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Re: JOBS L. LEWIS, ET AL a LZ WAS o intervs awed b $ cia ont Iv" -RVIES AITH : years r) BEZO a i no prése one w his knowledge of the situation existing at Ming *B%.. He could be used as a witnesa, however, to testify to the facts sc oo out in the following statoment, which ho signed: . “August 31, 1943 Springfield, I11l. make the following voluntary statement to i ne both of whom have identified themselves as Specie eral Bureau of Investigation. Mo threats or promiscs have been made to induce me to make any statement. "I was born in ie and have always lived in Illinois. I presently roside at ; Feet I first started “miring in when I went to work for Ninos Es ave been working at that mine ever since, I jeinad the U.M.4, in and joined the PMA in 1932 when the local man decided to go with PMA. have never held «& union office, As far as I am concerned, there is no differance between the two unions. Everything was going along fine until the spring of 1937 when some of the men started talking about signing up with U.YN.*, I recall that some of tho progressive men were expelled from our union because ‘they verc working for United. I think the men were expelled from the union before ths strik , but the company wouldn't fine them and that's what the strike vas about, "Ags I romamber it, I went to work in ay regular place, that is in a Os a digger on the day of the atrike, “e got to work after my eng had already gone into the pits. I romember that the men were loading their cars short and somebody mcntionod that we should only load the cars rart full, I believe some of the men weré saying thet if we loaded the cars short the company might not let the men work. I heard that Tony wiotch, Prank austin, Fete Carter and some other men vere going around to see the mon £ trying to organize for the UMW. I only attended union. meetings about once every two months, and never took an intercst in what the men who vere supposcd to be spics wore actually doing. & "I remember that on the day of the strike we were told by the union to quit work at about 2:30 P. Xx, ao we all left the mine. I remembor that we all went out to the mine sometime in Sept. and our local dccided to sot up a.picket lins. I was on picket duty for about a month when I came home, I heard that Faleetti had told our gricvaoce ocornittes ~ 99~ _ : ars