In this episode, we take a journey back to the early 20th century, to the coalfields of West Virginia, where a different kind of war was fought—one that has largely been forgotten by history. The Coal Wars were not just a series of labor strikes but a full-scale conflict between coal miners and the powerful companies that controlled their lives.

We'll explore the brutal conditions that led to these uprisings, the pivotal moments like the Battle of Blair Mountain, and the long-lasting effects these wars had on labor rights in America. Through the lens of these events, we’ll answer critical questions: What drove ordinary men to take up arms against their employers? How did the influence of company towns contribute to this conflict? And what lessons can we learn from these battles about the ongoing struggle for workers' rights today?

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Humans have struggled to gather resources

for hundreds of thousands of years.

2

These resources provide security to our

livelihoods, and few things were more

3

precious as a resource than coal was over

the last couple hundred years.

4

Even to this day, coal makes up

a big chunk of our energy resources.

5

And with something so important,

you'd imagine that people

6

gathering this resource would be treated

with the utmost respect.

7

This is sadly not the case,

and today we are looking into the blood

8

soaked coal fields to discuss the coal

wars, how miners in West Virginia

9

tried to make a stand to be treated fairly

by the companies that generated that.

10

They generated massive wealth for King

Coal, as is sometimes referred to.

11

And how this king was a tyrant

to the people that made it strong.

12

We will be talking about hired agents

using machine guns and airplanes on mine

13

workers, massive armed uprisings, the

likes of which the country had not seen

14

since the Civil War, which, you know, it

was also still healing from at this point.

15

All that and more on another episode

of the Remedial Scholar that sanction

16

headmistress history, I feel I was denying

17

a critical need to know

18

information.

19

Belong to the family.

20

That step in your remedial class.

21

Welcome everyone to the remedial scholar.

22

I am your host, Levi.

23

I hope you have all been well

since the last time we saw one another.

24

I am super

excited to be with you once more

25

and hopefully give you

some more great history.

26

Before we get to the real reason

you're all here,

27

I have a few brief

housekeeping things to discuss.

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First is to remind you

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that you can comment on Facebook Instagram

to discuss the episodes.

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There's dedicated posts on the pages

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for the podcast,

as well as on like in the group.

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There's a Facebook group for the podcast,

so go ahead and check that out.

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I would love for that group

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to kind of have natural conversations

about history grow from it.

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That would be awesome.

36

That's one of my wishes with

37

this podcast, is to have people

that just talk about things, history

38

related and spin conversations

from episodes into their own.

39

Kind of like sub sub conversation,

I guess, you know?

40

Anyway, so all of those things

you can find in the description,

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also in the description merch store

with a lot of,

42

you know, fun designs that I've made

and there's many more to come.

43

I imagine there will be a design or two

from this episode alone.

44

Lastly, before the episode starts,

I want to thank the people who have rated

45

and reviewed the podcast

on all of their available

46

areas Spotify and Apple Podcasts

or the big one, Spotify.

47

You can even leave comments now,

which is cool.

48

So I'll go ahead and try that out.

And that's it.

49

That's enough of this for this malarkey

that I got going on.

50

Time to get down and dirty

and take the elevator down

51

to the depths of the earth in that dark,

dreary dungeon that many have called home.

52

And some still remain the coal mines.

53

Of course,

this episode isn't just about coal mining.

54

It is such more broad episode than that.

55

Coal, specifically the coal industry

seems to me like one of those occupations

56

that show the absolute limit

of how rough you can treat employees.

57

I'm sure you've seen the images

58

of children covered in coal dust

from the 19th century,

59

and despite their supposed restrictions

on many occupations, that still occurred,

60

especially in like rural

and more poor communities

61

and occupation that was producing

and still is, an in-demand product.

62

Not treating the workers who were

the bedrock of this production fairly.

63

This whole story is wild

in terms of both what, people put up with

64

from the coal companies

as well as how close this

65

was to being a much bigger issue

than what it was, that it ended up being,

66

which is saying something

67

because it's still pretty major

in implications and results.

68

There's a reason why people consider this

to be America's second civil war.

69

That is, that is

said along the lines of this topic

70

in many article

and podcast and documentary alike.

71

So this topic also almost immediately

conjures

72

up songs and images in my head

about the coal mines.

73

Speaking of, I think, yeah.

74

Now here I think we need to change the,

background music to fit this topic

75

a little bit better.

76

Here.

77

Yeah. That's better.

78

This sounds nice, right?

79

It fits the atmosphere.

80

Only has some, er, banjo or something.

81

Anyway, as I was saying,

I had seen pictures both online

82

and in books of coal miners

83

and the rickety looking equipment,

the towers of mechanized belts

84

that transported the coal from the shaft

to processing trains,

85

processing or trains

full of coal passing by.

86

I can't read also,

when I came across this topic,

87

I had two songs that came into my head.

88

One I will tell you about now,

and one towards the end.

89

The first one is dark

90

as a dungeon, which was originally written

91

Travis had grown up in Kentucky

and has a number of songs

92

which discuss the plight of coal miner

and other economically

93

disenfranchized things

the people of Appalachia have faced.

94

Now people from all over have covered this

song from Gordon Lightfoot.

95

Dolly Parton.

96

The first time I heard the song

97

was not from Merle, Dolly or Gordon,

but a band performing at a local bar.

98

They did it, did a rendition of this song,

which is actually a lot closer

99

to John Cowan's version.

100

Cowan or Coen, I guess.

101

I don't know.

102

And the singer in this bar,

like in this band that I saw,

103

he had that real crazy pipe.

104

See, he can sing.

105

And the band is called

the Davison Brothers.

106

Davison, not Davidson.

107

Davison Brothers Band.

108

So you can look it up.

109

You know, it's a really good song.

110

And then the John Cowan

or Coen version is also great.

111

I believe he was the one who decided

to add some lines, including the,

112

talking about the diamond miners

of South Africa and one of the verses,

113

which is pretty cool.

114

So anyway, the song starts out

115

nicely enough says, come listen,

all you fellas so young and fine.

116

All right, very nice. Okay. It continues.

117

Seek not your fortune in the dark,

dreary minds.

118

It will form as a habit.

And seep in your soul.

119

Till your heart and your blood run.

120

Black is the coal.

Jesus Christ. All right.

121

Chorus.

122

Girls, because it's dark as a dungeon

and damp as a do.

123

Where the dangerous double.

And the pleasure so few.

124

Where the rain never falls.

And the sun never shines.

125

Because it's dark as a dungeon.

126

Way down in the mines.

127

All right, so we just really got real,

real dark right away, which is fine.

128

I like, one line from the middle

is pretty powerful and speaks

129

to how people felt towards the companies

and how they believe

130

the companies viewed them.

131

It goes from West Virginia

down to Queensland, both black

132

men and white, and those miners are mules

in the company's eyes.

133

So, where the digging of precious

diamonds or number nine coal.

134

There is no escaping, Lord,

that life in the whole last verse,

135

also pretty intense, goes well,

I hope when I'm gone

136

and the ages do roll, that my body

will blacken and turn into coal.

137

And then I look from the door

of my heavenly home.

138

And I pity the poor miner

who's been digging my bones.

139

So why the heck would anybody volunteer

140

to do a job

that is turned into a folk song?

141

Tragedy, right? What?

142

What brought things to this?

143

Where?

144

Where the cautionary tale

makes an amazingly depressing song.

145

Hauntingly beautiful in imagery and tone,

but sad as hell.

146

Well, to understand the full story,

we need to consider the context of where

147

America was, socially, economically,

and even technologically.

148

While coal has been around a lot longer

than the United States,

149

the two have endured a lot of history

in the past 200 years.

150

But we need to get to the bottom of it.

151

So let's dig into it. Yeah.

152

That's right. Yeah.

153

Catchy with the pun. You're welcome.

154

Coal is not native to North America.

155

It's, Actually, I mean, it is

technically, it's not like we planted it.

156

Like it's not unique, I guess is problem.

157

The word has been mined for thousands

of years dating back to ancient Rome.

158

And China is, well, one of the most common

formations of coal was from ancient

159

vegetation being transformed via

a process called codification.

160

And this is just dead plants

transforming into coal, obviously

161

over millions of years

of like former dense forest

162

or like see weeds and stuff

and then millions of years heat

163

and pressure increase the carbon content

and then, you know, kind of

164

just amalgamation of things that happened

165

very scientific and turned it into coal.

166

The earliest traceable use of coal dates

167

BCE in China, where it was used to draw,

which makes sense.

168

Still do that kind of,

you know, charcoal.

169

It also uses decorative stone

carving jewelry and other things.

170

It was used or as in the, 1000

171

BCE, that they used it

to help smelt copper.

172

And then in the 13th century,

Marco Polo was like, hey,

173

these guys are actually using, Blackrock

to like, similar to what we do.

174

Coal was not like super popular.

175

It was just starting

to regain popularity in Europe.

176

And he's like wow.

177

These guys seem to be seem to be using it

quite a bit.

178

We should probably figure our lives out

a little bit.

179

Its biggest appeal is that it burns longer

than it would like.

180

You take one piece of coal that weighs

the same as this piece of wood,

181

and it's going to burn way longer

than this piece of wood, right?

182

Yeah.

183

So Romans used coal,

kind of like not super widespread.

184

And it started to gain popularity

in the Middle Ages.

185

And the mining that they did in the Middle

Ages was very surface level.

186

It's not what we think about today. Right.

187

But it was just taking coal

and mining it from the very obvious spots.

188

Like, there it is right there.

189

And by the time the English had started

to try to colonize the other half

190

of the land of the world

that the French and Spanish already

191

had, coal was being utilized

all over the place.

192

Britain had small coal fields,

which they used heavily,

193

but in the 13th century

they actually stopped using it because,

194

smoke it produced from burning specific

type of coal, made people sick.

195

So it polluted their.

196

How interesting.

I'm sure there's nothing like in there.

197

I'll look into further there.

198

But, despite this, coal

would obviously continue to be being used.

199

Case, you live under a rock and

that rock is coal and somebody's mined it.

200

Now you're open and open,

As the colonists moved to the New World,

201

they found coal deposits

and would use them, but not really in

202

any extreme fashion.

203

That would all change

when the Fire Nation attacked.

204

And by Fire Nation,

I mean Industrial revolution, obviously.

205

And by attacks, I mean happened.

206

So the advent of the steam engine

and many other quality of life

207

improvements

succeeded in expanding industry.

208

And this expansion created

the need for more fuel.

209

Fuel, which was produced by burning coal.

210

Coal was cheaper and more efficient

211

to burn the wood, so coal mining

began to increase across the globe.

212

The newly minted United States

found out that there were plenty

213

of deposits to use

right in their backyard, Pennsylvania

214

being one of the predominant producers

early on and actually

215

remaining to be one of the top states

producing coal to this day.

216

There are also a few different types

being mined.

217

The turn of the century.

218

Anthracite

I'm going to go with is, a harder coal,

219

which is smokeless and cleaner,

was preferred for personal use.

220

And inside the cities, while

221

soft coal or bituminous but, bit ominous,

I don't know.

222

I really need to start looking up

how to pronounce think.

223

Listen, I listened to the podcast time.

224

Second, everybody gives Dan a hard time

for not being able

225

to pronounce things, but, like,

it's easy when you're like, oh, yeah,

226

obviously you pronounce that wrong,

but like, you're not the one reading it.

227

You know, sometimes these words sneak up

on you and it's not as easy as it looks.

228

Bituminous is a dirtier coal.

229

It's preferred for like steam engines,

industrial plants, things like that.

230

Like locomotives starting off relatively

small, the production of the United States

231

was around 176,000 short tons, which

apparently is different from regular tons.

232

Short ton is exactly 2,000 pounds,

and this will come into play

233

a little bit later on.

234

Like most measurements, America does it

differently, so just keep that in mind.

235

The descriptor of a short ton comes

236

which is 2,240 pounds,

which is known as a long time.

237

So make note of that.

238

Over the next few decades, production of,

production would double and even triple

239

into the 1850s, large output of coal

also coincided with the rise of steel

240

factories, particularly in places

like Pittsburgh,

241

a product of coal being heated

without the influence of oxygen created

242

what is called coke,

not just a tasty beverage. Right.

243

And this was used in blast furnaces to aid

in the production of iron and steel.

244

Another factor of coal

rising in use was the fact that there was

245

a lot of deforestation going

on, so wood prices became higher

246

and higher and higher, and this kind of

seemed like a suitable alternative.

247

Right. The process

248

for obtaining the coal actually varied

similarly to the early years.

249

It was mined out of the coal fields.

250

Like I mentioned,

they did not have a large excavating tools

251

and dynamite blast away

inside of a mountain, so that makes sense.

252

It's also involved

just brute force, hard labor

253

where you swung a pickax at a block,

black square until it shattered

254

into a small pellet of coal which floated

haphazardly above the ground.

255

No, wait. No no no no, that's Minecraft.

256

Same difference.

257

All joking aside,

it was, arduous job with the.

258

And with the advances

of the Industrial Revolution, things

259

changed a little bit, but still required,

you know, men with grit

260

who could work half a day or more down

in the dark, blasted out caverns.

261

They weren't even really caverns at first.

262

They just kind of dug straight down,

just wider than the men themselves,

263

you know, rigging up some buckets

and a rope kind of pulley system.

264

This was the typical method

until after the Civil War, at which point

265

production of coal was instrumental

in the corporate growth in America.

266

And because of that fact, demand

for this black gold, it grew even higher.

267

This also meant

that there was a need for more miners.

268

And so the once smaller scale

job began to grow and was no longer

269

a skilled profession.

You didn't have just like that, guys.

270

A miner was like, hey,

the mines are hiring kind of thing, right?

271

They're hiring

pretty much to the lowest bidder.

272

Anybody who could really swing a pickax,

you might be speculating

273

that this fell in my cosmic shoes,

and it definitely did.

274

I think the coal operators

felt that, profit they could make over

275

these people was higher than the profits

they lose by their ineptness.

276

This did not stop the coal companies

277

from putting in some,

unsavory business practices in place.

278

For instance, the practice of cribbing

in which the mine operators

279

retrofitted

the mining carts to hold more than the,

280

20 ish pounds

that they were built to hold.

281

This is one of those instances

where the pounds for a tonne is important,

282

right? Still not the main reason

to remember it, though.

283

So keep it. Keep thinking about it.

284

Essentially, these miners

would fill these carts up and be paid per

285

cart or per 2,000 pounds, when in reality

they were mining

286

maybe a few hundred extra pounds of coal

without even knowing it already.

287

Not great.

288

Another thing that was done,

which was actually done for a good reason

289

at first, was company stores.

290

If you know anything about them

but don't understand why they'd be good,

291

or if you've never heard about them,

let me explain.

292

And honestly, either

way, like I'm going to explain it anyway.

293

So many of these mines were more remote

than your typical log

294

camp or docks, where workers would be able

to, like, find jobs.

295

This secluded nature of these mines,

you know, clear in the mountains

296

away from civilized nation, meant

that the resources were pretty limited.

297

And in effort to keep new miners happy,

happy

298

companies often open stores for the camps.

299

Right.

300

So this would evolve into towns

and the homes, like little cabins

301

or shacks, which were owned by the company

and then rented to the miners.

302

And I'm sure you're kind of seeing

the issues which can stem from this.

303

And if you know about this kind of thing,

then you already know the issues, right?

304

Like I said, started

pretty innocently enough.

305

This would mutate as soon

as the coming year of the coal companies

306

realized they could manipulate the set up

so that they went on every angle.

307

Kind of reminds me of that McDonald's

movie where they talk about, McDonald's

308

franchises over owning the land in which

309

the McDonald's is like placed.

310

The franchise is placed

so corporate McDonald's owns land,

311

and then they rent

that land to the franchisee.

312

So now you're paying rent

to the corporation,

313

and you're also giving a chunk

of your profits to the corporations.

314

Very tricky stuff.

315

Another modern day example would be like

if you worked at Amazon,

316

and then they also happen

to own the apartment

317

you live in and the gas station you

frequent in the grocery store you shop at.

318

I'm sure they wouldn't

do something like that.

319

In addition to this,

the people who were taking jobs were often

320

not people who had options.

321

After the Civil War especially,

it was immigrants new to the country

322

or people leaving their former homes

for something new.

323

What do you do when you move far away

324

and move from far away

and have no real money to do anything?

325

Well, you're not the gold company

actually has your back.

326

Believe it or not,

327

cooperators would often let new miners

move into their company houses.

328

How awesome is that?

329

First month's rent on us.

330

We'll just work it into your contract.

331

You don't have any mining tools

of your own.

332

Well, that's okay, we'll front

you some money for supplies as well.

333

Anything to get you started. Really?

334

Your first paycheck will be in a month

of course.

335

We need you to work that full month

before we can pay you.

336

And by that time, that first paycheck

might just be completely depleted.

337

Which means going to the company for more

help, which means more debt and so on.

338

If you got fired or quit,

you obviously you'd be out of the house.

339

Right? So that was a stressor as well.

340

These advances, advances or paychecks

341

were sometimes given in

what is called scrip scrip.

342

But scrip is also what they called

many different things.

343

You know, companies that owned company

stores often paid or offered exchanges

344

in scrip for real money

to be used at these companies stores.

345

You could get scripts for, you know,

food items, clothing items, whatever.

346

There's, in one of the, resources I use.

347

They have, a piece of scrip

for a loaf of bread,

348

you know, so this could, like,

replace your paycheck if you were in debt.

349

They're just like, all right, well, here's

350

your script for your food,

and it's just a loaf of bread, right?

351

They obviously couldn't let you starve

because, you know,

352

they'd have to find a new owner,

but they let you get close.

353

Another real dark aspect of scrip

354

is what could be done for food

or other necessities in the home.

355

Listen, people don't phrase things

the way I just phrase that last sentence

356

without some real devious things

about to be presented.

357

So fair warning,

one thing that could be done

358

to feed your family

while your husband works all day

359

long or night either

way, was called an Esau script.

360

For my Bible fans out there,

you might recognize that name

361

from the book Genesis, specifically,

how bad of a hunter he was

362

and how his brother Jacob

363

agreed to feed him, but only for the small

price of his birthright.

364

As firstborn son in the family.

365

Pretty is essentially ab

This essential abdication

366

of his birthright would give Jacob claim

to the familial inheritance.

367

So what exactly does

368

the story of the worst hunter in the Bible

have to do with the coal miners,

369

where the company

is going to force these families

370

to sign away

their wills to the company or something?

371

Did they ask for the firstborn son?

372

Are we selling kids to the mines?

373

Kind of,

if the family had a need for money,

374

you know, if the if the miner, you

know, was working and then got injured

375

or if he got sick or something, you know,

376

obviously if they if they were healthy,

they didn't have any need

377

for any such thing.

378

They were they would just be in this,

like, endless Groundhog Day of debt,

379

right, with the mine operators,

which was better

380

than not having anything at all to many.

381

But if the if the husband couldn't

work, often children would toil

382

at his place sorting coal, something

menial, pushing carts, things like that.

383

If the kid was too young or did not exist,

you know,

384

then the loan was issued to the wives

and given 30 days to be repaid.

385

If the husband got well before then,

great debt repaid.

386

Wonderful.

387

If not, then the loan

would be in a sort of like default

388

and then could be paid off with the body,

you know?

389

So yeah, not really the best option

you could have.

390

Essentially, like,

I don't know, there's, there's

391

been some whitewashing on this too,

because that like entire topic

392

of coal wars

in general is very muddied up.

393

But like this thing,

the Esau's script specifically,

394

where these women were, like,

ashamed about it or like,

395

people were saying

the women weren't ashamed about it

396

because, you know, they're doing this

proud thing.

397

They're feeding their

families. And, you know,

398

you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

399

But like, also, the company's

kind of forced them into this situation

400

a little bit.

401

They basically are like, hey,

we have our company stores

402

for you to shop at,

and you obviously have debt to us already.

403

And hey, would you know that

404

your husband is working a dangerous job

that has toxic air and poor conditions?

405

Oh, wow. Yeah, he got sick too. Darn.

406

Guess you'll be needing to feed the kids,

Speaking of his, little John Jacob

407

Jingleheimer Schmidt.

Old enough for the mines.

408

He's not darn darn.

409

Well, good luck feeding the family.

410

And then, like, they just, like,

completely railroaded the situation.

411

So now you have women have to do whatever

the mine guards or owners

412

or whoever decides

to cash in on the Esau's script.

413

So that's exciting, right?

414

Other things companies would do

to take advantage of the workers would be

415

to refute the purity of the hauls,

stating that too much

416

non coal got it into the cards

and thus paying less for these hauls.

417

The coal operators were often ones

who decided how impure the coal was,

418

so you can imagine how quickly

this could spin out of control,

419

especially when combined with the fact

that these hauls were sometimes way larger

420

than what the miner thought.

421

You bring up a car of what you believed

to be through that 2,000 pounds

422

or close to it, and then you were told

that it's a 75% pure haul,

423

so you get paid for 75% of that haul,

when in reality

424

the haul might have been 95% pure

and also weighed 2,500 pounds.

425

So then they just

got a bunch of free money by

426

both not paying you for the

427

amount and docking for the purity,

which is kind of wild to me.

428

Things like this are why the miners

quickly looked around and wondered why

429

they weren't saying something, doing

something about this, what could be done?

430

The company owned your house, had your

job, your safety, maybe even your wife.

431

In some situations, I think these factors

all point to the desperation

432

a lot of these miners felt,

433

and they thought they should perform

a strike to take power of the position

434

and show these coal companies what

Matt would like, that that they mattered.

435

Right.

436

This was not the first strikes in the US,

not by a long shot.

437

Even the steelworkers had their own strike

going around, a little bit before.

438

That's called the Homestead strike.

439

And even before that,

the railroad, strikes happened, which the

440

homestead strike I mentioned had a, well,

it turned into the Homestead massacre.

441

So you could probably guess

it didn't work out super well.

442

Still, the coal miners felt

they had a better position of negotiation.

443

In 1897, a union walkout occurred.

444

Coalfields

all over ceased to function in this time.

445

And which is rough because obviously coal

a big part of your society as a whole,

446

like so you have walkouts that cripple

the coal industry in every state,

447

you know, hundreds of thousands of miners

standing in solidarity.

448

And every state except West

449

Virginia, West Virginia mines

remained anti-union and staunchly so.

450

They actively fired anyone who breathed

the word of union activity.

451

And since being fired

452

also meant losing your home in many cases,

this spread fear throughout the miners.

453

Right?

454

Kind of reminds me of like, North Korea

in a way where there's

455

I don't know how true this is.

456

I never actually looked into it.

457

But there's that thing where, like,

if you disrespect North Korea

458

or if you flee North Korea,

the government will pretty much

459

take every member of your family

and put them into work camps.

460

So that's like so

that's like preventing you from doing this

461

because it's like you're causing

the suffrage of all these people, right?

462

I don't know

if suffrage is the right word.

463

But anyway,

so these mines in West Virginia, actually,

464

they, they

465

supported the mining industry,

the coal industry during these strikes.

466

Right.

467

And made it possible

for the coal companies

468

to outlast the strikers,

469

because the whole point of a strike is,

hey, we're going to walk out on our jobs.

470

Good luck. You trying to do it?

471

And then the coal companies were like,

well, we got West Virginia.

472

We'll just work them to the bone.

473

And so that's what they did.

474

So, the last bastion of Union,

475

this West Virginia,

476

was now the target of union leaders

and say, we need to get you guys on board

477

so we can do this. Right.

478

And they felt if they could get into West

Virginia, they would finally have this

479

bargaining power that they needed to argue

their case for just fair treatment.

480

It's not like

they're trying to like, run the companies.

481

They were like,

we just want to be treated fairly

482

and so West Virginia

threw everybody out of whack, right?

483

I want to stop for a moment

and paint a picture as to why unions were

484

such a four letter word, similar

to how they are perceived by some today.

485

Right.

486

Unions are looked at,

with a sort of hesitation from both public

487

and definitely from company perception.

And why is that?

488

Well, today's story definitely influenced

that from the company's perspective.

489

But let's take a moment,

go back a little bit.

490

The idea of unions is not new to the 19th

century, or even an American invention.

491

One could argue

492

that unions actually have their origin

in trade guilds from medieval times.

493

Your prices and quality of work was

dependent on the guilds across the lands.

494

Medieval guilds were associations

of artisans and merchants in towns

495

during the Middle Ages

that regulated trade, maintained quality

496

standards and provided social

and economic support to their members.

497

The word guild is an Old Saxon word

for yield or to pay,

498

not the and this comes from union

dues like type of payments

499

that would be contributed

500

to the guild itself paying in, essentially

like buying into it.

501

There are two main types of guilds

merchant guilds, which were,

502

which controlled trade and commerce,

and then craft guilds,

503

which oversaw specific trades

like blacksmithing or weaving.

504

Guilds had, you know, a hierarchy,

apprentices as journeymen masters.

505

And they played major roles

in the economic regulation, social worker.

506

Well, welfare, warfare,

social welfare and local politics.

507

Over time, the rise of capitalism

and the Industrial revolution

508

led to their decline.

509

But their influence, you know,

can still be seen in these trade unions.

510

The reason for this connection

is that both aimed to protect the members

511

economic interests, enforce quality

standards, provide social support,

512

guilds regulated trade, ensured fair

wages, offered apprenticeship programs

513

much like union had unions

advocate for workers rights,

514

influence industry

standards and offer vocational training.

515

To this day,

516

both held a political influence

and represented members in the disputes.

517

Overall.

518

You know, guilds

519

kind of established these practices

that unions would pick up on later.

520

These medieval

521

unions, union counterparts, also did

a lot for communities they lived in.

522

You know, masonry

guilds often helped plan or just build,

523

buildings, schools, churches, cathedrals,

524

roads, guilds would help their members

when they were ill.

525

They would pay for funeral services

if they died and give money to the widow.

526

They had a high standard

for who could join.

527

Entry fee and dues often reflected that.

528

You know, the higher the entry fee,

the higher the dues, the better.

529

The guild was supposed to be.

530

You know, if your copper was less

than stellar, you'd make no money.

531

So the Sierra is lucky

there's no guild in his town, right?

532

Guilds also held apprenticeships

and trained the next generation

533

and then off and promoted an increase

in skills amongst them over time.

534

And this seems like why so many beautiful

buildings are from that time.

535

You know, guilds provided

significant advantages to their members

536

by controlling competition,

maintaining quality standards.

537

Like I mentioned.

538

And then also sometimes

539

members could be exempt from local taxes,

which would help them, you know,

540

focus a little more on their work

and stress a little less about money.

541

They enforced rules, prevent undercutting

prices, poaching customers and working

542

religious holidays, maintained,

fair practices within the Guild.

543

Guilds

also controlled wages at a certain aspect,

544

and the conditions of product sales.

545

And they had kind of a monopoly

on their craft.

546

Like if you didn't buy a guild quality

piece of furniture or whatever.

547

Like that was kind of like,

all right, you're gonna

548

you're rolling the dice thing might suck.

549

So anyway, but also

550

that strict control

kind of could backfire and would lead to,

551

you know, dissatisfaction in the workers

and also the general public.

552

So just a little connection

to some ancient stuff,

553

comparing these to, modern unions,

medieval guilds in modern day unions are,

554

they share similar roles

in protecting members, regulating labor

555

conditions, controlling competition,

setting standards, managing wages.

556

But they differ significantly in methods

and impact.

557

Guilds established monopolies,

controlled entire trades, with sometimes

558

suppressed wages, even,

which could lead to worker revolt, like

559

they would start rioting in contrast,

modern unions focus on advocacy for worker

560

rights, fair wages, competitive market

without monopolistic control,

561

or the same level of legal authority

that deals guilds had.

562

So what do people dislike

about modern unions?

563

Well, one is that,

you know, it kind of takes away control.

564

Of the employees away from the employer.

565

This is only kind of a negative

if the employer genuinely

566

cares about their employees.

567

But if there is a union present,

I'd say the likelihood of that

568

being the case is probably not very high.

569

You know, it's like if, Child

Protective Services,

570

if CPS comes to your house

and takes your kids,

571

you probably did something to make

that happen.

572

Unions don't just show up in a vacuum

if the employees are being taken

573

care of thanks to the unions,

then why do companies hate them?

574

Well, a few reasons.

575

Firstly, unions

protect the worker. Right or wrong.

576

This means, you know, these lazy

sleaze bags don't get fired

577

for being lazy or messing up.

578

Obviously,

if you have unproductive workers

579

which hinder your profits,

you aren't going to be super pumped.

580

Another issue is that

when unions are around for too long,

581

that power can get to their heads.

582

In a way,

the longer the unions are around,

583

the more it seems they act in ways

to ensure they stay relevant.

584

These type of actions,

585

or what leads to legislation

preventing bad workers from being fired?

586

More and more demands made by unions

tend to scare people at a certain point

587

because they can be unreasonable

to a certain extent.

588

And part of this is the union continuing

to try and justify

589

its existence, to bring back,

to bring back the CPS metaphor,

590

it would be like, having a light,

like a live in service worker to monitor

591

you all the time and also demanding that

you give her massages and do her laundry.

592

Is monitoring necessary?

593

I mean, you hope not,

but it might be not massages and laundry

594

a little bit overkill.

595

Going back to the lazy union workers

a little bit in my experience,

596

there can be interpretation

that union people work harder

597

just because unions are found

more frequently in more difficult jobs.

598

I worked with a guy who was former union,

and that was always like the attitude

599

about him before we really knew

anything about him as a person.

600

Turned out,

you know, he did know his trade well.

601

But as for working pace,

it really wasn't that great.

602

He tried to cut corners

when he could, got mad

603

when people held them to the standards

of the company we worked for didn't help.

604

That was already old as hell.

605

So on.

606

Then, on top of that,

607

he's saying the weirdest stuff

all the time, didn't conform to change,

608

and just kind of seemed overall

disinterested in helping the team,

609

which all seem very weird

knowing he was a union guy.

610

But the real hostility towards

unions were back in the day

611

is actually connected

to the unionization of workers.

612

A little movement growing in the East.

613

The rise of communism,

the connection to Marxist ideologies,

614

and the eventual fall of the aristocracy

in Russia would make people scared

615

of that sort of thing.

616

In the United States,

617

his did align with some of the events

that began to transpire.

618

Specifically, it comes on the heels

of one of the first major moments

619

in these cold wars.

620

In April of 1912,

a strike drawn up by the United

621

the United

622

Mine Workers of America began in paint

in Cabin Creek, West Virginia,

623

and there was a list of demands

of the Union on that, wanted.

624

And it went like this.

625

Number one, cooperators

needed to recognize the unions.

626

If you can't do that,

then you know we can't be here.

627

Like, obviously,

628

number two miners have a right to free

speech and peaceable assembly.

629

Oddly enough,

even though these things are part

630

of our modern constitution,

it wasn't always the case.

631

But, and it wasn't always enforced.

632

All the way either.

633

Number three, they wanted the blacklisting

of workers who had been fired

634

for a number of things,

most notably trying to unionize.

635

They wanted them un blacklisted,

which makes sense.

636

You know, officially,

if you're going to allow the unions in,

637

then you've got a UN blacklist of people

that you fired for being in the union.

638

Number four, the end of compulsory

trading at company stores before

639

shopping at company stores,

only the company owned

640

really wasn't fair for anyone

other than the very secluded mines.

641

But even those were beginning

to gain access to nearby towns

642

via trains, so company stores

kind of pointless at this point.

643

Number five,

the practice of cribbing was to be banned,

644

which you will remember

is the stealing of extra coal from miners.

645

They also wanted

2,000 pounds to equal a ton.

646

Which of you know it is a ton in America?

647

If you ask somebody what?

648

How much is a ton more than likely

they'll go 2,000 pounds.

649

That is an American ton,

a long ton or a short ton.

650

Sorry, not a long done

long ton is also a metric ton.

651

I'm still confused by that.

652

And number six, this bit is actually tied

to this next one, right?

653

Where they demand miners

be allowed to have their own check.

654

Women like somebody checking the waste

girls, ensuring that the miners

655

were being treated

and paid fairly for that, you know, by

656

the operators not being scammed

in any way, shape or form.

657

And number seven, lastly,

the two check women,

658

one by the union rep

and won by the coal company.

659

They were cooperatively cooperative.

660

Decide what, if any, docking penalties for

impurities shall be placed on the miner.

661

Right.

662

So instead of

663

just the coal company being like,

oh darn, this thing's only like 30% pure.

664

Sorry,

I guess you only get 30% of your money.

665

Now there's two people named one,

you know, the person to verify

666

basically what's going on.

667

So obviously all of these kind

of infringe on these coal miners rights.

668

You, you know,

669

you want us to not just fire you

for wanting rights for speaking freely.

670

You want to you want to stand there

and tell us that we need to treat

671

you like regular people.

672

Oh, okay. No, thanks.

So the strike was on.

673

Now we need to take note of a few of the

main actors in the in this said strike.

674

First, we have Mother Jones.

675

Is she related to Mother Teresa?

676

I hope not, mother Jones, born Mary G.

677

Harris in Ireland around 1837,

fled with her family to North America

678

during the potato famine

and faced all the challenges

679

an Irish immigrant

would face in that time.

680

You know, they

681

they honestly did not get,

not getting treated great back in the day.

682

But anyway, they first settled in Canada

and then she would end up moving

683

to America and moved to Michigan

specifically and began

684

teaching at a convent, I think in 1859.

685

She was 23.

686

And then she got kind of tired of it,

moved to Chicago,

687

where she met a man named George

George E Jones.

688

I wanted to emphasize that George E,

his middle name,

689

starts with an E Jones, not

because I wanted to say it, George Jones.

690

And then it was just going to be like,

his name is Georgie.

691

It's not. But it could be.

692

I guess.

693

He was an ironworker and a union member,

694

which, you know, would later influence

her activism.

695

By 1867,

Mary had three children with George.

696

But unfortunately for Mary, tragedy

would strike,

697

and the form of yellow fever,

698

and it would claim the lives

of her husband and all of her children.

699

So rough start, right?

700

Devastated, she returned.

701

She returned to Chicago and started,

dressmaking

702

business catering to the city's

wealthier residents.

703

You know, finding a little bit

of a new purpose in her life.

704

She's like, all right, well, I'm going to.

705

I'm going to just make some cool dresses.

706

This is like, this is my life.

707

However, however, in 1871, the

708

The Great Chicago Fire destroyed

most of the city, including her home

709

and her business,

and also probably all of her

710

treasured family heirlooms

and any memory of her children.

711

I'm imagining like, I can't

712

this is Mary had, like, the worst luck

for the first half of her life.

713

Despite these hardships, Mary

714

continued to channel her passion

and helping rebuild the city.

715

She became involved

with the Knights of Labor,

716

an organization

which was not like a true union.

717

But they did advocate for workers rights.

718

They're kind of like a social club,

I guess.

719

She participated in various strikes

and actions

720

led by the Knights,

but as the organization kind of declined,

721

she shifted her

focus to the United Mine Workers.

722

When Mother Jones became

a prominent union organizer or educator.

723

And then, she was also a member

of the Socialist Party of America,

724

which is, you know, these are like

these little things that people are like,

725

see, communism, I told you, like,

these are like the seedlings of this.

726

Yeah.

727

She she gained notoriety for organizing

wives and children of striking workers

728

in the demonstrations, earning the title

of the most dangerous woman in America.

729

Not to be confused with Typhoid Mary, but,

one of the, district attorneys

730

that would go up against her in the 1902

731

trial would declare her

the most dangerous woman in America.

732

Unlike many female activists of her time,

Jones did not

733

prioritize women's

suffrage, famously stating, quote,

734

you don't need to vote to raise hell,

which I love that, that that's awesome.

735

This ladies, she's a badass.

736

And also, you know, I feel bad for her.

737

But even if I didn't know her story,

that quote still awesome.

738

That might be the next T shirt,

I don't know.

739

Let me know if you agree.

740

I'll get it out before election season.

741

She believed that advocating

for the working

742

class was more important

than focusing solely on women's rights.

743

She thought, though

she supported any movement that brought,

744

you know, freedom to her class.

745

Jones was known for her

charismatic and impactful speeches,

746

often using props, visual aids,

dramatic stunts to make her point.

747

She spoke in a brogue that was like,

you know, it was,

748

you know, pleasant kind of Irish tone.

749

People would enjoy listening to her

speak and then, she

750

you like,

she would put crazy inflections on.

751

And apparently the age of 60,

752

she embraced the persona, Mother Jones

deliberately appearing older

753

by wearing outdated black dresses

and referring to male workers as her boys.

754

This was also a propaganda stunt for her,

to get sympathy from people.

755

You know,

so the first, recorded reference

756

to her as Mother

757

Yeah, yeah, she would

she would, like, work this mother angle.

758

She'd like, I'm just a frail old lady.

759

And then she'd like.

760

And also, you guys needed,

761

you know, she had she would cry,

she would say some crazy stuff.

762

I'll I'll repeat some things

that she says in a little bit, but.

763

So that's the first person maybe

I talk too much better, I don't know.

764

Her story is super,

super cool, rad as hell.

765

And I wanted to share it either

way. Moving on.

766

Baldwin Felt's detective Agency

not so much a noir crime

767

fighting group, but more like a union

strike busting group.

768

Think of like the Pinkertons,

especially like in the years

769

after the Wild West chases and whatnot.

770

The Pinkertons would break rail union

strikes, and I think they still do that.

771

I think I think they're still actively

doing things like that.

772

Happy to have smoked many of them

773

during my playthroughs of Red Dead

Redemption, though, so I, I

774

yeah, I am not nice to them,

I'll tell you that.

775

The Baldwin Phelps Detective Agency

was founded by William Baldwin in the late

776

19th century, along with Thomas Phelps,

began as a private detective agency

777

providing security investigator

writing services for railroads,

778

particulary particularly in cases of train

robberies.

779

Baldwin was originally

from Virginia, moved to Roanoke to oversee

780

the security of the Norfolk or Norfolk,

whatever, Western Railway.

781

Thomas Phelps, he's a lawyer from Virginia

782

And then, you know, in 1910,

the company was renamed to Baldwin Phelps

783

Detective Agency.

784

Agency gained national recognition in 1912

during the manhunt for Floyd Allen

785

and his family after a deadly courtroom

shootout in Carroll County, Virginia,

786

Baldwin Phelps detectives successfully

captured most of the fugitives,

787

solidifying their their reputation right

as railroad crime declined

788

in the early 20th century,

they shifted their goals to strike,

789

breaking working for mine companies, suppress labor unions, their violent tactics.

790

Would ramp up in West Virginia,

791

but also in Colorado,

in these coalfield struggles.

792

And then there, you know,

in this case in West Virginia,

793

particularly led by Thomas Phelps

and also his brothers, Albert and Lee.

794

So those are the people of the detectives

agencies to keep in mind.

795

Lastly, for this instance,

we have Governor William E Glasscock.

796

Glasscock. Right.

797

Which Mother Jones has is one of one of

the things I was going to tell you about.

798

She referred to him as Crystal.

799

Peter, for modesty

sake, is what she said so incredible.

800

Great burn. For the early 1900s.

801

Oh, what's that, Mr. Glasscock?

802

Now, I'm going to call you Crystal Peter,

803

just to make sure I don't ruin

the modesty of these women here.

804

Governor

805

Bailey was the governor of West Virginia

at the beginning of the strike.

806

But, you know, governorship would change

807

hands, a few months in or a few months

before it would actually end.

808

His inclusion is more to paint

the full picture of the strike.

809

And who was at the opposing side.

810

He held power to quell

any potential violence that may occur,

811

protect those miners who were striking

and yet refused to do so every chance

812

that he got. Pretty much so.

813

The strike started around

814

and by July, Mother

Jones was already fully involved.

815

She had organized marches

and petitioned the governor.

816

In July of that year, she marched with

817

approximately 3000 miners to Charleston,

the state capital, and read a deck.

818

Declaration of war.

819

Later that same month, the first

battle of these Cold War started the mine.

820

Battle of Mucklow and the mine battle.

821

The Battle of Mucklow took place on

July 28th and ended roughly on July 30th.

822

A lot of the mines that, miners are now,

I said it right.

823

A lot of the mines had created

824

these rampart like structures

to fortify their positions.

825

The governor

okayed them placing machine guns on them.

826

So, you know, super casual, a lot of,

827

a large force of up to 2000 miners

arrived.

828

And over the next two days, over

100,000 rounds were spent.

829

And by the end of this, 16

men died, 12 miners, four guards.

830

During the assault, a group of guards

actually flank the miners advance.

831

Man moved to the a camp encampment

where their children and wives were

832

and forced them from their tent tents

and chased them into a river.

833

Yes, that could have been worse.

834

Not great though

outside of the actual battle,

835

there were many little moments

of mine guards in these Baldwin Fields

836

detectives coming after miners and smaller

taxer miners coming after them.

837

Either way, either side

picking the other off by sniper fire

838

in the woods, jumping them in the woods,

real guerrilla warfare type stuff.

839

The next

major movement came on September 1st,

840

when a large group of 5000 miners

joined in on the current strikers, which,

841

then inspired governor Earl Crystal

Peter to, institute martial law.

842

Right.

843

As actually did help to a point,

the state troops coming in,

844

calming things, confiscating weapons.

845

But then there were like extra rules

that were now imposed on a group

846

that were already striking against unfair

rules with martial law, military trials,

847

tribunals.

848

These kinds of things were used quickly

to adjudicate the miners

849

and throw them into jail.

850

The miners were also being forced

to not congregate, which is like

851

kind of the whole point

of the strikes in congregation.

852

So this was like more of a direct assault

on the mission.

853

With martial law in effect, many began

854

to grow hungry as a union

were unable to reach people with food.

855

I forgot to mention that unions

856

were providing things

like food and clothes to striking miners

857

and their family

to supplement their income,

858

and also like if they were striking,

they got kicked out of their houses,

859

which meant they couldn't

go to the company store.

860

And they were all owned by the mines.

861

And so this was like, we don't have

any money because you only pay us in scrip

862

and you only let us shop at your store,

and now we can't feed our family.

863

And now we're striking.

864

Now we definitely can't feed our family.

865

And now the governor comes in

with these troops,

866

and now the Union can't even give us food

like it's.

867

It's a real big mess.

868

Mother Jones wanted to do something,

so she organized what is known as

869

an umbrella march, where she and

a bunch of pro-union women, some related

870

the miners, some where they walk

through the valley where these miners

871

were, with their umbrellas

up to show, like, support.

872

Look like, look how many of us support,

support these things.

873

And these are just the women, you know,

like, this is half essentially of what,

874

the true number, right?

875

By mid-October,

martial law had been lifted,

876

but only for a month

before it was reinstated.

877

And then it was like

it would go up and down, up and down.

878

And what Kansas?

879

Well, oh, governor Crystal

Peter was on his way out.

880

His successor was about to take the reins.

881

So I suppose you don't want this mess

to be

882

the first thing

he was to worry about right now?

883

Feels like it, makes sense.

884

But the actions of, Glasscock

would definitely tell a different.

885

I can't say his name without laughing.

886

It's his very ridiculous name.

887

He gave the okay for one mine.

888

One of the mine operators

and owner of a mine to go in and break up

889

some of the tent cities

that had popped up.

890

Quinn Morton I don't think he's

related to the salt people.

891

But either way, he had a plan.

892

He paid for a train

to come through this area.

893

And this train, it wasn't a normal one.

894

It was, retrofitted

with armored planning.

895

You know, like normal trains are

896

more armor plated than a regular train.

897

I guess,

898

as is essentially a riot control vehicle.

899

Furthermore, what else do you need?

900

Well, you got to have machine guns.

901

So you put some machine guns on it, right?

902

And who do you get to operate these guns?

903

Sheriff's deputies, mine guards,

along with the Baldwin salts guys.

904

So this train was dubbed

the Bull Moose Special.

905

And in any other context,

I bet it was cool as hell.

906

As the train rode through this tent city,

907

they started shooting

just haphazardly all over the place.

908

Luckily or not,

only one person was killed,

909

but a bunch of people were injured.

910

And the purpose of this,

911

while they were serving a warrant to one

John Doe for inciting a riot.

912

So kind of feels like

they just kind of wanted to do that,

913

to, like, Sir John Doe here.

914

We're here to serve you a warrant

for inciting a riot or.

915

This is

916

what I just it blows my mind

like, imagine,

917

imagine the last time you went camping.

918

All the tents all over the place.

919

People just chilling, living in the woods.

920

And then.

921

Now imagine a giant steel train

that has more steel put on to it.

922

Firing machine guns at you.

923

Okay, that's. That's scary.

924

That's scary.

925

Isaac Martin himself

would actually say on this on the topic.

926

He said we gave them hell

and had a lot of fun.

927

Again, psycho. Absolute psycho.

928

This assault caused a retaliation, which,

the miners now had their turn to attack.

929

They attacked the, mucklow mine

as they did

930

before, and they actually overran

the mine guards this time.

931

Proceeded

with blowing up a bunch of equipment.

932

Martial law was now placed once again,

naturally.

933

And this, Mother Jones actually

was arrested this time,

934

and under martial law,

tried for a litany of things, including,

935

conspiracy to commit a murder, murder,

inciting a riot, all these things.

936

After refusing to enter

any kind of plea where she knew

937

this was a kangaroo court,

she was sentenced to 20 years.

938

So we cool?

939

Enter Henry Drury Hatfield.

940

That's right.

941

Yeah.

942

You didn't think we'd

have this Appalachian Trail

943

without some good old fashioned

hot smoke dog fog action.

944

Did you time stoke reference

for those who.

945

Yeah, for those of you

who know, maybe don't know, Henry Hatfield

946

is the nephew of one Lance

Hatfield of the famed Hatfield

947

and McCoy story, which is also a story

I should do at some point anyway.

948

Hatfield, Henry Hatfield,

or should I say Doctor Hatfield,

949

as he was a surgeon

and served for many years as such?

950

For what reason? I'm not sure.

951

But Doctor Hatfield was sympathetic

to the plight of the miners.

952

He supported their cause,

953

and as soon as he entered office

as governor, he the whole scope changed.

954

He knowing the Hatfield and McCoy story,

then hearing that once a Hatfield shows up

955

in this and things calm down, it's

objectively hilarious to me.

956

But that's that's what happened.

957

This is very funny.

958

Hatfield swears in on March 4th, 1913,

and right away goes to the area

959

to render care for injured miners

and assess the situation.

960

He was told by a mine owner

or someone similar that it was stupid

961

for the governor to go to this area

in the, in the, in the strike zone.

962

And being a Hatfield at heart,

he punched that guy a bunch of times.

963

So heck yeah, he found Mother Jones, saw

how poor of health she was.

964

And then he issued an order

to have her transferred to a hospital.

965

He also issued a compromise to the miners

refusal to the contract,

966

which was, you're going to have to leave

West Virginia.

967

That was his compromise.

968

Like, I'm going to help you guys out.

969

If you don't like this, you can leave.

970

Also, very Hatfield of him,

I guess, I suppose.

971

And honestly,

probably not a bad idea, right?

972

Considering miner unions were in, like,

all of the other states, but,

973

still a hassle.

974

They were, ordered

nine hour workdays, right?

975

The right to shop at independent stores,

not just company stores

976

and having union reps there for Wayne.

977

So they got a few of the things

they were asking for, but not everything.

978

More fallout from this is that there were

investigations by the Senate.

979

They were called in,

980

the former governor to testify

and made him look real dumb, which I love.

981

The Senate

committee cited on the side of the miners

982

stating that situation in West

Virginia was fraught with greed

983

and deplorable and unAmerican condition,

which these miners were.

984

It sounds like a win to me.

985

Things calm down in West Virginia,

but there was another fight in Colorado,

986

which you kind of briefly mentioned

in response to poor working conditions.

987

You know, the United,

988

the United Mine Workers of America

tried to reach out into Colorado,

989

but they were violently opposed,

by the coal companies.

990

And then the Baldwin Phelps

agents also helped in here,

991

which led to the Ludlow or Ludlow.

992

Ludlow,

993

where the Colorado National Guard troops

attacked a tent colony of striking miners

994

which killed 19 people,

including women and children.

995

And this would actually spark the Colorado

coal fired coal, Colorado coal fueled

996

war, where, I mean, it was essentially

a different version of the same story.

997

That's a different story.

998

Well, right.

999

We're we're focused on West Virginia

00:52:00,383 --> 00:52:04,321

here, back to the coal wars of West

Virginia, World War one, you're familiar.

00:52:04,354 --> 00:52:10,060

Well, the break out of the war, actually,

and you US involvement created

00:52:10,060 --> 00:52:13,263

quite the bargaining chip for the miners

who were finally being treated

00:52:13,263 --> 00:52:13,964

with respect.

00:52:13,964 --> 00:52:17,300

Miners were actually exempt from the draft

during World War One.

00:52:17,300 --> 00:52:20,103

They were paid properly.

And more importantly, they were busy.

00:52:20,103 --> 00:52:25,041

And while they were exempt, a lot of

miners did volunteer to go fight the war.

00:52:25,075 --> 00:52:28,812

But the war meant a massive uptick

in the need for coal, which was being used

00:52:28,812 --> 00:52:30,046

for pretty much everything.

00:52:30,046 --> 00:52:34,618

President Woodrow Wilson,

while being seen as not, favoring labor

00:52:34,618 --> 00:52:38,054

unions, actually supported the miners

and steel workers in these unions

00:52:38,054 --> 00:52:40,590

that were fundamental

to the American mission.

00:52:40,590 --> 00:52:41,191

Apparently.

00:52:41,191 --> 00:52:46,363

Now, after the war, however, the the

when the easiest thing to do to secure

00:52:46,363 --> 00:52:49,366

profits was to go back to paying them

less than what

00:52:49,666 --> 00:52:52,802

what they wanted to the coal companies

did that.

00:52:52,903 --> 00:52:56,806

The war ended, and coal companies

also had no fear

00:52:57,140 --> 00:53:00,510

to give people to oppose these unions,

which was that

00:53:00,510 --> 00:53:03,547

they were obviously going

to become communism.

00:53:03,547 --> 00:53:08,251

The communist agenda is going to overthrow

their government over the Red scare.

00:53:09,352 --> 00:53:12,222

It's happening

that that that was the move.

00:53:12,222 --> 00:53:14,090

Just Russia just fell.

00:53:14,090 --> 00:53:16,393

I mean, I don't think they call it

00:53:16,393 --> 00:53:18,795

Russia back there,

but that's what's happening over there.

00:53:18,795 --> 00:53:20,096

And this could happen here.

00:53:20,096 --> 00:53:20,697

The end of the war

00:53:20,697 --> 00:53:25,068

also saw a decrease in demand, a demand

that peaked during the war.

00:53:25,068 --> 00:53:27,737

Well after the war, naturally.

00:53:27,737 --> 00:53:30,073

And coal being one of the things

00:53:30,073 --> 00:53:33,810

that was very heavily

needed during the war drastically fell.

00:53:33,944 --> 00:53:37,814

Millions across the country actually went

on strike in the years following the war.

00:53:37,881 --> 00:53:39,749

Not just miners, but everybody.

00:53:39,749 --> 00:53:44,487

The economy slowed down, jobs

paid less than before or at all.

00:53:44,521 --> 00:53:44,854

Right.

00:53:44,854 --> 00:53:48,225

That scared the scared

the US government in the Red scare

00:53:48,225 --> 00:53:53,196

was beginning to spread, which worked

in total opposition of any union progress.

00:53:53,196 --> 00:53:56,566

As progress

slumped, union leaders tried new tactics,

00:53:56,566 --> 00:54:01,271

specifically newly appointed President

John Lewis and along with Frank Keeney

00:54:01,271 --> 00:54:05,342

and Fred Mooney, aimed to spread unions

all the way through West Virginia.

00:54:05,342 --> 00:54:08,245

There are some holdout,

even though the majority of West Virginia

00:54:08,245 --> 00:54:09,846

coal mines had been unionized,

00:54:09,846 --> 00:54:14,050

a few counties in the southern

bit of the state still abstained.

00:54:14,050 --> 00:54:17,287

Union activity pushed into the last major

bastion

00:54:17,287 --> 00:54:20,290

of holdouts,

Mingo and Logan counties, West Virginia.

00:54:20,557 --> 00:54:24,094

This movement prompted the mine operators

to send the Baldwin Felts agents

00:54:24,094 --> 00:54:29,432

to Matewan, a town in Mingo County,

to begin working against the Union.

00:54:29,432 --> 00:54:32,636

Now, Mingo

County has a little bit of a history, one

00:54:32,636 --> 00:54:36,573

connected to the former governor

of West Virginia, Doctor Hatfield.

00:54:36,573 --> 00:54:37,173

That's right.

00:54:37,173 --> 00:54:37,540

Yeah.

00:54:37,540 --> 00:54:40,810

This is also the location of the famous

Hatfield and McCoy skirmish.

00:54:40,810 --> 00:54:44,748

So you can imagine that people around here

don't really take kindly

00:54:45,015 --> 00:54:48,018

to the rough

and tumble ways of the detective agency

00:54:48,118 --> 00:54:51,888

and the coal operators

in writing and striking that.

00:54:51,888 --> 00:54:53,123

Yeah, you'd be correct.

00:54:53,123 --> 00:54:57,661

These are some people who are like where

we'll fight everybody right now.

00:54:58,795 --> 00:55:01,831

Now, I mentioned that these two counties

were not unionized,

00:55:01,831 --> 00:55:05,602

but that doesn't mean that there weren't

supporters of the union within them.

00:55:05,602 --> 00:55:08,071

Enter Mayor Campbell, Testament.

00:55:08,071 --> 00:55:11,508

Mayor Testament was very supportive

of worker rights in his support.

00:55:11,508 --> 00:55:14,411

He appointed a police chief

who aligned with this ideology.

00:55:14,411 --> 00:55:18,815

Testament was a business owner

voted in by miners, and because of that,

00:55:18,815 --> 00:55:23,386

he felt he was loyal to the miners

who had helped secure him as mayor.

00:55:23,420 --> 00:55:28,158

Testament brought in a kind of wild

candidate as, the chief of police,

00:55:28,158 --> 00:55:31,728

someone who was definitely going

to stand up for what he believes in.

00:55:31,728 --> 00:55:33,963

That man is Sid Hatfield.

00:55:33,963 --> 00:55:36,966

Yes. Another another half field.

00:55:37,567 --> 00:55:41,071

Another reference to the infamous Hatfield

and McCoy skirmish.

00:55:41,071 --> 00:55:41,371

Right.

00:55:41,371 --> 00:55:44,708

Not a direct Hatfield

like Doctor Hatfield earlier said, is

00:55:44,708 --> 00:55:49,813

the grandson of Lanza's half brother,

half Hatfield, half crazy, really?

00:55:49,813 --> 00:55:50,847

No, no,

00:55:51,948 --> 00:55:52,849

and I think he was.

00:55:52,849 --> 00:55:54,084

I think he was really crazy.

00:55:54,084 --> 00:55:57,087

Sid had one of those local reputations.

00:55:57,087 --> 00:56:01,458

Like, he's like a local myth, almost,

he is a hothead

00:56:01,558 --> 00:56:04,260

and one who had the shooting skills

to back it up.

00:56:04,260 --> 00:56:06,296

Is this who you want as your police chief?

00:56:06,296 --> 00:56:08,031

I would say normally. Probably not.

00:56:08,031 --> 00:56:11,935

But in these circumstances, seems like

it's probably probably the best choice.

00:56:11,935 --> 00:56:15,171

Sid notoriously always carried around

two long revolvers.

00:56:15,171 --> 00:56:20,009

He like he was in like, the old West

and often acted as such by the time

00:56:20,009 --> 00:56:24,381

he was the police chief, he had gold

cap teeth and some of his upper set.

00:56:24,581 --> 00:56:26,683

FN also was given the name of Smile

00:56:26,683 --> 00:56:30,687

and Sid, which would come back around

to hard nosed, rough and tumble.

00:56:30,687 --> 00:56:33,089

Shoot him up

drinking love and fighting cowboy.

00:56:33,089 --> 00:56:34,090

Okay, right.

00:56:34,090 --> 00:56:36,393

Like he that's who he was.

00:56:36,393 --> 00:56:38,828

Perfect for the task at hand. Really,

if you ask me.

00:56:38,828 --> 00:56:42,665

He even, stopped drinking

when it when he realized

00:56:42,665 --> 00:56:45,668

it affected his ability to shoot properly.

00:56:45,668 --> 00:56:48,238

It is like like an antique holiday.

00:56:48,238 --> 00:56:50,473

Bizarro world, doc holiday, if you will.

00:56:50,473 --> 00:56:52,375

And he was a miner in his younger days.

00:56:52,375 --> 00:56:55,278

So obviously he was very pro minor pro

minor.

00:56:55,278 --> 00:56:55,912

Right.

00:56:55,912 --> 00:56:59,949

And he was only 26 when he was appointed

00:56:59,949 --> 00:57:03,486

police chief, which, you know, back

then, people age differently, I guess.

00:57:03,486 --> 00:57:08,558

But he's it is kind of crazy to me,

being almost 30 years old now

00:57:08,558 --> 00:57:10,360

and somebody four years

younger than me is like,

00:57:10,360 --> 00:57:13,229

I'm the shooting people

and I'm the chief of police.

00:57:13,229 --> 00:57:15,565

And we're going to

we're going to get these guys.

00:57:15,565 --> 00:57:20,003

The Baldwin felt the, the Baldwin felt.

00:57:20,003 --> 00:57:25,675

Detective agents have traveled to Matewan

now, planned their union blocking.

00:57:25,675 --> 00:57:29,646

They're going to put guns up

top local buildings, do a show for sure.

00:57:29,646 --> 00:57:31,147

Like, hey, we're going to

00:57:31,147 --> 00:57:34,951

we're going to really prevent these guys

from circulating their union stuff,

00:57:34,951 --> 00:57:39,055

which this is like some Gestapo

level behavior by the mine operators,

00:57:39,055 --> 00:57:40,356

which is super ironic

00:57:40,356 --> 00:57:44,527

because the Red scare is like running

rampant in America at this point.

00:57:44,527 --> 00:57:48,364

And Americans

fearful of unions and labor strikes

00:57:48,364 --> 00:57:51,768

as if they were going

to overthrow the country and communism.

00:57:51,768 --> 00:57:56,406

When the mine operators at these so-called

detectives were behaving

00:57:56,406 --> 00:58:01,044

exactly how like Stalin would be like,

you guys are doing a great job.

00:58:02,712 --> 00:58:03,646

His hilarious.

00:58:03,646 --> 00:58:06,683

Before and during the striking

00:58:06,683 --> 00:58:10,153

railroads near mine towns were manned

00:58:10,153 --> 00:58:13,623

by mine guards who were checking people

where they were going.

00:58:13,623 --> 00:58:15,992

A myron's family taking train. Why?

00:58:15,992 --> 00:58:17,627

Where are you going? What are you doing?

00:58:17,627 --> 00:58:19,229

What business you got going on?

00:58:19,229 --> 00:58:22,465

People coming in, find out who they are,

who they work for, what they want.

00:58:22,499 --> 00:58:24,801

They immediately

kicked families out of their homes,

00:58:24,801 --> 00:58:28,338

which they lived

while, working at the mines.

00:58:28,338 --> 00:58:30,607

Any whiff of a strike,

they kicked them out, right?

00:58:30,607 --> 00:58:34,010

They slashed tents and temporary housing,

which these people stayed

00:58:34,010 --> 00:58:36,579

after

they had been kicked out of these houses.

00:58:36,579 --> 00:58:40,049

They burned encampments,

fired guns into them via armored trains.

00:58:40,049 --> 00:58:41,451

And all these crazy things.

00:58:41,451 --> 00:58:44,354

And yet the people who just wanted

to be treated fairly

00:58:44,354 --> 00:58:47,557

for insanely dangerous

and genuinely hard work.

00:58:47,690 --> 00:58:49,492

These people are the social leeches.

00:58:49,492 --> 00:58:50,793

All right, all right.

00:58:50,793 --> 00:58:54,130

So the Baldwin fellows and mine

operators are in these towns

00:58:54,130 --> 00:58:56,733

trying to set up some union suppression

systems. Right.

00:58:56,733 --> 00:59:00,370

Men come through town, approach,

a man walking down the street.

00:59:00,370 --> 00:59:03,273

Hey, you own this building here?

He says he does.

00:59:03,273 --> 00:59:06,609

They ask if they can place

a sentry gun on there, and he says no.

00:59:06,609 --> 00:59:08,411

And they're like, don't you hate unions?

00:59:08,411 --> 00:59:11,314

And he's like, actually,

I'm mayor. That's my building.

00:59:11,314 --> 00:59:12,849

You can get lost. You.

00:59:14,117 --> 00:59:15,451

They tried to bribe him.

00:59:15,451 --> 00:59:17,453

Mayor Testament said, no thanks.

00:59:17,453 --> 00:59:19,489

I like the unions. You can leave.

00:59:19,489 --> 00:59:24,661

And they're like, well, we're serving

eviction notices for these guys.

00:59:24,661 --> 00:59:29,165

And he says, no, this is my jurisdiction.

00:59:29,165 --> 00:59:30,733

I'm the mayor of this town.

00:59:30,733 --> 00:59:32,702

That land is under my jurisdiction.

00:59:32,702 --> 00:59:36,172

You can't evict anybody

without my signature, essentially.

00:59:36,172 --> 00:59:38,041

So now they're in, like the stalemate.

00:59:38,041 --> 00:59:39,542

Those guys run off.

00:59:39,542 --> 00:59:42,579

He runs off to get an actual warrant

00:59:42,579 --> 00:59:45,915

drawn up so he can arrest these agents

while he's doing this.

00:59:45,915 --> 00:59:50,720

These, agents actually end up going in

and evicting these people anyway.

00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:56,359

or so of these agents are evicting people.

00:59:56,659 --> 01:00:00,730

Mayor Testament gets Chief

Hatfield gets their war ready to go,

01:00:00,730 --> 01:00:06,102

goes down, to find these agents

who are now chilling.

01:00:06,102 --> 01:00:10,073

By this point, they and they're waiting

under the awning of a hardware store,

01:00:10,106 --> 01:00:13,376

and they had already evicted

people in the rain.

01:00:13,710 --> 01:00:16,145

That's why they're under signing

and they're hanging out.

01:00:16,145 --> 01:00:19,148

And he comes up and he's like,

I got this warrant for you.

01:00:19,148 --> 01:00:20,917

And they said, well,

I got a warrant for you.

01:00:20,917 --> 01:00:22,485

And then nobody knows what happens.

01:00:22,485 --> 01:00:24,354

But shots rang out.

01:00:24,354 --> 01:00:26,289

Nobody knows who shot first.

01:00:26,289 --> 01:00:29,626

I still say on shot

first, but that's just me.

01:00:30,727 --> 01:00:32,161

Regardless, gunfire