A 29-year-old coal miner, already veteran of the Socialist Labor Party, dies under a mine collapse in Clearfield, Pennsylvania. His gravestone marked with the initials of the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance.

‘Thomas J. Scott’ from The Weekly People. Vol. 15 No. 45. February 3, 1906.

To the Daily and Weekly People:

A notice concerning the accidental death of Thomas J. Scott, written some time ago, was either mislaid or failed to reach you through the mail. Scott’s untimely death occurred on the 26th of September last, in the Belsena mine, Clearfield County, Pa., and was caused by the sudden fall of the mine roof. He had only attained the age of 29 years and four months, when this sad and unexpected fatality happened, and having studied the different systems relating to the science of mining, both practically and theoretically, he expected soon to pass final examination for the position of mine foreman or superintendent.

Although quite a young man, Scott entered the ranks of the Socialist Labor Party about twelve years ago, and with his brothers and other relatives, took an active part in getting up and sustaining an organization at his home in the town of Blandburg, Pa. He was ever an ardent, earnest and watchful worker in that righteous cause, and never affiliated with any of the old parties, the leaders of which he described as “Believers in the gospel of gain and the creed of grip, grab and graft.”

Among other publications, some of his articles on the subject of Socialism appeared in The People, but aside from that line of education, he devoted his efforts toward the personal instruction of the people for the political and economic betterment of all the people; and now that he is gone-fallen in the battle of life, fighting for the privilege of staying on earth, his death is not only a deep affliction to relatives and friends, but an almost irreparable loss to the Party for which he worked and labored incessantly to the end.

Blandburg, Pa., Jan. 23.

New York Labor News Company was the publishing house of the Socialist Labor Party and their paper The People. The People was the official paper of the Socialist Labor Party of America (SLP), established in New York City in 1891 as a weekly. The New York SLP, and The People, were dominated Daniel De Leon and his supporters, the dominant ideological leader of the SLP from the 1890s until the time of his death. The People became a daily in 1900. It’s first editor was the French socialist Lucien Sanial who was quickly replaced by De Leon who held the position until his death in 1914. Morris Hillquit and Henry Slobodin, future leaders of the Socialist Party of America were writers before their split from the SLP in 1899. For a while there were two SLPs and two Peoples, requiring a legal case to determine ownership. Eventual the anti-De Leonist produced what would become the New York Call and became the Social Democratic, later Socialist, Party. The De Leonist The People continued publishing until 2008.