United States v. Haggerty

• Decision Date: 24 July 1902
• Citation: 116 F. 510
• Parties: UNITED STATES ex rel. GUARANTY TRUST CO. OF NEW YORK v. HAGGERTY et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

116 F. 510

UNITED STATES ex rel. GUARANTY TRUST CO. OF NEW YORK v. HAGGERTY et al.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. West Virginia.

July 24, 1902

Defendants who were alleged to be unlawfully interfering with the business of a coal company and its employes by attempting to incite the latter to strike, were enjoined from assembling together, in camp or otherwise, at or near the mines of the company, or at or so near the residences of its employes, as to disturb, alarm, or intimidate such employes, so as to prevent them from working in the mines, or to prevent or interfere with them in passing to or from their work at the mines, or in otherwise interfering with them as the employees of the company. After being served with the injunction defendants assembled and held an open-air meeting within 1,000 feet from the opening of the mine, and within 300 to 400 feet from the residences of the miners, and in plain view of both. It was also near where the miners were obliged to pass in going to and from their work, and 150 feet from the company's property. At such meeting violent speeches were made by defendants, in which they stated that the injunction did not amount to anything, and would not stop them; that, if they were arrested, others would take their places; and they criticised the court for granting an injunction, stating that the judge was a tool of the company, and no attention should be paid to his order, but that the miners should be made to lay down their tools and come out. It was shown that such meeting disturbed the miners, who were afraid of violence and that the works would be blown up; that they had no disagreement with their employer, and a large majority of them did not desire to strike, but many said they would quit work unless they could be protected. Held, that such action by defendants was a violation of the injunction, and a contempt of court.

On Rule for Contempt.

Reese Blizzard, U.S. Dist. Atty., A. B. Fleming, W. S. Meredith, John W. Davis, and E. F. Hartley, for the rule.

V. B. Archer, John J. Coniff, Charles D. Johnson, and A. G. Fickeison, for defendants.

JACKSON District Judge.

Upon the 19th day of June, 1902, the Guaranty Trust Company of New York filed its bill, duly sworn to and verified by the affidavit of R. J. Jones, the company's agent, in the circuit court of the United States for the Northern district of West Virginia, against Thomas Haggerty and others defendants, some of whom are citizens and residents of the state of Pennsylvania, some of the state of Illinois, others of the state of Ohio, and others who are citizens and residents of the state of West Virginia. The bill alleges that the Clarksburg Fuel Company is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of West Virginia, and doing business in said state, with its principal office or place of business at Clarksburg, W.Va. It is alleged that the Clarksburg Fuel Company is the owner of a large number of mines and mining plants; that it owns in fee simple about 3,800 acres of coal land; that it also controls about 2,200 acres of coal land by virtue of leases executed to it; that it is engaged in mining coal and manufacturing coke, and shipping the same to the open market in the United States of America; that the product of said company's mines is large, amounting to about 4,000 tons per day; that it has customers residing in all parts of the United States; that a large portion of its trade is during the summer months in the Northwest, and the coal is carried to that region by steamers upon the Lakes, and can only be carried in the season that navigation is not interrupted by ice; that the company has made large contracts for the future delivery of coal; and that its profits and earnings depend largely, if not altogether, upon its mining and producing coal during the summer season of the year. The bill alleges and avers that, to enable the Clarksburg Fuel Company to successfully carry on its business and pay for the many improvements made by it in operating its mines, it was compelled to execute a mortgage or deed of trust to the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, the plaintiff in this action, on the 26th day of September, 1901, to secure the payment of bonds amounting to $2,500,000 which is evidenced by 2,500 bonds of the denomination of $1,000, each, and that 500 of said bonds have been sold or pledged as security for their loans or indebtedness, so that the said company became indebted by virtue of the said mortgage or deed of trust and the issuing of said bonds to the full amount of $1,450,000, due and payable on the 1st day of October, 1931, which indebtedness still exists, and is secured by the mortgage referred to. That by the terms of the said mortgage the company is to pay 6 per cent. interest semiannually upon this debt, and, in the event of a default to pay the said interest when it becomes due, the whole indebtedness becomes due and payable. The bill alleges that the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, the plaintiff in this action, is the trustee in the mortgage, and has loaned the Clarksburg Fuel Company $950,000. To guaranty and secure the payment of said loan, the said Clarksburg Fuel Company executed to the plaintiff its note for $950,000, and has deposited as collateral with the Guaranty Trust Company of New York 2,000 of said bonds of the aggregate value of $2,000,000, payable on the 1st day of October, 1931, as a security and indemnity of this loan, and that the said interest has been paid up to the time of the filing of this bill, but no provision has been made for the accruing interest; that the Clarksburg Fuel Company will not be able to pay, from its earnings or otherwise, the interest accruing upon said bonds, except from the income which may be derived from the operation of its several mines and the product of those plants, and, in the event that the mines and plants should be closed, or partially closed, or seriously injured, or destroyed, the plaintiff alleges and believes that the interest which will hereafter become due will not be paid. The bill alleges that there is a general strike in the anthracite regions of the state of Pennsylvania, in which a large number of persons are involved, said to be 100,000 or more in number; that recently the person or persons at the head of the organization known as the United Mine Workers of America have announced their intention to cause or create a strike among the miners of the soft coal regions of the United States, and more particularly in the state of West Virginia, for the purpose of aiding the strike prevailing in the state of Pennsylvania, and to prevent the shipment of coal to localities that have been heretofore supplied with coal from the anthracite regions in the state of Pennsylvania; that for this reason the defendants Thomas Haggerty, Thomas Burke, Bernard Rice, William Morgan, Edward McKay, and Mary, alias 'Mother,' Jones, all nonresidents of the state of West Virginia, who are known as 'organizers,' 'agitators,' and 'walking delegates,' representing the United Mine Workers of America, have come into the state of West Virginia to create strikes among the coal miners or persons engaged in their trades or occupations, and whose particular business it is alleged is to effect a strike among the miners and employees of the said Clarksburg Fuel Company in and about its various mines. It is alleged that the defendants Haggerty and Jones addressed various meetings composed in part of coal miners, in which they attempted, in connection with the other defendants, to inflame and excite the hatred and animosity of the miners towards the proprietors of the coal mines, especially towards the persons connected with the Clarksburg Fuel Company and the Fairmont Coal Company, and in their speeches advised the miners to quit their work; that in some instances the miners have been assaulted by the strikers, and that in one instance a mine belonging to the Clarksburg Fuel Company was attempted to be blown up, and by the use of explosives the main head of the West Fork mine was blown up for a distance of some 50 feed, which entirely suspended operations in said mine; that the blowing up of said mine had a very bad effect upon all of the employees of the Clarksburg Fuel Company, which tended to intimidate those who were working in the mines, and to prevent them from continuing their work. The bill contains many other allegations of a similar character, alleging that there is a combination of persons engaged in marching and passing by the mines and property of the Clarksburg Fuel Company, who held a meeting near one of the largest mines of the Clarksburg Fuel Company, the sole purpose being to alarm, intimidate, and frighten the miners working for the Clarksburg Fuel Company. The bill also charges a combination and conspiracy entered into by the defendants, with others, to bring about a strike; that, as a result of the acts of the conspirators, agitators, walking delegates, and strikers that some of the employees have been induced to strike, although most of them preferred to work and remain in the employment of the company, if they could be protected. The bill is quite lengthy, and contains many other statements, which the court deems unnecessary to notice, contenting itself with a substantial synopsis of the bill as herein stated. The prayer of this bill is to enjoin and restrain the defendants from entering and trespassing upon the lands and property of the Clarksburg Fuel Company; and to restrain them from going on or about the said company's tipples, tracks, or other property, together or individually, so long as they are not in the employment of the said company for the purpose of unlawfully preventing said company's employees in engaging and remaining...