On 11 June 1925, striking miners, who since 3 June had occupied the company-owned power plant just a few miles outside of New Waterford, were forced out of the plant by company police. A few of the officers had returned to the town later that morning, and were overheard boasting of their success. Incensed, a larger group of coal miners, estimated to number between 700 and 3,000 men, gathered at a local baseball field and decided to re-take the plant. When they arrived at Waterford Lake, mounted company police met the miners and a fracas ensued. The police charged into the miners’ ranks with nightsticks and revolvers and in the melee a number of policemen were unhorsed. Although several men were injured during the fight, only William Davis, a 38-year-old coal miner and union man, was killed outright. Davis, the son of a miner, was no stranger to the dangers of coal mining; his brother had been killed in the 1891 mine explosion at Springhill. [1] After Davis was shot, the miners overpowered the remaining company police officers and brought them back into town to jail.
The images and inscriptions on the Davis monument, erected by the New
Waterford Town Council on Labour Day in 1985, present the depth of meaning that William Davis’s death has had for the community. The monument is made of rectangular black granite, positioned between the Miners’ Memorial and the war memorial in Davis Square, and the top of the structure is sloped downwards to symbolize the entrance of a mine. There are a number of images engraved on the front. At the centre of the monument reads the phrase “Standing the Gaff,” and below that, “Erected by New Waterford Town Council, Labour Day, 1985.” At the top of the monument, an inscription reads, “William Davis, 1888-1925” alongside an image of Davis’s face. The final image on the Davis monument, just below “Standing the Gaff,” is of the scene at Waterford Lake on 11 June 1925.
The phrase, “Standing the Gaff,” is a direct reference to the early days of the 1925 strike, when Besco vice- president J.E. McLurg taunted the striking miners in an interview, declaring “Let them stay out two months or six months, it matters not; eventually they will have to come to us . . . . They can’t stand the gaff.” [2] McLurg’s intention was to indicate that Besco would make life so difficult for the striking workers that they would be unable to remain on strike. In positioning this phrase at the centre of the Davis monument, its creators indicate that the memory of William Davis now exists as a symbol of labour solidarity and working-class struggle. The phrase indicates that current workers must “stand the gaff” and refers to how one of their own, William Davis, paid the ultimate price for doing that.
The importance of Davis’s death and the events of 11 June 1925 are affirmed by the creation of the monument by the Town of New Waterford. Each of the images on the Davis monument incorporates an aspect of the collective memory of 11 June 1925 in the creation of a physical manifestation. The image of Davis’s face on the monument evokes the memory of the individual; Davis was a union man who had close networks of family and friends in New Waterford and his death affected the community on a deep and personal level. “Standing the Gaff” represents a positive message for the future, reveals the changing meanings of labour resistance in Cape Breton, and directs the viewer’s attention to the hardships faced by workers in the past. Finally, the scene at Waterford Lake depicts the events surrounding Davis’ death and the spirit of resistance that has been fostered among Cape Breton miners over the 20th century. In its entirety, the Davis monument serves as a physical reminder of the many different facets that have combined in New Waterford to form a collective understanding of the confrontation at Waterford Lake and the 1925 strike.
Footnotes
[1] Donald MacGillivray, “William Davis,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Accessed online: http://www.biographi.ca/
[2] David Frank, “The 1920s: Class and Region, Resistance and Accommodation,” The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation, ed. E.R. Forbes and D.A. Muise (Fredericton and Toronto: Acadiensis Press and University of Toronto Press, 1993), 247.
The images and inscriptions on the Davis monument, erected by the New
Waterford Town Council on Labour Day in 1985, present the depth of meaning that William Davis’s death has had for the community. The monument is made of rectangular black granite, positioned between the Miners’ Memorial and the war memorial in Davis Square, and the top of the structure is sloped downwards to symbolize the entrance of a mine. There are a number of images engraved on the front. At the centre of the monument reads the phrase “Standing the Gaff,” and below that, “Erected by New Waterford Town Council, Labour Day, 1985.” At the top of the monument, an inscription reads, “William Davis, 1888-1925” alongside an image of Davis’s face. The final image on the Davis monument, just below “Standing the Gaff,” is of the scene at Waterford Lake on 11 June 1925.
The phrase, “Standing the Gaff,” is a direct reference to the early days of the 1925 strike, when Besco vice- president J.E. McLurg taunted the striking miners in an interview, declaring “Let them stay out two months or six months, it matters not; eventually they will have to come to us . . . . They can’t stand the gaff.” [2] McLurg’s intention was to indicate that Besco would make life so difficult for the striking workers that they would be unable to remain on strike. In positioning this phrase at the centre of the Davis monument, its creators indicate that the memory of William Davis now exists as a symbol of labour solidarity and working-class struggle. The phrase indicates that current workers must “stand the gaff” and refers to how one of their own, William Davis, paid the ultimate price for doing that.
The importance of Davis’s death and the events of 11 June 1925 are affirmed by the creation of the monument by the Town of New Waterford. Each of the images on the Davis monument incorporates an aspect of the collective memory of 11 June 1925 in the creation of a physical manifestation. The image of Davis’s face on the monument evokes the memory of the individual; Davis was a union man who had close networks of family and friends in New Waterford and his death affected the community on a deep and personal level. “Standing the Gaff” represents a positive message for the future, reveals the changing meanings of labour resistance in Cape Breton, and directs the viewer’s attention to the hardships faced by workers in the past. Finally, the scene at Waterford Lake depicts the events surrounding Davis’ death and the spirit of resistance that has been fostered among Cape Breton miners over the 20th century. In its entirety, the Davis monument serves as a physical reminder of the many different facets that have combined in New Waterford to form a collective understanding of the confrontation at Waterford Lake and the 1925 strike.
Footnotes
[1] Donald MacGillivray, “William Davis,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Accessed online: http://www.biographi.ca/
[2] David Frank, “The 1920s: Class and Region, Resistance and Accommodation,” The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation, ed. E.R. Forbes and D.A. Muise (Fredericton and Toronto: Acadiensis Press and University of Toronto Press, 1993), 247.