The Coal King's Slaves
William G. Williams comes from a coal-mining family. His father, grandfathers, and several uncles were miners in South Wales, Great Britain. In 1927, his parents emigrated from Wales to the United States, settling in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where his father continued mining until a 1940 accident forced him to quit the mines. Williams majored in journalism at Pennsylvania State University and retired after a career in journalism and public relations. Both as a journalist and a visitor, he has been in coal mines in Wales and Pennsylvania, walking into slope mines and riding into others on elevators (cages), in man carriers, and on conveyor belts. He is also the author of Days of Darkness: The Gettysburg Civilians and Heroes Among Us, both historical novels.