John Siney, The Miners Martyr - B013

A Biography by Edward Pinkowski Author of Washington's Officers Slept here. John Siney was an Irish immigrant who came to America in 1863 at the age of 32, settled in Saint Clair, PA. and rapidly became the leader of the coal fields of Pa to the border mines of Missouri.

nowhere else has the story of Siney's life been so well told. Edward Pinkowski has dug carefully into the past. There can be no doubt a great deal of research and hard work went into the making of this book.

With the Workingmen's Benevolent Association, Siney introduced the first general strike, the first written agreement, the first closed shop, the first board of arbitration, the first system of sick and death benefits, the first official miners' newspaper, and the first effective industrial union in the American coal industry.