anomaly of miners in one town working at full time, and those of an
adjacent town shut out, must be explained as one of the insidious
methods of the Trust to create an artificial coal famine.

Gorman Purdy, whose word is law in the Paradise Company, had determined
to exact an advance of twenty-five cents a ton from the retail coal
dealers. To do this he had to make it appear that the supply of coal was
scarce. This led him to close the mines in Hazleton. The miners in the
town sought to force the opening of the mines by bringing about a
sympathetic strike in the neighboring towns. To prevent this, the Coal
and Iron Police have been brought to Hazleton to intimidate the miners
and to suppress them by force if they make any concerted move looking
toward bringing on a strike.

Preliminary to enforcing the order that debars such an army of men of
the means of support, the Coal Magnates, at Purdy's suggestion, have
massed three hundred of the Coal and Iron Police in the town of
Hazleton. This mercenary force occupies the armory, built two years
before by the benevolent multi-millionaire Iron King of Pennsylvania,
whose immense mills and foundries are situated some two hundred miles
distant.

Sheriff Marlin is in command of the Coal and Iron Police. He has sworn
them in as deputies, and each bears on his breast the badge of
authority.

The propinquity of Woodward and the other small towns to Wilkes-Barre
saved them from suffering the effects of a close-down. The Magnates did
not desire to have the scenes of distress brought too near their own
homes. So Hazleton and the outlying districts were selected to be
sacrificed to the arbitrary coal famine. Day after day the idle miners
congregate in the Town Hall to discuss their situation and to devise
some means of relieving the starving families. These meetings are under
the strict surveillance of Sheriff Marlin. Every letter that is sent
from the hall is subjected to his scrutiny.

There will be no incendiary appeals addressed to the miners of other
districts.

The newspaper correspondents, though they send accurate stories of the
awful condition of the miners and their families, are disappointed to
receive copies of their respective papers with their articles revamped,
and the essential points expurgated, to meet the approval of the
"conservative reader."

"The committee on rations reports that the allowance for each miner and
his family must henceforth be reduced to two