Boyhood Recollections of Frank Maras, Part 1

Frank Maras is a retired coal miner who was raised on a farm just outside of Bulpit, Illinois. Bulpit is near Taylorville, Illinois which was the site of major mining operations for the Peabody Coal Company. Angered by the recent contract vote which was believed to have been subverted by union officials, dissident miners struck the Peabody mines in the Taylorville area.



In an interview on November 6, Frank shared his vivid boyhood memories of the mine war. Frank’s father came out on strike against Peabody Coal Company at the outset of the conflict:

During the mine war itself, (we called it a war which it actually was) there was, I’m going to estimate at least nineteen – twenty people killed in the Kincaid area. In fact, one of them, one of them was killed within a block of our home on the farm. And being a kid like I was, I knew nothing about it until the next morning after it happened. It only happened about a block away from us.

And I looked. I was a little small and our kitchen was in the basement. I had to stand on a chair to look out the window and I saw a bunch of cars on the main street of Bulpit. Which is unusual because most of the cars in Bulpit was on blocks.

Bulpit was ninety-eight per cent Progressive. There was two or three coal miners that went back to work. They were in them days - they were called “scabs”.

But anyhow I asked my mom, I says, “Well what’s all the cars doing in Bulpit?”

She says, ”Well they had a shooting last night.” She said, “In fact, one of the balls just missed your dad. He stuck his head out of the window and the bullet went just by him and he didn’t look no more”.