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Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins
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At the church there had been no speeches. There was just the mass and the regular funeral. But at the grave there were speeches and they were most touching. There were speeches from his old associates of every trade union, his old associates in the labor unions. It was a very long procedure, but it was very beautiful and very sincere.

Then we got back to the train and went back. Mrs. Mitchell, I think, came back with us, but we didn't see her coming back. So we got back to New York. It was one of the most interesting and impressive things I ever saw in my life. To this day they keep a legal holiday in Scranton - what they call John Mitchell Day, which is the day of John Mitchell's funeral. It's a legal holiday in Scranton and the surrounding coal areas. They don't work the mines on John Mitchell Day. It's a legal holiday for the whole town. I went there once some years after that and made a speech on John Mitchell Day.

Two or three days later John Mitchell's will was read and published in the New York Times. His estate was appraised at between seven and eight hundred thousand dollars, which was a very large sum of money in those days for a labor leader to die possessed of. I've already discussed how the people in the Civic Federation and Mr. MacVeagh had helped him with his expenses and how to make some money, but seven or eight





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