An account of the reactionary terror by long-time wobbly activist Phineas Eastman unleashed on the Brotherhood of Timber Workers interracial strike lead by the I.W.W. in Louisiana and East Texas, 1913.

‘Acute Situation in Merryville’ by Phineas Eastman from Industrial Worker. Vol. 4 No. 50. March 6, 1913.

On Saturday night, February 15, Fellow Worker Charles Cline, secretary-treasurer of the I.W.W. local In Merryville. La., discovered two scabby scoundrels, one of whom was Mitchell, shipping clerk for the American Lumber Co., in the act of cutting the guy ropes of the ‘soup-kitchen.’ He shouted at the two sneaks and frightened them off.

On Sunday afternoon, when filing out of our usual well attended meeting, we noticed a number of suckers and gun-men in earnest consultation with “Mick” Coggins, the low, scabherding chief of the Santa Fe gun toting cowards.

Shortly after three o’clock the whole degenerated bunch retired to the scab headquarters in the building used as the company office, and after remaining there about an hour made their reappearance in company with “two-gun” Kinney Reid Jr., chief deputy thug of Sheriff Gus Martin. The whole bunch then proceeded to the depot for the purpose of intimidating pickets and starting trouble as usual.

The whole outfit appeared to be filled up with squirrel whiskey and in a bad mood. They evidently had their orders, for upon their arrival at the railway station three of these cowards; Mitchell, the company shipping clerk; Dan Warner, a scab woods foreman, and Evans, an all around scab, walked to P.W. Oliver, colored, who was seated on a platform, and said to him “You are a g— d son of a of a union n***er, ain’t you?” Oliver arose and replied that he was a member of the I.W.W., whereupon these scoundrels ordered him to hit the ties and got out of town. As they had high power rifles and emphasized their command with blows, he started down the track towards De Ridder, closely followed by the thugs. On reaching the outskirts of town they opened fire on him. One bullet struck his heel, passing through his foot and making an ugly and painful wound. The loyal fellow worker was overtaken by some other union members and sent to De Kidder to have his foot treated.

The three thugs who had started this program, accompanied by a mob of drunken gun men, scabs and “officers,” deputized by the notorious Santa Fe tool, Judge Mason, the mayor of Merryville, Jim Meadows, town marshal, and “Two-Gun” Kinney Reid, armed with high power rifles, proceeded to inaugurate a reign of terror so suddenly that there was no chance of self-protection even had the union men been armed.

Their first victims were Charles Cline. secretary-treasurer, and Deenie, chief of the commissary and soup-kitchen. Then beat Deenie over the head with a rifle and made him hit the ties, and then, putting guns to Cline’s head they called him all the vile names in their vocabulary, and after prodding him violently with other rifles ordered him to catch up with Deenie with threats of instant death if either ever showed their face in Merryville again. The two fellow workers hobbled into De Ridder at 2 a.m. bruised and sore from the blows and the nineteen mile hike.

Two low scoundrels then turned their attention to Fellow Worker Baker, recently here from Minneapolis, a picket leader and speaker, and myself, ordering the two of us to leave town under penalty of death. They called us a number of vile names and as they were about 25 strong, with guns, and accompanied by the

marshal, Jim Meadows, and his deputy gunman, Kid Hamilton, and a host of other drunken scabs, we had to obey. We were put in two buggies and accompanied by two drivers, were taken to Singer, ten miles away, where we caught the train for De Ridder at 2:30 a.m.

A fellow worker just in from Merryville reports that 100 gunmen, scabs, thugs and boys, with rifles, are marching the streets of the town terrorizing every family and illegally entering the houses of the strikers. Men on duty at the “soup-tent” are said to have been beaten up with brass knucks and the tent destroyed together with the store and fixtures.

Gus Martin, sheriff of Beauregard, asked me tor full particulars about the trouble in Merryville and later went over to Merryville. Judging from the actions of this “impartial peace officer.” he must have told the company thugs to go as far as they like.

The Lumber Company and its sluggers and suckers arc frothing at the mouth because our fine picket work had taken all of the scabs out of the works except a very few, and they determined to use the first weapon that a soulless capitalist always employs—the gun, club and bullies to wield them, with plenty of squirrel whiskey to give courage to the low, dirty, degenerate tools.

The farmers and citizens throughout Western Louisiana and Eastern Texas are wrought up as never before, and it is only those who are more familiar with the class struggle who are able to keep down armed retaliation.

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1907 until 1913. First printed in Joliet, Illinois, IUB incorporated The Voice of Labor, the newspaper of the American Labor Union which had joined the IWW, and another IWW affiliate, International Metal Worker.The Trautmann-DeLeon faction issued its weekly from March 1907. Soon after, De Leon would be expelled and Trautmann would continue IUB until March 1909. It was edited by A. S. Edwards. 1909, production moved to Spokane, Washington and became The Industrial Worker, “the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism.”

PDF of full issue: https://archive.org/download/v4n50-w206-mar-06-1913-IW/v4n50-w206-mar-06-1913-IW_text.pdf