East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1921-01-07
MINER WAR IN WEST
VIRGINIA RECALLS
EARLIER STRUGGLES
Settlers of Old Fought With In
dians, Then Moonshiners
Held Sway, Now Coal Mining
War Rages With Fury.

WILLIAMSON, w, Va, Jan. t.
! CA. P)-Since the early days when
first settlers from Virginia fought
their way to the western country
against bands of hostile Indians Min
so county, West Virginia, and Pike
county, Kentucky, just across its bor-
der, have been almost continuous bat
tlegrounds.
Mingo county's latest struggle is be-
tween the coal operators and the mi-
ners, but after series of outbreaks
which attracted country wide atten-
tion, federal troops are maintaining
order
After the early settlers had dispos-
ed of the Indians. the moonshiners
took the field and for years fought and
sometimes vanquished the hated rev
enue agents. protected as they often
were against attack in the high hills
and deep valleys that cover this sec
ton. Then came the famous Hatfield
Mccoy feud Of the SOS and eos. which
resulted in the practical wiping out of
the Mccoy family, and which caused
two state governors to take hand in
its suppression. For some years after
the feud the moonshiners again took
the field, and although prohibition is
now a law Of the land, the maxim of
licker' thas never been given up en-
tirely in these hills.
still another chapter of blood was
written in Mingo when efforts We're
made this year 10 organize the coal
miners. An unhappy climax came
about i'm Matewan, w. Va, on May 19,
1920. when in a fight in the streets ten
men were killed, seven of whom We're
guards Of a 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. Intermittent
warfare between operators guards and
miners and their sympathizers follow
ed in such proportions that recently
Governor Cornwell of West Virginia
called on the federal government for
troops. When a provisional battalion
was sent to AIingo, martial law was de-
clared here and several other towns
and villages.
In the meantime, miners elected
from company houses organized tent
colonies, and hundreds Of families are
/ living in canvas homes in Mingo. This
situation raised u question of santa
ton.
In the clashes in Mlngo 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 a Mccoy on a lonely mountain
road was badly wounded by an uni
Identified assailant.
/ These fights have caused old settlers
to bark back to the day when the Hat
! field clan, following the killing of one
! of their brethren, under the leader
ship of Devil Oath" The story is
told that twenty members of the clan,
| lneeling around a camp fire in the
| hills OF MIngo county, pledged them-
selves to the absolute destruction of
the Mccoy family. AS result men,
women and children of the enemy
| found no mercy and the feud became
known far and wide as one of the
bloodiest in the history of the noun.
tains.
Strange to say three Of the detec-
tive guards who were killed in the
Matewan fight this year were descend
ants of state guards and Officers 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.