The Lattimer Massacre - September 10th, 1897

At the edge of the town of Lattimer, Pennsylvania, eighty-six deputies under the command of Sheriff James Martin opened fire on a crowd of unarmed, immigrant coal miners who were on strike.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that views history as a lesson from the
past that can guide those in the present toward a
better future. I'm Gabe Louisier, and today we're examining a

(00:24):
lesser known moment in labor history that deserves to be remembered.
The day was September That afternoon, at the edge of
the town of Latimer, Pennsylvania, eighty six deputies under the
command of Sheriff James Martin opened fire on a crowd

(00:47):
of unarmed immigrant coal miners who were on strike. Nineteen
protesters were killed that day, most of whom were shot
in the back as they fled. Within a few days,
as many as five more died from their wounds. The
story of their death is rooted in events that occurred
more than ten years earlier. Pennsylvania's anthracite coal mines were thriving,

(01:12):
and the promise of steady work brought a wave of
immigrants from southern and eastern Europe. By that time, in
the eighteen eighties, the minds had been worked for over
a century, making them deeper and therefore more dangerous. Than
they had been in previous years. The increased risk led
to more injuries and deaths, and prompted surviving workers to

(01:34):
frequently go on strike for better pay and safer working conditions.
But rather than addressing these concerns head on, coal operators
turned to Slavic immigrants as a workaround. Whenever a minor
was injured, killed, or on strike, plenty of able bodied
men were ready to step in and replace them. This

(01:56):
abundant labor supply also allowed those in charge to keep
the miners wages extremely low. In eighteen ninety, American coal
miners established a union to better voice their concerns, but
its primary focus was on native or naturalized coal workers,
not the new immigrant workforce. In fact, when a three

(02:18):
cent a day tax was levied on coal operators for
each non US citizen they employed, the union fully supported it.
When that tax went into effect on August twenty one,
eight seven, coal operators took the three cents a day
out of their Slavic workers pay. Some immigrant miners already

(02:40):
made ten to fifteen percent less than their native or
naturalized colleagues, and when they learned of the new tax cut,
which cut their wages even further. Many saw it as
the last straw and decided to go on strike. As
the weeks went on, the strike failed to build enough
momentum to halt the coal operations in lat him er So.

(03:01):
On the morning of September tent, a group of mostly
Eastern European miners gathered for a protest rally. In the
early afternoon, the four hundred or so men began a
peaceful march to one of the Latimer coal mines. On
route to the mine, the protesters encountered Sheriff Martin, along
with his eighty six deputies and about sixty or so

(03:23):
members of the coal company police. They had gotten wind
of the day's activities and decided to intervene, allegedly fearing
that the crowd would turn violent and do damage to
the mine or to its operators. The armed men lined
both sides of the public road and Sheriff Martin read
a proclamation ordering the miners to call off their march.

(03:46):
Some miners refused to comply and pushed forward. A voice
in the crowd, possibly the sheriff himself, yelled fire and
several men fell dead. The rest of the miners turned
around and start had to run back the way they'd come,
but the shooting continued anyway for roughly two minutes. The

(04:06):
nineteen immigrant miners killed at Latimer were quickly adopted as
symbols of the region's labor struggle. They were buried in
pauper's graves, but as many as eight thousand people attended
their funerals. As for Sheriff Martin and his men, they
were put on trial five months later for the death
of one of the miners. The defense attorneys argued that

(04:29):
the immigrant miners had come to destroy the American way
of life and that they were quote invaders from the
steps of Hungary. When the trial concluded, the sheriff and
his deputies were found innocent by a jury of their peers.
Despite this verdict, the Latimer massacre had a lasting effect

(04:49):
on immigrant labor in the region. Just two years later,
John Mitchell, the president of the Coal Miners Union, called
for a strike in support of immigrant miners. He appealed
to his fellow members saying, quote the coal you dig
isn't Slavish or Polish or Irish coal. It's just coal.

(05:10):
This phrase became the rallying cry of future strikes, which
were successful in securing shorter work days, safer working conditions,
and wage increases for coal union members, including those who
were foreign born. Seven decades later, on September tenth, seventy two,
the state of Pennsylvania established a roadside marker and a

(05:33):
memorial dedicated to the fallen miners. A memorial service has
been held at the site every year since. Many of
the details shared in today's show come from the research
of paul A Shackle, an anthropologist at the University of
Maryland and the author of Remembering Latimer. If you'd like

(05:54):
to learn more about this event, his book would be
a perfect place to start. I'm gay, Bluesier and hopefully
you now know a little more about history today than
you did yesterday. If you have any comments or suggestions,
please send them to me at this Day at i
heart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing

(06:14):
the show, and thank you for listening. I'll see you
back here again tomorrow for another day in the History Class.
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