TALL ANNIE A Biography
Available now from Enterprise Press
Excerpt from "Tall Annie":
Annie was soon to learn that her
abductor was
General Peter Abbey, commander of the state
militia.
Bumping along Calumet's streets, the general
leaned back and looked squarely at Annie.
"Why don't you stay at home?"
Annie stopped banging her heels and returned
his stare.
"I won't stay at home", she said. "My work is
here. Nobody can stop me. I'm going to keep
at it until this strike is won for the
workers."
The car trembled to a stop, and aides
escorted Annie to the "dirty little Calumet
jail," words she used later to describe her
experiences.
"I haven't assaulted or battered anybody!"
Annie protested to the jail clerk. "These
men assaulted me! I was standing quietly
rallying the men to hang together. I wasn't
breaking any law!"
The clerk looked over his glasses at Annie
and the soldiers standing by.
"I wondered how long it would be before you'd
land in here, again," he said, not unkindly.
Miner's
daughter—miner's young wife,
fiery Ana K. Clemenc began her crusade for social and labor reform when she
proved a local doctor incompetent and ran him out of town! Two inches over six
feet tall, beautiful and shapely, this upper Michigan
woman became a forceful leader during the
copper miners' strike in 1913. Outspoken,
determined, "Tall Annie" led daily parades through
the entire Calumet area, picketed
"scabs" and fought like a man when she
believed human rights were being violated.
Annie's spunk, dedication, and tireless
enthusiasm brought her quick national fame.
And with publicity, came romance. How Annie
dealt with the new love, the miner's cause
and her family, is told for the the first time
in this warm-hearted, action-filled biography.
Annie Clemenc's influence was a fire-
works display, brief but brilliant in the dark
skies of labor-management conflict.