Greve

1917 · réf. 32961 — Chicago 1917. Very Good. Chicago: 1917. Typed letter signed with postally-used envelope from a David J. Evans to "Aunt Ann" dated May 31 1917. Mail folds to letter else Very Good. The letter details the death of a Wallis in the immediate aftermath of the declaration of a strike at the United Verde Mine in Jerome Arizona. Evans reports "Wallis had been working in a tunnel and from accounts received the strikers had set fire to the station building of the rail-road. At the fire the men inside the tunnel Wallis probably in the lead on account of his fleetness of foot rushed out and up a narrow path single file towards the burning building. Four men were shot two of whom were killed Wallis being one of the unfortunate ones." The May strike highlighted a rift between the International Union of Mine Mill and Smelter Workers MMSW and the Industrial Workers of the World IWW. This strike was called by the MMSW and was initially supported by the IWW until they were rebuffed and called for a larger general strike later in the summer. A sad but illuminating document of mining and labor history. . unknown