Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-06
VIRGINIA
NOTED FOR IT'S
BLOODY FIGHTS
Feuds and Lawlessness Has
!. Held Sway in Southern
Part For Century.

Logan; w. Va, Oct. 6.-The
southern section Of West Virginia.
scene Of the recent conflict between
miners residents and public authori-
conflicts, feuds and law1essnees for a
century.
h picturesque mountain section.
comprising the counties Of Wyoming.
Logan, Mingo, Mcdowell and Boone.
he's rerely been without some sort Of
warfare or ~srnouldering quarrel, likely
at any moment to burst into the flame
OF rifle fire.
Hemmed in by rugged mountains.
the early settlers were cut off from
the outside world and succeeding gen.
erations have SO Rmained to q o
or less extent. Roads are few. travel
Is slow and tedious and the advance
Of civilization has shArted this noun
famous region until today'it has gain
ed the reputation of being one Of the
q primitive sections east Of the
Mississippi river.
From the early period when the
hardy mountaineers fought the In
dams until today, the inhabitants have
had q tendency to take the law into
their own hands and to mete out JUS
tce:according to their own ideas. This.
n doubt, has been due in part to the
fact that law and order. have had a
hard struggle to- gain O :foothold in q
section sparselya,settled, almost Inn
pasaable during the winter months
and often almost entirely cut off,
1.-Two In Cabins.
Except for the small towns. the in
habitants for the most part are noun
taineers. Many live in log cabins. and
combine farming on 4 small scale
with fishing and trapping. Schools
and f.ht1Sohno nrn fau0 orA far rn~k
Many children do not attend school,
others have the advantage Of a six
months term.
Probably one of the first affairs Of
the section to gain the attention OF
the outside world was the Hatfiala-
Mccoy feud which continued inter-
mittent'y for the greater part of half
4 century.
Few of the many feud killings re-
suited In prosecutions and fewer still
In convictions. In many cases It was
found almost impossible to obtain
'tur1es as practically every inhabitant
knew the feudists or was related.
The section. like some other noun
famous regions, also became known
years ago as q stronghold for moon
sinners. Revenue agents and state
prohibition officers had almost In
Vulnerable clashes with mountaineers
~ SAA~yE pSAISS NV MAC AC6&Ol IL
search of mountain dew" Often
they were successful in seizing stills
and Illicit liquor, seldom. however, did
they bring back prisoners for the
mouhtaineers, according to the reve-
nue agents, had an iptealigence sys-
tenn of their " and their coming
was Usually heralded long before their
arrival.
Newest Battle Ground.
The Mfngo Goa! fields, however.
BILE started with efforts OF the miners
union to unionize the Mingo fields,
almost the only coal section in the
state not organised.
The operators resisted and at first
the miners themselves showed slight
enthusiasm. There were frequent
clashes between union and non.union
miners . Many OF the mines were
closed down; union miners began TO
retaliated by evicting union miners
from company houses.
1t was such an affair that resulted
in the noted MateWAn trigger" fa6ht
in which a number OF citizens OF Mat
evan, including the mayor and sew
eral private detectives employed BY
the mine operators, were killed.
Nearly a score OF M1ngO men, In
Guiding Sid Hatfield, were indicted in
connection with the, death OF n Of
the detectives Weeks were spent re-
Gently in obtaining a jury and other
weeks in trying the cAAe. The accused
were acquitted. In the meantime
there had been other acts OF violence,
miners from outside the region had
been brought In and often the attua-
ton was beyond control OF the state
police and the county authorities. !.
troops have been sent to the section
and maintained order under martial
law.