Marmet

Marmet. Kanawaha County, West Virginia. , “Lens Creek Valley is electric and bustling…” , writes one journalist. "The men … are mountaineers, in blue overalls or parts of khaki uniform, carrying rifles as casually as picks or sticks … They mention the towns they come from, dozens of names, in the New River region, in Fayette County, in counties far to the north.", Many have red bandanas knotted around their arms or necks, a symbol of their commitment to liberate more than a hundred of their union brothers unjustly imprisoned in Mingo County. A reporter estimates that a quarter of them are African Americans. Their tents, campfires, and sentries stretch for miles from Marmet up Lens Creek. Over four thousand are encamped here, though some have already begun the long march, following the waterways toward Mingo., A restless crowd is growing at the edge of the camp near Hernshaw., On a hillside above five hundred gathered miners, an elderly woman shouts and waves a piece of paper, Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, one of the UMWA’s best known organizers, revered by miners for her bravery and commitment to their cause., She claims to have a telegram from US President Warren G. Harding, stating that if the miners disband their armed march, he will use his presidential powers to address the injustices they have suffered., Two men arrive as Jones shouts to the gathered miners: UMWA District 17 officials Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney., Keeney and Mooney have known and trusted Mother Jones for nearly two decades, but when they ask to see the paper in her hands, she replies, “Go to hell.”, Mother Jones, who went up Cabin Creek when other organizers were afraid, faced down gun thugs, was arrested for inciting violence and faced a military tribunal, and spent weeks imprisoned, all to help miners unionize, is now pleading with the miners not to march on Logan., Keeney and Mooney drive back to Charleston and wire Washington D.C. to see if President Harding had actually sent a telegram, and the reply confirms their suspicions: no such telegram was sent. Over a century later, it is still not clear why Mother Jones chose to fabricate the document and lie to the miners of West Virginia, whom she had aided with such persistence in past struggles., Mother Jones leaves West Virginia on a train, never to return, and that night, the miners begin to march to Mingo County.