◆ SpookStack

Le pana Pee. \ ae thoroughly interviewed with respect to his knowledge of the events surrounding the circumstances involving the = at Mine A changing unions in the latter part of 1941. | furnished the following informtion giving a signed statement which is set forth hereinafter: ° "Norfolk, Virginia September 14, 1943 vu make the following voluntary statement to whom ow to be e Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of nvestigation, No threzts or promises have been made to induce me to make tids statement and I have been advised that I am not required to make any statement, and that anything I say may be used as evidence in court, "T recall that in the summer of 1941, Mine 4 in Springfield, Illinois was sold by its owner, William dyan, to the owner of Mine 5B, carifzlshoff, the reason apparently being that Hyan was 'broke!, I know | that in 1937, due to a dispute over the fact thet about twelve spies of the UM were causing trouble among the men of Mine B, which men the operators | of Mine B refused to discharge, the P.M.A. union pulled the men out of Mine B causing it to close down. I know that eventually wine B- reopened and that it operated with men of the UMT union. x ~ "T know that at the time Mine A was sold to Mine B, Mine A closed down, &s it usually did each summer due to a regular seasoned closure. While Mine A was closed there were substantial rumors to the effect that Kine A would reopen only under men in the UMW, There vere also rumors to the effect that if Mine A did not open under the UMY that the coal would probably be mined through Mine b, which connected under- ground with Mine A, and which was a UMW mine. It was pretty well understooc by the PUA men as a result of these rumors thet the owners of Mine B, who . were now also the owners of Mine A, were in favor of the UMV and would not open Mine A under the PMA, ‘sae ‘ MAbout this time a special meeting of the PHA local was célled by the PMA local officers, This meeting wes held at the PYA Hall and T was present as a member of the loral. I did not hold any official position at this meeting. At this meeting a number of the members dis- cussed the general situation which I have mentioned, and the talk was that the men ef the local wanted to.get back to work at Mine A regardless of wha. ¢ _ — 7 rt