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Coal Iron Police Badge Lehigh Wilkesbarre Coal CoGreat old coal & ironpolice badge from the lehigh & wilkes-barre coal co. Rather than having a stamped badge number there is a separately applied number 4. The lehigh & wilkes-barre coal co. Wsa in corporated in pennsylvania in 1864. It owned and operated coal mines in the wyoming and lehigh regions of pennsylvania. Acording to the 1901 stock exchange manual of statistics, the central railroad company of new jersey controlled the lehigh & wilkes-barre coal co. tA that time. In 1893 the company mined 3,478,242 tosn of coal. In 1920 the lehigh & wilkes-barre coal coal co. Merged with the geln alden coal co. In 1865, the pennsylvania state legislature passed state act 228 which empowered the railroads to organiez private police forces. In 1866, a supplement to the act was passed extending the privilege to ebmrace all corporations, firms, or individuals, owning, leasing, or being in possession of any colliery, furnace, or rolling mill within this commonwealth. Local coal & iron poliec commanders were usually a coal or iron company superintendent. Or otehr official. While sanctoined by the state all costs were paid by the coal and iron companies that employed them.
They were company supported and controlled private oplice forces established to do the bidding of the coal and iron companies. The enabling legislation granted the coal & iron police broad police powers on mine nad mill property and in company towns. The 1866 legsilation stipulated that the words, coal and iron police appear on their badges. This private police system grew to the point that by 1900 there were more than 5000 coal & iron police in pennsylvania.
They figured prominently ni strike breaking and other anti-union activity. The powers of the coal & iron police were not curtailed until april of 1929 when governor john s. Fisher, by executive order, ordered that industrial police wear uniforms, that their jurisdiction be limited to hte actual protection of company property and that they be prohibited from undue violence in making arrests, unnecessary display or use of weapons, and profanity. On june 30, 1931, governor pinchot revoked all coal and iron police commissions.
They were later known as industrial police. When i said in my listing two weeks ago that i wouldn't be selling any more c&i police badges i had forgotten about this one, but it is the last i will be offering so don't miss it. See my other auctions for more mining related badges.
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