Welsh-born steelworker Solomon Edwards was shot and mortally wounded by a scab while striking against a subsidiary of U.S. Steel in Belmont County, Ohio for union recognition. When told he would soon die, he said, “If I die, it will be fighting for a good cause.”

‘Memorial for Sol Edwards’ by Walter Larkin from St. Louis Labor. No. 556. September 30, 1911.

On Sunday, October 1, 1911, the dedication of the memorial of our late brother, Solomon Edwards, will take place at Riverview cemetery, Martins Ferry, Ohio. Brother Edwards was mortally wounded at Martins Ferry March 14, 1910, by a strikebreaker who worked at Steubenville, Ohio.

The first two lines of the inscription on the stone were the last words spoken by Brother Edwards. When told he was about to die, he said, “If I die, it will be fighting for a good cause.” What was the good cause? It was that the men who were working for the steel corporations should get a fair wage for the work they did, and to be able to raise, feed, clothe and educate their children, as all American children should be. The U.S. Steel Corporation posted notices that after June 30, 1909, no recognition would be given to their labor union, and also notified them that their wages would be reduced, and said price be in effect until further notice, or until the Steel Corporation wanted to reduce them.

All organized workers of the Ohio Valley have been invited to turn out on that day, and as Bro. Edwards was a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the membership of that organization will also be in line. The lodges from Steubenville and Follansbee will arrive in Wheeling at 11:15 a.m., and assemble at the Ohio Valley Trades Assembly Hall, where the Wheeling delegates will form and march to Bridgeport, and there meet the brethren of the Belmont Central Trades Assembly, then march to Aetnaville, where they will meet the members of all locals and the fraternal. Order of Eagles from Martins Ferry. They will then march through Martins Ferry to the cemetery. Bro. John Feeterer of Belmont Lodge, chairman of the Memorial Committee, will unveil the monument. Addresses will be made by Insurance Secretary Joseph A. Bowers, Walter Hilton, editor Wheeling Majority; ex-Vice-President Lewellyn Lewis and Vice-President Walter Larkin. It is hoped that every man will make a special effort on his part to be in line that day, and also bring his family, to do honor to one who gave his life so that labor organizations should live and to show that the laboring men of this country will resist putting their necks in a yoke to be worked like cattle to make dividends for individuals who don’t make an ounce of steel. “Greater love hath no man than this, he gave his life for his brother.”

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/missouri-socialist/110930-stlouislabor-w556.pdf