CRY OF SCAB CAUSES A RIOT AT COAL CREEK Small Boys Jeer at Non-Union Miners on their Arrival at Depot PISTOLS FREELY USED; FOUR PERSONS KILLED Two Miners, One Bystander and a Deputy Sheriff Slain The Officer Was Killed by a Guard He was Trying to Arrest for Taking Part in Plot Knoxville, Tenn., February 7 A bloody tragedy was enacted Sunday in the little mining town at Coal Creek, Tenn., 4O miles northwest of Knoxvllle, as the result of which four lives were muffed out and three persona wounded, one perhaps fatally. The clash was the culmination of trouble between union and non-union labor and the excitement which followed rivalled that when nearly two hundred lives were crushed out in an explosion in the Fraterville mine on May 19, 1902. Those Who Were Killed. Three of the dead men were killed by guards employed by the Coal Creek Coal Company, while the fourth victim, a deputy sheriff, was killed by a guard he had gone to arrest. The dead are MONROE BLACK., a miner, aged 24, married, leaves a wife. W. W. TAYLOR, miner, aged 31, leaves a wife and four children. JACOB SHARP, section hand, a bystander, aged 35, leaves a wife and six children. DEPUTY SHERIFF ROBERT HARMON, killed by Cal Burton, a guard at the mine. ceville mine. List of the Wounded. The wounded are: A. R. Watts, merchant at Coal Creek, an innocent bystander, shot through both cheeks. Mote Cox, miner, shot through left arm. Jeff Hoskins, engineer on the Southern railway, slightly wounded. When the wage scale was signed in district No. 19, United Mine Workers of America, the Coal Creek Coal Company refused to comply with the demands of the men. They refused to resume work in the Fratervllle and Thistle mines and for several months the two mines were shut down. Efforts were made to resume with non-union men, but these, who were in nearly every instance imported, were either induced to join the union or were chased away, presumably by union men. The aid of the courts was invoked to oust families of union miners from the houses owned by the coal company. Scores of arrests were made for trespass- ing on property of the company, and ill feeling was further engendered by actions in law. Recently a dozen guards in charge of Jud Reeder, who served as lieutenant of police in this city for many years, were employed to guard the mines and protect the men who had been induced to go to work. Non-union men were being brought to the mines every few days and Reeder and his guards would go to the railroad station and meet them, lest they fall into the hands of the union miners. Small Boys Caused the Shooting. Today the crowd of idlers around the station was increased. Reeder and twelve guards came from the mines to meet a few non-union men who were to arrive on the morning train. In less than two minutes after the train had arrived, three men were dead and one of the bloodiest tragedies in the history of the mining regions had been enacted. When the non-union men got off the train and were seen by a. number of small boys they began yelling "scab" and the killing grew out of this taunt. It is hard to tell what the provocation was, but the miners must have crowded up and attempted to take away the non-union men bodily or offered some direct insult to the guards. When excitement reached the boiling point, Reeder and Colton drew their pistols and began shooting. Reeder doing most of it. Miners and bystanders were taken by surprise and before they could realize what had happened, guards had climbed into their wagon and driven back to the mines. About 12 o'clock a dispute arose between Deputy Sheriff Bob Harmon and guard Cal Burton. Burton shot Harmon twice, killing him instantly. The three guards, Reeder, Bolton (not Colton) and Burton were placed under arrest by Sheriff Moore, of Anderson county, and taken overland to Clinton, the county seat. Later, for safekeeping, they were brought to this city, where they are being guarded tonight; none of them having been put in jail. The guards claim that they were forced to shoot and had sufficient provocation. Sheriff Moore has asked for troops, in view of resultant excitement, and Governor Frazier has wired Lieutenant Governor Spence of the Second Batallion of the Third Regiment, Knoxville, to have his men in readines to go to the scene. All the guards are away from the mines at Coal Creek tonight, leaving the non-union men and their families unprotected in case an attack should be made on them. Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, Feb. 8, 1904

Hi Angela, I have folks with names of all those listed but not the correct individuals for the story. Maybe someone out there knows who all of these belonged to and will share the information. Same goes for the marriage of Robert M. Lindsay and the Briceville School bus incident. Keep up the Great Work I fully enjoy these old news articles. John __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com