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A game of “pie-ball” was played as a grim act of defiance by some of 1200 striking miners and their family members who were being evicted from their homes in the pit town of Willington, county Durham, by policemen working on behalf of the colliery owners. “During the whole of the morning and afternoon the wretched work was carried on actively by those engaged in it, and as the day began to draw to a close, the number of houses with closed doors and windows in the village became very noticeable. But all the time the indifference displayed by the miners was never changed. Whilst the policemen and their assistants were busily engaged removing the furniture in one street, in front of the next row of houses might be seen a score of men and boys playing at pie-ball, with as much zest as though they were enjoying a pleasant and well-earned holiday.”
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