“If the company sees fit it can not only discharge the man from his work, but also evict him, which in many instances means departure from the town or village, every inch of which is owned by the company. This was done in several instances after the last strike on the Hazleton mountain, and the evicted had to seek other shelter while their furniture was piled by the sheriff on the public highway.”
Photograph of an eviction in the Coal Region in the wake of the 1902 Coal Strike (Hathitrust)
Roberts never named the specific town, but one of the evictions he described took place on November 6, 1902, at Japan and Swamptown, patch villages on the Jeddo property of G. B. Markle & Co. Luzerne County sheriff’s deputies carried the families’ belongings into the street during a rainstorm while two companies of the National Guard watched.
The Hazleton Plain Speaker covered the scene, and a Wilkes-Barre paper later republished its account:
The anthracite coal strike had a fitting climax in the cold blooded eviction scene that took place on the Jeddo property of G. B. Markle & Co. to-day.
The scene was both solemn and pathetic. Sheriff Jacobs arrived at Japan, near Jeddo, at 8 o’clock this morning, accompanied by Attorney John Bigelow. He told the people upon whom notices had been served that he would give them until noon to move out.
He then visited the Jeddo office and upon his return countermanded his previous order and said: ‘I cannot give you five minutes.’
Several squads of deputies were then placed at work to move the furniture of the various victims into the street. Two companies of the National Guard rested upon their arms silent observers of the drama. The deputies were typical squads.
They worked under the immediate direction of Superintendents Williams, Dunkerly and Goedecke, the department managers. A throng of men and boys stood in silent contemplation of the scene. The deputies were armed with revolvers. They occasionally jested about their work.
The young ladies of Jeddo with tears in their eyes came to help and console the victims of Markle’s order.
One of the victims, John Demshock, resided in Swamptown, and the company teams were sent to that locality and hauled his goods to the main street, where they were dumped promiscuously on the highway.
Sheriff Jacobs and Attorney Bigelow drove through the streets and chatted together while the awkward deputies hugged, tugged and wrestled with bedding, furniture and bric-a-brac.
Mrs. Brannigan, a blind woman, who made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Henry Coll, was moved from the house on a bed. Kind neighbors came to the rescue and gave the old lady shelter from the rainy weather.
When the furniture of Paul Dunleavy was all piled up on the street a breaker boy injected a little unconscious humor that savored of irony into the proceedings. He emerged from the house carrying an American flag, which he [deftly] planted on the furniture pile in the middle of the street. The incident caused a cheer among the spectators and had a visible effect on the soldiers.
The six day notice which the men received expired on Monday, but it is claimed that political expediency prevented the carrying out of the sentence until after the election.
Following are the names of the men evicted, all being residents of Japan: Charles Helferty, Paul Dunleavy, Jas. Gallagher, John Demshock and Henry Coll.
