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0:46

The The

0:54

It's just past 12 noon, on a

0:56

dreary, gray and cloud-covered Wednesday, May 19th,

0:58

1920. We're

1:01

on Mait Street, in the small downtown of

1:03

Maitlawn, West Virginia, where 13 men are just

1:05

stepping out of the Urias Hotel. With

1:08

Winchester rifles in their hands and pistols

1:11

tucked inside their suits, the group climbs

1:13

into three vehicles. They're

1:15

ready to carry out the mission that's brought them to

1:17

this small town, Evicting Union

1:20

Miners. Now,

1:24

this baker's dozen of armed suits only have a

1:26

quarter of a mile to cover, but while they

1:28

drive, let me fill you in on the situation.

1:32

These 13 gents are from the

1:34

Baldwin-Felt's Detective Agency, though miners in

1:36

the area are more likely to

1:38

call them bombs or thugs than

1:40

detectives. Across its three

1:43

decades of existence, the Baldwin-Felt's agency

1:45

has served as the muscle for

1:47

West Virginia's adamantly anti-union coal companies.

1:50

Basically, these quote-unquote detectives are the coal companies' deputized private police or

1:52

security, and since the United Mine Workers of America's recent 20 years, the coal

1:54

companies' deputized private security has been deputed. 27%

2:01

wage increase has resulted in a slew of

2:03

Maitwan miners joining the union. Well,

2:05

the Baldwin Felt have been busy. And

2:08

that brings us to the detectives task here

2:10

in Maitwan. Fighting unionization

2:12

by evicting union joining miners and

2:15

their families from Stone Mountain Coal

2:17

Company housing up by Lick Creek.

2:23

Only minutes after leaving the Urias Hotel,

2:25

the detectives pull up at the Kelly

2:28

family's weatherboard at home or

2:30

to get legal. They pull up at this

2:32

house owned by the Stone Mountain Coal Company.

2:35

Mrs. Kelly is washing clothes out back when

2:37

the Baldwin Felt's men walk up to her

2:39

guns in hand. She begs

2:42

them to wait just until her husband

2:44

Charlie returns from the mines. But

2:46

the suit wearing men refused to listen. They

2:49

swiftly take the couple's bed, table, chairs,

2:51

all personal belongings and begin tossing it

2:54

all out front on the dirt road.

2:57

After the detectives work, Charlie Kelly comes

2:59

home. He's soon joined by

3:02

his fellow miners as well as Mayor Cabell

3:04

Testerman and quick drawing gunslinging

3:06

police chief Sid Hatfield. Both

3:09

officials are furious. Cabell

3:12

and Sid approach the detectives leader, Albert

3:14

Feltz, and question if he and his

3:16

men have proper county authorization. Albert

3:19

merely shrugs and answers that they can go check

3:21

with the county but he's not stopping. The

3:23

mayor snaps back. Well, you

3:26

don't pull anything like that and get away with it

3:28

around here. It's

3:32

now 1 30 in the afternoon. Police

3:34

chief Sid Hatfield is calling the sheriff's office

3:36

in Mingo County. Speaking

3:39

with the deputy and county prosecutor, Sid

3:41

learns that the detectives are acting illegally.

3:44

They have neither the authority to make these evictions,

3:47

nor do most of them have permits to

3:49

carry firearms. As such,

3:51

the county is sending him warrants to arrest the

3:53

detectives, which will arrive on the five o'clock train.

3:56

Sid couldn't be happier. He

3:58

plans to arrest them. Though,

4:00

the excited, gunslinging lawman does

4:03

make a likely exaggerated, bold

4:05

statement, exclaiming, We'll kill the

4:07

goddamn sons of bitches before they get out of

4:09

Mi'won. Oof,

4:11

strong words, but worse, anti-union

4:14

phone operator Mae Chafen is

4:16

listening in. She'll

4:18

make sure this gets back to the detectives.

4:25

It's now late afternoon, perhaps 4pm. Robert

4:28

Felts and his detectives are back at

4:30

the Urias Hotel, preparing to leave Mi'won.

4:33

They've evicted six families, and according to the

4:35

stories making their way around town, that

4:38

includes a pregnant woman, plenty of children,

4:40

and one infant whose crib now lies

4:42

in the dusty road. Yes,

4:45

their work here is done, and

4:47

fully aware that Sid Hatfield seems

4:49

to arrest them thanks to the

4:51

eavesdropping phone operator. The majority of

4:53

detectives without permits to carry are

4:55

stowing their illegal firearms. Even

4:57

enough, they're ready. Time

5:00

to go catch that 5 o'clock train back

5:02

to their headquarters in Bluefield. A

5:07

light drizzle falls on the detectives as they

5:09

walk toward the train depot. With

5:12

just Albert Felts and two others

5:14

wearing guns, the suit-clad men are

5:16

soon passing Chambers Hardware Store. Less

5:18

than a block to go. And

5:20

that's when they see Police Chief Sid Hatfield.

5:24

He stands, guns holstered, backed up

5:26

by at least a dozen gun-bearing

5:28

minors. It's at this

5:30

point that the gangly officer announces to

5:32

the private detectives that they're under arrest.

5:35

Albert Felts answers with a laugh. Sid,

5:40

I've got a warrant for you too, and

5:42

I'm going to take you with me to Bluefield. And

5:46

with that, Albert pulls out the

5:48

warrant. Sid likewise

5:50

answers with a laugh. Albert

5:53

continues to laugh. With

5:56

neither man backing down from this facade

5:58

of coolness, the two adversaries The mayor's

6:00

walked together, laughing and glaring as

6:02

minors and detectives alike follow. All

6:06

continue until they reach Testerman's Jewelry

6:08

Store. That is, Mayor

6:10

Cowell Testerman's Jewelry Store. The

6:13

short and stocky city leader quickly steps out

6:15

and puts himself right in the thick of

6:17

it, examining the warrant for his police chief's

6:20

arrest. The mayor sees

6:22

right through the detective's game, exclaiming,

6:26

It's a focus. Someone else

6:28

yelled out, It might as well

6:30

have been written on gingerbread. And

6:33

what happens from here? Oh, the

6:35

tales that contradict each other so

6:37

greatly, God alone knows. All

6:40

I can say for sure is that, still

6:42

smiling, Albert reaches for his gun.

6:45

But like I said, kids have quit

6:47

their off. Welcome

7:02

to History expected. Onimi professor strangers,

7:04

full of duol and thunder doing history. We'll

7:26

hear how this shootout or massacre, depending

7:28

on your point of view, ultimately

7:31

ends. It's an important

7:33

piece of today's tale. The

7:35

tale of early 20th century West Virginia's mine

7:37

wars and its culmination in the 1921 Battle

7:41

of Blair Mountain. To grasp

7:43

this story in full, we need to

7:45

understand the spread of national workers unions.

7:48

As such, we'll trace that history

7:50

until we see one in particular,

7:52

the United Mine Workers of America

7:54

try to break into fiercely anti-union

7:56

West Virginia. We'll then learn

7:58

about these mining companies. and their

8:01

mine guard system, which many miners

8:03

of varying political views see as

8:05

little more than indentured servitude or

8:07

even slavery. Decades of

8:09

this will enable Mother Jones to make inroads

8:11

in the Mountain State and lead to a

8:13

strike in 1912 among Paint

8:15

Creek and Cabin Creek miners. We'll

8:18

even see this system at play outside of

8:20

West Virginia as we take a peek into

8:22

Colorado's Mine War in 1914. But

8:25

we then return quickly to West Virginia, where

8:27

the mine wars are only getting hotter in

8:29

the post-World War I years. We'll

8:32

find out just how fast Police Chief

8:34

Sid Hatfield's draw really is and follow

8:36

that May 19, 1920

8:39

action as it leads to more

8:41

clashes between mine owners and miners,

8:43

including arrests, deaths, outright murder, and

8:45

finally, the largest uprising in

8:47

U.S. history since the Civil War, the

8:50

Battle of Blair Mountain. And

8:52

if we pay close attention, we'll see how this episode

8:54

builds on the 1920s Red Scare and

8:57

other prejudice-based fears that we learned about

8:59

in the last two episodes. So

9:02

with all of that, let's get to this

9:04

tale of the United States' closest call with

9:06

class warfare, the Mine Wars. And

9:09

we begin with our background on national unions.

9:12

Rewind. While

9:17

we could trace the history of labor unions

9:19

to well before the mid-19th century, it's just

9:21

after the Civil War, in 1866, that

9:25

America sees its first full-on national

9:27

organization, the ever-so-appropriately

9:29

named National Labor Union.

9:32

Its most notable action is calling on Congress

9:34

to limit the workday to eight hours. This

9:37

will happen one day, but the National

9:39

Labor Union won't be around to see

9:41

it, because the NLU ceases to exist

9:44

less than a decade after opening. But

9:47

as the saying goes, when God

9:49

closes the door, He opens

9:51

a U.S.-manufactured union-installed window with

9:53

OSHA-approved safety features. In

9:56

1869, another nationwide labor organization, Wright, and the

9:58

American Union, and the United phases, the

10:01

Knights of Labor. The Knights

10:03

promote cooperatively run shops, the eight-hour

10:05

workday, and want to organize workers

10:08

across all sectors. Ah,

10:10

that's why we've seen the Knights

10:12

in various places and supporting different

10:14

trades and past episodes, like Episode

10:16

98's Chicago-based Haymarket Riot and Episode

10:18

101's Black Share Croppers

10:21

in Louisiana. Yet, the

10:23

Haymarket's radicalism and violence, coupled with

10:26

the Knights' vague promises, undermines

10:28

this fairly moderate organization. Membership

10:31

plummets in the late 1880s, from over 700,000 to a mere 200,000. While

10:37

the Knights won't cease to exist any

10:39

time soon, this opens the path for

10:41

another organization to become Labor's new King

10:43

of the Hill. That

10:45

new king is founded in 1886 and

10:49

known as the American Federation of Labor,

10:51

or the AFL. Its

10:53

real secret to success is the pragmatic

10:55

approach of its leader, Samuel Gompers. Raised

10:58

in a strong, Jewish, working-class British family, Sam

11:01

immigrated with his family as a teen from

11:03

Britain to New York in 1863. He

11:07

then became a leader in his cigar-maker's local, and

11:09

by the mid-1860s, numbered among those

11:11

workers that, as we learned in

11:14

Episode 151, Marxism did not anticipate.

11:16

Those who rejected the radicalism of

11:19

a worker's revolution in favor of

11:21

classical liberalism's demand for freedom, but

11:23

nonetheless seek to use democracy to

11:26

curb unrestrained capitalism's injustices. In

11:28

brief, Sam thinks the Marxists, and

11:31

even the Knights, make pie-in-the-sky impossible

11:33

promises, which is why this pragmatic

11:35

cigar-roller refuses to align with either

11:37

of them, or any progressive

11:39

movements. Rather, Sam runs

11:42

the AFL like a business. He

11:44

sticks to his budget and focuses on

11:46

concrete achievements, union recognition,

11:48

improving wages and hours, resolving

11:51

grievances, and, of course, landing

11:53

contracts. This works. By

11:56

1893, the AFL is the

11:58

leading national labor organization. organization

12:00

in America with various affiliated

12:02

unions, including the newly

12:05

created United Mine Workers of

12:07

America. Founded

12:12

in 1890 with a strong infusion

12:14

from the declining Knights of Labor,

12:16

the United Mine Workers of America, or

12:18

the UMW or the UMWA as

12:20

it's also known, is heavily concentrated

12:22

in Illinois and Pennsylvania in the mid

12:25

1890s. But

12:27

the UMW would like to expand south

12:29

into the Appalachian Mountains rich coal fields.

12:32

So would Sam Gompers, AFL, but

12:35

they've had a rough go organizing workers in

12:37

West Virginia. Why is

12:39

that? First, West Virginia

12:42

mine owners are fighting against unions

12:44

by pointing to their geographical disadvantage.

12:47

Their coal has to travel farther

12:49

than their more northern counterparts to

12:51

reach midwestern and northeastern consumers and

12:53

in an industry with tight margins,

12:56

that's no small thing. They

12:58

tell their workers that paying union wages

13:00

could be the added expense that puts

13:02

them under, leaving everyone out of work.

13:05

But logical as that argument is on

13:07

the surface, the real challenge to unions

13:09

in West Virginia is the mine owners

13:11

near absolute control over their workers. See,

13:15

more often than not, the mining companies

13:17

own their employees' towns, company towns as

13:19

they're known. This means

13:21

the company owns all the towns shack like

13:24

weatherboarded homes and the miners have to pay

13:26

them rent. The company also

13:28

owns the general store and jacks up the

13:30

cost of goods, which the miners have no

13:32

choice but to accept because the company doesn't

13:34

pay them in US dollars. It

13:36

pays them in company script. Miners

13:39

can sell that script for real currency, but

13:41

it'll cost them about 25 cents per dollar.

13:44

Nor can miners always appeal to the government. These

13:47

mining towns are generally on unincorporated

13:49

county land and have no elected

13:51

officials or public servants. This

13:54

allows the companies to operate what is called

13:56

the mine guard system, in which the only

13:58

police or authorities are companies. hired guns,

14:01

usually Baldwin felt agents who used their

14:03

rifles, pistols, and even machine guns to

14:05

keep the miners in line rather than

14:08

serve and protect the community. In

14:10

short, West Virginia miners are so choked

14:12

off from the free market and real

14:14

government that most union leaders or advocates

14:16

see it as hopeless. But

14:19

that's not the case for one zealous woman, Mother

14:21

Jones. Mary

14:26

Harris Jones, or Mother Jones, as

14:29

the aging labor organizers known, is

14:31

no stranger to hardship. Fleeing

14:34

her native Ireland amid the death and

14:36

starvation of the great hunger, she moved

14:38

around quite a bit before ending up

14:40

in Memphis, Tennessee, where she married Union

14:42

man and iron molder George Jones in

14:44

1861. They had four children

14:46

together. By 1867, Mary's familial

14:48

happiness was ripped away by a

14:51

yellow fever epidemic. The

14:53

disease killed George and all four kids.

14:56

The loss gutted her. Mary

14:58

will wear black for the rest of her life. Starting

15:02

anew, Mary opened a sewing shop in Chicago

15:04

only to lose everything in the Great Chicago

15:06

Fire of 1871. The luckless woman found new

15:10

purpose though in serving those who, like

15:12

her late husband, were union laborers. She

15:15

connected with the Knights of Labor, was a part of

15:18

the Haymarket riot in 1886, the Great Railroad Strike of

15:22

1877. And now in the 1890s, finds herself

15:24

drawn to the cause of the United Mine

15:26

Workers of America. The miners

15:29

love their swearing, profane, black clad

15:31

60 year old advocate who fights

15:33

for them. Her boys,

15:35

she always says, like a

15:37

mother protecting her own children. Hence

15:39

their nickname for her, Mother

15:41

Jones. Mother Jones

15:43

doesn't give a damn about the Baldwin Felt's

15:46

detectives. Amid the 1902 coal

15:48

strike that we learned about in episode 112, she

15:51

charges into West Virginia preaching the

15:53

UMW gospel and by this point

15:55

socialism. Miners in Canoa County

15:58

joined UMW, but it's a short brush

16:00

with success for the labor movement. With

16:02

the courts on their side, mining

16:04

companies have union organizers arrested, including

16:07

Mother Jones. The courts force

16:09

her from the state, but not without

16:11

the prosecution first calling her, quote, the

16:13

most dangerous woman in America, close quote.

16:16

She'll carry that label with pride for the rest of

16:18

her life. A decade

16:21

passes. In 1912, Canola

16:23

County's unionized miners living near Paint

16:25

Creek go on strike as

16:27

their contracts expire. Mother

16:29

Jones cancels her California speaking tour and

16:31

rushes back to the mountain state. Soon

16:34

300 Baldwin felt agents,

16:37

some armed with machine guns descend upon

16:39

the area determined to run unions out

16:41

of the state. Things

16:43

turn deadly. The July 26 battle

16:46

of mucklow leaves 12 strikers and four

16:48

agents dead. As tensions

16:50

rise, Frank Keeney, who first met Mother

16:53

Jones 10 years ago, asks her to

16:55

help drum up support for the UMW

16:57

in his community along nearby cabin Creek.

17:00

She gladly helps her longtime protege, thereby

17:02

bringing Frank's people into the strike. Capitalizing

17:05

on this victory, she then organizes and leads

17:08

a rally of miners at the state Capitol

17:10

in Charleston with a simple message, get

17:13

the Baldwin felt agents out. It's

17:19

the afternoon of August 15, 1912, 75 year old gray haired

17:25

and black dressed Mother Jones pushes past

17:27

banners and signs as she ascends the

17:29

stone steps in front of the Capitol

17:31

building in Charleston, West Virginia. Surveying

17:34

the 2000 strong crowd, she knows

17:36

that her week of organizing has been well

17:38

spent. Most here are women

17:40

and children, but 200 or so are Canawha

17:43

County miners who've come just to hear her

17:45

speak. On the edge

17:47

of the crowd are cigar chomping businessmen eager

17:49

to hear what she has to say. So

17:52

why keep them waiting? Mother

17:54

Jones climbs atop the prepared speakers

17:56

box. She quickly grabs

17:58

their attention with her. thick, rogue accent.

18:41

Speaking for an hour and a half,

18:43

Mother Jones did punctuate her speech with

18:46

occasional reminders to remain peaceful, but

18:48

her thinly veiled call for violence is not

18:50

lost on anyone. Governor

18:53

William Glasscott responds by declaring martial law

18:55

in the region. The

18:57

National Guard then disarms the miners and sends

18:59

the mine guards away. This

19:01

creates a temporary peace, but as martial

19:03

law ends and the UMW seeks to

19:06

negotiate, mine operators reject their overtures. The

19:09

Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike continues.

19:12

Indeed, West Virginians don't know it, but

19:14

a decade-long coal mine war is beginning

19:16

in their state. With

19:19

more violence, the Governor calls once more for

19:21

martial law. Monkeys calm down,

19:23

so this second round of martial law ends, but

19:25

in February 1913, a striking

19:28

miner snipes a strikebreaker near

19:30

Muklo. The Baldwin

19:32

Felt agents take revenge by using

19:34

an armored train, nicknamed the Bolmoo

19:36

Special, to terrorize the miner's tent

19:38

camp under the cover of night.

19:42

While we can't say who fires the

19:44

first shot, the morning rises on one

19:46

dead miner and a wounded woman. This

19:50

latest batch of violence, coupled with the arrest

19:52

of Mother Jones that same February, is

19:55

all making West Virginia look bad on the national

19:57

stage. Congress opens an

19:59

investigation. West Virginia's state

20:01

legislature responds by passing the works

20:04

bill, which makes it unlawful for,

20:06

quote, deputies to act as or

20:08

perform any duties in the capacity

20:10

of guards for any private individual

20:12

or firm or corporation, close

20:15

quote. Side note, the law

20:17

is toothless as it lacks any penalty for

20:19

breaking it. Meanwhile, newly

20:21

sworn in Governor Henry Hatfield grants

20:23

Mother Jones a pardon. Mother

20:26

Jones leaves the state, but she's

20:28

not rudderless. That same

20:31

summer of 1913, the United Mine Workers

20:33

of America is looking to organize among

20:35

Colorado miners. And

20:37

so the black clad miners' angel,

20:39

yep, yet another nickname, heads

20:42

west. Sadly, the centennial

20:44

state's conflict between miners and mine

20:46

owners is also turning bloody. The

20:49

Colorado-Coalfield War begins that September.

20:52

The worst of it comes the following spring.

20:59

It's Monday morning, April 20, 1914, the day after Orthodox

21:01

Easter. Campfires

21:06

crackle at some 900 tent

21:08

dwellers, prepare breakfast in their sprawling

21:11

colony amid the sagebrush prairie next

21:13

to a convergence of the Colorado

21:15

and Southern railroads just outside the

21:17

small south central Colorado mining town

21:20

of Ludlow. It's

21:22

a diverse, heavily immigrant group, reportedly

21:24

representing over 20 different

21:26

native languages. But

21:28

whatever their nationalities, all here watch

21:30

as Major Patrick Hamrock of the Colorado

21:32

National Guard and four of his men

21:34

enter the camp. Are

21:37

they here for peace? Or should the

21:39

miners get their guns? Okay,

21:43

a little background. It's

21:45

been six months since the United Mine

21:47

Workers of America called for a strike

21:49

against three coal companies here in Colorado,

21:52

including John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s Colorado Fuel

21:54

and Iron Company. The

21:56

miners have done their part. About

21:58

14,000, close to the top of the world, have been killed. 95%

22:01

of the state's coal miners are refusing to

22:03

work until they get union recognition, better wages

22:05

and living conditions. They

22:07

moved out of company towns like Ludlow and

22:10

have set up these tent collings on the

22:12

outskirts. They have also

22:14

fought against the National Guard and incoming

22:16

West Virginian Baldwin Felt's hired guns. Since

22:19

then, almost 30 people have been

22:21

killed in sporadic gunfights and assassinations.

22:23

Mother Jones has been arrested. A

22:26

mounted saber charge has attacked a

22:28

protesting women's group in the last

22:30

month. Those same sabers killed two

22:32

strikers. In short, things are

22:34

tense out here. And with that,

22:37

let's see where this discussion goes.

22:42

With UMW District 15 leader John

22:45

Lawson out of town, Louis Ticus fills

22:47

in and meets with Major Hamrock at

22:49

the edge of the camp. A

22:51

wavy-haired, handsome Greek immigrant, Louis doesn't

22:53

consider the Colorado National Guard any

22:56

better than the Baldwin Felt's agents.

22:58

In the strikers' eyes, they're both bought

23:00

and paid for. As Louis

23:03

walks up, the tension is only mounting.

23:06

The miners look at the guns mounted at the hills

23:08

around them, and they push in to hear what

23:10

is said. Meanwhile, rotund,

23:12

handlebar mustache-wearing, and khaki-clad Major

23:15

Hamrock doesn't like this at

23:17

all. He's getting jittery,

23:20

but so are the strikers, many of whom are

23:22

immigrants and veterans of wars in the Balkans, Italy,

23:24

and Cuba. They know all

23:26

too well what it looks like when soldiers

23:29

take strategic positions, and that's exactly what the

23:31

National Guard is doing. Then

23:34

a shot rings out, and

23:36

as we've heard in this very episode and so

23:38

many times, no one knows who's

23:40

hired them. But now, the

23:43

battle is in. The striking

23:45

miners run back to the tents and grab their guns.

23:48

Women and children climb into the deep,

23:50

cellar-like holes under the tent, dug in

23:52

preparation for this very possibility. The

23:55

strikers run up and into the hills, hoping to

23:57

draw the National Guard's fire away from Instead,

24:01

it just leaves the

24:03

fuse exposed. The

24:05

militiamen fires at the camp's tent. The

24:08

miners return fire, killing the private Alfred Martin.

24:11

Meanwhile, panicked 12-year-old Frank Snyder dashes out of

24:13

his tent, only to have a bullet whipped

24:15

through the back of his head. The

24:18

battle continues for hours. As

24:21

the day wears on, the militiamen press into

24:23

hand. Sources conflict, but

24:25

whether a byproduct of flying bullets

24:27

and campfires, or the intentional actions

24:30

of the National Guard, the tents are soon

24:32

on fire. Yes, that

24:34

includes some of the very tents under which

24:36

the miners, vies, and children are hiding in

24:38

their southern eye poles. Very

24:40

God! As night

24:43

approaches, the whole prairie, warren, and practice

24:45

as an inferno, and soon to camp.

24:48

Women and children trapped under the tents choke

24:50

on black smoke, the 58, and die. eBay

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27:12

It's impossible to say how many shot

27:14

through or charred bodies lie dead that

27:17

April 1914 night

27:19

in Ludlow, Colorado, but

27:21

at a minimum, at least 18 are

27:23

from the striking miners camp. They

27:26

include at least two women and 12 children. They

27:29

also include Louis Tychus, the Greek miner who,

27:31

after being taken by the militia, was bludgeoned

27:34

by a rifle to the back of his

27:36

head and then shot three times. The

27:39

National Guard lost at least one life, Private

27:42

Alfred Martin. Those

27:44

who opposed the Union call it a battle. They

27:47

claim that many immigrants, particularly the

27:49

Greeks, wanted a battle and had

27:51

intended to attack the day before

27:53

as a part of their celebration

27:55

of Orthodox Easter. But

27:57

Colorado's UMW miners don't buy it. They

28:00

call this the Ludlow Massacre and

28:03

want revenge. Mine company

28:05

owners are terrified to even walk down the

28:07

street for fear of meeting a bullet. President

28:11

Woodrow Wilson intervenes sending federal troops by the end

28:13

of the month. The U.S.

28:15

Army is far more neutral than the locals

28:17

serving in the Colorado National Guard, and that

28:19

certainly helps to calm the violence. But

28:22

by that same neutral token, they have no

28:25

issue allowing strikebreakers into the mines. It

28:28

remains high through 1914, but in

28:30

December, the Colorado-Coalfield War comes to

28:32

its end. John D.

28:35

Rockefeller Jr. introduces his Rockefeller Plan,

28:37

which curbs poor working conditions and

28:39

gives miners a way to report

28:41

grievances within the company. Meanwhile,

28:44

the Victory American Company contracts with the

28:46

United Mine Workers of America. These

28:49

are the extent of the miners' victories, though. In

28:52

brief, Colorado's 15-month Coalfield War leaves

28:54

the UMW largely on the outs,

28:56

most striking miners jobless and a

28:58

body count anywhere between 69 to

29:01

199. This

29:04

was, indeed, as historian Thomas Andrews

29:07

said, America's deadliest labor

29:09

war. Let's

29:14

go big picture for a second and ask ourselves,

29:17

how is it that the American Federation of Labor

29:19

and the United Mine Workers are having

29:21

such a hard time when this is supposedly

29:23

the Progressive Era? What

29:25

about all the recent wins for labor,

29:27

like the eight-hour workday, child labor laws,

29:29

and legal protections for working conditions, as

29:31

we learned about back in episodes 112

29:33

through Well,

29:37

first, unions have seen

29:39

great growth during the Progressive Era,

29:41

especially earlier on. As

29:43

muckrakers exposed the worst of the nation's

29:45

factories and mines in the first decade

29:48

of the century, striking dropped while union

29:50

membership went higher than ever. Sam

29:53

Gompers' emphatically non-political AFL benefited from

29:55

this, as did his ever-so-radical rival

29:57

that came onto the scene of

29:59

the UMW. in 1905, which I

30:01

trust to recall from episode 151,

30:03

the Industrial Workers of the World, or the

30:05

IWW. Sam remembers

30:08

this period fondly, saying, it

30:10

was the harvest of the years of organization

30:12

which were beginning to bear fruit. But

30:15

employers saw the scales of power tipping away from

30:17

them. They too organized,

30:19

forming groups like the National Association

30:22

of Manufacturers, or the NAM,

30:24

which began fighting back. It

30:27

pushes what's called the open shop, which is

30:29

a guarantee that anyone can be hired for

30:31

a job regardless of union affiliation. This

30:34

argues that unions undermine individual liberty with

30:36

their collective bargaining and violent opposition to

30:39

workers who are ready and willing to

30:41

work, such as strikebreakers. Ironically,

30:44

these same employers contradict their language of

30:46

liberty with contracts in which their workers

30:48

must give up the liberty of joining

30:50

a union as a condition of employment.

30:53

Emphasizing the fear involved, union men

30:56

call these yellow dog contracts, and

30:58

they're quite effective at checking the

31:00

growing power of unions. A

31:02

final point. In these great war

31:05

years when, as we know from the

31:07

past two episodes, revolutionary Russia will soon

31:09

hatch a new red scare, and peaking

31:11

fears over ideologies and race are helping

31:14

to rebirth the Ku Klux Klan. The

31:16

heavily Eastern European immigrant and diverse makeup

31:18

of native-born black and white minors are

31:21

adding yet another layer of difficulty. Sam

31:24

Gompers fights back. Caving

31:26

on the idea that labor should stay

31:28

out of politics and focus on organization,

31:31

he allies the AFL with President Woodrow

31:33

Wilson and the Democrats. If

31:35

going partisan is what it takes to protect the

31:37

right to organize, then Sam will do it with

31:39

that sole purpose in mind. Or

31:42

as Sam puts it, quote, labor does

31:44

not become partisan to a political party,

31:46

but partisan to a principle. Close

31:49

quote. But while Sam

31:51

is cozying up to the professorial president,

31:53

employers like John D. Rockefeller Jr. are

31:55

doubling down on the importance of preventing

31:58

union recognition and keeping taking control in

32:00

the hands of capital. Speaking

32:03

before the House Committee on Mines and Mining

32:05

as a result of the deadly Colorado Coldfield

32:07

War, the New Yorker makes

32:09

it clear that he won't compromise

32:11

with violent, subversive unions using undercover

32:13

men to foment dissent among previously

32:15

happy workers. He compares

32:18

the struggle to the Revolutionary War and

32:20

declares that, quote, it is a great

32:22

national issue of the most vital kind,

32:24

close quote. Ironically, these

32:27

large companies' success here only

32:29

drives unskilled laborers toward more

32:31

radical groups. But

32:39

then the Great War comes. As

32:42

we know from episode 151, the IWW's

32:44

public image only continues to sink as

32:47

its celebrity socialist Gene Debs gets incarcerated

32:49

for speaking against the draft. But

32:52

conversely, the AFL's emphatically nonradical leader,

32:54

Sam Gompers, stands resolutely in support

32:56

of President Woodrow Wilson and the

32:59

war. The AFL patriotically

33:01

puts a stop to any plans to

33:03

strike. This pays off big time.

33:06

Sam gets an advisory position on the

33:09

National Council of Defense, and federal policy

33:11

falls toward giving the AFL what it

33:13

wants, thereby extending the eight-hour workday to

33:15

even more laborers. But

33:18

then the Great War ends. General

33:21

restraints evaporate. Meanwhile, company

33:23

owners are not only looking to

33:25

win back more control in this

33:27

capital-v-labor tug-of-war, but they're also

33:30

facing a postwar recession amid the

33:32

sudden surplus of unneeded war materials.

33:35

This dynamic results in thousands of

33:37

strikes across almost every industry, which,

33:39

to invoke episode 151 once more,

33:42

leads many companies and citizens

33:45

to conclude Bolshevism has infiltrated

33:47

American unions. Even when

33:49

those unions have patriotic or more

33:51

conservative track records. In

33:54

this environment, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge

33:56

becomes a hero as he stands

33:58

against Boston's striking people. police in September

34:00

1919. Cal

34:02

sends in the National Guard and

34:05

fires the entire police force arguing

34:07

that, quote, there's no right to

34:09

strike against the public safety by

34:11

anybody, anywhere, anytime, close

34:13

quote. The move is enough

34:15

of a win to help him land the

34:17

vice presidential nomination with Republican presidential candidate, Warren

34:19

G. Harding in the 1920 election. But

34:22

let's not get ahead of ourselves. That's a

34:25

story for another day. That

34:27

same September, 1919, the

34:29

UMW calls on its miners to strike

34:31

because coal operators are refusing to renegotiate

34:34

wartime wage contracts. But

34:36

this time, President Woodrow Wilson doesn't side

34:38

with labor. Under the

34:40

influence of Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, the White

34:42

House urges the miners to get back to

34:44

work. Almost 400,000 miners

34:47

still go on strike, but in the midst

34:49

of the Red Scare, public sentiment doesn't view

34:51

the miners as pursuing fair negotiations. They

34:54

see Bolshevism in the unions. UMW

34:57

President John L. Lewis decides not to

34:59

push his luck, declaring, we

35:01

are Americans, we cannot fight our

35:04

government. The UMW expects a

35:06

compromise, a 27% wage increase, and

35:09

no change in hours. But

35:15

there's a thorn in the UMW president's

35:17

side. And by a thorn, I

35:19

mean West Virginia. While the

35:21

Great War managed to bring unions into all

35:23

but three West Virginia counties near the Kentucky

35:25

border, these continued holdouts

35:27

will, in time, undermine

35:30

the UMW's collective bargaining. The

35:33

most important of these is Mingo County, which

35:35

is well known for its rich coal fields.

35:38

But Logan County, which sits on

35:40

Mingo's long, northeastern border and is

35:42

the seat of power for the

35:44

state's mine operators, has effectively blocked

35:46

union organizers from it. This

35:48

is largely thanks to Sheriff Don Chaithen, who

35:50

is little more than the mine operators hired

35:53

hand. Still, with that

35:55

27% wage increase coming on March

35:57

31, 1920, you're going to have to pay

35:59

for it. UMW President John Lewis decides

36:01

now is the time to push

36:04

his union into West Virginia's holdout

36:06

non-union counties. Mingo

36:09

County miners are on board. When

36:11

they hear that they'll miss out on a 27% raise

36:14

if they stay non-union, they get pretty

36:16

upset. The mine operators

36:18

offer a raise, but they also raise prices

36:20

at their company stores. Thus,

36:23

by the end of April, Mingo County

36:25

miners are signing up with the UMW

36:27

by the hundreds every day. Mine

36:29

operators respond by pulling from their old playbook.

36:32

They fire the unionized miners and bring in

36:34

men from the Baldwin Felt's detective agency to

36:37

evict them. And

36:39

that brings us to where we started this episode.

36:42

To May 19, 1920,

36:45

as Baldwin Felt's detectives slash thugs show

36:47

up in the Mingo County town of

36:49

Maitwan and start evicting newly unionized stone

36:51

mountain coal miners and their families. But

36:55

let's note that this isn't a

36:57

mining town on unincorporated county land,

36:59

which means the private agents encounter

37:01

resistance from actual public servants. From

37:05

Maitwan Mayor, Cabell Testerman, and

37:07

Police Chief, Sid Tugon Hatfield.

37:10

Now Sid is only distantly related to

37:12

the first of those two famous feuding

37:15

families known as the Hatfield and McCoy's,

37:17

but no matter. At 27

37:19

years old, the tall, gangly, quick-drawing

37:22

gunslinger with a winning, gold-filled smile

37:24

leading to his nickname, Smiling Sid,

37:27

more than lives up to the lore. And

37:30

I believe we left off with Sid

37:32

displaying his gift for the draw against

37:34

his foe, Albert Felt's. No

37:40

one knows who fires first. All

37:42

we know for sure is that late in the

37:44

afternoon of May 19, 1920, downtown Maitwan erupts with

37:48

gunfire. But since only three

37:50

agents have guns at this point, Felt

37:52

brothers Albert and Lee and Aiden

37:55

C.B. Cunningham, the detectives don't

37:57

stand a chance against the dozen or so

37:59

well-armed miners. Still, both

38:01

sides quickly lose a leading man.

38:04

Albert Phelps takes a bullet to the head, and

38:06

their cavalry testament takes one to the stomach.

38:10

Holists fly at the detectives from the street.

38:12

Some fly from nearby second-story windows. What

38:15

on earth did the miners

38:17

plan this? Lee

38:19

Phelps and Art William inspire at each other,

38:21

both missing every shot, but

38:24

not reached changes. By taking

38:26

careful aim with his rifle, he drops this

38:28

youngest of the self-promotes. Out

38:31

of bullets and self-art charges forward, grabs

38:33

a pistol from Lee's now lifeless body

38:35

and blackly, wounded detective A.J. Bua

38:38

at near-blank range. As

38:40

for which miner killed C.B. Cunningham? God

38:43

alone knows. His body is

38:45

riddled with bullets, and half of his head

38:47

is gone. By the

38:49

time the five o'clock train pulls into Maitwan's

38:52

depot, four innocent citizens are

38:54

injured. The mayor lies mortally wounded,

38:57

while two miners and seven detectives,

38:59

including two Phelps brothers, are

39:01

dead. Baldwin

39:06

Phelps' agents, Tim Anderson, his

39:08

wounded brother Walter, and separately,

39:11

Oscar Bennett, manage to slip away and

39:13

board the five o'clock train before it pulls out of

39:15

the depot. Another agent, John

39:18

McDowell, swims across the Tug River

39:20

to Kentucky. In

39:22

total, six detectives survive the Battle

39:24

of Maitwan. Well, that's

39:26

what the miners call it. But

39:29

given that most detectives were

39:31

unarmed, the anti-Union crowd calls

39:33

it the Maitwan Massacre. After the

39:35

Battle or Massacre, Sid is nothing less

39:37

than a hero to Union miners. They

39:40

flock to the United Mine Workers. UMW

39:43

President John Lewis and Mother Jones

39:45

are ecstatic. Only a month

39:47

and a half later, on July 1, 1920, UMW District 17 President Frank Keeney

39:53

calls on his fellow Mingo County miners to

39:55

strike. They do. Mine

39:57

owners respond to firings, evictions. and

40:00

playing up the current Red Scare. Meanwhile,

40:03

Sid Hatfield and 22 other men are charged

40:05

with murder for the battle or massacre of

40:07

Mate 1. The trial

40:09

starts on January 26, 1921, and the Baldwin-Felt agency

40:11

does its best to drag

40:15

Sid's name through the mud. They

40:17

point to Sid marrying Mayor Cabell Testerman's

40:19

widow, Jesse, only two weeks after the

40:21

shootout and argue Sid set this all

40:23

up to steal the mayor's wife. They

40:26

even say Sid shot the mayor. In

40:29

truth, Cabell had told Jesse that if anything

40:31

ever happened to him, she should marry his

40:33

dear friend, Sid, and let him take care

40:35

of her. But still, the

40:37

timing looks bad. And

40:39

yet, the two-month trial ends with the

40:42

jury finding Sid and all his co-defendants

40:44

not guilty. Those who

40:46

support the union see justice as being

40:48

served. Those who don't

40:50

are convinced murderers are being released on the

40:52

streets. But Sid

40:54

isn't off the hook. As

40:56

the mine war continues in Mingo

40:58

County, as West Virginia Governor Ephraim

41:01

Morgan invokes martial law that May,

41:03

and minors are arrested without warrants

41:05

or even killed, Congress feels compelled

41:07

to investigate. Sid's called

41:09

upon to testify. But while

41:11

in Washington, D.C., Sid's informed of new charges

41:13

against him and 30 others, this

41:16

time for a raid last year

41:18

against non-union minors at Mohawk in

41:20

MacDowell County. The

41:23

lanky gunslinger has misgivings. He

41:25

wasn't a part of this raid. MacDowell County

41:27

is a stronghold of the mining companies,

41:29

and Sid knows that Tom Feltz wants

41:32

him dead. Sounds like

41:34

a set up. Yet,

41:36

Sam Montgomery urges him to go. This

41:39

prominent member of the legal community in

41:41

West Virginia can't believe that the mining

41:43

companies would condone cold-blooded murder. He

41:46

advises Sid to return to MacDowell

41:48

County, peacefully and unarmed, to

41:51

trust in the law, to trust

41:53

the system. Okay. Sid

41:56

agrees. It's

42:01

mid-morning, August 1, 1921. Sid

42:05

Hatfield, Ed Chambers, both of their

42:07

wives and Mingo County deputies, Jim

42:09

Kirkpatrick, are walking along the

42:11

busy streets of MacDowell County's seat of

42:14

Welch, West Virginia. The

42:17

group arrived by train this morning. It

42:19

was an uncomfortable ride since they had

42:21

to share it with C.E. Lively, the

42:24

same Baldwin-Felts spy who outed himself to

42:26

testify against Sid during his last trial.

42:29

Even more awkwardly, the dark-haired informant

42:31

followed them to the same restaurant

42:33

for breakfast. But no

42:35

matter. The group is now walking

42:37

to the courthouse, where they're due at 10.30. Trusting

42:41

the law, both Sid and Ed are

42:43

unarmed. Only Jim has a

42:45

gun. He's here as their bodyguard.

42:48

They soon arrive at the

42:51

beautiful, Ivy-covered, stone-built MacDowell County

42:53

Courthouse. Finding its

42:55

long steps, Sid waves to friends,

42:57

his fellow descendants, ascending the other

42:59

set of stairs. And

43:01

that's when C.E. appears yet again.

43:04

From the blink of an eye, he draws and shoots

43:06

Ed in the neck. Other

43:09

Baldwin-Self-Agent Five is found

43:11

as Discharging Bullets reams through the streets

43:13

as Sid hits level time.

43:16

Fall down. Hey

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for details. I'm Jane

43:52

Pirlas, long-time foreign correspondent and former

43:54

Beijing bureau chief for The New

43:56

York Times. I've been a

43:58

foreign correspondent in lots of places,

44:01

Somalia, Indonesia, Pakistan, but

44:04

nowhere as important to

44:06

the world as China. I mean,

44:08

China is not dropping anti-democratic paratroopers

44:10

into Montana, but of course we

44:12

did see things like the weather

44:14

balloon slash spy balloon riveting the

44:17

whole country for a week. This

44:19

is Face Off, an eight-part series

44:22

in which we'll take you behind

44:24

the scenes to key moments in

44:26

the tumultuous US-China relationship. We'll speak

44:29

with a diplomat, a spy, a

44:31

tech reporter, a US Admiral, even

44:33

Yo-Yo Ma. Plus my

44:35

pal and noted China historian,

44:38

Rana Mitter, joins the conversation.

44:40

We'll look at what's driving the

44:42

two nations apart and explore whether

44:44

anything can help bring them back

44:46

together. Face Off launches April

44:49

9th. Smile

45:02

and Sid. Two guns,

45:04

Sid. The terror of the

45:06

tug. Call him what you

45:09

will, but to West Virginia's Union miners, he

45:11

was their knight in less than shining armor.

45:14

On August 3rd, 1921, 2,000

45:17

or more from the mining community pay

45:19

their respects to their slain hero and

45:21

his dear friend, Ed Chambers, as the

45:23

two days dead duo are laid to

45:26

rest in Matewan. Meanwhile,

45:28

C.E. Lively and his fellow Baldwin

45:30

Felt agents literally get away with

45:32

murder, claiming they acted in self-defense

45:34

at the McDowell County Courthouse. Countless

45:37

West Virginia miners seethe with rage as

45:40

they pass along the story of Sid

45:42

and Ed being, quote, shot

45:44

down like dogs in front of their

45:46

wives, close quote. While

45:49

the local wheeling intelligencer describes these

45:51

public murders as, quote, the

45:53

most glaring and outrageous expression of contempt

45:56

for law that has ever stained the

45:58

history of West Virginia. Many

46:01

national newspapers dismiss it with their

46:03

usual condescension toward the region and

46:05

the people of Appalachia. Four

46:09

days later, August 7th, legions of

46:11

miners gather at West Virginia's state

46:13

capitol in Charleston. Various local union

46:15

leaders speak. They

46:17

include UMW District 17's fiery

46:19

president Frank Keeney and his

46:22

fellow Paint Creek Cabin Creek

46:24

strike leader turned District 17's

46:26

secretary-treasurer Fred Mooney. Even

46:28

in the wake of law and order

46:30

flaunting Sid's murder, both of these slick-haired

46:32

Mingo County men are fed up. In

46:35

fact, with the exception of Mother Jones,

46:37

all of the leaders here endorse violence.

46:40

From the safety of the capitol's interior, the

46:42

governor only takes a brief meeting with Frank

46:44

and Fred to hear their demands for reform.

46:47

He rejects them in full ten days later. Talk

46:51

about fuel on the fire. Frankly,

46:54

this is their breaking point. As

46:56

West Virginia's pro-union miners see it, they've

46:58

spent their whole lives oppressed by the

47:00

mine companies and their mine guard system.

47:03

They've been abused terribly, at least since

47:06

1912's Paint Creek Cabin Creek strike, and this year, 1921,

47:08

things have gotten far worse. Since

47:12

the governor's declaration of martial law

47:14

in May, dozens of Mingo County

47:16

miners have been locked up, some

47:18

for such innocuous, First Amendment-protected actions

47:20

as assembling in groups of three

47:22

or more, or carrying a United

47:24

Mine Workers' Journal. Further,

47:27

state troopers and an ill-trained citizen's

47:29

militia, hastily formed after the most

47:31

recent declaration of martial law, because

47:33

West Virginia has yet to reconfigure

47:35

its National Guard since the Great

47:37

War, have roughed up miners

47:39

and raided their camps. Just

47:41

two months ago, in June, 17 troopers

47:44

carried out such a raid, arresting 45 miners

47:46

while destroying their family's canvas tents,

47:48

stoves, and out of sheer spite,

47:50

pouring kerosene in their milk. This

47:53

took the jailed miner count to over 100, and

47:56

now, on top of all of this, Sid

47:59

has been On the steps

48:01

of the courthouse, no less, while the

48:03

governor still refuses to listen, this

48:05

is all too much. Rifle-bearing

48:08

miners gather by the thousands just

48:10

outside Charleston and Marmot. Looking

48:13

to Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney for

48:15

leadership, this veritable army of pro-union men

48:17

is determined to march 80 miles southwest

48:19

to Mingo County and liberate their jailed

48:22

brethren. Terrified

48:24

at this escalation, Mother Jones tries to stop it.

48:27

She shows up in the miners' camp on

48:29

August 24th, claiming to have a telegram from

48:32

President Warren G. Harding in which he promises

48:34

to end the mineguard system if the men

48:36

do not march. Frank Keeney

48:38

calls her out, saying it's not real. She

48:41

tells him to go to hell. Her

48:43

friend is right, and once that's proven,

48:46

the nearly 20-year bond between these two

48:48

is shattered. Heartbroken,

48:50

Mother Jones leaves her boys

48:52

turned rifle-wielding enraged men to

48:54

follow their path. The

48:57

path to Mingo County and what will be known

48:59

as the Battle of Blair Mountain. They

49:01

set out on August 25th. The

49:07

militant marching miners have a serious foe ahead

49:09

of them, Logan County

49:11

Sheriff Don Chatham. I

49:14

mentioned him briefly earlier, but to

49:16

go a little deeper, this husky,

49:18

dimple-chinned, thirty-something man is the ruler

49:20

of Logan County. In

49:22

fact, Don Chatham is known as the

49:24

czar of Logan County. He

49:27

does in Logan County what the Baldwin Felt's

49:29

detective agency does in the other counties, only

49:32

he does it more legitimately as a duly

49:34

elected sheriff. The mine owners

49:36

pay him handsomely for his loyalty, and with

49:39

Logan County right in the middle of the

49:41

marching minor army's path to Mingo County, he's

49:43

determined not to allow this mob as he

49:45

sees them to pass through his domain. To

49:49

that end, Don raises his own army

49:51

of deputies, state police, and volunteers. They

49:54

and their machine guns are soon dug into Northern

49:56

Logan County's mountainous terrain, cutting off a dirt road

49:58

crucial to the state. to the miners'

50:01

southwestern path at Blair Mountain. As

50:04

the Army of Miners head southwest, their

50:06

leaders, Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney, are

50:08

summoned to meet with U.S. Army General

50:11

Harry Bandholz in Charleston on Friday, August

50:13

26th. Yes, at this point,

50:15

the President is paying attention and has

50:17

sent the General to assess the situation.

50:20

Governor Ephraim Morgan has told the General his version

50:22

of the story, that the

50:24

miners have killed, pillaged from their

50:26

employers, and now, in the wake

50:29

of Sid Hatfield's death, have become

50:31

full-on insurrectionists. The 56-year-old Philippines

50:34

and Great War veteran general, known for

50:36

his diplomatic skill, informs Frank and Fred

50:38

that this march must stop now. Millions

50:41

of Americans are out of work and

50:44

the federal government can't risk West Virginia's

50:46

labor war spreading across the nation. If

50:49

they, as Union leaders, will hit the brakes, no

50:52

harm, no foul. But if not, the

50:55

General says with a crisp snap of his

50:57

fingers, we are going to

50:59

snuff this out just like that. Frank

51:02

and Fred get the memo. Gathering as

51:04

many of their miners as possible out of

51:06

ballpark, they relay the message. There's

51:08

disagreement as others speak up, but then,

51:11

one elderly black miner gives a solemn

51:13

warning. Boys, he's

51:15

right. You ain't fooling no

51:18

more. This is our daddy talking.

51:20

It's your real Uncle Sam. Yeah,

51:24

everyone here gets it. Trains

51:26

are arranged to take the miners home. The

51:29

march is over. Or

51:31

it would be, if not for the acts of a

51:33

few the next day, August 27. First,

51:36

some miners, including a pistol-wearing

51:39

ringleader named Bad Louis White,

51:41

refuse to end the march. Proclaiming,

51:44

to hell with Keeney, he leads a group

51:46

in taking a train at gunpoint. They

51:49

then go from town to town rallying

51:51

miners to take the fight to Blair

51:53

in Logan County. Meanwhile,

51:55

Logan County's czar, Sheriff John

51:57

Chatham, sends 76... police

52:00

on a raid in the small town of

52:02

Sharples that same day. His

52:04

men killed two miners. Some

52:07

wonder if the sheriff did this intentionally, if

52:09

he wanted to provoke a fight. Some

52:12

wonder if he was even in cahoots with Bad Lewis. After

52:15

all, the miner has a brother that's wielding

52:17

a gun on the sheriff's behalf. Whatever

52:20

the truth of it all, these events fan the

52:22

flames of the miners rage anew. The

52:25

last few days of August are sheer madness. Chanting,

52:28

we'll hang Don Chafin to a

52:30

sour apple tree, thousands of miners

52:32

renew their march southwest. Meanwhile,

52:35

the Logan County Sheriff's numbers swell

52:37

with untrained citizens playing militiamen. Governor

52:40

Ephraim Morgan begs the White House for assistance.

52:44

General Harry Bandholz returns while the president

52:46

signs a message on Tuesday, August 30th,

52:48

giving the miners until noon

52:50

on September 1st to surrender or face

52:52

the U.S. Army. But with

52:55

Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney out of the picture, it's

52:57

far too late for that. The

52:59

clash at Blair Mountain is all but

53:01

inevitable. It's

53:06

Wednesday morning, August 31st, 1921. Both

53:10

a reverend and a miner, John Wilburn

53:12

is with his 75 pro-union men, just

53:14

waking up in their camp on the

53:16

side of Blair Mountain. John

53:19

isn't a violent man, but after

53:21

the sheriff's raid at Sharples last week,

53:23

the tall, dark-featured man of God and

53:25

coal decided that, quote, the

53:27

time had come for me to lay down my Bible and

53:29

pick up my rifle and fight for

53:32

my rights, close quote. That's

53:35

what's brought him to Blair Mountain, and as of

53:37

this morning, he and his men are

53:39

determined that they'll press through to the town of Blair

53:41

this very day. But

53:44

as they get breakfast and prepare to move out,

53:46

John and his boys hear the crack of rifles.

53:49

It's distant, but close enough to

53:51

need investigation. John forms

53:53

a group and leads them out. Reaching

53:56

the summit of the ridge, John's patrol encounters

53:58

three men with rifles. John's

54:01

group halts. The two parties

54:03

eye each other. They inch

54:05

forward. Both sides have a

54:07

password to distinguish friends from foe, and

54:10

now both parties use them

54:12

simultaneously. The trio says,

54:15

Amen. John's posse says,

54:18

I come creepin'. Oh God.

54:21

They're foes. Chief

54:23

Deputy John Gore dies almost instantly.

54:26

His nine children will never see him again. But

54:29

he manages to fire in his last moments, taking

54:31

down a black miner in the Union ranks named

54:33

Eli Kemp. Non-Union

54:35

miner John Colfago dies just as

54:38

fast as the deputy leading. As

54:41

for the third in their group, non-Union miner

54:43

Jim Muncy, he falls wounded and pleads for

54:45

his life. But

54:47

one of the Reverend's men, Henry Kitchen, is

54:50

in here to give mercy. He places

54:52

the muzzle of his rifle against the non-Union

54:55

miner's forehead and yells, God damn

54:57

son of a bitch and thug. Hold

55:00

the trigger. The executed anti-Unionist's

55:02

head bounces off of the ground

55:04

and gushes blood, as Henry adds,

55:07

That's for Sid. Thus

55:09

begins the battle of Blair Mountain.

55:13

Thousands of rifle and pistol-bearing miners try

55:15

to advance up Blair Mountain. The

55:17

sheriff's men are grossly outnumbered for holding the high

55:19

ground and having machine guns to keep their foe

55:22

at bay. The fighting continues

55:24

on September 1st with no attention given to

55:26

the President's 12-Nenals' men. Countless

55:29

bowl of zingan flies so thick across

55:31

the miles-long front that one Great War vet

55:33

will later comment, I

55:35

never experienced anything like that battle. Five

55:38

planes fly overhead. They drop gas

55:40

and bombs among the moons. But

55:43

are these U.S. Army Air Service

55:46

planes flown or commanded by Great

55:48

War Ace pilot-turned-Brigadier General Billy Mitchell?

55:51

No. Although he'd come to

55:53

West Virginia in the midst of this turmoil

55:55

and argued that his planes could use tear

55:57

gas to drive the miners down, he's the-

56:00

are hired by the sheriff. They

56:02

drop gas and homemade TNT-filled pipe

56:05

arms. Still, make

56:07

no mistake, the U.S. Army is

56:09

ready to step in. Turning

56:12

to some of the finest infantry regiments

56:14

in the U.S. Army, then stationed at

56:16

Ohio's Camp Sherman and Kentucky's Camp Knox,

56:18

General Harry Banholz orders them to report

56:20

to West Virginia. He also

56:22

calls on General Billy Mitchell's 88th Aero

56:25

Squadron. By September 2nd, 2,100

56:27

disciplined, trained army men are

56:30

ready to enter the fray. But

56:32

thankfully, it won't come to any of that. Many

56:35

of these miners are Great War vets and

56:38

still others have a strong sense of patriotism.

56:40

Despite their rage at the mining

56:43

companies and their Baldwin-Felton forced mine

56:45

guard system, evictions, low wages, arrests,

56:48

and the murder of Sid Hatfield, these

56:50

miners won't fight against their country. Between

56:53

the miners' patriotism, General

56:55

Harry Banholz's diplomacy and his

56:57

troops' cool-headedness and discipline, not

57:00

a single federal troop fires his gun

57:02

or makes an arrest. The

57:08

Battle of Blair Mountain is over, and

57:10

it was a battle indeed. In this

57:13

days-long engagement across a several-miles front,

57:16

10,000 pro-union miners squared off against Sheriff

57:18

Don Chatham's force of 3,000. The

57:22

U.S. Army was called out. It

57:24

involved machine guns, aircraft, and

57:26

was the largest armed uprising the United States

57:29

has seen since the Civil War. What's

57:32

most remarkable though, is the battle's unlikely low

57:34

death toll. While the exact

57:36

figure will always remain elusive, less than 50 died,

57:38

some counts are as low as 16. Given

57:42

the number of Great War veterans on

57:44

both sides and frankly, the impressive reputation

57:46

of West Virginians for marksmanship, this

57:48

figure is somewhat baffling. But

57:50

the plane's pipe bombs all missed their

57:52

marks or were duds. Blair

57:55

Mountain's thick vegetation made visibility

57:57

difficult. And neither side was-

58:00

was in fact a regular army with officers

58:02

pushing men to advance. Perhaps

58:04

these factors help make sense of the

58:06

relatively minimal loss of life. The

58:09

battle's longer aftermath isn't pretty for the

58:11

pro-union miners. As the

58:13

U.S. Army arrived and thousands of miners

58:15

disappeared from the mountain, many who surrendered

58:18

properly faced charges. Between

58:20

September and October of that same year, 1921, Logan

58:22

County sees 1,217

58:25

charges for complicity in insurrection, 325 for murder, and 24 for treason

58:27

against the

58:32

state of West Virginia. Not

58:34

all but many of these charges

58:36

won't go anywhere, particularly after the

58:38

trials are moved to Union sympathetic

58:40

Fayette County. At that point,

58:42

the mining companies see the hopelessness of their

58:45

vengeance and allow the cases to drop. Those

58:48

indicted include Frank Keeney and Fred

58:50

Mooney. As with many

58:52

others, the charges don't stick, but neither

58:54

man's story ends happily. Hoping

58:57

to salvage the United Mine Workers of

58:59

America's reputation, UMW President John Lewis

59:01

forces both of them out of the Union.

59:04

Frank's life never recovers. At

59:07

the end, this once leader will be a

59:09

parking lot attendant. Fred's path

59:11

is even worse. He'll make

59:13

a failed run at politics, get divorced, and in 1952,

59:15

use his shotgun

59:17

to commit suicide. So

59:24

what do we make of West Virginia's Mine Wars,

59:26

or frankly, the nation's larger Mine Wars

59:28

and other labor movements of the early

59:31

1920s? Well, after

59:33

the Progressive Era's heyday, we can see a

59:36

theme connecting it to the fears we explored

59:38

in the last two episodes. To

59:40

the Red Scare and to the spike

59:42

in ideological, racial, and religious hatred that

59:44

gave a second KKK several years of

59:47

prominence. Let's recall that

59:49

in the midst of this Red Scare,

59:51

even Boston's police failed to get public

59:53

sympathy. If the police can be

59:55

painted red in the eyes of the public, then

59:57

what hope do the Miners have? More

1:00:00

to the point, our short foray in

1:00:02

Colorado gave us a taste of the

1:00:04

mining industry's heavily immigrant workforce. Meanwhile,

1:00:07

West Virginia has a sizable number of

1:00:09

black miners, some of whom we met

1:00:11

in our story today. Yes,

1:00:14

despite Jim Crow, the realities of mining

1:00:16

makes miners an unusually diverse group for

1:00:18

the era. But this

1:00:21

further contributed to the nation

1:00:23

at large viewing the miners

1:00:25

as Bolshevik-inspired or otherwise quote-unquote

1:00:27

un-American. Yet a

1:00:29

century removed, we can dispassionately

1:00:31

see how that was clearly not the case.

1:00:34

While some, like Mother Jones, were quite

1:00:36

radical, more leaders, ranging

1:00:38

from the AFL's Sam Gompers

1:00:41

to local UMW leaders, rejected

1:00:43

the extremes of Marxism. During

1:00:46

the Battle of Blair Mountain, exactly one

1:00:48

IWW Wobbly was identified among the 10,000

1:00:51

rebelling miners, and he was an outsider who

1:00:53

had come hoping this would turn into class

1:00:56

warfare. The newly formed

1:00:58

Communist Party of America also hoped that

1:01:00

Blair Mountain would turn into a capitalism

1:01:02

ending war, but as we know, the

1:01:05

miners themselves didn't let that happen. And

1:01:07

why? Because by

1:01:09

and large, these Appalachian boys weren't on

1:01:12

the far left. They

1:01:14

refused to fight against their country. But

1:01:17

for now, the pro-Union miners know they've

1:01:19

lost, and that's reflected in the UMW's

1:01:21

membership in West Virginia. In

1:01:24

1920 and the end of the decade, UMW

1:01:26

membership in the state plummets from 50,000 to

1:01:28

about This

1:01:31

won't really reverse until Franklin Roosevelt's

1:01:33

presidency. Meaning that, for

1:01:36

the time being, West Virginia's miners

1:01:38

will keep living the life that Ernie Ford

1:01:40

will later describe in his most famous song.

1:01:43

He loads 16 tons, what do you

1:01:45

get? Another day older

1:01:47

and deeper in debt. St. Peter,

1:01:49

don't you call me, because I can't go. I

1:01:52

owe my soul to the company store. And

1:01:56

so, the mine wars and the battle of Blair

1:01:58

Mountain end on a note in the

1:02:00

eyes of most West Virginia miners, but

1:02:03

if there is any victory for them, it

1:02:05

is this. For one small

1:02:07

moment, the oft-overlooked people of Appalachia

1:02:09

made the nation pause and take

1:02:11

notice of their plight, and

1:02:14

the miners will never forget that they

1:02:16

chose to stop the fight and did

1:02:18

so patriotically. Sheriff Don

1:02:20

Chapin and the mining owners never

1:02:23

broke the war. History

1:02:30

of the Thousand Suck is created and

1:02:32

hosted by me, Greg Jackson. It is

1:02:34

been researched and written by Greg Jackson

1:02:36

and Will Steen. Additional research by Darby

1:02:38

Glass. Production by Airship. Sound design by

1:02:41

Molly Bach. Scene music composed by Greg

1:02:43

Jackson. Arrangement and additional composition by Lindsay

1:02:45

Graham of Airship. For bibliography of all

1:02:47

primary and secondary sources consulted when writing

1:02:49

this episode, visit hdns.org. History

1:03:00

of the Thousand Suck is created and

1:03:02

hosted by me, Greg Jackson. It is

1:03:04

been researched and written by Greg Jackson

1:03:06

and Will Steen. Additional research by Darby

1:03:09

Glass. Production by Airship. Sound design by

1:03:11

Molly Bach. Scene music composed by Greg

1:03:13

Jackson. Arrangement and additional composition by Lindsay

1:03:15

Graham of Airship. For bibliography of all

1:03:17

primary and secondary sources consulted when writing

1:03:20

this episode, visit hdns.org. hdns.org. hdns.org is

1:03:24

the first of his hands on Patreon, or

1:03:26

it's much history that doesn't matter. I gratitude

1:03:28

to Kind Trolls providing funding to help us

1:03:30

keep going. Thank you. And a special

1:03:32

thanks to our patrons whose monthly gift puts them

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can't believe you're eligible. Click Brown.

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Jackman. Join me

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