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Brandon Ray Kirk

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Brandon Ray Kirk

Category Archives: Coal

Strange Miners in Logan (1913)

13 Saturday Mar 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal

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Appalachia, coal, history, Island Creek, Logan, Logan Banner, Ramage, Spruce River Coal Company, U.S. Coal and Oil Company, United Mine Workers of America, West Virginia

From the Logan Banner, of Logan, WV, comes this editorial about unionization, dated March 21, 1913:

STRANGE MINERS cannot get work at all in the principal Logan County mines, it is said, and even in the smaller mines an applicant has to run the gauntlet of a series of “family-history-cross-examination-questions” that would stagger a Philadelphia lawyer before one gets a job–and then like as not get turned down because he is not of Logan county. The precaution is fully warranted. The United Mine Workers hope to control the Guyan Valley field, if they ever DO–and THEY NEVER WILL–by first “organizing” the smaller, isolated mines by “smuggling in” an agitator or two now and then and finally with one “grand sweep” capture the big works. If the labor leaders actually KNEW certain conditions and “inside workings” now effective even in the small works half so well as they THINK they know them, they’d give up as a bad job their idea of “organizing” Logan county and go to honest work shoveling coal for a living themselves. During the past year, more than one “undesirable miner” has been shipped “bag and baggage” out of the valley because he let his agitation fever break out too strong, prematurely spoiling his little game. In another column will be found a news item of the shut-down of the Ramage works of the Spruce River Coal Co. We predict that some of Logan’s mines will turn off their power and “lock out” their employees before they will let the United Mine Workers conduct their business for them. So far as the corporation’s finances are concerned, the U.S. Coal & Oil Co. can shut down all of its Island Creek mines, burn its tipples, and dump its cash into Guyan river. And that’s what would best suit the competitive coal operators of other States! Likewise the miners’ union agitators and leaders! But there’s another side of the story–the miner and his family need the work in the coal-bank, the merchant needs some of the money he earns, Logan county needs its merchants and the outside world needs West Virginia coal–the BEST that “old mother earth” ever produced!

E.C. Boal Coal (1913)

13 Saturday Mar 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Logan

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Appalachia, E.C. Boal, history, Logan, West Virginia, Wilson-Draper Seam

Logan (WV) Banner, 24 January 1913.

Mine Guards of Logan (1922)

16 Tuesday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Battle of Blair Mountain, Coal, Huntington, Logan

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Appalachia, Battle of Blair Mountain, Charles Town, Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, coal, Democratic Party, deputy sheriff, Don Chafin, geography, history, Huntington, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, mine guards, politics, Republican Party, West Virignia

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this editorial about mine guards, dated June 30, 1922:

MINE GUARDS OF LOGAN

The attorneys for the defense in the miners’ trials at Charles Town, which have been in progress for the past several weeks, have taken every opportunity of referring to the deputy sheriffs of Logan county mine guards as “thugs” and “two-gun men.”

Logan county is, and has been for several years, ruled by officers elected on the Democratic ticket. The Logan Banner adheres to the party of Lincoln, Grant, Roosevelt and Harding. It believes in the policy of the Grand Old Party and so long as that belief endures we will be found advocating the doctrines as preached by the leaders of this political organization.

Politics has no place in the discussion of the so called mine guard system in Logan county. We hold the love and respect of our homes far above any reverence to political parties and when the good name of Logan is attacked we forget political lines and join with the good people of this vast community in resenting any reflection on the fair name of Logan.

It has always been a mystery to us why the demand for the abolishment of the extra number of deputy sheriffs in this county should come from parties who are non-residents of the county? Who has demanded their abolishment? What cry has been heard from Logan county for aid? What facts have been presented of any unlawful acts committed at the hands of officers in this county?

Logan is filled with men of the highest type of intelligence. Likewise, they have many, many men here who are as brave as any men to be found in the nation. These men would not, for an instant, be a party to crimes in the county without raising their voices in protest. When it is all sifted down, it is found the hue and cry for a change of conditions is raised by those other than citizens of Logan county. Here are four points that must be borne in mind when considering Logan county:

  1. Due to the natural geographical conditions, Logan is rather isolated from other sections of the state.
  2. Due to this isolation and the fact that it is far removed from through transportation facilities, it is hard to attract labor here.
  3. In order to secure labor it becomes necessary to employ many who have had previous criminal careers.
  4. The county is mountainous, the operations are many and widely scattered, and the forces of deputies are not too many but otherwise too small to maintain order and uphold the law in an area of 400 square miles

Logan is situated among the mountains with but one natural outlet. This is by way of the C. & O. branch line to Huntington. The county is naturally divided by creeks, valleys, and branch railway lines. On these can be found many operations, employing hundreds of laborers, and to successfully cope with the lawless the sheriff is naturally required to employ more than the usual amount of deputies.

If Logan county was situated on the trunk line of any railway system, it would be a much easier task to supply the mines with labor, but due to the fact that it is far removed from any other section of the state and that in order to reach any other point, east, west, north or south it becomes necessary to travel over a distance of 75 miles to Huntington, labor is hard to obtain.

In securing this labor to fill the requirements of the large corporations operating here, it is necessary to visit the employment agencies located in the larger cities. Anyone acquainted with these agencies recognize the fact they are not scrupulous about whom they list, and the natural consequence is that many brought here on transportation are recognized criminals and members of all nationalities. Not all of them, thank goodness, are of the lawless class, but many are. They require constant watching and close scrutiny to see that their criminal tendencies do not become too pronounced. In order to do this it becomes imperative to have a large force of officers.

In view of the fact that there are 142 operations in this county and that approximately 50,000 people are laboring within our borders it can be readily seen that 35 deputies are a comparative small force to exercise supervision over such a huge population. Should a riot break out within our county it would require at least eight hours to obtain help from any section of the state. The fact that Logan needs as large a force of officers was amply attested when the armed march was made on Logan last August.

This article is not written in the defense of Don Chafin or his deputies. They need no defense at our hands. It is not written in defense of a policy adopted by any political party in the county. Regardless of the political affiliations of the sheriff, the Banner would earnestly recommend to anyone, be he the most rabid Republican in the county, if they should be sheriff, the retention of an official force as large as is now employed.

A great hue and cry has been raised because the salaries of these officers have been paid by the coal operators. Let us for a moment realize that the coal industry in the county is the sole industry in our midst. Upon the shoulders of these operators fall the burden of the peace and happiness of their employees. It is in order to furnish these employees protection and security that they have gone into their pocket books and paid for this protection. Who objects? Have you heard a taxpayer in Logan county object? Not one. They are perfectly willing that this cost shall be borne by the operators. They might as well object to the operators subscribing to better schools in Logan. Also voice opposition to better roads, the burden of which falls on the shoulders of the operators.

No one has heard a Macedonian cry from Logan for aid? Not even when union fields of the state were appealing for bread. If there was ever an example of the benefits of the non-union shop plan it was simply exemplified during the recent dull period. Logan worked and fared well. We have no ills to cure nor any abuses that need redress. The propaganda put forth pour from the foul mouths of others than citizens of Logan county and we beseech them to busy themselves with affairs other than ours, for we are perfectly able to take care of ourselves, and when we need their assistance, or advice, we will call for them loud and long.

New Coal Company in Chapmanville (1923)

12 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Chapmanville, Coal

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Appalachia, Chapmanville, coal, Dwyer Creek Coal Company, history, I.D. Dwyer, J.W. Dwyer, John J. Dwyer, Lewisburg, Logan County, M.L. Ford, R.A. Dwyer, West Virginia

Logan (WV) Banner, 15 June 1923

Huntington Editorial about the UMWA (1925)

05 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Huntington, Logan, Williamson

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Appalachia, Charleston, coal, Herald-Dispatch, history, Huntington, John L. Lewis, John Mitchell, Kanawha Field, labor, Logan, Logan County, Mingo County, New River Field, Ohio, Portsmouth, Samuel Gompers, United Mine Workers of America, West Virginia, Williamson

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this editorial regarding a visit to the region by UMWA officials in 1925. The story is dated September 4, 1925.

A STATEMENT OF INDISPUTABLE FACTS

The Sunday issue of the Huntington Herald-Dispatch contained a most interesting editorial which told the unvarnished truth about the recent visit the officials of the United Mine Workers to the Logan and Williamson coal fields. The editorial follows.

Disappointed Visitors

Within the past three days officials of the United Mine Workers of America have visited Logan and Williamson and some of the mining operations near these prosperous West Virginia cities. Up to the hour of this writing the visitors have made no statement either as to the purpose of their visit or the impressions they have gained from the conditions encountered.

It may be taken for granted, however, that the gentlemen representing the United Mine Workers are not highly pleased. They did not find in the miners of the Logan and Williamson fields the “serfs” and downtrodden creatures professional agitators have described. They did not find beleaguered camps of concentrados crying out for release through the medium of membership in the U.M.W. They did not find gunmen and desperadoes awaiting them at the train to turn them back with broken heads and verbal abuses. The absence of these things were disappointing.

But for the purpose of the U.M.W. the things these visitors did find were even more disappointing. They found for example miners who earn more dollars per year than any others in the bituminous fields in the world. They found more miners living in better houses than are to be found in any of the mining camps of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana or Illinois. They found miners and their wives and children better fed, better clothed and with better living conditions surrounding them than any others in the United States.

They found in Logan and Williamson fields men who are content and who are unwilling to leave steady employment, good wages, and good homes with all the comforts of life, to take up a miserable existence in the tents of professional strikers there to subject their wives and children to unwanted hardships and deprivations.

In short, they were not welcomed as needed deliverers. The miners in these fields know that it is not the purpose of these gentlemen to bring about a betterment of the conditions under which they live, but to create a condition which will cause coal production to cease. Organization is a fine thing and should be encouraged when it is for the good of the organized. But the proposal of the United Mine Workers, as it affects these miners and the business and labor interests of this section in general, is sinister and destructive. The unionization at this time of any considerable part of the Williamson and Logan fields would mean a strike. A strike, if effective, would paralyze business in all of Logan county, and in Huntington the result would be almost disastrous. An effective strike in these fields would paralyze Huntington’s wholesale and jobbing business. It would close many of the factories and worst of all would almost immediately result in unemployment for hundreds of railway shop workers and scores of train crews all the way from Charleston to Portsmouth with the brunt of the blow falling upon Huntington.

The United Mine Workers is no longer the helpful, constructive organization it was twenty years ago. Its ranks have been decimated and its policies have been so radical and unreasonable in many cases as to bring it into disrepute with the public, including the legitimate labor organizations whose members are ruled by reason. In West Virginia dues paying members have dwindled to almost the vanishing point. In strikes, fomented in an effort to destroy West Virginia coal in the interest of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois mines and the mine workers in those states, West Virginia has cost the U.M.W. millions and the officials now face the impending anthracite strike with a sadly depleted treasury.

The desperate plight of Mr. Lewis, his organizers, and well paid cabinet naturally produces its own results. The strike in northern West Virginia has had no effect other than to keep some thousands of men out of employment and deprive thousands of women and children of the comforts the pay envelope would provide. The mining of coal in the Kanawha and New River fields the Miners Union has, to use a baseball term, “struck out.” Attempts to force upon the operators a wage scale which prohibited the mining and marketing of coal at a price less than a ruinous loss have resulted in strike after strike in those fields until the union is but a band of disorganized stragglers whose representatives, when they bolted the State Federation of Labor convention in this city two weeks ago, went away unwept and were not urged to return.

If the miners of this district had any prospect, even remote, of gaining anything by organization, no self-respecting man could afford to oppose or discourage the movement. But the weight is all on the other side. If they needed the union, public sentiment would see that they got it. We are living like that today. But since they do not need it, since the movement is directed against their welfare and against the thousands of legitimate unionists and all business and all industry in this great tri-state area, the organization effort, if it is being seriously contemplated–which we very greatly doubt–has no appeal either to the miners or to public sentiment.

The Logan and Williamson miners do not want to exchange the well filled pay envelope for the miserable weekly doe from the U.M.W. treasury. They do not want to trade their comfortable, well furnished and well lighted homes for leaky tents with tallow candles. They do not want to take their families from places and stations of comfort and respectability to sloth and degradation.

Organization means strike. Strike means starvation and, if the bloody history of Mingo’s experience with the United Mine Workers is to be repeated, bloodshed, terror, and bold assassination. Mr. Lewis, by a blind and unreasoning insistence upon the impossible Jacksonville agreement, has gotten himself into a dilemma of the most embarrassing kind. He is at end of his tether. The treasury is low. The organization is in a state of decay, with miners every day discovering they are better off without it than with it.

If, instead of uttering strike threats; if, instead of trying to enforce a wage scale which is a grotesque economic absurdity and rank impossibility; if, instead of leading the miners into hardship and strike, he would lead them in the ways of peace by consenting to wage adjustments in keeping with the state of the coal market, the organization might regain public confidence, recover its vitality, and reclaim its usefulness. And Mr. Lewis himself, instead of facing the imminent danger of becoming a discredited industrial adventurer, would be acclaimed a leader, as was John Mitchell, and as was Samuel Gompers.

United Mine Workers of America (1925)

02 Saturday Jan 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal

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Barrackville, Charleston, District 17, Harold Houston, Henry Warrum, history, Indiana, Indianapolis, labor, Logan, Logan Banner, Philadelphia, secretary, Sullivan, United Mine Workers of America, West Virginia, William C. Thompson, William Petry

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this story dated August 28, 1925 regarding the United Mine Workers of America:

OFFICERS RECEIVE LION’S SHARE OF UNION CHECK OFF

Report Shows 35 Cents of Every Union Miner’s Dollar Goes to Pay Overhead Costs

Virtually 35 cents of every dollar paid into the United Mine Workers of America treasury at Indianapolis goes for overhead expenses, chief of which is salaries, according to the report of the auditors who went over the books of the international’s accounts from January 10 to June 1 of this year. They report that the union had $1,191.991.64 on deposit on various banks on the latter date, despite the payment of some very large sums of money about which little is said.

West Virginia ranks high in the list of expenditures with the statement made that $411,475 was given somebody in connection with the Charleston headquarters of district 17, for the relief of Kanawha miners, for the relief of men who declined to work under the American plan of mining. As this was for 110 days, according to the report, it amounts to virtually $3,750 a day for every day reported. This sum was in addition to the $124,000 given somebody in the Fairmont field, for the aid of strikers there.

Administration Costs High

The “aid” money was also aside and apart from administration expenses in Charleston, because the audit shows the payment of $22,849.05 to William C. Thompson, secretary of District 17, for administrative expenses. Legal salaries were also apart from both of these figures, as the payment of $8.606.57 to Thomas Townsend for work during that period, and $602.11 to Harold Houston, another Charleston attorney, were listed separately. The settlement of claims for back salary, made by William Petry, former vice president of the district is also listed separately, the settlement being made for $500 cash.

The salaries and expenses of officers are lumped in one sum as $254,808.94, or 20.9 per cent of the disbursements for the 110 day period. These salaries and expenses are clear entirely of any incidental office expenses, supplies, etc. Mr. Townsend, the Charleston attorney, received the largest salary of the few listed separately, as Henry Warrum, the Philadelphia attorney received $4.672.73 during the 110 days and John Campbell but $4,250. Several other lawyers received from $2,000 to 3,000 fees.

Gift to Sufferers

Gifts of $250 to the tornado sufferers in Indiana; $500 to the victims of the Barrackville mine disaster; $500 to Illinois tornado sufferers and $1000 to sufferers in the Indiana explosion at Sullivan are also reported, being a very small portion of the disbursements listed.

Recapitulation of the figures show that the balance on hand January 16, 1924 was $1,048,044.40. The incoming from members of the union for the 110 days was $1,362,201.28. This made a total of $2,410,245.78. From this is deducted expenditures of $1,216,254.14 for the 110 days, leaving a balance June 1, of $1,191,991.64.

Whirlwind News 07.24.1925

28 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Coal, Logan, Spottswood, Warren, Whirlwind

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Appalachia, coal, Fourth of July, Francis Collins, genealogy, Harts Creek, Harvey Smith, history, hunting, Lindsey Blair, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Squire Sol Adams, Taylor Blair, Thomas Tomblin, West Virginia, Whirlwind, White Oak Fork

An unnamed correspondent from Harts in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on July 24, 1925:

We are sad at this writing, since our friends are passing away so fast. Uncle Thomas Tomblin, who has been ill so long, died at his home. Uncle Frances Collins died at the home of Sol Adams, Jr.

Sol Adams was seen returning from Logan yesterday.

Harve Smith and Tabor Blair were enjoying the Fourth of July while hunting.

The county road is progressing nicely on the head of Hart.

Squire Adams was seen going toward White Oak with a bundle of papers. Wonder where he was going?

Lindsay Blair has quit the county road and gone to 18 mine to repair cars.

Favorable Review of Logan, WV (1925)

23 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Logan

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Appalachia, Bowlin, C.C. Chambers, Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, coal, coal camps, Fayette County, fiddler, Frank Adkins, Gassaway, Jewell Encampment, John C. Hicks, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, music, Nick Roomy, Odd Fellows, W.M. Hornsby, West Virginia

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this favorable review by one prominent visitor in 1925. The story is dated Friday, June 5, 1925.

“Truth About Logan”

By W.M. Hornsby

Fayette County Man Who Attended Grand Encampment of Odd Fellows Here Makes Interesting Report.

The yellow journalists and just plain liars who have been telling everything about Logan county but the truth for many years may now prepare to receive a real kick in the slats. Their crazy illusions are due to get shattered.

No man ever came to Logan on a peaceful mission and went away to relate any stories of wrong treatment.

The finest group of men that have visited our city for many moons was here when the Grand Encampment of the Odd Fellows of the state was held in Logan recently. In their meetings at the Christian church many of the delegates confessed that they came to Logan fearful and trembling, all on account of the millions of lurid lies which they had read in various papers before coming here. It may sound like old stuff to say that “truth crushed to earth will rise again” but that is exactly what happened in this case. The delegates were recipients of the famous Logan hospitality. The keys to the city were theirs and they were accorded the kind of a reception which Logan has always given to anything good. After a pleasant visit the delegates departed for their homes with a true knowledge of the conditions which exist here, a knowledge of the fact that Logan is not different from any other prosperous mining section of the country.

One of the gentlemen who attended the Grand Encampment was Mr. W.M. Hornsby, of Bowlin, Fayette county. He too had been filled with the common ideas which prevail about Logan county, but during his visit here he discovered the real Logan, not the kind that exists in the putrid minds of the editors of the sensational yellow journals which have done a grievous wrong to Logan county. He discovered real friends with a handshake just as firm and a smile just as sincere as he had ever known. When Mr. Hornsby returned to his home he wrote a report to this lodge. That report is of vital interest to every Loganite and we are glad to reproduce it in the columns of this paper. The entire report is as follows:

“To whom it may concern…and I think it will concern all true hearted Americans:

“This is a true story of what took place during my stay in Logan county. To get a proper start, I must go back one year. On May 14, 1924, the Grand Encampment met in its annual session in Gassaway, W.Va. When the time arrived to choose a place for our next annual meeting, a good many towns offered invitations to the body. Among them was the town of Logan, and when Logan was mentioned there was silence in the hall, until finally some brother said: ‘Can we meet in Logan?’ For we thought by some of the newspaper reports that Logan county was the hell on earth and the town of Logan was the gateway to the bottomless pit. Then somebody got up in the midst of us and said: ‘Yes, you can meet in Logan, for I’m from the town of Logan.’ We looked over this monster from head to foot but could not see any horns and then our Grand Scribe stood up and declared: ‘Our own dear John wants us to come,’ and we answered, ‘If our own dear John wants us to come, we will go.’

“I started to Logan town on May 12, 1925, from Bowlin, Fayette county, wondering what was going to happen to me. We arrived at Logan the following day in a fine coach donated by the C. & O. for our convenience on the trip to Logan and return.

“When we got off the train at the Logan depot, some brother whispered, ‘Now where–and what?’ Just at that moment we found our way blocked–not by the sheriff and his so-called outlaw deputies as you might think–but by John Hicks with a three hundred pound smile for he is __ and by his side stood our own dear Captain of the Uniform Bank with his fine boys.

“The command was given about face, forward march, and we went up a finely paved street by skyscraper hotels and big mercantile houses to the court house. Instead of finding the so-called persecutors of the law awaiting, we ran into a committee of Jewell Encampment, No. 124, with some of the fairest of the fair sex assisting them and all wearing broad and welcoming smiles. We registered as customary and were assigned to our various hotels.

“After the grand body had been called to order in the Christian church by John C. Hicks, past grand patriarch, C.C. Chambers, mayor of Logan, gave us a fine talk and turned the town over to us, saying ‘the town is yours, do what you want with it,’ and common sense would teach that we were not going to destroy our own property. Next were a group of songs by Mrs. Frank Adkins and Mrs. Nick Roomy, accompanied by fine music, and followed in rotation by several fine speakers, and every one of them said ‘we welcome you,’ and by the smiles on their faces you could tell that they meant it.

“At the close of the morning session we had dinner in the basement of the church, where we saw some of our earthly angels sweating over a hot stove to prepare a feast good enough for a king, while two others rendered fine music and songs, accompanied by one of Logan’s imps–but he had a fiddle, not horns as you might think.

“During the afternoon session in stepped Little John, with the statement, ‘Grand Patriarch, the citizens of this town beg this grand body to let them take you out for an auto ride at your pleasure and show you some of Logan county.’

“___ for the ride, and promptly at that hour it was announced: ‘The cars are waiting.’ And we went out and loaded up according to the capacity of each car. It was found that there were not quite enough cars for all, so an appeal was made to the garage men of the town, and the latter stepped on the starters of some brand new machines and fell in line for our pleasure. Now, Fayette county garage men, would you have done that?

“The trip lasted two and a half hours over paved roads to the coal camps. I was told that part of the roads we traveled over were built by the so-called outlaw operators at a cost of $650,000 and when it was finished they walked into the court house and said to the county court, ‘your honors, we will give you this road if you will keep it up.’ Now, if this is so, I would not mind to have them for neighbors, would you?’ In going from one coal camp to another we met the miners coming from work. Walking? No! Sitting reared back in real cars–no Henry’s–and driving over hard roads built by the so-called outlaw operators for their use. I wish we had some outlaws like that in our town, don’t you?

I will say now, Mr. Newspaperman, wherever you may be over this great nation, listen to plain, honest-to-goodness, one-hundred percent American language. If you have been guilty of this dirty low-down, yellow dog propaganda about Logan county and its fine people. In the name of God and the love of humanity, I say stop right now. It’s a shame if you haven’t any respect for yourselves, for God’s sake have mercy on the people of the best county on earth and the country that gives you shelter for you may just as well stop right now for we have been there from every nook and corner in the United States, and we will not believe you anymore anyway. Cut it out or the devil will get you, for no one could write such stuff but imps. If you will just go to the town of Logan and walk around you will get ashamed of yourself and stop talking about your neighbors.”

Ranger, Lincoln County, WV (1953)

23 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal, Ranger

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Appalachia, Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, history, Lincoln County, Ranger, West Virginia

Photo credit unknown.

Don Chafin’s Deputies (1921)

21 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Battle of Blair Mountain, Coal, Logan

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A.A. Vance, Albert Butcher, Albert Gore, Allen Mounts, Allie Johnson, Anderson Dempsey, Appalachia, B.B. Young, B.F. Baker, B.M. Hager, Battle of Blair Mountain, Bilton Perry, Bruce Davidson, Buren Browning, C.H. Huffman, C.H. Perry, C.W. Bias, C.W. Hamilton, Cassa Booton, Charles Bryant, Charles Duty, Charles Stollings, deputy sheriff, Don Chafin, E.D. Gore, E.H. Scaggs, E.M. Burke, E.S. Harman, Earl Cook, Ed Cook, Ed Mullins, Elbert Dempsey, Erastus Perry, Evert Dingess, F.C. Mullins, F.H. Hall, Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, Frank Maynard, Fult Mitchell, G.F. Downey Jr., G.L. Burgess, genealogy, George C. Steele, George Chafin, George Dimitrijevich, George H. Munch, George M. Browning, Guy Fox Gore, H.H. Farley, history, J.C. Gore, J.C.L. Harris, J.E. Mullins, J.F. May, J.H. Ford, J.J. Gilmore, J.O. Hill, J.T. Ashworth, J.T. Walsh, Jess Cook, Jesse Gartin, Joe Blair, John E. Sewell, John L. Gearhart, K.F. Mounts, L.E. Steele, Lawrence Adkins, Lee Belcher, Lee Callaway, Lewis Farley, Logan, Logan County, Lucian Mitchell, Milton Stowers, N.E. Steele, N.L. Barger, P.J. Riley, Patrick L. Murphy, Peter M. Toney, R.F. Booton, R.W. Estep, Red Akers, Ren Stollings, sheriff, Sherwood Baldwin, Simpson Booton, T.C. Chafin, W.C. Holbrook, W.C. Whited, W.D. Henshaw, W.E. White, W.F. Butcher, W.F. Farley, W.M. Patrick, Wayne Chafin, West Virginia, William Gore

The following list of Don Chafin’s deputies prior to the Battle of Blair Mountain is based on Record of Bonds E in the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:

Name, Date of Appointment, Surety, Surety Amount, Page

Lawrence Adkins…25 January 1921…Albert Gore…$5000…144

Red Akers…23 August 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…279

J.T. Ashworth…1 February 1921…J.H. Ford…$5000…155

B.F. Baker…28 February 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…172

Sherwood Baldwin…2 August 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…269

N.L. Barger…1 February 1921…J.H. Ford…$5000…153

Lee Belcher…1 February 1921…Charles Stollings, Anderson Dempsey, M. Elkins…$5000…149

C.W. Bias…5 April 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…210

R.F. Booton…31 January 1921…Cassa Booton and Simpson Booton…$5000…148

George M. Browning…8 February 1921…C.E. Browning…$5000…158

Charles Bryant…18 June 1921…A.A. Vance, G.F. Gore…$5000…244

G.L. Burgess…4 April 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…207

E.M. Burke…10 June 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…240

Albert Butcher…24 January 1921…W.F. Butcher…$5000…143

Lee Callaway…13 May 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$______…226

Wayne Chafin…12 February 1921…Milton Stowers…$5000…164

Earl Cook…15 July 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…260

Jess Cook…15 July 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…259

Bruce Davidson…20 May 1921…G.F. Gore…$5000…230

Elbert Dempsey…26 February 1921…Milton Stowers…$5000…171

George Dimitrijevich…17 February 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…167

G.F. Downey, Jr….3 August 1921…J.B. Ellis, Evert Dingess…$5000…272

Charles Duty…11 April 1921…George Chafin…$5000…212

R.W. Estep…8 March 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…183

H.H. Farley…24 March 1921…L.E. Steele…$5000…198

Lewis Farley…15 July 1921…G.F. Gore…$5000…258

J.H. Ford…27 May 1921…P.J. Riley…$5000…235

Jesse Gartin…31 January 1921…J.O. Hill…$5000…147

John L. Gearhart…5 March 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…173

J.J. Gilmore…17 March 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…193

E.D. Gore…14 June 1921…William Gore, Guy F. Gore…$5000…243

B.M. Hager…5 April 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…209

F.H. Hall…1 February 1921…J.H. Ford…$5000…154

C.W. Hamilton…21 April 1921…W.E. White…$5000…218

E.S. Harmon…12 August 1921…E.S. Harman and George Chafin…$5000…277

J.C.L. Harris…23 May 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…233

W.D. Henshaw…23 March 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…197

W.C. Holbrook…23 March 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…196

C.H. Huffman…5 August 1921…C.H. Huffman and P.M. Toney…$5000…273

Allie Johnson…8 February 1921…J.C. Gore…$5000…157

J.F. May…19 July 1921…W.F. Farley…$5000…262

Frank Maynard…25 January 1921…G.F. Gore and Charles Stollings…$5000…145

Lucian Mitchell…1 July 1921…Fult Mitchell…$3500…270

Allen Mounts…1 April 1921…T.C. Chafin, K.F. Mounts…$5000…204

Ed Mullins…12 February 1921…F.C. Mullins…$5000…163

F.C. Mullins…25 January 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…146

John Mullins…28 March 1921…J.E. Mullins…$5000…211

George H. Munch…23 August 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…278

Patrick L. Murphy…22 February 1921…W.E. White and Allen Mounts…$5000…169

W.M. Patrick…13 July 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…256

Bilton Perry…27 April 1921…Buren Browning…$5000…219

C.H. Perry…5 February 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…151

Erastus Perry…1 August 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…267

E.H. Scaggs…10 March 1921…Ed Cook…$5000…184

John E. Sewell…10 June 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company…$3500…239

L.E. Steele…24 March 1921…H.H. Farley…$5000…199

N.E. Steele…18 July 1921…George C. Steele…$5000…261

Ren Stollings…9 February 1921…Charles Stollings and Milton Stowers…$5000…160

J.T. Walsh…12 March 1921…Milton Stowers…$5000…188

Ed White…21 January 1921…Joe Blair…$5000…142

W.C. Whited…8 February 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…159

B.B. Young…4 April 1921…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$3500…208

This list will be updated soon to include more names.

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Feud Poll 1

If you had lived in the Harts Creek community during the 1880s, to which faction of feudists might you have given your loyalty?

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Feud Poll 2

Do you think Milt Haley and Green McCoy committed the ambush on Al and Hollene Brumfield in 1889?

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Feud Poll 3

Who do you think organized the ambush of Al and Hollene Brumfield in 1889?

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Ed Haley Poll 1

What do you think caused Ed Haley to lose his sight when he was three years old?

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Blogs I Follow

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OtterTales

Writings from my travels and experiences. High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water. Mark Twain

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This site is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and promotion of history and culture in Appalachia.

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Genealogy and History in North Carolina and Beyond

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A site about one of the most beautiful, interesting, tallented, outrageous and colorful personalities of the 20th Century

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