Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in
Speaker 1: partnership with I Heart Radio. One hundred and one years ago,
Speaker 1: the New York Times reported quote fighting continues in mountains
Speaker 1: as federal troops reached Mingo planes reported bombing miners in
Speaker 1: the conflict between the West Virginia coal miners and the
Speaker 1: coal mining companies escalated to violence not seen in the
Speaker 1: United States since the Civil War, and it resulted in
Speaker 1: multiple charges of treason. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm Maria Tru Marquis,
Speaker 1: and I'm Holly Fry. In the United States, the Labor
Speaker 1: Day holiday pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of
Speaker 1: American workers, and it's traditionally observed on the first Monday
Speaker 1: in September. It's been a federal holiday since four In
Speaker 1: West Virginia, and Uptember of one, Labor Day was not
Speaker 1: spent at the grill as many Americans might now traditionally
Speaker 1: spend that day. It was spent fighting for the rights
Speaker 1: of miners in coal country. Long standing grievances between coal
Speaker 1: miners and their employers culminated just around Labor Day weekend
Speaker 1: that year, in an event that became known as the
Speaker 1: Battle of Blair Mountain. By its end, hundreds of miners
Speaker 1: and union sympathizers were charged, some with murder, some with conspiracy,
Speaker 1: and a few with treason. We're going to be talking
Speaker 1: about the nineteen twenties, but we're gonna go back just
Speaker 1: a little bit more on the timeline for some background. First,
Speaker 1: beginning in the late eighteen hundreds, the coal fields in
Speaker 1: three of West Virginia's counties, Mingo, Logan, and McDowell Counties
Speaker 1: operated under a company town system. A company town is
Speaker 1: a place where all your needs are taken care of
Speaker 1: by the company you work for, At least in theory,
Speaker 1: being a miner meant you lived in a company town.
Speaker 1: You lived in a company owned house, You bought all
Speaker 1: your food and supplies at the company store. You sent
Speaker 1: your kids to the company school. You read the company
Speaker 1: used paper, obeyed the company employed police. Your pay was
Speaker 1: docked for the costs of your housing, medical care, and
Speaker 1: tools you used for your job. In the minds, you
Speaker 1: get what's going on here, I'm sure. And because the
Speaker 1: mining companies controlled essentially every single aspect of your life,
Speaker 1: they could do whatever they wanted to with it, pay
Speaker 1: you low wages. They sure did, and they paid those
Speaker 1: wages in something called script, which was a company tender,
Speaker 1: a substitute for government issued legal currency. That's right, miners
Speaker 1: weren't actually paid in actual US dollars. It's not hard
Speaker 1: to see through this description how mining companies and company
Speaker 1: towns really trapped miners and their families in a cycle
Speaker 1: inescapable poverty. Mining as a way to make a living
Speaker 1: was also in itself just really dangerous. At the turn
Speaker 1: of the twentieth century, Fatal on site accidents such as
Speaker 1: roof collapses, explosions, and fires were frequent, and then health
Speaker 1: problems such as black lung disease, which occurs when coal
Speaker 1: dust is inhaled, claimed miners as well as their families.
Speaker 1: Mind safety laws in West Virginia were the weakest in
Speaker 1: the country at the time, and the laws that did
Speaker 1: exist had few, if any provisions to ensure their enforcement.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about these mines. Conditions in the mines were deplorable.
Speaker 1: The United Mine Workers of America wanted larger representation and
Speaker 1: union membership in that region of West Virginia. The union
Speaker 1: was founded in January through the merger of two preceding groups,
Speaker 1: The Nights of Labor Trade Assembly Number and the National
Speaker 1: Progressive Miners Union. It was modeled after the American Federation
Speaker 1: of Labor and was the culmination of decades of effort.
Speaker 1: The mine operators had long kept all unions out of
Speaker 1: this region, and not just by politely refusing their requests.
Speaker 1: They used intimidation and violence to get their way. It
Speaker 1: was commonplace for a company to pressure their employees to
Speaker 1: sign what was known as a yellow dog contract, which
Speaker 1: was a pledge that the employee would not organize. Coal
Speaker 1: mining companies in Mingo County, West Virginia and the surrounding
Speaker 1: region reacted to the union by hiring only non union workers.
Speaker 1: On top of that, they strictly enforced the line item
Speaker 1: in their employment contracts that included union membership as grounds
Speaker 1: for immediate termination. Because miners lived in company towns, immediate
Speaker 1: termination also meant immediate eviction from your home. The mining
Speaker 1: companies employed private muscle hired from the Baldwin fell It's
Speaker 1: Detective Agency to harass striking miners and their families and
Speaker 1: to enforce their eviction from company owned homes. As a
Speaker 1: miner living in a company town, you owned nothing. You
Speaker 1: had nothing. The Battle of Blair Mountain didn't happen out
Speaker 1: of nowhere. In Pennsylvania, during the sixteen month Westmoreland County
Speaker 1: coal strike of nineteen ten and nineteen eleven, sixteen people
Speaker 1: were killed, all of them striking miners or members of
Speaker 1: their families. After families had been evicted from company owned housing,
Speaker 1: built a tent colony, and estimated twenty people, including women
Speaker 1: and children, were killed because of it by local police,
Speaker 1: hired guns, and Colorado National Guardsmen. During Colorado Coal Field
Speaker 1: War of nineteen and nineteen fourteen, nine years before the
Speaker 1: events at Blair Mountain, miners who were striking for greater
Speaker 1: union recognition clashed with armed agents from Baldwin Felts who
Speaker 1: had been hired by the mining companies to enforce those
Speaker 1: company rules. They terrorized the town. The agents forced families
Speaker 1: at gunpoint from their company owned homes. They drove through
Speaker 1: a tent colony of evicted miners while spraying machine gun fire,
Speaker 1: killing at least one person. In nine fourteen, those same
Speaker 1: Baldwin Felt's agents burned alive women and children in a
Speaker 1: mining camp seller at Ludlow, Colorado, historian Lawn Savage described
Speaker 1: the laborers as oppressed and angry and who could blame
Speaker 1: them quote. They had been crushed and killed on their
Speaker 1: jobs and fired from them when they tried to organize
Speaker 1: a union. He wrote, they had been evicted from their
Speaker 1: company homes and machine gunned in their union tents. Periodically.
Speaker 1: They had risen in fury. There was a history of
Speaker 1: violence against miners and their families, all of which contributed
Speaker 1: to the Blair Mountain uprising. We're going to take a
Speaker 1: break forward from our sponsor right now, and when we return,
Speaker 1: we're going to meet a man named Don Chapin, the
Speaker 1: sheriff of Logan County, West Virginia. Welcome back to Criminalia.
Speaker 1: In nine, West Virginia coal miners began their march in
Speaker 1: protest of working conditions and wages, and here is how
Speaker 1: they found themselves at war in West Virginia. On May twelve,
Speaker 1: men were killed during what's known as the mate Wan massacre.
Speaker 1: The event galvanized support for the United Mine Workers, which
Speaker 1: had started to organize miners in Mingo County that summer.
Speaker 1: In response, the coal mining companies brought in non union
Speaker 1: replacement workers, and over the next several months, the union
Speaker 1: and the owners engaged in a fierce battle. Thirteen Baldwin
Speaker 1: Felts agents arrived in the town of Maitland under order
Speaker 1: by the coal mining companies to evict all families of
Speaker 1: any striking miners from company owned housing. When Mate one,
Speaker 1: mayor Cabal Testerman, caught wind of the plan, he, along
Speaker 1: with the chief of police at Hatfield, confronted them near
Speaker 1: the local train station. Upon their arrival, a heated argument
Speaker 1: quickly escalated. Hatfield, a union sympathizer, attempted to arrest the
Speaker 1: agents when suddenly a gunfight broke out between agents and miners.
Speaker 1: Seven Baldwin Felts men, two miners, and the mayor were
Speaker 1: all killed during this fight. In less than a year,
Speaker 1: in retaliation for the events of that day, Hatfield was
Speaker 1: assassinated by Baldwin Felts men as he entered the McDowell
Speaker 1: County courthouse, and that turned out to be one of
Speaker 1: the breaking points for the miners, wrote the Sheriff of
Speaker 1: Mingo County in May of murder by laying in wait
Speaker 1: and shooting from ambush has become common. The Blair Mountain
Speaker 1: conflict was a result of decades of unrest and it
Speaker 1: was part of what are called the Coal Wars, or
Speaker 1: sometimes the Mind Wars. Which was a series of armed
Speaker 1: labor disputes in the United States, mainly in Appalachia and
Speaker 1: roughly between the years eighteen ninety and nineteen thirty. It
Speaker 1: was the bloody, violent climax of these coal miner versus
Speaker 1: coal company conflicts that took place in the early nineteen twenties.
Speaker 1: During the Battle of Blair Mountain, ten thousand West Virginia
Speaker 1: coal miners marched in protest of perilous working conditions, squalid housing,
Speaker 1: and low wages, among other grievances. Their march began in
Speaker 1: the small town of Marmot with the intention of reaching
Speaker 1: Mingo County a few days away to meet with the
Speaker 1: coal companies and make their demands known. Ultimately, they planned
Speaker 1: to free miners in Mingo County who had been arrested
Speaker 1: and held in jail on charges for violating the martial
Speaker 1: law that the governor had in posed on that county
Speaker 1: because of similar unrest. To get to Mingo, though they
Speaker 1: first had to cross through Logan County, the miners never
Speaker 1: made it past the mountain. They did not reach their goal.
Speaker 1: They found themselves battling Logan County Sheriff Don Chaffin's deputized
Speaker 1: citizen Army of coal company supporters, commonly referred to by
Speaker 1: the nickname the Czar of Logan. Chaffin was in the
Speaker 1: pocket of the coal companies and received large amounts of
Speaker 1: cash from coal mine operators to suppress unionization. He commanded
Speaker 1: a citizen army in the Battle of Blair Mountain in
Speaker 1: an effort to squash union efforts. Chafen, let's say he's
Speaker 1: an interesting man. Most coal operators hired private security, such
Speaker 1: as guards from the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency. Basically, they
Speaker 1: hired thugs to do their negotiating for them. In Logan County,
Speaker 1: though it was a little different, coal mine operators relied
Speaker 1: on Sheriff Don Chafin and his deputies. Volunteers in Chaffin's
Speaker 1: army included middle class teachers, shopkeepers, and generally other white
Speaker 1: collar workers who feared the union and the miners. Chafan
Speaker 1: earned a lot of money working for coal companies. For instance,
Speaker 1: during the Pink Creek Cabin Creek uprising of nineteen twelve,
Speaker 1: he took in nearly three thousand dollars a month. Operators
Speaker 1: paid him almost thirty eight thousand dollars for his and
Speaker 1: I'm going to air quote this work as a county
Speaker 1: clerk during the year nineteen nineteen. They had just spent
Speaker 1: that money on helping their actual employees. It seems so easy,
Speaker 1: No way. In August of one, union and union sympathizing
Speaker 1: miners began to gather. They're planned first stop in Logan County,
Speaker 1: it said, was at the very least to unseat Sheriff Chaffin,
Speaker 1: So accounts suggests that they had more murderous plans. Chafan
Speaker 1: just could not be avoided. The miners were going to
Speaker 1: have to move through Logan County en route to their
Speaker 1: destination and pass an anti union sheriff known for declaring quote,
Speaker 1: no armed mob will cross the Logan County line. Chaffin's
Speaker 1: makeshift army constructed a network of machine gun nests and
Speaker 1: trenches around Blair Mountain, a two thousand foot peak that
Speaker 1: stood directly in the miner's path. Led by union organizers
Speaker 1: Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney, the miners made plans to
Speaker 1: confront the coal companies. To quote minor and Baptist Reverend
Speaker 1: John Wilburn, it is time to lay down the Bible
Speaker 1: and take up the rifle. By August, the miners were
Speaker 1: heading south towards Mingo County. During a meeting with the
Speaker 1: War Departments General Harry Bandholtz, though Keeney and Mooney were
Speaker 1: advised that any of my lance would prove disastrous for
Speaker 1: both the Union and the miners, and the two men
Speaker 1: tried to call off the march, but after two miners
Speaker 1: died fighting with Chaffin's deputized forces, any idea of ceasefire
Speaker 1: talks ended. Four days later, on August, those ten thousand
Speaker 1: miners had reached the border of Logan County and they
Speaker 1: had begun exchanging gunfire with coal company supporters. Their makeshift
Speaker 1: uniform was blue bib overalls and a red bandana tied
Speaker 1: around their necks to distinguish friend from foe among themselves, that,
Speaker 1: it turns out, is the origin of today's often used
Speaker 1: in a derogatory manner term redneck. They wore them in
Speaker 1: solidarity and they self named as the Redneck Army. There
Speaker 1: was gunfire exchanged, but the first heavy fighting happened on
Speaker 1: August thirty one, when a group of about seventy five miners,
Speaker 1: led by Reverend Wilburn, happened upon a group of Chafen's
Speaker 1: forces on a wooded ridge. Each side called to the
Speaker 1: other for the password, and neither side answered correctly. The
Speaker 1: ensuing shootout killed three deputies and one miner. That same day,
Speaker 1: the miners began a two pronged assault on the area
Speaker 1: Chafin was holding. Miners ran up the mountain side, but
Speaker 1: were pushed back down with machine gun fire from higher ground.
Speaker 1: So up and down, and up and down, until the
Speaker 1: next morning, when a detachment of miners with a gatling
Speaker 1: gun they had looted from a company store drove an assault.
Speaker 1: Chaffin's forces fought back with more machine gun fire. Of course,
Speaker 1: quote machine guns cracked up there, so you would think
Speaker 1: the whole place was coming down on you, Miner Ira
Speaker 1: Wilson later recalled. But after a few hours of heavy
Speaker 1: fire the enemy machine gun jam the miners surged in,
Speaker 1: but they were met with heavy machine gun fire from
Speaker 1: another gunner positioned farther up the ridge. Chaffin's forces were
Speaker 1: just ridiculou a less lee well armed. Not only were
Speaker 1: they equipped with machine guns, he had also chartered three
Speaker 1: private biplanes and equipped them with tear gas and pipe
Speaker 1: bombs loaded with nuts and bolts as shrapnel. None of
Speaker 1: this was financed by Chaffin. It was all supplied by
Speaker 1: the Coal Operators Association. Chafin did order the planes to
Speaker 1: drop those home made explosives over two of the miners strongholds,
Speaker 1: but as far as we know, there were no casualties
Speaker 1: from that particular assault. The Battle of Blair Mountain ended
Speaker 1: with the arrival of the United States Army on September one.
Speaker 1: President warrengey Harding ordered federal troops from Fort Thomas, Kentucky,
Speaker 1: to the scene. This really changed the outcome of this engagement.
Speaker 1: The conflict ended when the military, represented by the West
Speaker 1: Virginia Army National Guard and led by McDowell County native
Speaker 1: William Eubank's intervened by presidential order. Fourteen planes fully armed
Speaker 1: for combat were dispatched to the state, but were used
Speaker 1: for surveillance only. The infantry units began arriving the next day.
Speaker 1: When faithd with fighting the United States Army that was
Speaker 1: upwards of twenty seven thousand soldiers, many of the miners surrendered.
Speaker 1: A small contingency continued fighting against Chaffin until September four,
Speaker 1: but soon after all battle weary miners ended up surrendering
Speaker 1: to US forces or just returned to their homes. There
Speaker 1: were casualties. In total, between fifty and one hundred striking
Speaker 1: miners were killed, plus many more were displaced by evictions
Speaker 1: and violence. There's no full count here. Another nine hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty five were arrested. Between ten and thirty of
Speaker 1: Sheriff Chaffin's local deputies were killed, Three soldiers in the
Speaker 1: National Guard were killed, and it's estimated that nearly one
Speaker 1: million rounds of ammunition had been fired. The Battle of
Speaker 1: Blair Mountain was considered a tactical law enforcement slash military victory,
Speaker 1: and in the eyes of the coal mining companies, Chaffin
Speaker 1: emerged as a hero. Yeah a hero because in their eyes,
Speaker 1: he stopped the union from entering and that then allowed
Speaker 1: him to charge even higher fees for his services. Chaffin
Speaker 1: remained sheriff until nineteen twenty four, so not a whole
Speaker 1: lot longer, but his duties ended when he was charged
Speaker 1: and convicted of illegally operating an establishment that sold liquor.
Speaker 1: West Virginia Governor Eli Morgan sought federal charges against all
Speaker 1: miners who had surrendered to federal troops, but the federal
Speaker 1: government declined to bring charges against them, and instead continued
Speaker 1: its ongoing Senate investigation into the conditions of American coal mines.
Speaker 1: Without those federal charges, the state of West Virginia decided
Speaker 1: to prosecute the miners itself, and, beginning in ninety two,
Speaker 1: state indicted more than five hundred miners on charges that
Speaker 1: included murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to murder, and treason.
Speaker 1: While there were multiple indictments, the charge that caught the
Speaker 1: attention of pretty much everyone was that of treason. And
Speaker 1: we're going to focus on the treason trial of a
Speaker 1: man we haven't actually mentioned yet, union organizer, William H. Blizzard.
Speaker 1: We are going to take a break here for a
Speaker 1: word from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll get
Speaker 1: to know who Bill Blizzard was and why he became
Speaker 1: the face of these treason trials. Welcome back to Criminalia.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the time West Virginia put an American
Speaker 1: union organizer on trial for treason. Bill Blizzard was born
Speaker 1: in Cabin Creek, West Virginia, on September nineteenth two, to
Speaker 1: a family of immigrants from Ireland. He was a coal
Speaker 1: miner by age ten and grew up to be an
Speaker 1: American union organizer. Union work seemed to have been in
Speaker 1: his blood. His mother, Mary Harris, was the legendary labor
Speaker 1: organizer known as Mother Jones, who was once labeled quote
Speaker 1: the most dangerous woman in America. The label was given
Speaker 1: to her by a U. S District attorney. Her rise
Speaker 1: to fame came from her prominence as a passionate and
Speaker 1: lively orator, and she became a fearless organizer for the
Speaker 1: mine workers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Speaker 1: Her son, Bill is important to the Blair Mountain events
Speaker 1: because he was considered the leader or also sometimes considered
Speaker 1: the general, of the marching miners. The state of West
Speaker 1: Virginia charged twenty people with treason, including miners and including
Speaker 1: union activist Bill Blizzard. Blizzards trial took place during the
Speaker 1: spring and summer of two and it happened in the
Speaker 1: second floor courtroom of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Charlestown,
Speaker 1: West Virginia. Jefferson County is about two d and fifty
Speaker 1: miles away from the scene of the conflict. At the
Speaker 1: courthouse was chosen in an attempt to ensure an impartial jury.
Speaker 1: There were no coal mines in that part of the state.
Speaker 1: At this time in America's history, a treason trial like
Speaker 1: this one wasn't high stakes just for the men on trial.
Speaker 1: It was also high stakes for the bigger and struggling
Speaker 1: labor movement in the country. If the prosecution one, the
Speaker 1: punitive anti union tactics used by the coal companies could
Speaker 1: become legitimized. So this was big, like big big. It
Speaker 1: was about the largest labor uprising in American history. One
Speaker 1: thing about this trial, no matter what county it was
Speaker 1: held in, those treason charges were considered really shaky at best,
Speaker 1: but it was thought that the strongest case was against
Speaker 1: Bill Blizzard. In fact, believing that the trees and charges
Speaker 1: were quote improper, the prosecutor for Jefferson County, a person
Speaker 1: named John T. Porterfield, recused himself and declared the trials
Speaker 1: as a whole to be quote a waste of scarce
Speaker 1: resources and mean spirited vendettas Attorney C. W. Assington and A. M. Belcher,
Speaker 1: referred to together as the Coal Dust Twins by the
Speaker 1: miners because of their close working relationship the coal mine operators,
Speaker 1: took his place as the prosecution team. The defense was
Speaker 1: led by Thomas Townsend, a lawyer for the United Mine Workers,
Speaker 1: along with Harold Houston, who had previously and often worked
Speaker 1: closely with the union. The case was overseen by Judge J. M.
Speaker 1: Woods because the prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County, John T. Porterfield,
Speaker 1: as well as the state Attorney General, did not participate
Speaker 1: in the trials. Many following the case were left assuming
Speaker 1: the state had abdicated its legal responsibility to the private
Speaker 1: coal companies. True or not. After hearing this story, that
Speaker 1: sounds sort of plausible, doesn't it. I could see where
Speaker 1: people landed there. I can see where people got down
Speaker 1: that path. While the accused were in jail, Houston got
Speaker 1: to work before indictments were even issued. He was raising
Speaker 1: funds for the legal defense during the march. Fred Mooney,
Speaker 1: who was the secretary treasurer of the local United Mine
Speaker 1: Workers District, helped to establish the Mingo County Defense League.
Speaker 1: Many who supported the miners responded to the national and
Speaker 1: global call for donations to the Miners Defense Fund. Quickly,
Speaker 1: the fund amass more than fifty dollars, originating from support
Speaker 1: within the labor movement, but also among industries totally unconnected
Speaker 1: to coal mining. The coal mine operators funded the prosecution, Well,
Speaker 1: they kind of funded the prosecution. They later build the
Speaker 1: state of West Virginia for a hundred and twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in legal fees, where they reimbursed that, we
Speaker 1: don't know. The first person to be tried was Bill Blizzard, who,
Speaker 1: as we've said, was believed to have been the leader
Speaker 1: of the march, and he was charged with treason for
Speaker 1: that act. So treason here we are. The United States
Speaker 1: Constitution specifically defines this crime and says this treason against
Speaker 1: the United States shall consist only in levying war against them,
Speaker 1: or in adhering to their enemies giving them aid and comfort.
Speaker 1: No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the
Speaker 1: testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or
Speaker 1: on confession in open court. The media attention was intense
Speaker 1: during Blizzard's trial, but that allowed the regional conversation of
Speaker 1: labor issues to move into a more nationwide were station.
Speaker 1: Media coverage was extensive in coal rich regions of the country,
Speaker 1: in particular Pennsylvania newspapers in places like Altoona, Allentown, Scranton,
Speaker 1: Wilkes Barre. They all reported daily on the trial. Several
Speaker 1: papers in New York City also covered the trial, with
Speaker 1: the Brooklyn Citizen and the New York Times covering daily events,
Speaker 1: so people outside southern West Virginia were reading about the conflict,
Speaker 1: the charges, who testify, and the key details of each testimony.
Speaker 1: Lizards treason trial really broke down to just this one thing.
Speaker 1: If he was the leader of the march, was he
Speaker 1: actually leading when the miners reached Blair Mountain, and was
Speaker 1: it for the purpose of levying war? And there was
Speaker 1: conflicting testimony about that. The prosecution claimed Blizzard had shadowed
Speaker 1: the miners as they marched and that he had closely
Speaker 1: followed their progress. Some miners had turned state's witnesses and
Speaker 1: testified the Blizzard was commanding the miners during the entire
Speaker 1: march to Logan County and through the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Speaker 1: Turning state's witness just to get everyone on the same
Speaker 1: page means that they admitted their guilt in agreement to
Speaker 1: testify as a witness for the state against their associate,
Speaker 1: usually in exchange for leniency in sentencing. One of those
Speaker 1: men claimed that he saw Blizzard delivering ammunition to the
Speaker 1: miners witnesses for the defense on the other hand, testified
Speaker 1: to having seen Blizzard in Charleston during the march. Charleston,
Speaker 1: so you can picture. It is the state capital, and
Speaker 1: it's about sixty miles from Logan. The defense's star witness, though,
Speaker 1: was a United States Army infantry captain, who stated that
Speaker 1: he had never heard any miners talk of going to
Speaker 1: war against the government. Rather, they sought to quote protect
Speaker 1: the women and children from Sheriff Chaffin's death e d
Speaker 1: s in Logan County. Yeah, that guy. Blizzard himself testified
Speaker 1: he had been there, but that he had only been
Speaker 1: there on September two and September three, when he went
Speaker 1: to persuade the miners to surrender to the United States
Speaker 1: Army and to return home. Blizzard's trial was standing room only.
Speaker 1: The courtroom could see about three hundred people, but the
Speaker 1: crowd that had showed up was closer to five. It
Speaker 1: lasted more than four weeks, and it was Prosecutor C. W.
Speaker 1: Ostenton who closed the case for the States, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: I have nothing against Bill Blizzard. I'm not asking for
Speaker 1: Bill's blood. I'd like to say, young man, take your
Speaker 1: wife and babies and go home. On after six hours
Speaker 1: and ten minutes of deliberation by the jury, Lizard was
Speaker 1: acquitted of the charge of treason. We quote we the
Speaker 1: jury find for the defense dims court clerk see A.
Speaker 1: Conrad wrote on the back of the indictment, quote we
Speaker 1: the jury find the defendant not guilty of the charge.
Speaker 1: In the indictment that was signed by dB. Shoemaker, the foreman,
Speaker 1: there was no evidence to back up the claim of treason.
Speaker 1: Down with the coal baron's yelled one defendant, A union official,
Speaker 1: and others echoed similar sentiments. Blizzard's acquittal came after questions
Speaker 1: arose regarding the reliability of some of the witnesses for
Speaker 1: the prosecution, as well as in Blizzard's role in convincing
Speaker 1: the miners to lay down their arms. A writer for
Speaker 1: the Deluth Herald commented, quote, in a large measure, the
Speaker 1: state of West Virginia was on trial in the Blizzard case,
Speaker 1: and the verdict of acquittal as to Blizzard was the
Speaker 1: equivalent to a verdict of guilty against the state. Later
Speaker 1: that day, sympathizers celebrated Blizzard with a parade. The Associated
Speaker 1: Press reported that he and I'm gonna paraphrase this because
Speaker 1: Guy's quite long was carried on the shoulders of others,
Speaker 1: and a triumphal march through town that crowds cheered his
Speaker 1: verdict and lifted him on their backs. It wasn't just
Speaker 1: Bill Blizzard who was charged with treason, we know, and
Speaker 1: they did not all have the same outcome. Walter Allen
Speaker 1: was charged and convicted of treason on September six for
Speaker 1: the part that he played in the One March against
Speaker 1: the coal companies and the United States Army at Blair Mountain.
Speaker 1: Witnesses described Allen's role as a leadership role. They testified
Speaker 1: that he spoke at a rally of miners prior to
Speaker 1: the march, and they claimed that he led the miners
Speaker 1: who voted to take part in the march. Witnesses also
Speaker 1: claimed that Allen recruited miners from other camps and that
Speaker 1: he obtained weapons for miners for the march, that he
Speaker 1: served on the marches finance committee, and that he was
Speaker 1: seen generally participating in many stages of the event. Allen
Speaker 1: was the only miner convicted of treason. A jury found
Speaker 1: him guilty and he was sentenced to ten years in
Speaker 1: state prison. He was freed on a ten thousand dollar
Speaker 1: bond pending his appeal, but on December sixteenth, of nine
Speaker 1: County officials reported that Allen had fled. The charges against
Speaker 1: other union leaders Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney ended up dropped.
Speaker 1: Reverend James Wilburn and his son John were convicted, though
Speaker 1: not for treason. Their crime was second degree murder after
Speaker 1: causing the first casualty at Blair Mountain. Most of the
Speaker 1: indicted miners were acquitted or their case just never went
Speaker 1: to trial. Kenziek New, director of the Mine Wars Museum
Speaker 1: in Mingo County, has talked about the long lasting significance
Speaker 1: of the conflict, saying, quote, Blair Mountain teaches us that
Speaker 1: we have to stand together if we're going to win.
Speaker 1: The miners took great risks and banded together collectively, overcoming
Speaker 1: barriers of race and ethnicity to shine a light on
Speaker 1: these dramatic examples of exploitation. This was a story in
Speaker 1: American history that I was not really aware of. I
Speaker 1: was aware of the Cold Wars and the miners versus
Speaker 1: the companies, but I was not aware that this was
Speaker 1: the largest labor uprising. Comparing things like this to the
Speaker 1: Civil War, I had no idea. I had no idea
Speaker 1: until we got involved in it. When you start doing
Speaker 1: the research and looking at how many people were involved,
Speaker 1: the thing was strategically planned out, it sounds like any
Speaker 1: other actual battlefield, isn't it. Yeah, we tend to think
Speaker 1: of labor disputes in a much more I don't want
Speaker 1: to say sedate, because people are very passionate about it,
Speaker 1: but not so much involving active warfare. We think of
Speaker 1: picket lines, we think of people crossing lines. We don't
Speaker 1: think of people with a Gatlin gun necessarily are great
Speaker 1: good fortune, so we don't while we ponder this, would
Speaker 1: you enjoy a perfecty poor? I was just about to
Speaker 1: say while we discussed this, I would like a drink, Maria.
Speaker 1: You know I love to surprise you, so I hope
Speaker 1: this does. It's a shot a shot, I'm down? What
Speaker 1: is this? A shot up bourbon? Just straight? Because I'm
Speaker 1: in not just straight? And this is one of those things, right.
Speaker 1: I like the idea of shots that are actually like
Speaker 1: small mixed drinks, right with layers, or like little like interest,
Speaker 1: not just one guy. You can do interesting things. I
Speaker 1: am not likely to drink a shot of bourbon straight.
Speaker 1: I know you are, but I do enjoy a shot,
Speaker 1: and this one is called coal dust, and you'll see
Speaker 1: why at the end. And it's not a super heavy
Speaker 1: hitter either. I'll talk about my thoughts on shots and
Speaker 1: people doing them or not wanting to do them when
Speaker 1: we get to the the in the cocktap. It's a very
Speaker 1: simple one to put together. You just need an ounce
Speaker 1: of bourbon, a half ounce of amoretto, and a half
Speaker 1: to three quarters of an ounce of apple juice. I
Speaker 1: went with apple juice because apple orchard is very common
Speaker 1: in West Virginia. And armoretto. I just thought was going
Speaker 1: to be a nice combo for those two things to
Speaker 1: have a party together. A little bourbon and apple juice
Speaker 1: and armoretto makes it all almondy and delicious. I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you. Looking to list, it's a small list, but
Speaker 1: it's an odd list. Oh just wait, it's about to
Speaker 1: get hodder. So I just stirred them together and then
Speaker 1: I poured them into a chilled chock glass. Then here's
Speaker 1: where the cold dust comes in, because I sprinkled it
Speaker 1: with just a pinch of freshly ground black pepper because
Speaker 1: I want to get that idea of I associate things
Speaker 1: like coal dust with just that settling on everything you have,
Speaker 1: and it's everywhere, and so it will settle a little
Speaker 1: into your shot glass. It's not gonna radically change the
Speaker 1: flavor of any of the spirits in there, but you'll
Speaker 1: occasionally get that little bit of it and be like ah.
Speaker 1: And sometimes, depending on the nature of your pepper, it
Speaker 1: can be a little small but not too overwhelming bite
Speaker 1: that is cold dust. Now, before I get to the
Speaker 1: mock tail, I want to say this one. I have
Speaker 1: strong feelings about shots because I don't think you gotta
Speaker 1: down a shot all at once. And if you're making
Speaker 1: a shot that's tasty and interesting, you can sip it.
Speaker 1: It's fine. Nobody here's gonna judge you, and if they do,
Speaker 1: I'll burrate them aggressively. The other thing is that if
Speaker 1: you just don't like a shot right, because this isn't
Speaker 1: that heavy a hitter. It's an ounce of bourbon. A
Speaker 1: lot of shots will have like an ounce and a half,
Speaker 1: or even sometimes two if you have a really assertive poorer.
Speaker 1: But you could if this sounds interesting but you don't
Speaker 1: want to do it like that, you could top it
Speaker 1: with au soda or ginger ale and make it into
Speaker 1: more of a traditional cocktail and you're gonna be fine.
Speaker 1: You have options. Again, always always make it the way
Speaker 1: you want it, because that's the whole point. The almaretto
Speaker 1: that was half an ounce, Yes, just half an ounce.
Speaker 1: It's not a lot, yeah, especially when it's countered with
Speaker 1: apple juice. And the reason I said a half to
Speaker 1: three quarters is that just a half isn't going to
Speaker 1: shift things too much. You'll still have a lot of
Speaker 1: that bourbon bite. So if that's still a little too
Speaker 1: much for you and you don't want to go like
Speaker 1: the soda root, you can just add a little more
Speaker 1: apple juice. It's fine tweak everything to make it the
Speaker 1: way you like it. To do this as a mocktail,
Speaker 1: it's superto bre easy. As we're going to do the
Speaker 1: very very strongly brewed and steeped black tea in lieu
Speaker 1: of bourbon, you're gonna toss in an almond syrup and
Speaker 1: lou of vamoretto, and then apple juice and black pepper
Speaker 1: are just fine. Same thing with ginger ail or soda
Speaker 1: if you want to make it a little a little
Speaker 1: lighter to the palate. Lately I've been I've been experimenting
Speaker 1: with shots and bourbon shots in particular. So this was
Speaker 1: a fun love it to play with. I know who
Speaker 1: am I I don't know. I don't know my influence
Speaker 1: after all these decades has come through. I have my reason,
Speaker 1: but also I just I'm always trying to figure out
Speaker 1: ways to make friends with things that I think I
Speaker 1: don't like. I love that because we both feel this
Speaker 1: way about Jim, right, So like your journey of becoming
Speaker 1: friends with Jin is also my journey of becoming friends
Speaker 1: with Jim. Now, I quite like Jim. I put it
Speaker 1: in lots of stuff, so I actually find that like
Speaker 1: when it appears, I'm not like, oh, there's gin in
Speaker 1: that anymore. So you know it's working slowly, but surely
Speaker 1: it's working. So yes, So that is the cold dust.
Speaker 1: If you just want a little dusty, you could also
Speaker 1: if you really want to go an alternate route and
Speaker 1: you're like, I don't want to put pepper in my
Speaker 1: cocktail with armouretto, you could also do just a little
Speaker 1: a tiny pinch of activated charcoal powder, which we have
Speaker 1: used in the past. I was thinking about that. Actually
Speaker 1: I knew you were expecting that, So I want had
Speaker 1: to flip you on your ear because you've used it before,
Speaker 1: so I was not expecting it. But it was a
Speaker 1: nice little like remembrance of oh, hey, remember when we
Speaker 1: made that activated dricol drink. That was cool. I hope
Speaker 1: we have something that looks dusty like. I'm like, if
Speaker 1: you wanted to do that, you could do that instead
Speaker 1: of the pepper. That's fine, particularly if you bought it
Speaker 1: for a previous calcula and you're like, I have a
Speaker 1: bag of fractivated charcoal, what am I going to use
Speaker 1: it for now? It's a great time I brought it out.
Speaker 1: Remember that's when that You've got to tell friends if
Speaker 1: they're on medications, maybe not Maybe leave it out. The
Speaker 1: pepper safer in that regard because it will absorb a
Speaker 1: lot of the things that you actually mean to put
Speaker 1: into your body instead of just the tricky parts. Charcoal
Speaker 1: has many uses. You can read up on it. It's
Speaker 1: easy to find information on how charcoal will mess with
Speaker 1: things like medication. Yeah, that's the cold dust. We hope
Speaker 1: that takes the edge off of this not exactly uplifting story,
Speaker 1: but important story about labor rights and particularly about like
Speaker 1: how someone just fighting for the right to not be
Speaker 1: taken advantage of by their employer. Can suddenly be considered
Speaker 1: a treasonist? Yes, that's an important thing to consider troubling.
Speaker 1: Maybe the Perfect Poor took the edge off of that.
Speaker 1: So we will be right back here next week with
Speaker 1: another tale of treason as well as another perfecty poor,
Speaker 1: and we hope you will join us. Criminalia is a
Speaker 1: production of Shonda land Audio in partnership with I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from Shonda land Audio, please visit the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.