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UMWA Marker Honors Workers Death
By Eileen Mountjoy Cooper
In 1990, the centennial year of the United Mine Workers
of America, will be marked by celebrations, both large and small, across the coal fields
of several states. On an international scale, the United Mine Workers Journal, for
example, has sponsored a year-long project on the history of the union, encouraging locals
around the country to research their own past through documents, photographs and
interviews with older members. A major history of the UMWA, prepared by a
professional historian utilizing the international's own archival materials, is also
nearing completion. Closer to Indiana County, April 1, the day chosen to honor
Johnny Mitchell, the UMWA's 5th president, was celebrated in several locations, including
St. Michael and Spangler. On these occasions, speakers often refer to the deaths of
innocent miners' wives and children in Ludlow, Colorado, in 1914, and the dramatic
incidents in Matewan, West Virginia, in 1920, or the Battle of Blair Mountain, also in
that state, during the UMWA's formative years. The names of labor heroes and
heroines, some famous, such as Mother Jones, William B. Wilson and John Brophy, will be
frequently heard this year, and some, not so famous, such as Dominick Gellotte, from
Nanty-Glo in Cambria County, have also been written about.
Here in Indiana County, the history of the UMWA and the establishment of locals has been
relatively free of violence. The use of the blacklist, large-scale evictions, and, in the
l920's, an anti-conspiracy law to prevent miners from organizing were all employed in the
District 2 area. But more brutal methods of worker control were much more common in
neighboring states where absentee landlords and periodic depressions in the coal industry
created a powderkeg when combined with the desperation of striking miners. Nevertheless,
the UMWA's struggle for existence left its mark on Indiana County, kept before our eyes in
the powerful image of a tall granite obelisk in the little town of Creekside,
approximately one and a half miles from the former mining town of Ernest. The tipple at
Ernest has gone now, and the steaming coke ovens and the huge brick machine shops exist
only in photographs. The houses themselves, adapted now to the tastes of individual
owners, are losing the repetitive sameness that marked Pennsylvania's turn-of-the-century
coal towns. A generation from now, the monument at Creekside alone may remain unchanged to
testify to the courage of a handful of long-dead coal miners seeking a better way of life
for themselves and their families.
The stone column, 7'11" high, isn't immediately apparent from Route 110. It stands on
one of Creekside's back streets, up on a hill, and, blocked from view by houses until, by
car or on foot, it is suddenly visible. Chiseled deeply into the polished grey surface are
these words: "Nicola Macera Killed June 8, 1906, During the Strike of the Bituminous
Coal Miners. Erected by District 2, UMWA. The UMWA Deplore His Death and Honor His
Memory." On the opposite side, the words are repeated again, this time in Italian.
The story behind the monument's erection has been nearly lost in the 84 years since its
original dedication. The search for the answers takes us to microfilmed issues of the
Indiana County Gazette, the dockets of criminal trials housed in the county courthouse,
and the archives of the UMWA District 2 housed in IUP's Special Collections in Stapleton
Library. The origins of the tragedy of Nicola Macera, however, date to 1904, when miners
in District 2 agreed to a small wage cut. This was necessitated, operators argued at a
meeting held in Clearfield, by low wages in the non-union coal fields to the south, which
gave those mines a competitive advantage that could only be met by cutting wages locally.
This small reduction in miners' paychecks gave many coal companies in Indiana, Jefferson,
Cambria, and Armstrong counties the impetus to make a second attempt two years later, but
at the same time delegates at the 1906 National Convention were equally determined to
recover the 1904 loss by a national agreement. At the meeting, a resolution was passed
authorizing a nationwide strike call, which, in addition, prohibited national officers
from making piecemeal settlements. John Mitchell, who was then president, and
William B. Wilson, rejected this rigid position, and urged the passing of a second
resolution which authorized the national and district officers to sign with any operators
who would restore the 1904 scale. This action, which was strongly opposed by District 2
officers, changed a nine-year policy of holding the miners together until the Central
Competitive Field had signed and then using that base for the rest of the country. John
Brophy, in his autobiography, recalled subsequent events: ("Piecemeal) settlements
were made in a fairly short time n the Midwest. But in District 2, the results were a long
and disastrous strike…. Demand for restoration of the 1904 scale was submitted to the
operators' association in March, but no meeting was even held; the increase was not even
considered."
In addition, two other restrictions were made by the coal operators, Brophy remembered.
First, in case of a strike, both district and local UMWA treasuries would be liable for
damaged. Second, non-union miners could be hired by any coal company. "The strike,
begun on April 1, dragged on for over three and a half months. Only 20% of the concerns
signed up. This drained our treasury, as District 2 paid out over $340,000 in fines and
strike relief." Still, this was not enough, and the national sent $100,000 for
assistance as well. At the end of the first ten weeks of the strike, the Ernest local,
which had been renting meeting space in nearby Creekside, decided to organize a peaceful
demonstration to show their determination to resist the coal operators' restrictions and
to regain the pay scale of 1904. On the evening of June 7, a 12-piece miners' band arrived
from Anita, Jefferson County, bearing trombones, cornets, drums, and flags bearing the
stars and stripes as well as an UMWA emblem.
At 6:00 a.m., Friday, June 8, the band left Creekside and marched northeast to Ernest to
accompany local members back to Creekside where a meeting was scheduled for 9:00
a.m.… The miners, following behind the band, formed "quite a procession,"
according to Indiana County Gazette reporters, who on June 13 struggled to unravel the
subsequent tangle of events and to present their conclusions to their reading audience.
Chief among the several key figures in the leading story on June 13, l906, was a recent
immigrant from an unknown village in Italy, whose identity at first was uncertain. Over
eight decades later, the name of Nicola Macera lives on in Indiana County, alone among the
dozens of others who were talked about for a brief time and then forgotten. In an
admirable attempt to produce well-balanced journalism, the Gazette story presented the
countless details at Ernest that late spring day, beginning with this first sentence:
"Seven men were shot in a riot between a number of coal miners and a party of State
Constabulary and Sheriffs' deputies at Ernest Friday morning at about 7:l5 o'clock."
... "and there are, of course," the writer remarked, no doubt from previous
experience, "two stories as to its causes and the responsibility for it."
The office of the Jefferson & Clearfield Coal & Iron Company's Ernest mine was
located near what is now the town's lowest street, roughly adjacent to the mule barns, fan
house, power house, and machine shops. Inside, the mine superintendent, the foreman,
company guards and payroll personnel attended to their duties. On that fateful day,
members of the Pennsylvania State Constabulary, the Indiana County Sheriff and several
deputies, and a former Rayne Township deputy constable hired by the coal company as a
"town cop" were also on the scene. Suddenly, shouts and gunshots took the place
of the sounds of band music and marching feet. In a few moments, the "riot" was
over, leaving six men lying wounded on the bloodstained dirt road that ran between the
mine office and the fan house.
One of the sheriff's deputies, Clair Snyder, Indiana, was also injured. Quickly, the
procession, together with a few spectators, dispersed. Three of the miners and the deputy
sheriff were first carried to the company doctor's office and rushed by train to the
miners' hospital in Adrian, Jefferson County. The three remaining miners were carried to
the coal company office, placed on stretchers, and later borne back to Creekside, followed
by their stunned and silent brothers. By the next morning, the three men were being cared
for in Creekside were recovering from gunshot wounds of the head, chest, and neck. Tony
Macro (or Macera), who was an employee of his brother's in a store in Creekside, was the
most seriously hurt, having been "shot in the side and the bullet…near the
breast in the region of his heart." From his bed, Macro, before a justice, swore that
he had seen the man who had fired at him, and that it had been William North, special
officer for the Jefferson & Clearfield Coal & Iron Company. Frank Pino, a miner,
was shot in the back, but, according to witnesses, he had walked, on foot, "the whole
distance from the center of the riot to Creekside, where he lay hovering between life and
death for six weeks." Shortly after noon on June 9, news reached Creekside that one
of the men taken to the Adrian Hospital had died. Immediately, two miners known to us only
as Arico and Defeo traveled to Indiana and went before Justice Carnahan, bringing a charge
of murder against John Reed, general superintendent of the Jefferson and Clearfield Coal
and Coke mines; William Reed, superintendent of the Ernest mine; William North; several of
the members of the State Constabulary and seven sheriff's deputies who had also been on
the site of the shooting.
"All of the defendants," noted the paper, "came into Indiana and gave
themselves up," on the evening of the same day. Bail was fixed at $15,000 each, with
an additional $1,000 for William North, who was under a charge of felonious shooting with
an attempt to kill. "President Lucius Robinson, of the Coal Company," the paper
informed its readers, "had anticipated some such action and had arranged with the
Savings and Trust Company, of town, to furnish any amount of bail for the officers…
The matter of bail was therefor easily adjusted and the officials returned to Ernest the
same night." On Sunday, in the event that "more trouble" might occur,
"seven a additional State Constables from the troop located at Greensburg came to
Indiana on Sunday and went directly to Ernest to augment the squad already there."
The remains of the "foreigner" who had gunshot wounds were brought from Adrian
Hospital by train on Monday evening and taken to the undertaking rooms of Henry H.
Steving. Coroner W. D. Gates authorized a jury to investigate "the cause of, and the
responsibility for," his death. Dr. W.A. Simpson and Dr. E. F. Shaulis performed a
post-mortem on the corpse, tracing the course of the bullet, which was recovered.
Retrieval of the bullet further complicated the already confusing details surrounding the
"riot," at Ernest. "The ball was of thirty-two caliber," noted the
Gazette. "An interesting fact in connection with the size is, that the State
Constabulary are armed with thirty-eight caliber revolvers and could not have fired the
shot which struck the man." Having presented the findings of Coroner W.D. Gates, the
reporter summarized the few facts surrounding the life of the Italian immigrant who had
made such a long journey from his homeland and who had died without ever realizing the
hopes that had brought him to America. "There is a discrepancy somewhere concerning
the named of the deceased. The parties at Creekside, who made the charges against the
officers, knew the man as Giovanni Petoraki, while at the Adrian Hospital, where he had
died, he was known as Nickola Macher. The latter is also the name which his friends gave
to Coroner Gates.
"The dead man was not a coal miner," the article continued. "He was a stone
mason and had been in Ernest but a short time. It seems he had no near relatives or
friends in this vicinity. The remains were interred in the Catholic cemetery (St.
Bernard's) Tuesday morning at 11 A. M." In the six months following the fatal
shooting, most of the residents of Indiana County forgot about the Italian stone mason and
the "riot" that occurred on that morning in June. But on the day after
Christmas, 1906, the killing, once again, made the newspaper's front page. In a lengthy
article which nearly filled the Gazette on December 26, newsroom reporters repeated their
earlier efforts to sort out the jumble of information for the citizens of Indiana County.
The trial of William North, accused of fatally wounding Nicola Macera, lasted for three
days. During the proceedings, numerous witnesses, both for the prosecution and for the
defense, took the stand. Half a dozen local attorneys, including such well-known names as
B.M. Clark, Harry White and John A. Scott, examined and cross-examined the miners, coal
company officials, sheriff's deputies and members of the state constabulary, and a
benchful of bystanders who had been at the scene of the shooting on June 8. As had
been observed in the original Gazette story printed five days after the tragedy at Ernest,
those in attendance at the Indiana county Courthouse during the trial heard two distinctly
different interpretations of the events. By the conclusion of the proceedings, however,
evidence seemed to show with reasonable certainty that Nicola Macera had been shot, not y
William North, but by an inexperienced sheriff's deputy, the only man present that day who
had a 32-calibre revolver in his possession. In addition, there was a strong suggestion
that Macera, too, was carrying a gun. "The jury, in the case of the shooting of
Nicola Macera was out for only 26 minutes," the Gazette reported.
"William North was found 'not guilty,' and, although the cost of the murder trial
will be paid by the county, those of the other various suits and counter-suits of assault
and riot will be divided equally between the coal company and the UMWA."' With an
almost audible sigh of relief, the Gazette reporter drew a grueling work week to a
conclusion: "This relieves the taxpayers of the likelihood of a heavy burden, and, so
far as the troubles at Ernest are concerned, the docket is clear." For the members of
District 2, UMWA, however, the docket was not "clear," and the events of June 8,
1906, where not to be relegated to the category of yesterday's news.
Almost a year later, during the third week of March 1907, a District Miners' Convention
was held at DuBois. Although delegates had much pressing business to attend to, including
a loss of 3,000 members, "due to the strike, in the past 12 months," the
shooting and death of the young stone mason at Ernest also "received much
attention." At the end of the meeting, the following resolution was adopted:
"Whereas, on the 8th day of June 1906, while a number of strikers were marching from
Creekside to Ernest, PA, on the public road, making a peaceful demonstration, (there was
violence) the result of which six of our brothers were wounded and one, by the name of
Nicola Macera, was killed. "We the delegates representing the miners of District 2 in
convention resolve: That we condemn the action, … of suppressing … the noble
effort of the laboring classes for the betterment of its condition; that we extend our
sympathy to the brothers who were ready to sacrifice their lives for the love of our
cause." And, in the intervening months, it was evidently learned that Macera had a
family in Italy, as, "…we donate out of the District Treasury the sum of $200 to
be forwarded to the widow and children of said Nicola Macera." Finally, district
officers were "empowered to make arrangements for the erection of a modest monument
on the spot where the victims fell, to be inaugurated on the eighth day of June,
1907." In the Special collections and Archives at IUP, in Box 2 of the collection
know as Collection 52-District 2, UMWA, the remaining details surrounding the monument's
design, purchase and transportation are revealed. Among the papers of Richard Gilbert,
secretary-treasurer of District 2 at the time, are two relevant documents. The first noted
the payment of $260 for a "lot in Creekside," near the rented union hall of the
Ernest local.
For, despite the district delegates' desire to place the memorial "on the spot where
the victims fell," the property near the mine office, mule barns and fan house were,
of course, owned by the coal company. The lot, evidently, was also purchased so that the
Ernest local could build a meeting hall to replace the rented quarters. While Ernest Local
1412 instead constructed their hall at the entrance to what is now Blue Spruce Park, the
local still owns the lot and the monument in Creekside. A second document, also located in
the District 2 collection at IUP, provides specific details concerning the design and
purchase of the monument itself. This order form, on a handsome letterhead, was sent from
the office of East End Monumental works on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh.
It specifies that "one monument, of Chester granite, of a height of 12' will be
finished in a good, workmanlike manner, and set on lot 63 in South Newville Town, (the
former name of Creekside,) in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, on or about August 10th,
1907." Cost of the entire project, to "be paid when the work is finished,"
totaled $294. On June 9, 1990, this same monument, dedicated to the memory of Nicola
Macera and representing a chapter in the history of the labor movement in Indiana County,
will be rededicated by the members of the Ernest Local 1412.
At the ceremony, to be held at 7 p.m., Ron Airhart, president of Local
1412, will lay a wreath at the base of the memorial. At that time, the entire community
will join in the nationwide observation of the first 100 years of the United Mine workers
of America. UMWA president Richard Trumpka may attend the dance that will follow at the
Ernest Union Hall. Recognition will be made, of both the struggles and accomplishments of
the organization in the past, as well as the challenges to be faced by miners and their
families as the union enters its second century of existence.
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