Martin Elliott in prison with Debs
My grandfather was a member of the Railwaymen's union, actually an officer, so in the Pullman Strike of l894 he was in prison in Illinois with Eugene Debs and two other officers.while there they read the bible and Karl Marx, and my family claims that Martin converted Debs to socialism.My grandfather also was elected on the Socialist ticket to the Montana legislature twice.He died of injuries in railroading, and left a widow and six children.After getting jobs in Butte did not go well, the family came to Seattle Wa.They put the youngest, Maxine, through college by working as clerks and firemen.Each generation of Elliotts is said to have produced many children so I presume I am related to many.They mostly lived, before Montana, in Pennsylvania, especially in Mohonoy City a mining community.Martin Elliott had only three grandchildren because the family was fearful of the poverty they had known as orphans.