The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-11-29
War in
W. Virginia
Review BY VERN SMITH

N LIZ ~ . oN1OADG5 ny OOIl1i
L. Spivak, Brewer and Warren, New
York, 326 pages. Price $3.50.
John SPIVAK is the reporter who
found the print shop where the
Whalen Forgeries were made.
1t seems also that Spivak, in his
younger days, got himself an as
signment in West Virginia at the
time Of the marching miners. The
Logan County march was caused by
the refusal of the coal operators
sheriff, Don Chain, a Hatfield rela-
tive, to allow the miners to organize
there. 1t was precipitated by the
assassination Of Sid Hatfield, elected
by labor and loyal to it as chief of
police Of Matewan in the adjoining
county of Mingo. In the course of
his Investigations Spivak dug up the
curious, bloody story of the Hatfield
Mccoy feud.
The book tells how these two pro-
life tribes of mountaineers, with their
relatives and allies by birth and by
marriage, fought a brutal clan war
fare which lasted 40 years. 1t is a
flaming history Of rising quarrels,
pitched battles. clever ambuscades,
desperate heroism and cowardly
murder in which women and children
were not always spared. 1t also tells
how the industrial system came
smashing in at last, not ending
bloodshed, far from it, but substitute
ing for the tribal war a class war.
In the class war poor Mccoy and
miner Hatfield united against cap
italist Mccoy and mine owner Hat
field. In both wars there were
traitors. In the class war some of
the poor Hatfields and McCoys sold
out; the sons of the Hatfield leader,
mighty fighters in the clan war, are
found acting as detectives for the
companies. In the clan war, the
Hatfield wrath was unlimited against
Q" IN day men" (detectives) sent by
McCovs and state to hunt Hatf1elds.
During the bitterest part of the clan
- . McCoys were led by old
Randall Mccoy, a man in his sixties
and seventies. The Hatf1elds were
led by Devil Anse" (Anderson) Hat
field, nearly as old. Both lived to
see the beginnings Of that industriali-
cation that changed the world for
them, and Anse lived well into 1t.
Anse, watching the first train load of
coal leave his wilderness, turned to
a henchman and said: '"Thet load
O. Goals bringin' the north an the
south together, an thar'n be new
things a comm to pass as the
preacher says"
ALL these mountaineer fighters seem
n to have been formally religious.
They were always singing hymns.
You gather that they believed any,
way in Jehovah of Hosts. They never
let anything interfere either with
drinking or fighting. Elias Hatfield
said to Devil Anse, while they were
planning cold blooded murder of
helpless prisoners: 1.-THE bible done
says them as kills kin never enter
the kingdom O. heaven" And Anse
answers him with a chuckle: Lias,
don't you know tibet tibet thar's ben
put In thar fur a bugaboo!" Then
they proceeded to take for a ride the
three captive McCoys Zone of them
a young boy into the enemy terri
tory, tie them to bushes, and shoot
them to death. This is your good old
American stock. And so much for
the Hearst idea that gangsters MUIR
der is foreign importationl
The Hatfield-McCoy warfare, like
the wars of tribes and the wars OF
nations, was based on economic
causes, here the ownership of pigs,
and the stealing of women. Once the
essential antagonism was developed,
artificial incidents" famed it. 1t
went on to pitch. as is usual too in
the wars of nations, where 1t was a
losing thing for both sides. But there
was no way out. The cold blooded
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