xt7zcr5n9g1t_4 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zcr5n9g1t/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zcr5n9g1t/data/82m1.dao.xml Evans, Herndon J., 1895-1976 3.5 Cubic feet Herndon J. Evans, editor of the Pineville Sun in Bell County, Kentucky, closely followed labor unrest in the Kentucky coalfields, especially in Harlan and Bell Counties, during the early 1930s. The collection contains handbills, leaflets, pamphlets and newspaper clippings collected by Evans primarily from 1931-1933. Also included are handwritten notes, correspondence, and drafts of articles and editorials written by Evans as well as memorabilia such as Communist Party membership books and organizational charts. archival material English University of Kentucky This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Physical rights are retained by the owning repository. Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. For information about permissions to reproduce or publish, contact the Special Collections Research Center. Herndon J. Evans Collection Coal miners--Kentucky Coal mines and mining--Economic conditions. Communism--Kentucky. Editors--Kentucky. Pamphlets. Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Kentucky. January 1932 text January 1932 2012 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7zcr5n9g1t/data/82m1/82m1_1/82m1_1_4/120036/120036.pdf section false xt7zcr5n9g1t_4 xt7zcr5n9g1t ROOM 337I ST. DENIS BLDG., nth S-L B'WAYl NEW YORK CITY
··-··~»··¤ " ''rl`
Phone: STuyw:a1u 9-5439
SHERWOOD ANDERSON _ »"* ~
HARRY ELMER BARNES _ L _//I _n r rw
WILLIAM ROSE BENE'[ Y .U€b1"llB.1`J .].:5, ].90z•
PROF. FRANZ BOAS \
LESTER COHEN `
LOUIS COLMAN*"; ` _ ‘Y__ _ JOIN DEWEY, EIJRST, 'DIEODOIEE DFS} ISEH AZIOIEG
=\ moss 1:110 rnorssr 1-Lumii ries
,_-,...,.....-..,».*.,,....__.n.¤ ........................................... ...... ..... ....—. .. .~.... .. .......
BRUCE CRAWFORD ·»·
EDWARD DAHLBERG
FLOYD DELL
A1;>oL1>H DEHN As Congress prepared to consider a resolution for en
I11EQQQBE_,PK¥?l§§§
EDGAR FMLEY investigation into conditions in the Harlan and Bell Counties, Ky. , coal
WALDO ,€E;·éNK»
HUGO GELLERT O, _ _ _ ,_ _ _ , _ _ J_ _, _ _
LYDIA GIBSON ll€].QS, 3 g)'I`OL`Lj_) Ol 'Jc].].·r{l'lO‘·Y!l'l €dLlC5t`L]Ol`S, SOC10].O§lSuS, Gllfl *s:ri‘cers
MURRAY GODWIN _ r
]\{ICHA]§L GOLD today issued a protest against the beat of wsldo Franl; and Allan
EUGENE GORDON
€· HARTLEY GRATTAN 'Daub wlien they and. a group of writers distributing relief we re kid-
PAUL GREEN
HORACE GREGORY _»-. _ · - _ · y _ _,_ ., _ -. - . . -.
n ned rrom Pineville Le 1 new earlr ..ec1neso-r me ninv '*·l ·—;> ··“
E. HALDEMANJULIUS €l_ , I o 1/, 4, ew of _,• 4. 16* yl ISGS u
M, HALDEMAN-JULIUS _ _ _; __ _ _ _
JULIUS HEIMAN CLS Slglliid by l‘E1'1.1'l,Y i»LI»L].1SJG , llOV€]..lSJG§ JULIE. D€‘.'I€y, i£E'.IiO`·.LS €d`nlC&I3OI‘;
JOSEPHINE HERBST
LANGSTON HUGHES Tneodore Dreiser, novelist; Tan Jycl; jrooks , crit io; jrlfre-i Kreymborg,
MAXWELL HYDE
LEON KAHN poet; Floyd Jell, Elvin Johns on, George S. Counts, Evelgii Dewey,
ALFRED KREYMBORG
SUZANNE LAFOLLETTE __ _ L _ . _ , _` -~
PIERRE LOVING Laroaret Cheney Jax-{son, Lester Cohen, Corliss Lamont, ann or. Lenry
LOUIS LOZOWICK
GEORGE MAURER lTewmann• The protest is released through the National Committee for
CLAUDE McKAY
E‘;NASS‘·VULC;§I;D“‘ILLAY the Defense of Political I risoners, nnier Hinose auspices slxeoiore
L WI MU
§A'MI;1;l;R;RbLi¥;{ANN Dreiser led a conuxiittee of rsriters into Harlan in Zfovember; and
“ FRANK PALMER
ANNA PLNNYPACKLR wlzicli was represent ed on the present delegation.
PAUL PETERS , `
BURTON RASCOE The text follows:
ELMER RICE
LOLARIDGH; ., ·»_ ,· _ ._· L, L-., ¤_ ·. »» .
JAMES RORTY .,e prot est the orezen Lidnap;»inL, oi talrlo E:;;;n:, lralcolm
CLAIRE SIFTON ___ _ _ __ _ 4 _ , . 1, . _, _ _
PAUL SIFTON Cowley, L.dmu.no .;i-.so11, nary neston orse, Polly léoyden, ;$€l'l\i$iE£1l1'l Lieder,
UPTON SINCLAIR
LINCOLN s·rEF1=ENs Dr. Lilise Reid liitcn-ell, Joh;1 Ijenry Lismxiond , Jr. , Listen Cala, guineey
BERNHARD J. STERN
;‘v‘;;;§;°;T TROTTER Ziorze, and A. li. Liss: who had gone into Pineville, Sign , to distribute
MARYWLIEATON VORSE , _ _,_ _ ,
CiIARLE§` RJLVVALKER l‘€.’L3.@I uO S`L}€31`Vll’L;§ 1’3ll1F2l`S•
_ Emo WALROND
WALTER WILSON
ELLA WINTER
MARGUERITE ZORACH
WILLIAM ZORACH
ian JOHN DOS PASSOS, Trecsurer, O MELVIN P. LEVY, Sec'y, I ADELAIDE G. WALKER, Ass`t Sec’y
q Kentucky Protest ———-————- page two. E
Waldo Frank and Allan Taub, a lawyer, were beaten brutally
about the face by the deputies who kidnaped them. Doris Parks and
Harold Hickerson, playwright, are still in jail on open charges because
they attempted to distribute food to miners in Eineville.
The committee went into Pineville on the trucks because
they had learned that food and relief were being "confiscated" - another
word for stolen - by gunmen, hired by sheriffs and paid by the coal
companies to patrol the roads. For months these deputies have been
breaking up meetings of miners, arresting strikers, raiding homes and
union headquarters, stop,ing the U}S.Lhils, dynamiting soup—kitchens,
shooting miners, reporters, relief workers or any people who expressed
sympathy with the starving miners.
The connittee with the trucks of food were stopped on the
A roads and later ordered not to distribute food in Iineville or hold any
meetings. This is a brazen violation of the fundamental constitutional
rights of huren beings. r
On the night of February lO, after the committee had dis-
tributed half a truck load of food, all committee members were rounded _
up by deputized thugs and herded off to jail on charges of "disorderly
conduct". From jail they were forcibly hidnaped to the state line,
told to get out and never return to the county. _
Alnwév Aiding the deputies in this criminal act was a mob of
x
» Q "leadin; citizens" from Pineville, deputized by the sheriff, and ad-
.' mittedly led by Herndon Evans, editor of the Pineville Sun, a persistent
j and bitter enemy of the miners.
{ Evans later concocted for the press a vicious and stupid
{ Q story stating that'naldo Frank and Allan Taub started a fight with one
5 U another in order to bring 'trumped-up' charges of assault against the
1
§ f degwties · According to Evans' story, both the writer and the lawyer
3 ,
J
v ` Kentucky protest --— ---— page three. Q
later ’received minor bruises in falling as they alighted from the
{\ automobiles’ —- also to sustain the 'trumped—up' charges.
A lon; distance telephone call from the writers' committee
to the National Committee for the Defense of Political Erisoners in_
New York stated unequivocally that both men had been repeatedly struck
in the face and about the head with automobile jacks in the hands of
deputies. Hundreds of miners, union leaders, and relief agents have
received the same treatment.
Harry Simms, a nineteen-year—old mine organizer led a
group of strikers toward Pineville to receive their share of the relief.
At Brush Creek, a fen miles from Pineville he was shot in the stomach
by deputy sheriffs and has since died. »
g ( Early news dispatches carried the true story of the
a
g beating and kidnapping, until “corrected" by one of the leaders of
i
2 the kidnapping mob. ln Evans' version the beating became a “fight among
~§ members of the committee" and the kidnapping a "safe transportation to
1 the state line". Eewspapers aware of the truth through their own news
sources, deliberately accepted Evans' distortion.
This whole proceedure proves again that the charges of a
reighn of terror in the coal fields maintained by a corps of ruthless
company—hired gunmen and plu3—uglies are true. The group of writers,
representing the Iational Qomnittee for the Defense of Political ‘
frisonors, who accompanied Theodore Dreiser into Kentucky last November
and were promptly indicted for criminal syndicalism made this clear
enough. Here is a second expedition, bent upon giving relief to
desperate, starving people; upon establishing simple human right of
holding a meeting —- and they immediately herded together, battered, _
and driven out of the community like criminals.
U O ‘“ Kentucky protest —---—-— page four
· We look upon the emninietrstion of law and justice in Harlan
and Bell counties ss sn adjunct to coal operator tyranny. The mines in that
district ere owned by Americe's greatest corporations —— the U.S. Steel Col;
the Insull interests; the Ford lgot or Oo.; the Pesbodyéiellon interests.
» These people employ the thugs vsiio are deputized by the county. 31.011 2.
condition imposes virtual slavery upon the miners. Such e condition cen
rcsxnlt only in the total wiping out of thousands of miners and their families,
through hunger, disease, terror end violent death.
Signed by:
TZZLEODOTQJ DEEISEZR
FJLIETI FJQQST
JOEL?
TAI RICK BROOKS
ALFRED LZEEEELBORG
ELI) DELL
ALTE" JOHETSOLT
GEOTYGU S. UOUQTDS K
EVELET DEE`!
Z.;;Y;¥;GJiE*}’;‘ lT»£[..`SC-Y -
LESDXEEE OOEZEIT _
CQL`:LlF3S LJJ,?;>lT‘I‘
Di. [QZ
I ` ` I ` " `
I II,.} ’ I V _ ‘ V VII
I II _ _ I fr ' A I I ‘v'
I NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO AID STRIKING M-INERS FIGHTING STARVATION ‘
F 799 BROADWAY • NEW YORK CITY • TELEPHONE GRAMERCY 5-5443 ·
I A I
l` January, 1932
I JOHN DOS PASSOS,
I ~ Chairman I
It HUG6 SELLER-I-I Dear Friend:
I I Secretary I H _ t b " _ I I
I L¤<>~ ·;
' ... . . . !‘ ,-. . »·* ··· .. . H » J ·`-,7
- · A w;e? _s_·.
~. in az ¤· , » "3_;»~ L'! ‘ r n=V` ww? .2: s = A . i<»;·“ iqii cm
gw [j"m;g . . 1;; {YP ;_f{`·;`;*_%',’]_<'VV `VQV pfe T TQ'] Ci' Z V. h; » . lV V1? V VZ VL": =`V Vf
, 7, . V . V, .1. ~ . - ‘» ~ V ..` .` — V , . V wr- f. " M ‘. · r· {2 V 'V !`
**31} \_;_. ML, .1X¢ ryy, :j'r-, ~,~1·¢¤ ,‘_¤ < ~,k `.L’mi` xw .L rv
~ L`.1 WG ¤ VK? CU 4 j Jin? Cal if; U V§.j;E” Q
fa n‘},.e ,- *30 ‘ L » T V1 ¢Y5C· ‘ iV rnrr · ..Q VV LO PJ: ¤V Y“‘V* FV
*1* . .. ‘\ . . V. - —\
_ ‘ ~2.=1.i-.2. 1.; »<· V ¤» c 1 =;J‘· ‘
.. . » . , , .,,~- S;- .‘~~ `»--~».‘» V`—·
fif j; ‘;{Q,‘·¤`_.,.’1 _: ._ , ~¤__· f ;..¤.•<>(; · U yy A,} v_ J. v
VE °=¤i2 5. ’·"<‘V V`. `V " i‘Q=1~Cc.é ?‘:,j.;\ ?‘=—> `JT K. ~ F V » ' · l· 33 fr VP?
QU; J 5;. U-. igwljv » ,xf.?_£V,·‘.V?* V V`=—;i: Y 2; ,
` /rmr· ‘;‘_i¤"gV}· ·v‘;·w1:<—
,..-. . / ,»¤
Us rw` ‘ Q?/U ’
Jany 2 1932
U H J E, ·
~l
IZ _ VERY CONFIDENTIAL y
’§ At a meeting of the Russian Reds in Pineville Thursday night, among
5 other things "done" was the following - L
i "they also elected a committee to go and see the Editor of the Pineville Sun i
_P and tell him that he must stop printing these rotten lies on us in his paper Q,
y and gee (Joe Weber) said if that did not stop him we would throw a picket V
‘ line around his office of about 200 men and see how he took that and would i
C keep on doing it till he was ready to stop his lying; they said they would also 1
demand room enough in his paper to answer the damnable lies he had put out {
I against this union” A
xgl
L All mines that tried to operate this morning are getting along W
i splendidly. We had some anxiety about the situttio at Creech Coal Co lv
on Wallins Creek but they tell me this morning that not more than 50 {
¥ layed off and about 25 of that number did so on account of " strike sympathy" y'
j This is a remarkable showing for them in face of all the circumstances g
the Company has been up against. One other mine where we thought there {
y might be a certain percent of sympathy is going strong, with practically {
“ a hundred percent in the mines. §
`Q A very mis—leading statement appeared in one of the Lexington papers yesterday, i
{ to the effect that about 10% of the men in Harlan were affected by the 2
I strike; the writer must have gotten balled up and intended to cover the g
situation in Bell County. Out of 22 or 24 mines working yesterday, not lg
over 40 men were affected by the strike and about 30 of this number mes at one [
’ mine. ` ?§
y G S Wh,/’ it
{
i , E
§ If the committee should happen to come to see you, please Q
Q not not let them know that you have any advance information i
I 1 about it, because they are very suspicious of every man it
Q that attends their meetings.
i iii
l `l
g .1
I .
i " 2
l w
{ 1
L
Ei ,
$2
~
E
Jany l5 l932
H J E
I am enclosing you herewith an article by R B wills of
Miami, Fla on the National Miners Union anu the Cgmmunist
Party, which is very interesting. he says it may be
used in any way we see fit and if you care to use all of
it or any part of it, go aheao.
Am glad that the advocates of ievolution have been finally
disposed of down there and I am wondering if Bell will
have to continue feeding Lemenovitch or whether he is
now a "charge" of the Government.
The N M U are making plans for another big demonstration in
Kiddlesboro, poseibly on the 24th, saying that they have been
assured by the Liddlesboro people that they can parade the
streets there providing they do so under the Stars ann Stripes.
G S W
icationsr ·- , _, < ··—--· --~·~ ~~~~·- ~ __;
· 'I G J`- v- - v`
’d mem' t]`mS' · - selves ou
rheabol- r _ . communisi
L system? / . : • • . • Hitlerfsm,
· Ha is `T he Liberal Viewpoint mpzegg
hat L°°a » —·1zy DR. HARRY, ELMER Banmzs
‘ informed, AFORMER Kentuckian, Lieutenant Thomas H. Bac., &c."_
S 3, com- ‘Massie,is_to be tried for murder in Honolulu. Some U
l To as The Kentgclky Assembly adopted unanimously J€1‘S€Y·I
D pos a resolutio calling upon the governnaentto T0? 3 m
the 0pp°' insure the immediate release of Lieutenant @h\1Si··"R
zmbership Massie and the others accused of murder. ¤Thc m€9~¤$ 3}
1 gf com- Assembly asked that, if necessary, martial law ildgzg} gm
- - be,declared:—— 0 9· m
‘ `pendmg "If such result annot be secured that the by iab<>1ié
lis m=%i¤r President declare rgartial law in Honblulu until Sh1m§i4 bl
ide seems such time as Hawaii can be made safe for municipal
women and especially the wives of our men in H-?} byu:
the army and navy, who, not of their own voli- D FLYSTO
hfggr tion, are stationed in Honolulu? , ;nent_t
“ It may seem a little strange that Kentucky, Yami
which has just convicted .two, honorable _labor Tim them
»ose_ than leaders of murder because of their organizing b°¤€St P
. . umOnS_ activities and economic ideas, should demand UCB fmt
_ . - the release of a Kentucky naval officer without I am
W *S iis mai. _ , . » -, had me
'GUES m - ’f ’ ‘!‘ { . man wr
mould be LET us, however, accept Kentucky’s` version of and I w?
grmger, . Hawaii for the time being. Can Kentucky, that a_?
up Of with its Harlan, appropriately cast aspersions on felt as_.
t up n social and moral conditions in our island posses- accords;
0 sions? I think not. ’ _ Fur_
nple., ,The mining section around Harlan is an ernor_
_ Bug armed camp. Qlonest investigators cannot enter calami
than without grave Hanger to their lives or personal and an
_ ' freedom. Low wages are paid to the mine work- engulfr
‘t?ma' ers. There is a vast amount of unemployment. vote fc
es and starvation stalks. Many die from slow starva-‘ I arr
5 than tion and from chronic diseases induced by in- hearin
, layman adequate food. Company-controlled deputies nated
' intimidate and even shoot down those who at- emy, &
tempt to maintain soup kitchens to feed the and Hi
. Green starving. Courtroom procedure in the trialof utteran
3o5_ It accused labor leaders resembles that in the propagz
` · Mooney-Billings, Sacco-Vanzetti and Centralia thing tm
°cOmmg' trials. Men are tried_for murder on account of place a
their social, economic and political opinions. those wl
CE. Newspapers are throttled if they propose to tell knee an·
the plain truth about the methods of the prose- their sell
the un' cution. ` _quences "
rk City We have no desire to differ with Kentucky on nearest c
I » 0 have the question of rape in Honolulu orelsewhere. Belforc
Rémef It is a crime which should be sternly repressed.
n d Is_ even the horrible Bishoff case in Cincinnati By M. D.
· g B' as staggering as the wholesale starvation and ·
disease among little girls in the Harlan area? ..S1€;gy§·
yy New The murder of Marian McLean by Charles Bish— Senator _.
Of the off was one of the most hideous crimes in the wm give
annals of violence. But her death was relatively ·
led by less inhuman than the prolonged suffering of Nam;§92
‘ » . . . » h
A$50· the-starving and wasting waifs in the Kentucky ;Og‘;1uS,(
situa- coal fields .’-’ — number,
C * * 7* » ently v
“yhich THE second major instance of unconscious been ap;
rizona humor on the grand scale is the successful of opini
‘ a’ persecution of a__the cast of "Lysistrata" -in Los friends.
_ _ re nga Angeles until ·the players finally gave up the· Roosevel
· » PTO - · —effort ~in disgust and cancelled further .per- The p
- formances. » from the
‘ ~ This will stir a sardonic smile among those ize that
· - WSNFZV who have followed the persecution of Mooney presses i
T and Billings, the attempt to railroad Yetta in harme
z one Stromberg to prison, the fierce sentences im- One thil
. mmm, posed upon those who would better the horrible fifty pe
· ‘ ’ conditions among melon workersin the Imperial spoken-
. :s1€f]§s' Valley. ‘ ‘ _ velt; a‘
. Jfomm _ "Lysistrata" is a classical play of great dra- they fee
0, with matic merit, though, there are admittedly a' making-
_ number of rather "broad" passages. Yet Mae breaks;
ry herd West at her worst could not produce anythilhg third pai
, ' to compare with the fundamental immorality of the I~
d15t*`Es$ of many outstanding socia_l and economic con- jority a
irve, at ditions in California. » I ’ ;. . Whiteirli
· E Vast · Indeed,_I ‘doubt that a.ny peepshow ever put recovery
ly Duc on m Paris is as much of an affront to really his elec
’ · vitalsocial morality as the unjust imprisonment possibilil
warnicr of Looney and Billings for fifteen year; raised in
I ) I
A _ I .. ·.' T, I I
NATIONAL COMMITTEE TO AID STIYIKING MINERS FIGHTING STARVATION ’
19%* BROADWAY as NEW YOIY.I< *341 Y • TELEPHONE GRA/-IERCY 5-5l|·#+3
A , January, 1932
JOHN DOS PASSOS, I I »
- Chchvnon p .
wee esruznr, DBM FI'i°¤d=
A I. Secretary _ _
T I Having just come back from a tr;p with
LEON KAHN’ the Dreiser Committee around Harlan County, Kentucky,
T T’°°s°"" an.d spoke-1 to the miners and seen how they live, I can
.I I In assure ynu that the name of this committee is no
* ‘_ ’ _‘ exaggeration,
J She wood Anderson .,
Rmwr%HM¤ Q She miners, their wives and children live
§”Pf bW”"“ in crursling snacks, many of them clapboard, through
A;;%gL;: whose cr cks our the lashing mountain winds, rain and
nwaom snow. "‘e'rz not afraid of the wind", said a mother of
pwneowem _ five, "it's the loose boards in the walls".
H. W. L. Dana , . ·.
R®~*W·W{¤ Z I A fe; crumbs of cornbread usually - a piece I
giT";Qf§;" of salt pork occasionaly -— a few pinto beans for the.
WQ&}m& more fo tunate —- 2his is their food. ”Last summer we
umsemw{_ ate_grass —~ this winter, I guess, we'll eat snow", said
aeweesun another mother. _ ,
Michael Gold ‘ I ‘
Wmm“G”P”'_ f Wages?' Aunt Molly Jackson, wife of a `
E;:;l;s;I?;;,::;ri$°n S`lY’@~j·Sh'?· UI’€€°$» KGHYUCKY miner, said, "Better Stapvg
smmyumu striking than starve working in the muck of a mine".
Gmwlhkwm If the men go en strike against these intolerable
HmMeM.hMn conditions, the sT;;ht local and Red Cross Relief being
C~§V#*=*w offered is entir Ly cut off and they are evicted from
$f;JfEEL their houses. Tice they face the entire armed force of
wnQmP.uw the law, which is ientucky, means vicious courts, jails,
Jm§eUqd - tear-;as—bombs, r;Ia I..* —— manned by thugs known to have
Rwm+Mm¤;w¢+ been "imported" es, cially for the miners.
Louis Lozowic
T€}TxE;QMD· Z Schools? Shoeless children are school-less
QQZMAOA children. Many lack even underwear. Thru the gray of
Ham, »g·¢O,,.,¤, 6.IlY H10?¤iI23 OH? 5*6 3 group of mourners behind a
ummnomm shack - a gash in the mountain-side, a little pine-
Hmkhww coffin lowered inio the earth, and the earth close
W”““P““l _ around the remains of a child that did not have a chance
Harry Alan Polemlcxn to livg.
John Cowper Pow,s _
Anna Rochester · A
upmnsmun Can you gire something to help bring food A
Emin???? I to the mouths of these freezing, starving children?
€|'I"I 51* . ETH
r`I*e uclrer '
ZZIESLLI rZ,,,.r I Gm8f¤11v»
Nlafy l'lE8lDI’l \‘ifS0 I A ,. ·
Alfred Vl/egenl