On April 1, 1927, 200,000 bituminous coal miners nationwide struck to protest wage reductions. In November, strikers in Rossiter were prohibited from assembling, marching, and hymn singing by a sweeping injunction issued by Indiana County Judge Jonathan Langham. The injunction and mine-workers’ conditions drew national interest and a U.S. Senate inquiry that included Senator Robert Wagner, key architect of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act.