the contract over, but to act
in such a high-handed manner as to
reduce wages when they had made so
much money in the preceding years,
that was piling insult upon injury and
so labor got its back up, and with
good reason and called a strike.
The Knights of Labor had two fine
leaders at that time, Mr. John Cham-
bers
25
of Frostburg who had lived in
Eckhart until '81. He was District
Master Workman of the Knights and
came to Frostburg to start a grocery
business. He was commissary for the
Knights and went into debt $40,000
for the miners during this strike and
others. By the time of his death in
1917 he had been payed all but $200.
Men like him were the very backbone
of the labor movement. . . .
Mr. Francis Brady was another
leader that my grandmother talked
about. He had studied for the priest-
hood, then decided to give it up for
one reason or another. Uncle Eugene
Brunner says he remembers his father
telling him about an "Immortal Let-
ter" that Brady sent to the President
of the United States and to the Gov-
ernor of Maryland. This letter told of
the wrongs of a people working under
total and unsupervised capitalism or
rather, unfettered capitalism. Of
course the "Consol" didn't like this.
The letter also stated the rights of
working or common people under
state and national government. He
wrote and he talked, and what he said
made sense. The miners listened and
acted.
The "Consol" paid no heed to the
miners or their leaders. Neither did
the miners receive any help or assis-
tance from the outside. The company
demanded the return of the miners
and the unconditional control of their
operations without any interference
from the Knights. This was to be
effective March 15,1882. The Georges
Creek miners had already made their
Railroad was shipping as much as two and a half million tons of coal per annum; while the yield of the
Georges Creek region alone had been maintained at upwards of a million and a half per annum.—Cf. George
W. Howard, The Monumental City, (Baltimore, 1880), 725-726.
24
"Big Vein" coal was selling in Cumberland in 1881 at prices ranging from eighty cents to one
dollar and a half per ton depending on the type of coal desired. A recent History of Allegany County,
Maryland, by J. W. Thomas and T. J. C. Williams (Cumberland, 1923), Vol. I, p. 457, states that in 1882
the operators reduced the mining rate from sixty-five to fifty cents per ton, and that it was this reduction
that brought about the strike. These figures differ from those paid by the Consolidation Coal Company as
stated in this letter. However, Charles E. Beachley in his official history of the Consolidation Coal Company
notes (p. 30) that in 1896 labor in the employ of the company was obtaining only forty to forty-five cents
per ton. He further writes (p. 33): " Early in 1900 the company, with other operators in the Georges
Creek region, increased the rate of mining wages from forty-five to fifty-five cents per gross ton . . .
bringing wages to the highest level paid in the region at any time during the previous eighteen years."
25
John B. Chambers (1845-1917)—settled in Frostburg in 1880 after working on the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal, dealing in grain and coal, and serving in the Union Army. In 1881 he opened a grocery at
Frostburg where he was identified with public interests throughout the remainder of his life.
[76]
decision. The result was a total sus-
pension of operation during the most
important time of the year. Conse-
quently, coal production dropped
from 844,368 tons in 1881 to but
472,048 in 1882. . . .
26
By June the "Consol," under the
capable charge of Mr. Mayer, decided
to do something about the strike of
the Georges Creek miners. The
miners were a stubborn lot. He'd
show them and he did. Germany was
in a bad state of depression at that
period. This had affected the Bremen-
Baltimore ship line that hauled
freight for the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad which used the "Consol"
coal.
27
Men in that country were
looking for a way to the good old
U. S. A. and Mr. Mayer was looking
for a way to break the strike. Mr.
Mayer got the men to work the mine
and some Germans and Central Euro-
peans came to Eckhart Mine, Mary-
land, U. S. A.
28
In the meantime barracks had been
set up near the mouth of the Old
Eckhart mine in the center of Eck-
hart on the National Pike. Bunks,
rough tables, chairs and a big cook
stove had been hauled in. ... The
Knights called a meeting. They
talked and surmised and anticipated
what was coming, but could do noth-
ing as the buildings and the high
board fence around them were well
guarded.
One day in June or July 1882, the
Cumberland and Pennsylvania box
cars stopped on the Eckhart siding
and well-armed guards were stationed
and waiting for them. The men, who
were in the boxcars, were grouped
and marched from the siding up the
pike to the barracks. The next day
they were taken into the mines on big
flat cars under the same guard.
Among these Germans was my hus-
band's grandfather Joseph Patton.
He was called Old Jose by the old
people and his son was called Young
Jose. His children were born in Eck-
hart. Other names were Hoover, Kel-
ler, Groter, Seibert, Machinsky, Hess,
Kammauf, Peterson, Madasky,
Schriver, Bollinger, Hossraths, or
Houserats as they came to be known,
Linnenbroger, Tashenburger, Coby-
ock, and Decker—to mention but a
few. They were unknowingly the
strikebreakers of that strike, and were
called "Hoodlums," "The 82ers" and
"Box-car Hunkies" and were looked
down upon by the people of this sec-
tion. They were sturdy, stocky,
ruddy faced men who smoked pipes
and who didn't know A from B about
mining. . . .
These Germans lived for a time a
confined, slavelike existence. Know-
ing nothing of the language and ways
of our country and, of course, being
without money, this was their only
course. The constitution of Maryland,
Article 26, abolished slavery, saying
in this way—that slavery shall not be
reestablished in this state, having
been abolished under the policy and
authority of the United States.
29
Of
course, Francis Brady knew this and
also Article 6 of the Maryland con-
stitution, stating that all persons in-
vested with the legislative or execu-
tive powers of government are trus-
tees of the public, and as such are
accountable for their conduct; where-
fore, whenever the ends of govern-
ment are prevented and public liberty
manifestly endangered and all means
of redress are ineffectual, the people
may and of a right ought to reform
the old, or establish a new govern-
26
Charles E. Beachley, op. cit., 26.
27
John Work Garrett, while president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (1858-1884), in order to
restore Baltimore as a major port, entered into an agreement with the North German Lloyd steamship line.
As a result of this agreement huge wharves were built at Locust Point to accommodate the ocean liners and
the immigrant traffic. Storage elevators and warehouses were also built. Besides coal, the most important
export, grain, sugar and coffee were the chief products handled on the wharves. Most of the Consolidated
Coal Company coal was shipped from Locust Point, but the company also had at the Cumberland Basins of
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, large piers for shipping coal to Georgetown.
28
Most of the immigrant strike breakers were Germans; however, there were some Swedes and Slavs
among them.
.
29
In 1867 a new constitution, the fifth in the state's history, went into effect; Article 24, not Article
26 as stated in the letter, of the Declaration of Rights abolished slavery. Slavery was first officially abolished
in Maryland by the Constitution of 1864.
[77]
ment. The doctrine of non-resistance
against arbitrary power and oppres-
sion is absurd, slavish, and destruc-
tive of the good and happiness of
mankind.
30
This last clause fitted exactly the
conditions that existed in this mining
region in '82 and at other periods of
mining history. This power and op-
pression by the "Consol" of its
miners demanded that they do some-
thing drastic about the situation as
existed when the company had in-
stalled the Germans to mine the coal.
There was no one to speak for the
miners before the law and legislature
of Maryland. . . .
Anyway, my grandmother said my
grandmother said my grandfather,
Patrick Thompson of Frog Hollow,
Eckhart Mines, and a number of
others under the leadership of Francis
Brady of Washington Hollow, same
place, decided at a meeting there was
nothing else to do but blow the bar-
racks and the "Hoodlums" all to hell
and be done with it. They knew that
labors' back was broken and their
chances of advancement in living re-
tarded for many years. Many of
them would have no work and those
who lived in company houses (grand-
pa didn't) would be turned out. The
"Consol" men found out the miners'
plans and every piece of property was
doubly guarded and they went after
the men who instigated this insurrec-
tion against the powerful "Consol."
Francis Brady was a hunted man and
escaped with his life from this section.
The company had deputized its men
to shoot to kill him. . . . He hid in the
woods and mountains among friends
who provided a horse and a little
money as well as provisions so that
he could get out safely.
The strike was broken and most of
the miners went back to the "Consol."
. . . They were required to give their
word and promise in written state-
ments to never uphold or belong to
the Knights of Labor and to do what
they were bid under company man-
agement. Conditions of the miners
were no better and, indeed, they were
worse because of lowered wages and
working with men who did not speak
our tongue and who knew nothing of
mining, thereby endangering life that
much more in that dangerous occupa-
tion.
31
After the Germans had learned to
speak the language they asked the
miners where the money came from.
The old miners told them that it grew
on trees, and they, the "Hoodlums,"
would go around looking and climb-
ing trees and asking people they met
which tree was it that the money
grew on. Everyone laughed at them,
finally they caught on.
These people lived in boxcars,
shanties, and company houses. Most
of them lived at a lower level than
when they were in the old country. A
lot of them were disgusted and dis-
satisfied with their way of life and as
soon as they got a little money left
the section.
By 1885 these immigrant Germans
had formed a society known as "The
Order of Saint Sebastian," and had
badges or emblems with this inscrip-
tion printed on them. .. . This organi-
zation held weekly socials that served
beer, soft drinks, sandwiches and
sweets. They had formed a bank and
also held dances. Anyone could at-
tend for a dollar. So it seems these
people had an education back in the
old country, musical and otherwise.
They were a kindly, hospitable people
when the oldtimers came to know
them, and many became friendly and
married with the local girls. But they
were always known as the "Hood-
lums" as they represented the bad
times in which they came. My grand-
father always remained bitter and re-
sentful to them, for his heart and soul
was wrapped up in the Knights of
Labor. Many of the older folks were
like this.
So you see, Professor Cunz, how
30
Maryland Constitution of 1867, Declaration of Rights, Article 6.
31
The strike lasted from March 15 to August 28, 1882, when the defeated miners went back to work.
[78]
the Germans and their children de-
termined the policy and development
of western Maryland, especially this
Georges Creek region and how the
Consolidation Coal Company took
millions of dollars from the people in
labor and in the form of very low
wages. The company gave nothing.
Schools, churches, public buildings
and hospitals were built by the miners
and civic leaders locally. Of course
the company developed a good trans-
portation system which we pay to
use. There were many long and bitter
strikes and the hard times caused by
them were terrible.
Thank you so much for reading this
long, long letter.
Sincerely
(Signed)
MRS. OLIVE PATTON
[79]
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