Typed Letter Signed detailing a miner's death at the United Verde Mine strike of 1917
- SIGNED
- Chicago , 1917
Chicago, 1917. Very Good. Chicago: 1917. Typed letter signed with postally-used envelope from a David J. Evans to "Aunt Ann" dated May 31, 1917. Mail folds to letter, else Very Good.
The letter details the death of a Wallis in the immediate aftermath of the declaration of a strike at the United Verde Mine in Jerome, Arizona. Evans reports, "Wallis had been working in a tunnel, and, from accounts received, the strikers had set fire to the station building of the rail-road... At the fire the men inside the tunnel, Wallis probably in the lead on account of his fleetness of foot, rushed out and up a narrow path single file towards the burning building. Four men were shot, two of whom were killed, Wallis being one of the unfortunate ones."
The May strike highlighted a rift between the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (MMSW) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). This strike was called by the MMSW and was initially supported by the IWW until they were rebuffed and called for a larger general strike later in the summer. A sad but illuminating document of mining and labor history. .
The letter details the death of a Wallis in the immediate aftermath of the declaration of a strike at the United Verde Mine in Jerome, Arizona. Evans reports, "Wallis had been working in a tunnel, and, from accounts received, the strikers had set fire to the station building of the rail-road... At the fire the men inside the tunnel, Wallis probably in the lead on account of his fleetness of foot, rushed out and up a narrow path single file towards the burning building. Four men were shot, two of whom were killed, Wallis being one of the unfortunate ones."
The May strike highlighted a rift between the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (MMSW) and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). This strike was called by the MMSW and was initially supported by the IWW until they were rebuffed and called for a larger general strike later in the summer. A sad but illuminating document of mining and labor history. .