Eyewitnesses said one of them launched an unprovoked attack on Barcoski, who received a laceration of the left cheek, five or six head wounds, two broken ribs and a fractured nose.
[7] In the words of the Chicago Tribune, "It was the fatal beating of John Barcoski, a miner in the Pittsburgh district several years ago, that hastened the end of "the system.
[9][10][11] Pennsylvania state legislator and former miner Michael Musmanno was outraged by the case, and introduced a bill to banish this private police force.
[12] Musmanno then published a short story about the case, entitled "Jan Volkanik," blending Barcoski's identity with a semi-legendary Polish coal mining figure.
[14] The British Board of Film Censors deemed a speech describing the unfair relationship between the miners and union leaders as inflammatory, and ordered it removed.