 
for some years after we began the convict labor system, we found that we 
were right in calculating that free laborers would be loath to enter upon 
strikes when they saw that the company was amply provided with convict labor. 
in the spring of 1891, miners in briceville, anderson county, turned down 
a contract which would forbid strikes against grievances, give up the right to 
a checkweightman, and provide pay in "scrip" redeemable only to the company 
store, the last two were illegal under tennessee law. 
on july 5th, the operators imported a carload of forty convicts. 
the convicts tore down the miners" houses and erected stockades for 
themselves. 
ten days later, the miners decided at a mass meeting to act before the 
main body of convicts arrived the next day. 
just after midnight 300 armed miners advanced on the stockade in a massed 
line, demanding the release of the convicts. 
the officers and guards realized that resistance was futile. 
the miners marched convicts, guards, and officers to the depot at coal 
creek and packed them on the train to knoxville. 
the next day the governor in person came to anderson county, at the head of 
three companies of the militia, with the convicts in tow. 
after the governor departed, the miners entertained the soldiers in their 
homes and slipped food into their barracks. 
the militia requested leaves of absence and one whole detachment nearly 
deserted. 
it was generally doubted that the militiamen would have taken any action 
against the miners. 
similarly, according to the state superintendent of prisons, "nearly all 
the citizens of anderson county around (the) mines are in sympathy with the 
mob." 
at 6 a.m., on july 20th, miners from the surrounding counties, including 
some from kentucky, armed with shotguns, winchester rifles, and colt pistols, 
began pouring into briceville and coal creek, on trains and mules and even on 
foot. 
