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a a we ST eee ate ta aa e Re: JOHN L. LEVIS, ET AL "tl remember that on the next day which was May i2, 1937 the coal cars wore shorted. I think the cars wore shorted in the Nest part of the mine because it was in that section that most of the Um" agitators including the men listed in this statcment were working, and the PME miners in that section did not want to work with them. I assume the other minors knew about the expulsion of these UMN agitators from the PMA. I could notice unrest among the miners on May 12, 1957. "I helped picket Mine BE after the strike etarted. I do recall signing the PMA petition of May 26, 1957. "I think the attempted opening of line B in September, 1957 was just a test to see how many mon would go to work under the UMY, Elshoff would not let PMA members work there and and he and the UMv folt that the mincrs by this timo after boing out of work 411 summer would be willing to go back to work under the UMW. JI think the same reasoning applies to the two other attempts to opon the mine. JI heard that during this period the majority of the foreign clement working in the mine were contacted at their homes and told that the mine would re-open if they joined the UMW. "In the late Fa shop, told me s us cen G oheck ir ome 8: ’ . on sho desk. From the wa Y eetae it I understood this chock wes made payable to Elshoff. Ho GIso told mc once that Elshoff would not live up to his contract with the PMA. " "T roturncd to work ot Mine B on November 6, 1939, the day it oponed under the open~shop. J returncd as 2 PA moembcr. I never joined the UM after I joined the PMA in 1932, "Charles Bohannon, iy came to me in the summer of 1940 at my home and asked me to help thom gcv the PMA mincrs to sign over with the UMY. They said I would have my job as long as I wanted it. Thcy made another trip to my house and on one occassion Cudge Bumgarner came by himself, These men wanted mc to help organize th: Dalance of the men. They implied that I would get moncy for my trouble. They were trying to get me to sign up at the same time. They figured that if I, as check woighman, signed with the UMi the rest of the men would. Many of the miners came to mo for genoral advise about mining affairs, They had confidence in me. Those agitators knew 1 could influence the men. They showed mc a list of the minors who had signed up with UMW by that time and referred to somo of the names of the miners they had persuaded to join the UMV, I head that practically all of the Lithuanian and Italian mincrs had been contacted at their homes by Falectti in an effort to got them to join the UM. - 105 -