Monthly Columns
Hollandy: Part 4
Adventures in Culture Shock
By: Sarah Aarssen
“It’s not all Holland, it’s not all Illinois, it’s just a little Holland-y”
According to www.dictionary.com, culture shock is “a state of bewilderment and distress experienced by an individual who is suddenly exposed to a new, strange, or foreign social and cultural environment.”
That’s the sissy version of what culture shock is. To me, culture shock was letting off a long list of obscenities about the Netherlands and how I hated the country, the people, the food, the language, the roads, the weather, the _______ (insert just about anything) for the first two years of my life here any time something would go wrong. And plenty went wrong.
Being unable to ask the teller at the post office if they have Christmas stamps, led to a tirade about stupid Dutch language and their stupid spitty mouths and why can’t everybody speak English.
A job interview, went horribly wrong, brought on a rant of how everything in the U.S. is so much easier and I don’t understand why I am living in this stupid country with their stupid interviews for their stupid jobs!
I accidentally told the woman at the hospital that I was going to blow her up when I thought I was asking about parking clearly (true story) means I’m never, ever going to get this. I suck. I want to go home.
Moving to the Netherlands was one of the most exciting, tumultuous, extreme, trying, pressing, fun, emotionally charged “things” I have ever done in my entire life. I was starting a new adventure and man, was I ever naive. Just green as the grass. Completely unprepared for the jolt of Dutchness that I was about to embark on. I guess that’s not totally fair to myself because I did try to prepare for culture shock, but much like childbirth, until you’re actually in the position of gripping your husband’s head by his ears, screaming “God help me, I am dying, I can’t do this, I want my Mom, don’t freaking touch me you ignorant cow” (and I do quote) you really can’t prepare yourself for the emotional roller coaster ride of moving to a foreign country.
“Bewilderment” is going from a 28 year old sophomore in college who was supposed to be spending one semester in Wales to becoming an immigrant in the Netherlands who was now, suddenly, illiterate. I couldn’t read a street sign or a package in the grocery store or any piece of mail that came to the house.
I couldn’t read a thing. I was a three year old searching for a picture to show me the way. That will knock you down a peg.
“Distress” is needing to go to the toilet while on a shopping trip and finding out that no stores have public toilets and when you finally find somebody nice enough to point you into the direction of the nearest place to relieve yourself you discover that you must have change to PAY TO PEE and all you have is your bank card so you’re stuck holding it. (Tears don’t work, I tried, but a big pregnant belly can sway even the toughest Dutch toilet trolls).
“Suddenly exposed” is: your loving fiance letting you drop him off at work so you can have the car when you’ve only been in the country for two weeks because he showed you the way home ONCE so you should be able to find your way back easy-peasy and when you drive down that first road and get mixed up and you knew you were doing it wrong but the cab driver scared you and you drive into the wrong exit ramp to which there is no spot to turn around and end up just driving for miles (or freaking kilometers!) on a street because you are too scared to stop and you can’t read the street signs because you’re illiterate and the signs are hiding on the buildings instead of at the intersection and you almost got hit by a tram because there are no trams in Gillespie and you just want to go home! Yes, it would suffice to say that I felt suddenly exposed.
Not all the culture shock was negative, don’t get me wrong. There were things that I really, really loved about my new life here but it really took just one little “thing” to make it all go downhill quickly. I had to really force myself not to jump on the “Hate Holland” bandwagon every time something didn’t go quite right and that is not fair to the Netherlands at all. It wasn’t a Dutch issue at hand, it was MY issue.
In all seriousness though, I have never shed so many tears in my life as I did those first two years here. Between missing my family and friends, friendships back home quickly slipping away, and Marco’s parents not speaking English, I felt isolated, stuck and very sad. Pitiful. Depressed. That’s a hard cycle to get yourself out of.
Neale Donald Walsch said “life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” (don’t worry, I had to Google him too). That was what saved me from my big, lonely depression of culture shock. I forced myself out of my sad little pity party and made myself do things that I wouldn’t normally do, here in Amsterdam or at “home” in Illinois. I joined an expatriate group on Yahoo and met up with a bunch of strangers, fellow expats., for evenings of fun and socialization. I started going to, and eventually participated in, open mic nights at a local cultural center, reading poetry which I wrote myself. I stumbled upon an English speaking radio show, sent in an email and eventually found myself as co-host of the morning show, twice. (Sidebar: the first things Mick, the radio host asked me, live on the air was “Sarah, what brought you to The English Breakfast morning show” and I replied with “I was always told I had a face for radio”. Laughter ensued and I believe I may have said one more sentence that day. The second show was much more eventful).
Once I stepped out of that comfort zone, that had held me all swaddled up warm for those first two years, I began to see what an opportunity I really had in front of me. It helped that I had found a job and loved the people that I worked with and had a bit of routine in my life finally, but it was those new adventures that were the most spirit altering for me. I discovered that my comfort zone wasn’t all that comfortable and I kind of liked wearing the coat of torture every now and again. It was exciting. It was liberating. It was that little flip of your stomach when you stepped out of the tram into this new street to meet up with people you have never spoken to in person for the very first time. It was offering a stranger on the bus one of your truffles just to see if you could make a new friend (that always works by the way). It was making eye contact, giving a compliment and starting a conversation. It was becoming more comfortable with the unknown in the world. It is something that I strive to do to this very day.
You know, I vividly remember all of the hubbub around Gillespie when the flashing four-way stoplight went up on main street. I was young, too young to even drive, but I remember how cool I thought that blinking red light was. We had an actual stop light in our little town! We were moving up in the world.
When I drove to work this morning I had to dodge pedestrians and parent’s on bikes loaded with one, two and sometimes three children (all on one bike!). I had to keep an eagle eye out for scooters and motorcycles, who seem to know an entirely different set of rules of the road than the rest of society. I had to give the right of way to buses and trams, lest be run over because, well, they just will. And heck, I drive under a runway at the airport, so let’s throw airplanes in there just for kicks. And that seemed perfectly normal.
Dictionary.com says adventure is “an exciting or very unusual experience. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.” I simply have to agree.
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After discussing my last article with Jim Alderson about the miner’s strike and march on Gillespie, he mentioned about a criminal indictment of miners on railroad bombings. This again made me interested in this article. In doing some of this research I’m amazed at the history of the Gillespie area and related coal mining stories. I really do not think the community is aware of all the national stories centered on this once vibrant industry.
Starting in the 1920’s, the United Mine Workers were under the control of John L. Lewis. Lewis was a very powerful and influential labor leader. Within the American Federation of Labor (AFL), the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) was formed by Lewis to include the UMW and other industrial like unions, like the United Steel Workers. Lewis controlled the UMW and thus controlled the miners.
Under his guidance, the UMW made many significant moves to increase the power of the UMW authority. All of this came at the expense of individual miners and their local unions, especially in Illinois. In many cases, Lewis’ decisions sided with coal operators and hindered labor friendly contracts. This included the policy of job-sharing arrangements. This customary policy was to allow all “locals” to share work-loads meaning if one company mine was idle those idle workers could share the work in another company mine. Basically meaning, all miners help each other and share the hours; everybody works, everybody gets a paycheck. This was a common practice in central Illinois. Lewis opposed this practice.
Lewis used all means possible to dominate the miners which included ballot stuffing, cronyism, anti-socialist attacks, false accusations and even armed violence. No one challenged him. He opposed local control, he wanted central control of Illinois miners.
In 1928, Lewis negotiated a cut in wages to Illinois miners from $7.50 to $6.10 a day. He expelled 24 miner locals who challenged some of his decisions claiming they were leftist/socialist radicals. This conflict with the UMW and local miners came to a head in the 1930’s Depression. Illinois UMW miners were on strike in July 1932 and again Lewis tried to force a contract on them that included another “pay cut” from $6.10 to $5.00 a day. After several failed votes overwhelmingly rejected by Illinois miners, the vote suddenly passed through questionable ballot stuffing by Lewis and claiming executive powers, Lewis again forced the miners to accept this new contract with the Illinois Coal Operative Association.
Illinois miners were furious, holding demonstrations and wildcat strikes. The first major event occurred in August 1932 in southern Illinois at Mulkeytown. Local miners headed south to support the local strike in the Benton area. A number of strikers and family supporters vary but numbers went as high as over 15,000. Fighting occurred between union miners and law enforcement. Many were shot and injured but no deaths were reported. Most believed Lewis and the UMW supported the operators in this strike. The violence was just beginning.
All this led to the organizing of the Progressive Miners of America in September 1932. The Gillespie Superior Mines and Macoupin County was the center of attention. The Progressives believed in total autonomy in their locals and to negotiate their own working conditions including job-sharing. The PWA would immediately try and regain some of their rights and the power stripped from them by the UMW and Lewis.
Anger grew quickly. A power struggle between the UMW and the Progressives began. The UMW refused to acknowledge the PWA. Individual mines were split between the two unions. Everyone wanted to work but which union would they join. The AFL recognized the Progressive Miners union but the National Labor Relations Board which protects union negotiating rights did not. The Progressives were able to negotiate their own wage agreements with the coal companies.
At the same time, Lewis and the UMW negotiated contracts with Peabody Coal Company that “only” UMW miners could work in Peabody mines in Christian County, forcing the Progressives out of work. Tensions built in central and southern Illinois.
At stake was control of union miners throughout Illinois. The Progressives tried to move into mines general controlled by the UMW. According to the Illinois Dept of Natural Resources, in 1932 there were approximately 44,000 miners in 162 mines in Illinois. The trouble pitted the UMW against the Progressives.
This event is generally referred to as the “union mine wars” in Illinois. Violence occurred in the form of shootings, bombings and murder. A struggle for control of Illinois mines has started. Many Progressives and their supporters were determined to make the UMW pay for their actions. Most of the violence occurred in the Springfield area.
This bloody war occurred between 1932-1935 raging throughout Illinois. Miners bombed mine properties, residential homes, and the railroads carrying coal. Most of the attacks were aimed at hurting the UMW. According to the Decatur Review, by December 1932 there were already 69 bombings in Taylorville. It got worse.
The Decatur paper in November 1933 wrote that in the first 13 months of this war there were 140 bombings and 25 deaths and by June 1934 there were 15 deaths in Christian County alone since this “mine war” began. By the time the violence seemed to decrease in August 1935, the Review claimed there were over 200 bombing and 36 deaths.
Government authorities sided with the coal operators and UMW. With the violence decreasing by 1935, many PWA miners returned to work. With pressure from the coal companies, the government decided to go after indictments on those responsible for some of the violence.
After multiple railroad bombings, the government decided to go after the culprits. Many PWA workers were charged with federal indictments on conspiracy with the railroad bombings. The federal government got involved because many of the bombings occurred on railroads caring mail on the Illinois Central Railroad. Forty-one indictments of PWA members were issued in connection with 23 railroad bombings, six attempted bombings and one railroad bridge burning that occurred between December 1932 and August 1935. It was the first time in history that indictments were returned on anti-racketeering against a labor union. However, there were no indictments on either side for the numerous residential bombings, shootings and murder.
In December 1937 in Springfield, 36 of the 41 defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to obstructing interstate and foreign commerce by bombing coal trains. The defendants were released on bond pending an appeal. The defendants included 12 from the Springfield area, 15 from southern Illinois, and 4 from the Taylorville area included John Tatman, John Taylor and Russell Wagner from Gillespie.
The defendants were originally sentenced to four years in prison and a $20,000 fine. The US Court of Appeals reduced the sentences to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine in May 1939. Several of the defendants were released for health reasons. In September 1940, after serving 15 months, 23 were paroled, including Wagner and Russell from Gillespie. Tatman from Gillespie was not paroled.
This fight for control of union miners continued throughout the 1930’s and into the 1940’s. However, the United Mine Workers will eventually prevail over the Progressive Miners. The number of miners in Illinois gradually declined throughout the 1940’s and into the 1950’s and 1960’s. According to the IDNR, in 1940 there were 139 mines and approximately 26,000 miners and by 1960, there were only 78 mines and approximately 9,000 miners.
Unfortunately, the days of union miners are gone and the fighting is over. The Progressives have disbanded. According to Jim Alderson, there are about 5 or 6 mines in Illinois, all non-union. He believes there are no union mines in Indiana or Kentucky and the only union mine he is aware of is one in Pennsylvania.
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While rummaging through some articles at the Coal Museum, I came across one that struck my fancy. It was from the Illinois State Journal and the Headline was, “Miners, anarchists, soldiers combine for tense faceoff.” The date was March 21, 1911. I decided to follow up on the story and see what other newspapers had to say. I was shocked by the headlines around the U.S., splashing the controversy. Some of the headlines were as follows:
“1,000 armed foreigners parade streets of town.”—Knoxville, TN Sentinel
“Immigrant coal miners terrorize Illinois town, driving Americans before them with guns.” —Chattanooga, TN News
“Armed foreigners drive miners from work in Gillespie.”—Birmingham, AL News
“Armed foreigners arm for battle.”—Spokane, WA Chronicle
“One Thousand on the march.”—Wilmington, DE News Journal
“Foreigners demonstrate.”—Salt Lake City, UT Deseret News
“Foreigners at Benld are ugly”—Bloomington, IL Pantagraph
There were major news stories across the country, north, south, east and west. Major cities carried the stories from Boston to San Francisco and Bismarck to Waco, Texas. The stories were inflammatory and struck an opinion that our area had radical, troublemakers working in the mines.
Throughout the country these headlines made people fear that the foreign miners were anarchists and armed mobs. Most of the stories were somewhat exaggerated although there were protests, marches, armed miners and troops. The Gillespie News, while other national newspapers highlighted the situation, played it down as an over-zealous protest, stirred up by “yellow journalism.”
Here are the facts that brought about this national uproar.
Coal production in Illinois is in the decline, salaries are slipping and the mines are cutting back on working days, sometimes only two to three days a week. Many foreigner miners see this as a threat to their livelihood. The Superior Mines employ around 1,850 men. When working, salaries are around $80 a month. The Illinois State Legislature was informed that 20,000 Illinois miners were idle in March and this produced hardship on the miners. A mild winter and mechanization were causes of this problem.
Superior Coal Company decided to add another machine in Mine #2 in Sawyerville and the United Mine Workers Union supported the move. Machines for the past two years were being placed in the Sawyerville mine. Most of the workers were foreign Italians from Benld and thought this was cutting into their work opportunities. The miners retaliated by cutting back on their mining quotas. Miners were fired. Because of this, the miners refused to work. All three of the Superior mines were shut down by Superior Coal Co. for a couple of days. The situation between the company and the foreign miners did not change. The miners stayed on strike.
The state officials of the UMW ordered the miners of all three UMW Locals to go back to work or be subject to fines because the striking miners violated the union agreement and constitution. A large miner meeting of all three locals met in Gillespie and informed the striking miners of the decision of the UMW. Gillespie also had the Superior Coal offices.
Most of the American miners were willing to go back to work, however Macoupin County Sheriff Etter anticipating trouble from the foreigners called out deputies to patrol Mine #1 in Eagarville. On Monday March 20, 1911, approximately 250 armed miners prevented other miners from going to work at the Eagerville mine. Etter’s deputies were out-numbered. Fearing that this could escalate Etter asked for state troops. Governor Deneen ordered 10 companies of militia to Gillespie on Tuesday, March 21.
Here is where the newspaper headlines took their information.
Prior to arrival of troops on Tuesday morning, approximately 700 armed foreigners, mostly miners marched from Benld to Eagarville to Gillespie and back to Benld through Mt. Clare Mine #3.
The Springfield State Journal called this march as follows, “Strikers from Benld marched into Gillespie this morning, making a show of arms, with a numerical strength that paralyzed the lovers of peace. The red flag of anarchy floated proudly at the head of the procession.”
The impression by Gillespie residents, who being alarmed, was that they were being attacked by an armed mob. However, there was no conflict or trouble and 350 National Guardsmen set up camp in Benld to stop any potential rioting, while only one company of troops were stationed in Gillespie. The troops stayed in camp for about one week.
The Gillespie News publisher S P Preston took a very dim view of the incident and condemned the miners always referring to them as foreigners preventing American union miners from doing their work. But there was no condemnation of the town of Benld. The outcry in the Gillespie paper was far toned-down to those throughout the U.S. There were no headlines. There were not a thousand marchers, there was no trouble but newspapers cried out that the foreign miners were an armed mob looking for trouble.
To compound the situation, several citizens received “black hand” letters. These letters threatened death. The “Black Hand” was an Italian community extortion organization threating violence, usually found in large eastern cities.
The three Superior mines remained closed temporarily. In early April the three locals of Eagerville, Sawyerville and Mt Clare all eventually returned to work and the strike ended after four weeks. The decision by local miners was not unanimous to return to work, but in the end all three union locals ended their strike.
This exaggerated reporting was not unusual throughout the U.S. Unionism and strikes were making big headlines. As an example, in March 1910 a major coal strike in Pennsylvania lasted for over a year involving 15,000 miners known as the Slovak Strike because 70% of the strikers were foreigners. Combine the fact that many unionists were both American-born and foreigners, it was the foreigners that were blamed for the trouble. But because of these unions, both American and foreign born, laws are being made by legislatures to protect the worker.
It is unfortunate that at the time of this mine strike on March 25, 1911, the famous Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in NYC occurred causing the death of 150 factory workers bringing an uproar about conditions of the American worker.
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When I decided to write this article, my original intent was to find out when they removed the rails down the middle of Macoupin Street, but I thought I might research when the railroads came and went in Gillespie. So here is a brief history!
In the 1850’s, railroads were becoming more important to the US for both transportation of people and goods. Chicago was the hub of railroad traffic in the west and cities throughout Illinois were vying to have railroads come through their section of the state. Having a railroad meant prosperity and growth. Towns would grow with increased population. The key question was where are the railroads going to go? Influence by key political people throughout the state was important.
Prominent people in the US and central Illinois like Judge Joseph Gillespie, William Mattoon, Electus B Litchfield and Robert Rantoul (Massachusetts senator) and others help bring the railroad south.
The move south was brought about by the chartering of the Terre-Haute & Alton Railroad in January 1851 out of Mattoon, Illinois. It was to extend south to Alton because legislators wanted Alton to compete with St. Louis in the growth of the area. The work was started in 1852 to originally go 172 miles. It was completed in March 1856. Extensions were created from Alton to Belleville and eventually to St. Louis. By 1857 the route was completed and a railroad went through Gillespie. The St. Louis connection was helped by the building of the Eads Bridge in 1874.
In June 1867, the Terre-Haute Alton Railroad was leased to the Indianapolis & St Louis Railroad but went into foreclosure in 1882 and sold to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (known as the Big Four). This railroad came under control of Vanderbilt and the NY Central Railroad system.
The Terre-Haute Alton Railroad/Big Four Railroad came to Gillespie on an east west route. It passed through Gillespie today in the land next to the Civic Center, crossing Macoupin Street next to Subway. The Big Four Terminal was just off Macoupin Street where the Civic Center is located. There were additional terminals in Hornsby and Dorchester.
A 2nd railroad will add additional prosperity to Gillespie. The Illinois Traction System was a brainchild of William B. McKinley (not the president). He had a vision to create an electric railroad empire that covered at its peak 550 miles of rail.
The Traction system started in connecting Danville and Champaign in 1901-02, then to Decatur to Springfield in 1904. He also completed the route from Springfield to Granite City going through Gillespie and Benld in 1904. This Interurban as most people called it was a passenger service. It would eventually connect to Peoria by 1907 and St Louis by 1910. It was also possible to go to Chicago by connecting with other railroads. The Illinois Traction Terminal was on the corner of Macoupin and Spruce Streets where United Community Bank is located and at one time did have a small spur to the east.
Everyone associates the growth of Gillespie-Benld and the surrounding area to the coal mines, but the railroad also played a key part in the growth of the area.
You might wonder why main street is so wide compared to other towns’ business districts? Gillespie was unique by having the Interurban rail down the center of Macoupin Street but also the Big Four crisscrossed near Walnut Street. The town has to be one of the few towns in Illinois to have that unique situation.
In the early days, the crisscross intersection was controlled by only railroad signs. The “Stop, Look and Listen” slogan did not stop accidents at the crossing. Eventually, a crossing watchman was hired to control the car and pedestrian traffic at the intersection of the two railroad lines. It was also not unusual for a parked car to back into the Interurban in the business district.
These two railroads went north-south and east-west throughout town until the Interurban ceased to operate. The last Interurban use was on March 3, 1956. The rail line was eventually taken over by other railroads and would only be used for freight transportation, especially by Norfolk Western and other railroad lines. The rail line did have a brief arrangement to transport coal from Monterrey Coal Junction to Edwardsville in 1970, but the last use of the old Interurban Line for freight use occurred on August 20, 1970.
The eventual decline of the railroads in Gillespie coincides with the decline of the coal mines. Railroads were being transformed from coal to diesel and coal use immediately declined.
The Big Four stopped operating on December 17, 1964. Slowly they started to remove the tracks between Litchfield and Bethalto. Illinois maps show Big Four railroad tracks in 1965, but they are gone by 1967.
Now to the original premise of the article, when were the railroad tracks removed down the middle of Macoupin Street? My sources throughout town were varying, I got all kinds of guesses. I narrowed it down by my own memory. It was there in 1972 when I started teaching but then all of a sudden it was gone. I searched newspapers in the fall of 1972, then 1973 and I found it in 1974.
In January of 1974, the city decided to do something about the water lines in the business district. There was a conversation in late February to remove the tracks, but when will they do it? At the same time there was discussion about the sewer lines where the tracks are located. So, the city decided to it all at the same time, remove the tracks, and do water and sewer lines. By early April 1974, the tracks are gone and by early May, the downtown was a mess because of the water main project. After the downtown removal of tracks, the city eventually moved further north and south on Macoupin to remove the remaining tracks.
So, what proved to be a simple search gave you, the readers, a history of the railroads in Gillespie. Stop by the library and see the assorted railroad pictures and if you have anything railroad-related or an interesting picture involving the railroad such as an accident involving the railroads. I would like to see them.
