WEBVTT - 'Down With the Coal Barons!': When the Red Neck Army Went to War 0:00:01.600 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:15.560 partnership with I Heart Radio. One hundred and one years ago, 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.080 the New York Times reported quote fighting continues in mountains 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:24.599 as federal troops reached Mingo planes reported bombing miners in 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.080 the conflict between the West Virginia coal miners and the 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.920 coal mining companies escalated to violence not seen in the 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:35.879 United States since the Civil War, and it resulted in 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.680 multiple charges of treason. Welcome to Criminalia, I'm Maria Tru Marquis, 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.240 and I'm Holly Fry. In the United States, the Labor 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.879 Day holiday pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:53.120 American workers, and it's traditionally observed on the first Monday 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:58.560 in September. It's been a federal holiday since four In 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:02.800 West Virginia, and Uptember of one, Labor Day was not 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:06.479 spent at the grill as many Americans might now traditionally 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:10.040 spend that day. It was spent fighting for the rights 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:15.199 of miners in coal country. Long standing grievances between coal 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:19.440 miners and their employers culminated just around Labor Day weekend 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:21.959 that year, in an event that became known as the 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.400 Battle of Blair Mountain. By its end, hundreds of miners 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:31.640 and union sympathizers were charged, some with murder, some with conspiracy, 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:36.240 and a few with treason. We're going to be talking 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.640 about the nineteen twenties, but we're gonna go back just 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:42.759 a little bit more on the timeline for some background. First, 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.720 beginning in the late eighteen hundreds, the coal fields in 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:51.800 three of West Virginia's counties, Mingo, Logan, and McDowell Counties 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:56.800 operated under a company town system. A company town is 0:01:56.800 --> 0:01:58.920 a place where all your needs are taken care of 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.560 by the company you work for, At least in theory, 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.440 being a miner meant you lived in a company town. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:09.440 You lived in a company owned house, You bought all 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.519 your food and supplies at the company store. You sent 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.880 your kids to the company school. You read the company 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:19.040 used paper, obeyed the company employed police. Your pay was 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.120 docked for the costs of your housing, medical care, and 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.280 tools you used for your job. In the minds, you 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.760 get what's going on here, I'm sure. And because the 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.720 mining companies controlled essentially every single aspect of your life, 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:36.440 they could do whatever they wanted to with it, pay 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.680 you low wages. They sure did, and they paid those 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:43.120 wages in something called script, which was a company tender, 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:48.520 a substitute for government issued legal currency. That's right, miners 0:02:48.560 --> 0:02:53.239 weren't actually paid in actual US dollars. It's not hard 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.320 to see through this description how mining companies and company 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.799 towns really trapped miners and their families in a cycle 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.400 inescapable poverty. Mining as a way to make a living 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.079 was also in itself just really dangerous. At the turn 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:12.120 of the twentieth century, Fatal on site accidents such as 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:17.639 roof collapses, explosions, and fires were frequent, and then health 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.079 problems such as black lung disease, which occurs when coal 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:24.960 dust is inhaled, claimed miners as well as their families. 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.880 Mind safety laws in West Virginia were the weakest in 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.600 the country at the time, and the laws that did 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:36.160 exist had few, if any provisions to ensure their enforcement. 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:41.840 Let's talk about these mines. Conditions in the mines were deplorable. 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:46.000 The United Mine Workers of America wanted larger representation and 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:50.000 union membership in that region of West Virginia. The union 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:54.520 was founded in January through the merger of two preceding groups, 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:58.920 The Nights of Labor Trade Assembly Number and the National 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:03.200 Progressive Miners Union. It was modeled after the American Federation 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.680 of Labor and was the culmination of decades of effort. 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.480 The mine operators had long kept all unions out of 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:14.360 this region, and not just by politely refusing their requests. 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:18.800 They used intimidation and violence to get their way. It 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.640 was commonplace for a company to pressure their employees to 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.720 sign what was known as a yellow dog contract, which 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:28.840 was a pledge that the employee would not organize. Coal 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:32.440 mining companies in Mingo County, West Virginia and the surrounding 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:37.440 region reacted to the union by hiring only non union workers. 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:41.719 On top of that, they strictly enforced the line item 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:46.000 in their employment contracts that included union membership as grounds 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:51.479 for immediate termination. Because miners lived in company towns, immediate 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:56.560 termination also meant immediate eviction from your home. The mining 0:04:56.600 --> 0:05:00.160 companies employed private muscle hired from the Baldwin fell It's 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:04.719 Detective Agency to harass striking miners and their families and 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:08.640 to enforce their eviction from company owned homes. As a 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:13.640 miner living in a company town, you owned nothing. You 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:19.279 had nothing. The Battle of Blair Mountain didn't happen out 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:24.200 of nowhere. In Pennsylvania, during the sixteen month Westmoreland County 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.520 coal strike of nineteen ten and nineteen eleven, sixteen people 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:31.080 were killed, all of them striking miners or members of 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:35.040 their families. After families had been evicted from company owned housing, 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.480 built a tent colony, and estimated twenty people, including women 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.919 and children, were killed because of it by local police, 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:46.440 hired guns, and Colorado National Guardsmen. During Colorado Coal Field 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.919 War of nineteen and nineteen fourteen, nine years before the 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.400 events at Blair Mountain, miners who were striking for greater 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.920 union recognition clashed with armed agents from Baldwin Felts who 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:01.760 had been hired by the mining companies to enforce those 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:07.640 company rules. They terrorized the town. The agents forced families 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.920 at gunpoint from their company owned homes. They drove through 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:16.000 a tent colony of evicted miners while spraying machine gun fire, 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.159 killing at least one person. In nine fourteen, those same 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.680 Baldwin Felt's agents burned alive women and children in a 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:30.600 mining camp seller at Ludlow, Colorado, historian Lawn Savage described 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:34.240 the laborers as oppressed and angry and who could blame 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:38.080 them quote. They had been crushed and killed on their 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.160 jobs and fired from them when they tried to organize 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:44.440 a union. He wrote, they had been evicted from their 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:49.160 company homes and machine gunned in their union tents. Periodically. 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.920 They had risen in fury. There was a history of 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:58.040 violence against miners and their families, all of which contributed 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.160 to the Blair Mountain uprising. We're going to take a 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.080 break forward from our sponsor right now, and when we return, 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:08.640 we're going to meet a man named Don Chapin, the 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:24.920 sheriff of Logan County, West Virginia. Welcome back to Criminalia. 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:29.800 In nine, West Virginia coal miners began their march in 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:34.080 protest of working conditions and wages, and here is how 0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:41.280 they found themselves at war in West Virginia. On May twelve, 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:44.480 men were killed during what's known as the mate Wan massacre. 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.600 The event galvanized support for the United Mine Workers, which 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.720 had started to organize miners in Mingo County that summer. 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.520 In response, the coal mining companies brought in non union 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:59.880 replacement workers, and over the next several months, the union 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:04.120 and the owners engaged in a fierce battle. Thirteen Baldwin 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.040 Felts agents arrived in the town of Maitland under order 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.200 by the coal mining companies to evict all families of 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:13.800 any striking miners from company owned housing. When Mate one, 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.680 mayor Cabal Testerman, caught wind of the plan, he, along 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.720 with the chief of police at Hatfield, confronted them near 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:24.280 the local train station. Upon their arrival, a heated argument 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:28.800 quickly escalated. Hatfield, a union sympathizer, attempted to arrest the 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.320 agents when suddenly a gunfight broke out between agents and miners. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.920 Seven Baldwin Felts men, two miners, and the mayor were 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.720 all killed during this fight. In less than a year, 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:44.040 in retaliation for the events of that day, Hatfield was 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:47.280 assassinated by Baldwin Felts men as he entered the McDowell 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.160 County courthouse, and that turned out to be one of 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.800 the breaking points for the miners, wrote the Sheriff of 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:58.000 Mingo County in May of murder by laying in wait 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:02.440 and shooting from ambush has become common. The Blair Mountain 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:05.840 conflict was a result of decades of unrest and it 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:08.080 was part of what are called the Coal Wars, or 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.240 sometimes the Mind Wars. Which was a series of armed 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:14.880 labor disputes in the United States, mainly in Appalachia and 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:19.360 roughly between the years eighteen ninety and nineteen thirty. It 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.400 was the bloody, violent climax of these coal miner versus 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:26.119 coal company conflicts that took place in the early nineteen twenties. 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.720 During the Battle of Blair Mountain, ten thousand West Virginia 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:36.240 coal miners marched in protest of perilous working conditions, squalid housing, 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:41.000 and low wages, among other grievances. Their march began in 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.840 the small town of Marmot with the intention of reaching 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.880 Mingo County a few days away to meet with the 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:51.920 coal companies and make their demands known. Ultimately, they planned 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.840 to free miners in Mingo County who had been arrested 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:58.280 and held in jail on charges for violating the martial 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.040 law that the governor had in posed on that county 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:05.439 because of similar unrest. To get to Mingo, though they 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:09.920 first had to cross through Logan County, the miners never 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.320 made it past the mountain. They did not reach their goal. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:18.640 They found themselves battling Logan County Sheriff Don Chaffin's deputized 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:24.160 citizen Army of coal company supporters, commonly referred to by 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.840 the nickname the Czar of Logan. Chaffin was in the 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.400 pocket of the coal companies and received large amounts of 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:37.000 cash from coal mine operators to suppress unionization. He commanded 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:39.840 a citizen army in the Battle of Blair Mountain in 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:45.680 an effort to squash union efforts. Chafen, let's say he's 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:50.600 an interesting man. Most coal operators hired private security, such 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:54.280 as guards from the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency. Basically, they 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:58.199 hired thugs to do their negotiating for them. In Logan County, 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:01.679 though it was a little different, coal mine operators relied 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:06.320 on Sheriff Don Chafin and his deputies. Volunteers in Chaffin's 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:12.080 army included middle class teachers, shopkeepers, and generally other white 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:16.560 collar workers who feared the union and the miners. Chafan 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:20.760 earned a lot of money working for coal companies. For instance, 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.120 during the Pink Creek Cabin Creek uprising of nineteen twelve, 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:28.920 he took in nearly three thousand dollars a month. Operators 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.000 paid him almost thirty eight thousand dollars for his and 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.679 I'm going to air quote this work as a county 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.800 clerk during the year nineteen nineteen. They had just spent 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:44.880 that money on helping their actual employees. It seems so easy, 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:50.079 No way. In August of one, union and union sympathizing 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:55.199 miners began to gather. They're planned first stop in Logan County, 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.040 it said, was at the very least to unseat Sheriff Chaffin, 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.920 So accounts suggests that they had more murderous plans. Chafan 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.200 just could not be avoided. The miners were going to 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:09.760 have to move through Logan County en route to their 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:15.080 destination and pass an anti union sheriff known for declaring quote, 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:20.599 no armed mob will cross the Logan County line. Chaffin's 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:24.560 makeshift army constructed a network of machine gun nests and 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:28.280 trenches around Blair Mountain, a two thousand foot peak that 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:33.600 stood directly in the miner's path. Led by union organizers 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.080 Frank Keeney and Fred Mooney, the miners made plans to 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:41.480 confront the coal companies. To quote minor and Baptist Reverend 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:45.319 John Wilburn, it is time to lay down the Bible 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:50.439 and take up the rifle. By August, the miners were 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:54.280 heading south towards Mingo County. During a meeting with the 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:58.400 War Departments General Harry Bandholtz, though Keeney and Mooney were 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.720 advised that any of my lance would prove disastrous for 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:05.199 both the Union and the miners, and the two men 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:09.000 tried to call off the march, but after two miners 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:13.200 died fighting with Chaffin's deputized forces, any idea of ceasefire 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:19.200 talks ended. Four days later, on August, those ten thousand 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.480 miners had reached the border of Logan County and they 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:27.920 had begun exchanging gunfire with coal company supporters. Their makeshift 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.439 uniform was blue bib overalls and a red bandana tied 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:36.360 around their necks to distinguish friend from foe among themselves, that, 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:40.040 it turns out, is the origin of today's often used 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:44.000 in a derogatory manner term redneck. They wore them in 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:49.560 solidarity and they self named as the Redneck Army. There 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.280 was gunfire exchanged, but the first heavy fighting happened on 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:58.199 August thirty one, when a group of about seventy five miners, 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:01.280 led by Reverend Wilburn, happened upon a group of Chafen's 0:14:01.280 --> 0:14:04.880 forces on a wooded ridge. Each side called to the 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.720 other for the password, and neither side answered correctly. The 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:13.880 ensuing shootout killed three deputies and one miner. That same day, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.960 the miners began a two pronged assault on the area 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.240 Chafin was holding. Miners ran up the mountain side, but 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.040 were pushed back down with machine gun fire from higher ground. 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.280 So up and down, and up and down, until the 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.480 next morning, when a detachment of miners with a gatling 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:32.840 gun they had looted from a company store drove an assault. 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.440 Chaffin's forces fought back with more machine gun fire. Of course, 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.600 quote machine guns cracked up there, so you would think 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:42.880 the whole place was coming down on you, Miner Ira 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.240 Wilson later recalled. But after a few hours of heavy 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:50.320 fire the enemy machine gun jam the miners surged in, 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.280 but they were met with heavy machine gun fire from 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:59.160 another gunner positioned farther up the ridge. Chaffin's forces were 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.360 just ridiculou a less lee well armed. Not only were 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.960 they equipped with machine guns, he had also chartered three 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:09.480 private biplanes and equipped them with tear gas and pipe 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:13.760 bombs loaded with nuts and bolts as shrapnel. None of 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.800 this was financed by Chaffin. It was all supplied by 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:22.000 the Coal Operators Association. Chafin did order the planes to 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:26.080 drop those home made explosives over two of the miners strongholds, 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:28.920 but as far as we know, there were no casualties 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:33.840 from that particular assault. The Battle of Blair Mountain ended 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:38.240 with the arrival of the United States Army on September one. 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.280 President warrengey Harding ordered federal troops from Fort Thomas, Kentucky, 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:46.640 to the scene. This really changed the outcome of this engagement. 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:50.680 The conflict ended when the military, represented by the West 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:54.440 Virginia Army National Guard and led by McDowell County native 0:15:54.480 --> 0:16:00.880 William Eubank's intervened by presidential order. Fourteen planes fully armed 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.240 for combat were dispatched to the state, but were used 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:09.680 for surveillance only. The infantry units began arriving the next day. 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:12.720 When faithd with fighting the United States Army that was 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:17.320 upwards of twenty seven thousand soldiers, many of the miners surrendered. 0:16:17.920 --> 0:16:21.760 A small contingency continued fighting against Chaffin until September four, 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:26.520 but soon after all battle weary miners ended up surrendering 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:31.400 to US forces or just returned to their homes. There 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:36.160 were casualties. In total, between fifty and one hundred striking 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:40.240 miners were killed, plus many more were displaced by evictions 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:44.880 and violence. There's no full count here. Another nine hundred 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:48.600 and eighty five were arrested. Between ten and thirty of 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:52.600 Sheriff Chaffin's local deputies were killed, Three soldiers in the 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:56.120 National Guard were killed, and it's estimated that nearly one 0:16:56.280 --> 0:17:00.680 million rounds of ammunition had been fired. The Battle of 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:06.920 Blair Mountain was considered a tactical law enforcement slash military victory, 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:09.720 and in the eyes of the coal mining companies, Chaffin 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.720 emerged as a hero. Yeah a hero because in their eyes, 0:17:14.760 --> 0:17:18.800 he stopped the union from entering and that then allowed 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:23.240 him to charge even higher fees for his services. Chaffin 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.879 remained sheriff until nineteen twenty four, so not a whole 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.280 lot longer, but his duties ended when he was charged 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:34.560 and convicted of illegally operating an establishment that sold liquor. 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:40.040 West Virginia Governor Eli Morgan sought federal charges against all 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.880 miners who had surrendered to federal troops, but the federal 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:48.040 government declined to bring charges against them, and instead continued 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:52.560 its ongoing Senate investigation into the conditions of American coal mines. 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.879 Without those federal charges, the state of West Virginia decided 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.720 to prosecute the miners itself, and, beginning in ninety two, 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.239 state indicted more than five hundred miners on charges that 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:08.840 included murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to murder, and treason. 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.600 While there were multiple indictments, the charge that caught the 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:17.800 attention of pretty much everyone was that of treason. And 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.480 we're going to focus on the treason trial of a 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:27.119 man we haven't actually mentioned yet, union organizer, William H. Blizzard. 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:30.639 We are going to take a break here for a 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.040 word from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll get 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:36.840 to know who Bill Blizzard was and why he became 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:52.919 the face of these treason trials. Welcome back to Criminalia. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.280 Let's talk about the time West Virginia put an American 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:02.600 union organizer on trial for treason. Bill Blizzard was born 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.960 in Cabin Creek, West Virginia, on September nineteenth two, to 0:19:07.080 --> 0:19:10.520 a family of immigrants from Ireland. He was a coal 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.199 miner by age ten and grew up to be an 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:17.879 American union organizer. Union work seemed to have been in 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.960 his blood. His mother, Mary Harris, was the legendary labor 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:25.679 organizer known as Mother Jones, who was once labeled quote 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.800 the most dangerous woman in America. The label was given 0:19:29.800 --> 0:19:33.160 to her by a U. S District attorney. Her rise 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:35.960 to fame came from her prominence as a passionate and 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.720 lively orator, and she became a fearless organizer for the 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:43.360 mine workers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.040 Her son, Bill is important to the Blair Mountain events 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.520 because he was considered the leader or also sometimes considered 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.959 the general, of the marching miners. The state of West 0:19:56.040 --> 0:20:01.240 Virginia charged twenty people with treason, including miners and including 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:05.439 union activist Bill Blizzard. Blizzards trial took place during the 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.240 spring and summer of two and it happened in the 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:12.280 second floor courtroom of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Charlestown, 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:17.359 West Virginia. Jefferson County is about two d and fifty 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:19.879 miles away from the scene of the conflict. At the 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:24.040 courthouse was chosen in an attempt to ensure an impartial jury. 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:26.879 There were no coal mines in that part of the state. 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.479 At this time in America's history, a treason trial like 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:33.960 this one wasn't high stakes just for the men on trial. 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.480 It was also high stakes for the bigger and struggling 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:41.480 labor movement in the country. If the prosecution one, the 0:20:41.560 --> 0:20:45.399 punitive anti union tactics used by the coal companies could 0:20:45.440 --> 0:20:49.679 become legitimized. So this was big, like big big. It 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:55.200 was about the largest labor uprising in American history. One 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.040 thing about this trial, no matter what county it was 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:02.880 held in, those treason charges were considered really shaky at best, 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.560 but it was thought that the strongest case was against 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:10.439 Bill Blizzard. In fact, believing that the trees and charges 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:14.480 were quote improper, the prosecutor for Jefferson County, a person 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:18.840 named John T. Porterfield, recused himself and declared the trials 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.679 as a whole to be quote a waste of scarce 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:28.440 resources and mean spirited vendettas Attorney C. W. Assington and A. M. Belcher, 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.840 referred to together as the Coal Dust Twins by the 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:36.040 miners because of their close working relationship the coal mine operators, 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.800 took his place as the prosecution team. The defense was 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:44.720 led by Thomas Townsend, a lawyer for the United Mine Workers, 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:48.560 along with Harold Houston, who had previously and often worked 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.919 closely with the union. The case was overseen by Judge J. M. 0:21:53.000 --> 0:21:58.400 Woods because the prosecuting attorney for Jefferson County, John T. Porterfield, 0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:01.480 as well as the state Attorney General, did not participate 0:22:01.560 --> 0:22:05.400 in the trials. Many following the case were left assuming 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:09.600 the state had abdicated its legal responsibility to the private 0:22:09.640 --> 0:22:14.359 coal companies. True or not. After hearing this story, that 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.880 sounds sort of plausible, doesn't it. I could see where 0:22:16.880 --> 0:22:19.440 people landed there. I can see where people got down 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:24.160 that path. While the accused were in jail, Houston got 0:22:24.160 --> 0:22:27.760 to work before indictments were even issued. He was raising 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.919 funds for the legal defense during the march. Fred Mooney, 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:34.520 who was the secretary treasurer of the local United Mine 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:39.080 Workers District, helped to establish the Mingo County Defense League. 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.479 Many who supported the miners responded to the national and 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:46.560 global call for donations to the Miners Defense Fund. Quickly, 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:50.880 the fund amass more than fifty dollars, originating from support 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:55.640 within the labor movement, but also among industries totally unconnected 0:22:55.680 --> 0:23:00.359 to coal mining. The coal mine operators funded the prosecution, Well, 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:04.000 they kind of funded the prosecution. They later build the 0:23:04.040 --> 0:23:06.640 state of West Virginia for a hundred and twenty five 0:23:06.720 --> 0:23:10.800 thousand dollars in legal fees, where they reimbursed that, we 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.640 don't know. The first person to be tried was Bill Blizzard, who, 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:17.200 as we've said, was believed to have been the leader 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:19.600 of the march, and he was charged with treason for 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:24.480 that act. So treason here we are. The United States 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:29.840 Constitution specifically defines this crime and says this treason against 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:34.280 the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:37.840 or in adhering to their enemies giving them aid and comfort. 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:41.800 No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the 0:23:41.840 --> 0:23:46.680 testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or 0:23:46.720 --> 0:23:51.919 on confession in open court. The media attention was intense 0:23:52.160 --> 0:23:56.399 during Blizzard's trial, but that allowed the regional conversation of 0:23:57.000 --> 0:24:00.480 labor issues to move into a more nationwide were station. 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:04.880 Media coverage was extensive in coal rich regions of the country, 0:24:04.920 --> 0:24:10.040 in particular Pennsylvania newspapers in places like Altoona, Allentown, Scranton, 0:24:10.119 --> 0:24:13.919 Wilkes Barre. They all reported daily on the trial. Several 0:24:13.960 --> 0:24:16.679 papers in New York City also covered the trial, with 0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:20.640 the Brooklyn Citizen and the New York Times covering daily events, 0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:25.520 so people outside southern West Virginia were reading about the conflict, 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:30.880 the charges, who testify, and the key details of each testimony. 0:24:31.720 --> 0:24:35.560 Lizards treason trial really broke down to just this one thing. 0:24:36.640 --> 0:24:38.919 If he was the leader of the march, was he 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:43.000 actually leading when the miners reached Blair Mountain, and was 0:24:43.080 --> 0:24:46.359 it for the purpose of levying war? And there was 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:51.440 conflicting testimony about that. The prosecution claimed Blizzard had shadowed 0:24:51.440 --> 0:24:53.880 the miners as they marched and that he had closely 0:24:53.960 --> 0:24:58.760 followed their progress. Some miners had turned state's witnesses and 0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:02.800 testified the Blizzard was commanding the miners during the entire 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:06.560 march to Logan County and through the Battle of Blair Mountain. 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:09.960 Turning state's witness just to get everyone on the same 0:25:09.960 --> 0:25:13.080 page means that they admitted their guilt in agreement to 0:25:13.160 --> 0:25:16.640 testify as a witness for the state against their associate, 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:21.480 usually in exchange for leniency in sentencing. One of those 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:25.159 men claimed that he saw Blizzard delivering ammunition to the 0:25:25.200 --> 0:25:31.520 miners witnesses for the defense on the other hand, testified 0:25:31.560 --> 0:25:35.639 to having seen Blizzard in Charleston during the march. Charleston, 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:38.280 so you can picture. It is the state capital, and 0:25:38.440 --> 0:25:44.320 it's about sixty miles from Logan. The defense's star witness, though, 0:25:44.760 --> 0:25:48.879 was a United States Army infantry captain, who stated that 0:25:48.920 --> 0:25:52.080 he had never heard any miners talk of going to 0:25:52.119 --> 0:25:56.680 war against the government. Rather, they sought to quote protect 0:25:56.840 --> 0:26:00.200 the women and children from Sheriff Chaffin's death e d 0:26:00.359 --> 0:26:06.840 s in Logan County. Yeah, that guy. Blizzard himself testified 0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:09.520 he had been there, but that he had only been 0:26:09.600 --> 0:26:13.160 there on September two and September three, when he went 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:16.240 to persuade the miners to surrender to the United States 0:26:16.320 --> 0:26:22.080 Army and to return home. Blizzard's trial was standing room only. 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:25.320 The courtroom could see about three hundred people, but the 0:26:25.359 --> 0:26:29.119 crowd that had showed up was closer to five. It 0:26:29.240 --> 0:26:32.760 lasted more than four weeks, and it was Prosecutor C. W. 0:26:33.000 --> 0:26:36.399 Ostenton who closed the case for the States, saying, quote, 0:26:36.640 --> 0:26:40.240 I have nothing against Bill Blizzard. I'm not asking for 0:26:40.359 --> 0:26:44.040 Bill's blood. I'd like to say, young man, take your 0:26:44.080 --> 0:26:50.960 wife and babies and go home. On after six hours 0:26:51.280 --> 0:26:54.679 and ten minutes of deliberation by the jury, Lizard was 0:26:54.720 --> 0:26:58.480 acquitted of the charge of treason. We quote we the 0:26:58.560 --> 0:27:02.359 jury find for the defense dims court clerk see A. 0:27:02.520 --> 0:27:04.879 Conrad wrote on the back of the indictment, quote we 0:27:05.040 --> 0:27:08.000 the jury find the defendant not guilty of the charge. 0:27:08.080 --> 0:27:12.240 In the indictment that was signed by dB. Shoemaker, the foreman, 0:27:12.960 --> 0:27:16.000 there was no evidence to back up the claim of treason. 0:27:17.240 --> 0:27:21.000 Down with the coal baron's yelled one defendant, A union official, 0:27:21.119 --> 0:27:27.480 and others echoed similar sentiments. Blizzard's acquittal came after questions 0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:30.679 arose regarding the reliability of some of the witnesses for 0:27:30.720 --> 0:27:34.320 the prosecution, as well as in Blizzard's role in convincing 0:27:34.320 --> 0:27:37.240