The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-01-07
Sections Virginia and Ken
lucky Backgrounds
STILL "MAKIN' L|CKER'
The Latest Struggle Between
Coal Operators and the
Miners
ASSOCIATED Press Dispatch


Williamson, West Va, January 8
Since the early days when first set
tiers from Virginia fought their way
to the western country against bands
of hostile Indians, Mingo county,
West Virginia, and Pike county, Ken
lucky, just across it's border have
been almost continuous backgrounds
Mingo countys latest>struggle Is be-
tween the coal operators and the
miners, but alter a series of out
breaks which attracted countrywide
attention, fede4 al troops are main
tanning order.
After the early settlers had dis
posed of the Indians, the moonshin-
ers took the field and for years
fought and sometimes vanquished the
hated revenue agents, protected as
they often were against attack in the
nigh hills and deep valleys that COW
er this section. Then came the
famous Hatfield Mccoy feud of the
in the practical wiping out of the
Mccoy family, and which caused two
state governors to take a hand in its
SUPPRESSION. For some years after
the feud the moonshiners again took
the field, and although prohibition
is now law of the land, the max
in of ticker" has never been given
up entirely in these hills.
Still Another Chapter of Blood
Still another chapter of blood was
written in Mingo when efforts were
made this year to organize the coal
miners. An unhappy climax came
about in Matewan, w. Va. on May
IS, 1920, when in fight in the streets
f<v. Ia al Nf Il, Nyrn
were guards OF private detective
agency, sent into the district to eject
union miners from company homes.
Since the Matewan fight Mingo
has been the scene Of other disorders
and railroad mining properties have
been destroyed by explosives. In
termittant warfare between opera
tors guards and miners and their
sympathizers followed in such pro-
portions that recently Governor Corn
well, OF West Virginia called on the
When a provisional battalion was
sent to Mingo, martial law was de-
clared here and several other towns
and villages. In the meantime, min
ers elected from company houses
organized tent colonies, and hundreds
of families are living in canvas
homes in Mingo. This situation
raised a question OF sanitation.
Story Of Hatfield Clan
In the clashes in Mingo the names
Hatfield and Mccoy have figured
prominently. In the Matewan fight
Chief of Police Hatfield took part and
later was indicted for murder. His
trial is pending. In the week follow
ing q Mccoy on lonely mountain
road was badly wounded by an I'M
Identified assailant.
, These fights have caused old set
tiers to bark back to the day when
the Hatfield clan, following the kill
ing of one of their brethren, under
the leadership of Devil Anse" Hat
field swore what was known as the
Black Oath" The story is told that
twenty members of the clan, kneel-
ing around a camp fire in the hills
OF Mingo county, pledged themselves
to the absolute destruction of the
Mccoy family. AS result men,
women, and children of the enemy
clan found no mercy, and the feud
became known far and wide as one
of the bloodiest in the history of the
mountains.
Strange to say three of the detec-
tive guards who were killed in the
Matewan fight this year were de-
scendants of state guards and Off
GERS who were sent into Mingo in
the early COS to put down the feud.
With the Federal troops in the Sec
ton, the county for the first time in
many years apparently is in a fair
way to obtain peace and calm.