workingclasshistory:

On this day, 13 February 1913, 82-year-old labour activist Mother Jones was arrested after martial law was declared to suppress a coal miners’ strike.
She was charged with inciting a riot – reportedly for attempting to read the Declaration of Independence – and conspiracy to commit murder.
Tried and convicted in a military court, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Jones declared “Whatever I have done in West Virginia… I have done it all over the United States. And when I get out, I will do it again.”
She was released and pardoned after serving 85 days, although she did contract pneumonia in prison.
This is our podcast episode about West Virginia miners’ struggles at that time: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/06/09/wch-e7-the-west-virginia-mine-wars-1902-1922/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1348972618621218/?type=3