Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Y35

HZSTANDSPEAKSPECIALSECTIONPAGES Y35 011 1 '16 IfttgfeKfftn MfeACK Saturday, January 1 6, 201 6 Standard-Speaker Y35 Where we've been Hazle Township is patchwork of patchtowns Banks Township, Carbon County A separate village known as Drifton No. 2 was cleared out in the late 1920s and early 1930s when the Jeddo-Highland Co. feared the ground might swallow homes as strip mining operations neared. Some of the families moved to a new village with the fresh name of Youngstown. Japan Jeddo Coal baron George B.

Markle named two patch towns after being inspired by the 1853 and 1854 voyages of Commodore Matthew Perry into Yedo Bay that opened Japan to trade with the United States through a treaty in 1856. The G.B. Markle Co. started producing coal in 1858 and might have altered the spelling from Yedo to Jeddo because of an employee who was named Jed. Markle 's firm became the Jeddo-Highland Coal Co.

It built and operated towering coal breakers or processing plants that Markle invented. By 1880, Japan had 400 residents, a store and a school. In 1890, Markle's son, John, an engineer, and one-time Hazleton Burgess Thomas McNair started building the Jeddo Tunnel to drain water from mines throughout the Hazleton area. The tunnel was considered a marvel of engineering when finished in 1895, but now pollutes Nescopeck Creek. It is among the largest source of acid mine drainage in the nation, according information presented last year for a conference at Penn State Hazleton.

In 1964, Jeddo-Highland Coal Co. sold to Pagnotti Enterprises, which continues to strip mine coal in the township. The Jeddo Stars Athletic Associa tion once fielded a baseball team but still maintains a field and clubhouse. Meanwhile, a separate Jeddo borough was founded in 1871 from parts of Hazle and Foster townships. It is about two miles east of the Stars' clubhouse.

By 1880, Jeddo borough had a population of 350, which supported two playgrounds and a boarding house. A dance hall called the Jeddo Casino opened in 1915. Now Jeddo borough is the smallest municipality in Luzerne County with 98 residents, according to the 2010 Census. Harleigh The name comes from Harlech Castle in Wales. The Hazle Township village had 600 people as of 1880, plus two stores, a Sons of Mercy School and two taverns.

James McKee was superintendent of the mines operated by McNair and which then employed 70 men underground and 76 above ground. The Black Creek flooded the mines in 1886, providing incentive for Markle and McNair to start planning the Jeddo Tunnel. Later in Harleigh, the Jeddo-Highland Coal Co. built the towering No. 7 breaker.

Also known as the Harleigh breaker, the coal processing plant survived a fire and remained in operation until 1996. In 1966, the company bought a huge dragline shovel to dig coal. The shovel was 200 feet tall, held 85 cubic yards in its bucket and took 35 men nine months to assemble. Harleigh has had a post office since 1872. The current post office is in a building where the Jeddo Supply Co.

once ran a store in front of a baseball field. kjacksonstandardspeaker.com tors, bankers and a Civil War officer. Shortly after the massacre in Lattimer in 1897, a national magazine sent to Pardeesville a reporter, who found un-sewered homes hammered together of scraps. Some were small as kennels. In the century after that, the people of Pardeesville built larger homes, installed sewers and operated a water company which the Hazleton City Authority took over.

Catholics built St. Nazarius Roman Catholic Church, which moved to its current location along Pardeesville Road in 1947 and closed in 2009. The church next became a fitness club. A building that once housed a dance hall called the Green Lantern still stands, and the Pardeesville Recreation Association maintains the village's playground and has hosted a Halloween haunted trail there every October for 18 years. Stockton Commodore Robert Stockton, a U.S.

naval officer, gives his name to the village and to a city in California, where he led American forces during the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848. A voluntary military unit from Jim Thorpe called the Stockton Artillerists organized years before the Mexican-American War, which it fought in as part of the 2nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. Stockton village formed in 1850. Other patch towns in Hazle Township also were called Stockton, but distinguished by the numeral of the coal workings or breaker that the homes grew around such as Stockton No. 7.

In Stockton No. 8, a 14-year-old boy Tim Visgaitis, died when hit by a car while riding his skateboard By KENT JACKSON StaffWriter Hazle Township consists of villages that grew around coal mines, which began soon after the founding of the township in 1839 in Luzerne County The county's name comes from the Chevalier de la Luzerne, a French ambassador who guaranteed a loan to supply American troops during the Revolutionary War Hazle Township took its name from the Hazle Swamp or Hazle Creek that flows across the land. History suggests that a clerk in Harrisburg transposed the and in Hazle and Hazleton, the city that the township encircles. Both have different spellings than the hazel tree and the hazelnuts that grew along the creek. But Hazleton wasn't incorporated by the state Legislature until 1851, whereas the area's first coal company was spelled Hazleton in 1830.

Villages within Hazle Township grew around patches where coal was mined so they sometimes are called patch towns. Some took the names of the first mine owners. Today a few of the village names evoke memories of tragedies that occurred there, while other names vanished from disuse or disappeared with the towns into the strip mines. They include: Pardeesville Once called Lattimer No. 2, Pardeesville takes the surname of Ario Pardee, who came to Hazleton to survey a railway into Beaver Meadows and opened his own coal company His descendants include mine opera on the evening of May 7, 1997.

The driver of the car that struck him has never been identified. Hazleton City Authority last year received a state grant to extend its water system to Stockton No. 6 and No. 8, after the state Department of Environmental Protection. Drifton Ground subsiding beneath homes here didn't kill anyone, but a collapse damaged two homes in Drifton Estates in 2008.

A home insured against mine subsidence was demolished, but the other home wasn't insured and the owners repaired it. The subsidence also damaged part of Route 940. Founded in 1865, Drifton was the site of the Hazleton area's first hospital, built in 1882 to treat injured and ailing coal miners by the Coxe brothers, who operated the mines. One of the brothers, Eckley B. Coxe, ran machines shops where workers made and repaired mining equipment.

Thomas Alva Edison visited Drifton to see the shops. The home of Eckley Coxe and his wife, Sophia, still stands, as does St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which they built in 1860. They established MMI Preparatory School for miners and mechanics in Freeland in 1879. In 1880, Drifton had about 1,000 residents, one hotel, three churches and an opera house built by the Coxe Brothers for their employees.

The town also had a railroad depot and a Grand Army of the Republic Post named for Civil War Maj Charles S. Coxe. Eckley Coxe also gives his name to New Coxeville, a Hazle Township village on the edge of Carbon County and the village of Coxeville in Lattimer author of "The Guns of Lattimer." In the years since the massacre, those who died have been remembered annually at Masses that have been attended by labor leaders from across the country A monument now sits at the site where the men gave their lives for what they believed in. Three books and countless news stories have been written about the massacre. At a memorial service, Robert T.

Mclntyre, executive vice presidentCOPE director of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, said, "Union people remember the dead who fought like hell for the living." Explaining the long-ranging effects the event had on labor, he said, "People pulled together and extended a hand to each other the wives, the children and friends of these people joined together, began the organized labor movement and carried on what their loved ones gave their lives for." "Seeking collective bargaining and civil liberty, immigrant miners on strike were marching in protest from Harwood to Lattimer. Here, on Sept. 10, 1897, they were met by armed deputy sheriffs. The ensuing affray resulted in the death of more than twenty marchers. Monument at the site of the Lattimer Massacre.

This story is an updated version of one that appeared in Pages From the Past, the Standard-Speaker's 125th anniversary edition, in 1991. there were about 140 of them told tales of how the miners were mistreated and how the sheriff and his deputies mauled the group of unarmed strikers. But it was in the closing arguments from the opposing attorneys that cemented the verdict. Palmer used his to issue a scathing indictment against the Slavic people, drawing on the prejudices of the jurors. "I expected all along to be acquitted.

Sheriff Martin. On March 2, the verdict was read not guilty The verdict ignited passions from both sides. Gov. Holt reviewed the trial, determining that the case was handled properly Robert D. Coxe, an attorney representing the Austro-Hungarian government, however disagreed, saying: "the trial resulted in a miscarriage of justice." Coxe argued that the jury was not representative of the community and that the Hazleton area was not in a state of public disorder, as the defense claimed.

In view of Coxe's report, the Austro-Hungarian government wanted indemnity for the families of the killed miners, but the U.S. government flatly refused. "They suffered so we can be where we are today. What happened at Lattimer as the early immigrants tried to move their life in America closer to their ideals was the beginning of a wave that achieved great things in labor." Michael Novak, against Martin and 102 deputies. Cries for justice permeated the region as much as the bullets from Martin and his deputies had the day before.

The Lattimer martyrs, as they would become known, would be avenged, the strikers swore. "My boy is dead. My boy, who was my only support. He earned sometimes 75 cents a day. He was a good boy.

He took care of his poor widowed mother. Now he is dead. The dog of a sheriff and the dogs of men killed him. They killed your people. Now the soldiers are here to kill us, too.

We must not let them. We must fight. We must avenge the death of our people. The mother of John Futa, a slain miner, speaking at his funeral. The next time the miners would march would be in a death procession.

Thousands of people would follow three caskets buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery on the following Sunday; another somber ceremony followed on Monday as 12 more victims would be buried. In the days that followed, men with names like Broz-towski, Chrzeszeski, Czaja, Skrep, Tomashontas and Ziemba would be buried. Some of their remains are buried today in unmarked graves, while others were put at St. Stanislaus cemetery where their headstones can still be viewed.

After the dead were buried, the labor strife continued. The 1,500 employees who worked at the Lattimer Colliery quit in protest to the way the Harwood workers were treated. More men left their jobs as Calvin Pardee was presented with further demands from the miners, all of which were refused. Strike-breakers went to work in several collieries and eventually the others had to return to work on the same terms as before. But there were still hopes that justice would be carried out against Sheriff Martin and the deputies.

'The essential question is whether the degree of force employed was, or was not, lawful. Secretary of State John Sherman. Sheriff Martin and 78 deputies were brought to the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 21, 11 days after warrants were issued for their arrests, for a preliminary hearing. The group pleaded not guilty and was released on $6,000 bail, pending a hearing before a grand jury Eventually the case would be sent to trial, which began Feb.

1, 1898 before Judge Stanley Woodward. For most of the miners who would be called to testify it would be their first look at the American justice system, and it proved to be a grueling, heated, dramatic ordeal. Prejudice against Polish and Slovak immigrants ran high, and was evidenced by those picked to serve on the jury The prosecution chose the case of Mike Cheslock as the first it would prosecute because he was well-known. Many of the witnesses had to speak through interpreters as they were questioned by prominent defense lawyers such as John T. Lenah-an, former state Sen.

Clarence Kline, and Henry Palmer, the state's former attorney general under Gov. Henry Holt. John McGahren led the prosecution and said in his opening address that the jurors were not to consider race or creed, but rather "the duties and powers of a sheriff." Witness after witness (Continued from Y33) on the hillside. Some had died and some were dying. Some were crying for water.

The strikers dispersed in panic. Some tried to make it to a nearby school house, but one of them went down in the gunfire. Others in front dropped as the bullets pierced their backs. Steve Urich, a Slovak immigrant carrying the American flag, was reportedly the first striker who died. "My God," he said in Slovenian, according to an account appearing in Edward Pinkowski's booklet "Lattimer Massacre," "That is enough." The ammunition in the guns carried by Martin and his deputies was high-powered and deadly Some of the miners had bullets pass right through their bodies.

"The reporters who accompanied the expedition gazed on the miniature battle from the rear. Such a scene of carnage they never before beheld," read a report in the following day's Plain Speaker. "Men were mowed down like grass. They lay on the ground crying and helpless." The attack was brief, but its toll was huge. By the time it ended, 19 people had died and at least twice as many were seriously wounded.

Six more men would die of gunshot wounds. Frantic calls went out for help. An ambulance came to the scene. Hospitals eventually were jammed with the dying miners. Burke: "I know I picked up a little can and carried some water to one of the dying miners.

It was a terrible sight and so much confusion existed. Everyone was running in all directions. They searched some of the men who were shot and found they carried no weapons. They simply had joined the march feeling that a large representation would be effective. But the large representation was no match for the bullets from the deputies.

Hazleton State Hospital soon became a vivid example of how savage the strikers had been attacked. Its 51 beds, 37 of which were filled already weren't enough to help the strikers who had been shot. Some of the men were more composed about their wounds, while others groaned loudly Back in Lattimer, the scene was chaos. One of the great debates over the Lattimer Massacre was over whether Martin ever told the deputies to fire. The sheriff himself told two different stories.

He initially stated that he had no choice but to give the order to shoot, but later recanted that he did not do so. In the towns, citizens seethed with hatred over the way Martin and his deputies handled the situation; groups of men gathered on corners to decide what to do. Then-Hazleton Mayor Justus Altmiller: 'All I can say is I call this shooting a butchery lean see no excuse for the sheriff's people having shot those men. There is no doubt in my mind that the sheriff and the deputies lost their heads. Had they been cool, calm and collected, had they looked upon the situation with care, this slaughter would never have occurred and the name of our good city would never have been besmirched as it is today.

News of the slaughter soon spread outside the Hazleton area as Gov. Daniel H. Hastings told Brig. Gen. John Gobin, the head of the Pennsylvania National Guard, to take five regiments to the town.

But many of the strikers wanted to destroy the town. Others were terrified, though, and many men and boys spent the night sleeping in the mines. Strikers looked for guns and ransacked Gomer Jones' home. Across the country news spread of the attack and outrage grew. Reporters streamed to this area to interview Martin and other participants and witnesses of the massacre.

Speaking to a reporter for the Philadelphia North American, Martin said he "hated to give the command to shoot and was awful sorry that I was compelled to do so, but I was there to do my duty" Soon after, he recanted the statement. He said he never gave the order to shoot. The day after the shooting, warrants were sought From Hazletons Oldest Jeweler to The Hazleton Standard Speaker Congratulations on your J50 7earF Join Us As We Celebrate Our Journey To A Century Of Service! JUNAS' Natural Foods Our 85th Year! SinceJ 1931 Open Daily 10-6 Closed Sun. Mon. The Area's Oldest Most Complete Natural Food, Vitamin Herb Shop 97 N.

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