This story is in a book shared with us by Alvin Duncan.  The picture on the left shows how Al looked at 14.  The book is from the series “Alberta in the 20th Century”.  The story is on page 14 and 15 of volume 6 “Fury and Futility:  The Onset of the Great Depression 1930-1935”.   Apparently given the hard times many families experienced during the depression, there was some competition for the slag coal dumped on the heap.  Nine women were arrested in 1931 after a dust up on the pile.  Robert Adams insisted Coal Producers  Ltd. had given him exclusive rights to the coal. 

The account in the book, which was written by Fred Cleverely, goes like this.  The ladies objected to Adam’s claim to the coal and decided to protest.  They set the dump on fire by pouring oil on the coal.  The police were called but the women were gone.  The fire was extinguished and the officers returned to Lethbridge.   The women came back and set it on fire again. Adams arrived and confronted them and apparently they dog piled him!  According to his testimony his hair was pulled, his cravat was jerked and he was kicked in the posterior.  He claimed one of the women had the nerve to pat his cheeks and call him an opprobrious name .  (We had to look that up.  Opprobrious means shameful or abusive.)

 The police were called again and when they arrived they arrested the women and they were taken to jail.  The women – Rosie Boychuk, Sophie Hlushko, Minnie Tymchuk, Effie Boychuk, Nancy Slemko, Jessie Yakiwcyuk, Grace Horchuk, Mary Wasinski and Anna Farmos –  were convicted on  March 16, 1932  of unlawful assembly.  Obviously this was before the Charter of Rights and Freedoms!  They were given six month suspended sentences and fined $100.

Are you related to any of these feisty ladies?  Share a picture or a story with us if you are.  We think they were very courageous to stand up for their right to scavenge coal. 

Some other pictures Mr. Duncan gave us are on this page:  Remember When #7