A Deadly Venom

CRIME A Deadly Venom Jock Yablonski aroused strong feelings wherever he went in the traditionally violent coal fields. In December, the burly 59-year-old former miner challenged President W. A. ("Tony") Boyle in an election to head the United Mine Workers Union. Yablonski lost, but not before he had made fiery speeches accusing union leaders of mismanagement and worse. Yablonski was the sort of man who inspired either ardent loyalty or deep enmity. Last week the enmity caught up with him. Yablonski, his wife and daughter were found shot to death in their secluded home in Clarksville, Pa., south of Pittsburgh. Police said that at least two assassins had broken into the house late on Dec. 30, after the victims had gone to bed. They pumped five bullets into Yablonski as he grabbed vainly for his shotgun, shot his wife Margaret, 57, through the bedcovers that she had pulled over her head in terror, and gunned down 25-year-old Charlotte in her bedroom.

In Yablonski's stronghold along the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border, where crude, hand-lettered Yablonski campaign posters still dot lampposts and telephone poles, his supporters suspected that the union was responsible for the murders. During four days of wildcat strikes, up to 19,000 miners angrily walked off their jobs, closing down a number of mines. Yablonski's two surviving sons, Kenneth and Chip, both lawyers, issued a statement saying: "There is no doubt that these horrible misdeeds are an outgrowth of our father's most recent bid to win election."

Wild Glint. Tony Boyle scoffed at the idea of any U.M.W. involvement, and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the murderers. He received some support from West Virginia Congressman Kenneth Hechler, a friend of Yablonski's, who said: "I'm sure that officials of the union had nothing to do with this." Hechler speculated, however, that the murders were prompted by "the venom that was generated during this campaign."

Yablonski was no stranger to venom. Reports TIME Correspondent Mark Sullivan: "Joseph A. Yablonski was a rasp-voiced man with bushy eyebrows and a kind of wild glint in his eye. He did not by his presence establish an air of calm and reasonableness. He was a man haunted by many demons. It is not surprising that he died violently, reaching for his gun. He was in and around violence much of his life."

A loyal and effective union trouble-shooter for 30 years, Yablonski jolted the ossified U.M.W. hierarchy last summer when he mounted the first insurgency since 1926. Unrest had been simmering among the rank and file, who complained that union headquarters in Washington had ignored their demands for stricter health and safety procedures. Articulating these complaints, Yablonski attracted, among others, the support of Walter Reuther, Ralph Nader and John D. Rockefeller IV.

Yablonski, who had started in the mines at age 15, once boasted that "Jock Yablonski can go anywhere in the coal fields." After he declared his insurgency, he began to fear for his safety. He was nearly paralyzed with a karate chop on the back of his neck during a campaign appearance in Illinois. "He was in danger from the very date the campaign started," said his son, Chip.

Illegal Use. Yablonski lost the Dec. 9 election by 81,000 to 45,000, but he charged Boyle's forces with 200 irregularities, including intimidation, rigged meetings and using U.M.W. resources for Boyle's campaign. Labor Secretary George Shultz at first refused to consider Yablonski's petition, but last week, after the murders, he reversed himself and ordered an investigation of the election. At the same time, Senator John McClellan ordered his Senate Investigations Subcommittee to look into the election and the murders.

Even in losing, Yablonski had considerable effect on the U.M.W. He forced Boyle to adopt many of his positions, including support for higher pensions and wages and, for the first time, meaningful health and safety legislation. Most of all, Yablonski has helped reawaken rank-and-file interest in the union and make miners less willing to accept fiats from U.M.W. headquarters.

Police, aided by the FBI, searched for a clue to the murders. They expressed doubt that any top union leaders were involved, and discounted rumors that the Mafia was responsible --rumors fed by unproved campaign charges that Yablonski was linked to organized crime. Police speculated that the murder was the result of an old grudge by one of Yablonski's enemies. Those were so numerous that it might take a long while to run them all down.

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