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Brandon Ray Kirk

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Brandon Ray Kirk

Tag Archives: Beckley

George Wolfe Answers John L. Lewis (1925)

07 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Coal

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Beckley, Central Competitive Field, coal, Fayette County, George Wolfe, Illinois Department of Mines, Indianapolis, Jacksonville Wage Scale, John L. Lewis, Logan, Logan Banner, R.M. Lambie, Raleigh County, secretary, United Mine Workers of America, West Virginia, West Virginia Department of the Mines, Winding Gulf Operators Association

From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about John L. Lewis and the United Mine Workers of America. The story is dated May 15, 1925.

WOLFE ANSWERS LEWIS’ BARRAGE; QUOTES FIGURES

Points out That Miners of Central Competitive Field Always Opposed Aims of West Virginia Miners–Tells How American Plans Gets Results

The statement of John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, to the effect that it would make no difference to the coal mining industry if the wages of the miners ________________ time scale “as the public burns 500,000,000 tons of coal annually anyway” was characterized as “ridiculous rubbish” by George Wolfe, Secretary of the Winding Gulf Operators Association, of Beckley. He said that Lewis is not looking at the industry from a practical business standpoint, when he makes such a statement, but is merely blustering to hear himself talk.

“There are 24 states in the union that are producing coal and that means there is competition,” said Mr. Wolfe. “The union miners in the Central Competitive Field are banded together in an effort to keep the ‘outlying fields’ out of the market and already have an unwarranted advantage for the inferior coal mined by them in the matter of widened freight differentials. The Central Competitive Field employs the vast majority of union miners and contributes the major share of the Indianapolis organization’s finances.

“Even when West Virginia had a large union delegation its delegates had nothing to do with making the scale and passed it over to the West Virginia delegation to enforce. West Virginia is mentioned especially as one of the most affected outlying fields against which the union is fighting. It isn’t a question of union or non-union but it is a case where the miners of the Central Competitive Field led by Lewis are seeking to curtail the production of this state, which produces one fifth of the nation’s best coal.

“That’s why Lewis is lending his personal influence and sending scores of agitators into West Virginia to try and coerce satisfied miners into joining his organization. They can either work and receive satisfactory pay or join the union and strike–in the interests of the union miners of other states who want to sell their coal instead of the West Virginia fuel. They have had the nerve to say that West Virginia should never have been developed until the other older fields that now produce a coal inferior to ours had been completely exhausted. Then they could have moved down to West Virginia and done the mining that was necessary, they say. But since they can’t come right away they want to hold up West Virginia’s progress, blight the prosperous mining villages and towns that exist today, and stay the wheels of time until such time as they can come to West Virginia and handle the situation. But the miners of West Virginia are wise enough to see this and the scheme is getting them nowhere.

“One needs look no further than the annual report of R.M. Lambie, chief of the West Virginia Department of the Mines, to see that these schemes of mice and men are ganging aft agles. Not only did the West Virginia mines ship more coal last year but the tonnage per man has increased–and thus the cost of mining is being reduced, instead of being saddled with the extra costs and working conditions imposed by the Indianapolis organization. The men of Southern West Virginia are perfectly satisfied with the American plan of mining, which implies that the miners are human beings capable of making their own agreements, and not dumb driven cattle herded together by organizers.

“The miners of West Virginia have been misled before and now they alone are the ones to take an interest in their own welfare. Their jobs are the things that support their wives and families and they mean to make the most of them. They are working more consistently and turning out more coal per man. In turn getting bigger pay checks. This in turn keeps the coal moving, and they then get a bigger share of work than those mines dominated by Lewis and his Indianapolis lieutenant.

“In 1923 West Virginia operation gave employment to 121,280 miners who worked an average of 158 days a year to mine 37,475,177 tones of coal, according to Mr. Lambi’s report. Before 1924 the American plan had spread through the industry and it only took 115,964 miners, working an average of 155 days a year to mine 103,325,960 tons of coal. In other words, with fewer working days and 5,000 fewer men in the mines, the state produced 6,000,000 tons more coal in 1924.

“Compare that with the annual report of the Illinois Department of Mines. Due to the Jacksonville Wage Scale, which is so high that it closes many markets to mines operating it despite the exceptional freight rate handicaps accorded them, the union miners were not nearly as well off as the West Virginia miners working under the American plans. The Illinois men average but 140 days work during the year. The report shows that __,765 miners in Illinois produced 72,308,665 tons of coal during 1924, which was 3,205,430 tons less than was mined in 1923. And the average tonnage per man was about one-fourth of a ton less per day.

“It isn’t necessary to answer Lewis’ statement regarding ‘starvation wages’ paid miners in West Virginia. You don’t have to give a theoretical answer to that. Just note the scores of loaders and cutlers who are making from $15 to $18 a day. Note those men to Raleigh and Fayette counties who claim championships in loading, who have averaged better than $20 a day–not for one or two days but for months at a time. Then figure out what $20 a day means, in fair weather and foul because there isn’t any rain underground, and you’ll see why Southern West Virginia doesn’t have to advertise outside of West Virginia to get all the miners it needs to produce the record tonnages from this state. All we need is a chance to get to the markets under a reasonable freight rate, and our coal will do the rest, backed by thousands of satisfied miners who are making new production records daily.”

Interview of Jean Hatfield at Sarah Ann, WV (2001), Part 4

01 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Cemeteries, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Matewan

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Allen Hatfield, Altina Waller, Appalachia, Beckley, Beech Creek, Brandon Kirk, Cap Hatfield, Coleman Hatfield, Delorme, Devil Anse Hatfield, Dutch Hatfield, Ellison Mounts, Ephraim Hatfield, feuds, genealogy, Hatfield Cemetery, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Henry Hatfield, history, History Channel, Jean Hatfield, Jim Vance, Johnson Hatfield, Levisa Hatfield, Logan Banner, Logan County, Matewan, Mingo County, Nancy Vance, Otis Rice, Randolph McCoy, Red Jacket, Route 44, Sarah Ann, Stirrat, Tennis Hatfield, The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner, The McCoys: Their Story, The Tale of the Devil, Thomas Dotson, tourism, Truda Williams McCoy, Valentine Wall Hatfield, West Virginia

In 2001-2002, I wrote a series of popular stories for the Logan Banner that merged aspects of well-known Hatfield-McCoy books written by Otis Rice and Altina Waller in the 1980s. I had previously enjoyed Rice’s narrative and Waller’s analysis; I did not conduct any new research. Even though I believed the definitive Hatfield-McCoy Feud book remained unwritten, my purpose in writing these stories was not a step toward writing a book; my purpose in writing these stories was to revisit the narrative with some analysis for Banner readers. My hope was that readers would see what I saw: first, fascinating history (or folk story) for its own sake; second, the power of history to create a popular type of tourism.

I was fortunate during this time to meet Jean Hatfield. Jean, born in 1936, operated a Hatfield family museum at Sarah Ann, WV. Jean was not a native of West Virginia but had lived her entire adult life locally and had personally known several of Anderson Hatfield’s children. I really appreciated her desire to promote regional history. She “got it.” She inspired me. Anytime that I drove up Route 44, I stopped to visit Jean at the museum. She was always welcoming. Knowing her reminded me that every Hatfield (and McCoy) descendant is a source of information–-and that for the most part they have yet to tell the story in their own words. Three notable exceptions include The McCoys: Their Story by Truda Williams McCoy (1976), The Tale of the Devil (2003) by Coleman Hatfield and Bob Spence, and The Hatfield and McCoy Feud After Kevin Costner: Rescuing History (2013) by Thomas Dotson.

What follows is Part 4 of my interview with Jean, which occurred on August 7, 2001:

What kind of house did Johnse have?

Probably just a frame house.

I don’t know much about what he did for a living.

I really don’t know either. There’s not that much on him. Maybe he just spent his time chasing ladies. I don’t even know what type of work he did. But he had to work. He worked for his father, for one thing. But now there’s some of his grandchildren still living. But I’m like you, he’s not as good looking as most of the other boys were. But then when you’re like eighteen years old, everybody’s good looking at eighteen.

I wonder what Devil Anse thought about people taking his photo?

There was just always somebody wanting to take his picture. Now this is by Life magazine. They done a story.

I love the one in his hat.

That’s a very rare one. And the one with the long rifle. Because most of the time in the pictures you see him with his little shotgun. But that has the long rifle. I think that’s the muzzle-loading type.

Not nearly as many photos of Randolph McCoy.

This one here, when we did the McCoy monument, they didn’t have any pictures. We had gathered up quite a few of the McCoys and we made a collage picture and that one was in it. That’s the one mostly you see of him is that one. But I have a couple here somewhere when he was younger but it’s not a very clear copy. But he looks very sad and very old and very sick in that one. But he was like thirteen years older than Grandpa, though.

Did your husband hold any grudges?

No.

Was he raised to?

Oh no. He says on the History Channel tape that he went to school with McCoys and he never did have any animosity towards any of them. In fact, our postmaster down here, she was a McCoy before she married. And she and I get along real good.

So not all of Devil Anse’s brothers were involved in the feud…

Well now, like Wall Hatfield, he wasn’t concerned in it nowhere and they took him before a jury and found him guilty of murder, which he didn’t do. And he died in the pen just not long after he got in because he just couldn’t handle penitentiary life. And he’s buried down under that highway. The highway went over the graves of the prisoners that were buried there. Isn’t that terrible? That’s what the family said. Uncle Allen Hatfield from Beech Creek was one of his children. That’s where that come from.

Where did they bury Ellison Mounts?

I think he’s buried over at Hatfield Cemetery at Matewan. That’s where Grandma and Grandpa’s mother and father is buried. Ephraim. He was buried there.

Are they marked?

Yeah. I think they have a small marker is all. Devil Anse’s father was Big Eph Hatfield and she was Nancy Vance. That’s where Uncle Jim come in at. That was her brother. So that would have been Grandpa’s uncle. He loved Grandpa so well, he would kill for him, that was all there was to it. And Grandpa didn’t have to tell him. He went out on his own and done it. I think that had a lot to do with it. In all that I read, Grandpa’s personality just didn’t seem like he was that type of a person.

Did they ever talk about him doing things like singing or whittling?

He was a joker. Like my mother-in-law said, Tennis had give her a new diamond ring. And she was out helping Grandpa milk the cow and she was showing him her pretty ring and he said, “I’d just soon have a pewter button.” He was always joking with people and things like that. Now my mother-in-law was a very scary person. And if he’d a been a mean person she wouldn’t have stayed around him. But her and Tennis lived with them until they had two children. He couldn’t have been very threatening.

Who had the home when it burned?

Tennis. He inherited it from his momma. It burned after she passed. That was on the land that he inherited. All of the children got a certain amount of land.

Did Devil Anse sell out in Mingo County?

Yeah. Cline got it. He just let him have it all and he moved over here.

Who owned the old property where the cemetery is in Mingo County?

That’s part of the other estate, I’d say, Ephraim. That would be part of his. Delorme and up in that area was where they were all at mostly. Delorme, Red Jacket. I don’t know a whole lot about Mingo County. And we lost one of our good little relatives over there: Dutch Hatfield. He used to be chief of police of Matewan and he knew everybody. And him and Henry was really close together and they passed within a year of each other. But he was pretty well up on all of the relatives and who was whose child and all of that.

Why was Cap’s family not buried with the other Hatfields?

Cap and Grandpa and the boys, seems like there was a rift there all the time. He was at Grandpa’s funeral but they hadn’t had much dealings from what I can understand. So when he died he just wanted to be buried on his own land. They started their own little cemetery down there. They may have had some people die before that and buried them there.

Where is Johnse buried?

Johnse is buried up here.

Any of his wives buried with him?

No.

That’s sad that he had so many wives and none are buried with him.

Yeah. That’s a lesson to those men. Better find one and be loyal to them.

I hope someone can figure out how to make this tourism work here.

If you happen to see them down at the Chamber of Commerce, you ask ‘em about a road up here. See if we can get it changed some way. Because if they’re going to use this for tourism they’re going to need to be able to locate it. This is 44. 18 miles from the boulevard to the top of the mountain—that’s as far as 44 goes. And they’re advertising it through the rest stop areas. And Sarah Ann’s not even on the map. Stirrat is.

They don’t have it together in the county seat either.

No. I think it’s one group pulling against another group and if they don’t get together nothing gets done.

Have you ever seen that play in Beckley?

No. I’ve had people say it’s good. I don’t like to stay overnight away from home. I’m a home body.

***

Jean died in 2011. I miss seeing her when I drive up Route 44.

Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. Visits Logan, WV (1928)

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Huntington, Logan, Williamson, Women's History, World War I

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A.A. Lilly, American Legion, Appalachia, Beckley, Braeholm, C.C. Lanham, Calvert Estill, Casey M. Jones, Charleston, Emmett Scaggs, First Methodist Church, G.R. Claypool, Guyandotte Valley, Harrisville, Henry D. Hatfield, Herbert Hoover, history, Hugh Ike Shott, Huntington, John M. Mitchell, John W. Davis, Kentucky, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lundale, M.Z. White, Naaman Jackson, Peach Creek, photos, Point Pleasant, politics, Princeton, Republican Party, Ripley, Teddy Roosevelt Jr., W.C. Lybarger, W.C. Price, W.G. Conley, W.J. Fields, Welch, West Virginia, Williamson, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, World War I, YMCA

On October 17, 1928, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. visited Logan, WV, and gave a speech to approximately 10,000 people. The Logan Banner offered plenty of coverage for the event:

Tedd Roosevelt Jr. is Coming LB 10.05.1928.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 5 October 1928

***

War-Time Buddies to Greet Col. Roosevelt

After His Meeting Here Wednesday Night–General Conley Will Also Speak at Open-Air Meeting That Night–Whale of Rally Assured

Every ex-service man in Logan county is urged to meet Col. Theodore Roosevelt when he comes here to deliver a campaign address in front of the Court House next Wednesday night. A reception in honor of the distinguished son of a distinguished sire will be held in Republican headquarters on the fifth floor of the White & Browning building after the political meeting is ended. There he will be greeted by his war “buddies” and every soldier, sailor and marine who served in the World War, regardless of political affiliations, is asked to be present.

Col. Roosevelt is billed three speeches on Tuesday. He is expected to speak at Welch in the afternoon and at Princeton at 5 p.m. and at Beckley that night. He is in great demand and Logan Republicans are elated over the definite promise from state headquarters that he is coming here.

General W.G. Conley, Republican nominee for Governor, will accompany or join Col. Roosevelt here and both will speak at the Wednesday night meeting. It is probable, too, that Dr. H.D. Hatfield and A.A. Lilly, former attorney general, will be here at the same time. General Lilly is billed for a speech at Braeholm on Monday night.

Logan (WV) Banner, 12 October 1928

***

Col. Roosevelt and General Conley Speak in Logan Tomorrow Night

Open-Air Rally at Court House Expected to Attract Delegations From All Sections of County–Service Men to Hold Reception for Col. Roosevelt After Speaking Is Ended

With the coming of Theodore Roosevelt and General W.C. Conley tomorrow for what is expected to be a memorable night meeting, the speaking campaign in this county may reach a climax. They will be the chief speakers at an open-air meeting in front of the Court House. It is probable that Governor Gore will come also and in that event he may serve as chairman of the meeting.

A.A. Lilly, former attorney general and Hugh Ike Shott, Republican nominee for congress, who addressed a huge gathering at Braeholm and Lundale last night, will speak at Peach Creek tonight; Senator Jackson and E.F. Scaggs also spoke at last night’s gatherings. Mr. Shott will remain in the county up to Wednesday night.

Governor W.J. Fields of Kentucky will address a Democratic meeting in the court room tonight.

Widespread interest has been aroused in the Roosevelt-Conley meeting and delegations are looked for from every section of the county. Ex-service men are to turn out in force to meet and greet the distinguished soldier-son of the beloved soldier-president of the same name. A reception to which all ex-service men are invited will be held on the fifth floor of the White & Browning building after the big meeting is concluded. Roosevelt’s war record, his activity in helping to organize the American Legion, and his fondness for those who served with him have endeared him to World War men everywhere.

A prohibition rally sponsored by the W.C.T.U. will be held at the Court House at 7:30 Friday p.m. Everyone is urged to come. The speakers for this occasion have not been announced.

Teddy Roosevelt Jr. in Logan LB 10.16.1928 2.JPG

Logan (WV) Banner, 16 October 1928.

***

Col. Roosevelt Center of Interest of Biggest Crowd Ever Seen Here

Republicans Stage Rally Eclipsing Any of the Past in Guyan Valley, With Attentive, Enthusiastic Crowd Estimated At Around 10,000 Mark

GEN. CONLEY AND OTHERS TAKE PART

Ex-Service Men Add Zest to Ovation for Gallant Soldier Son of Beloved T.R.–Rev. Mr. Lanham Is Chairman–Flowers For Teddy

Before the largest crowd ever assembled in Logan county, Col. Theodore Roosevelt, eldest son of the late president, made an eloquent and elaborate appeal in front of the Court House Wednesday night for the election of Hoover and Curtis on November 6.

His oratory, his Rooseveltian grimaces, his deep-furrowed smiles, his warm and radiant fellowship, and genuine camaraderie in meeting and greeting ex-service men, won the hearts of all. And how game he was! Exhausted by his effort to make himself heard to the far corners of the crowd confronting him and really surrounding him, following a strenuous ordeal of many days, traveling at night and speaking several times a day, he had difficulty making his way from the platform back through the crowd and into the Court House corridor. To several companions he hoarsely confided, “I’m a wreck!” Nevertheless, he tried to shake every hand and exchange a friendly greeting with those who swarmed about him. His exit was marked by a renewal of the ovation that greeted him when he, General W.G. Conley, Senator M.Z. White, County Chairman and Mrs. G.R. Claypool, Casey M. Jones, Calvert Estill and others in the party wormed their way through the crowd to the platform erected at the foot of the steps on the side of the Court House.

After the meeting the distinguished visitor was whisked to Republican headquarters where ex-service men in large numbers held a reception in his honor. Again and again he was “dee-lighted” and thrilled to find some “buddy” who had belonged to some military unit with whose history Roosevelt is familiar. Then he would cry out to his pal Casey Jones, Charleston newspaperman and bosom friend for more than a decade,” What do you know about it, Casey, here’s an old pal that served with” so-and-so company or regiment.

Not only ex-service men but more than one professional man of Logan, miners and others whispered to him, or yelled out to his wake, “We’ll be voting for you some time, Teddy!”

Hits the Line Hard

After the reception the Colonel returned to Charleston, to make ready for a busy schedule yesterday. He was billed for speeches at Harrisville, Ripley and Pt. Pleasant, and had arranged to get back to Charleston last night and to speak both at Beckley and Welch today. All day yesterday here whenever the matter of his visit was discussed in any group the prediction was advanced that he was too terribly exhausted to adhere to his schedule. And his Logan friends are sincerely concerned about him. However, he will return to New York at the end of the week.

Wednesday night’s rally will be remembered for years, say political observers, not only because of its size but also because of its direct bearing on a momentous contest for supremacy.

Most estimates of the attendance hover around the 10,000 mark. John M. Mitchell, court bailiff, who has been familiar with political activities in this county for half a century, said it exceeded twice over any crowd he had ever seen in the county. Others say the only meeting ever held here worthy of comparison was that addressed by Senator Pat Harrison in the 1924 campaign. To the writer the crowd seemed more than half as large as that which heard John W. Davis in Huntington in 1924. That crowd was estimated at 25,000, but that was an obvious exaggeration–a characteristic of the estimates of political assemblages.

The Folks Were There

Cloudy weather and a light rain that set in at the hour when the meeting was scheduled to start doubtless kept away a considerable number and caused scores to leave. On the outer edges it was impossible to hear the speakers and so there was a steady going and coming of persons wishing to see and hear. windows in about half a dozen buildings were occupied, small boys were atop the Old Stone building, and there was a good-sized crowd clustered on and about the platform, steps, windows, portico and corridors of the Court House.

Roosevelt has a good voice but it was put to a terrific test here, considering what he had undergone recently. His voice is better than his father’s was and he is more humorous, but the only striking resemblance between the two as public speakers is that grinning grimace that once seen can never be forgotten. In his speech he did not delve exhaustively into any one issue or phase of the campaign but he gave a comprehensive review of the issues and personalities that Republicans generally assume to be involved in this campaign. As for Tammany he panned it as it has never been panned before hereabouts. He recalled, too, that his grandfather had fought the greedy Tiger: “My father fought it; I am fighting it, and if it lives 20 years longer, I expect and hope my son Teddy III will be fighting it.”

Rev. Lanham Presides

It was after 8 o’clock when the speakers arrived–more than half an hour late–whereas all available seats and many vantage points had been occupied for nearly if not fully two hours. At the home of Mr. and Mrs. G.R. Claypool they had been entertained at dinner–or supper, as Teddy and most of us call it. Besides the Colonel and General Conley there were six other guests: Hugh Ike Shott, Republican nominee for representative in Congress; Senator M.Z. White, Williamson; C.M. Jones, publicity man and side for Mr. Conley; Calvert N. Estill, Charleston correspondent for the Ogden chain of newspapers, and Senator Naaman Jackson.

Rev. C.C. Lanham, pastor of the First Methodist Church, who has been a leader in the fight to avert any backward step on prohibition, was chairman of the meeting. He filled the role with tact and good judgment and introduced the various speakers in happy style.

General Conley was the first speaker, but sensing the crowd’s desire to hear the Colonel he cut short his remarks. He did not take up state or national issues but after a word of congratulation to those who had sponsored such an immense turnout he withdrew.

Flowers For Colonel

Next a pretty little surprise was sprung. Mrs. W.C. Price, of Huntington, who is taking the lead in organizing the Republican women of the county, was introduced. Turning to Col. Roosevelt, after bringing a basket full of beautiful flowers into view, she told him of the esteem in which he is held by the women and presented the flowers in behalf of the woman’s Republican Club as a token of appreciation of his services in this campaign and of his zeal in promoting the public welfare. His face wreathed in wrinkles and aglow, he replied: “I accept with thanks. And I would much rather stand high in the esteem of women than of men. They are more important. I know, for I am married.”

The chairman then introduced W.C. Lybarger, secretary of the railway Y.M.C.A. at Peach Creek, who in turn introduced Col. Roosevelt. He paid the visitor a splendid tribute for his valor on the battlefields of France, touched the high points of his political career, and said he had a leading part in organizing the American Legion.

At the outset Roosevelt sketched the character and growth of the orphaned Hoover and gave some intimate glimpses into the habits of living and of thought, of his working and his industry and resourcefulness in solving problems of public and playing, of his zeal in tackling concern. Between these two men there is a close friendship, and there was no mistaking Roosevelt’s whole-hearted admiration for the farm boy of Iowa who has risen to a position of pre-eminence in the minds and hearts of his countrymen and even of the folk of many other lands.

Logan (WV) Banner, 19 October 1928

Marc Harshman (2015)

30 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Lincoln County Feud

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Appalachia, Beckley, Blood in West Virginia, book, books, Brandon Kirk, Gretna, Louisiana, Marc Harshman, Pelican Publishing Company, poetry, Tamarack, U.S. South, West Virginia, West Virginia Writers Weekend, writers, writing

Here I am with West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman at West Virginia Writers Weekend, where I promoted my book, "Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy." 27 June 2015

Here I am with West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman at West Virginia Writers Weekend, where I promoted my book, “Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy.” 27 June 2015

West Virginia Writers Weekend (2015)

29 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Lincoln County Feud

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Appalachia, authors, Beckley, Blood in West Virginia, Brandon Kirk, history, Hugh Dingess, Kimberly Collins, Lincoln County Feud, Simple Choices, Tamarack, U.S. South, West Virginia, West Virginia Writers Weekend, writers, writing

At West Virginia Writers Weekend, I was fortunate to meet author Kimberly Collins ("Simple Choices") and her amazing family, who are descended from Hugh Dingess, an important character in my book

At West Virginia Writers Weekend, hosted by Tamarack, I was fortunate to meet author Kimberly Collins (“Simple Choices”) and her amazing family, who are descended from Hugh Dingess, an important character in my book. 27 June 2015

West Virginia Writers Weekend at Tamarack (2015)

26 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Lincoln County Feud

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Beckley, Blood in West Virginia, Brandon Kirk, culture, history, life, photos, Tamarack, tourism, West Virginia, West Virginia Writers Weekend, writers

The book and I will appear at West Virginia Writers Weekend at Tamarack in Beckley, WV, on Saturday, 27 June 2015 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The book and I will appear at West Virginia Writers Weekend at Tamarack in Beckley, WV, on Saturday, 27 June 2015 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

"Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy" is available for purchase at Tamarack

“Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy” is available for purchase at Tamarack

Tamarack (2014)

28 Tuesday Apr 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Lincoln County Feud

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Appalachia, authors, Beckley, Blood in West Virginia, books, Brandon Kirk, history, Lincoln County Feud, Pelican Publishing Company, Tamarack, U.S. South, West Virginia, writers, writing

"Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy" is available for purchase at Tamarack in Beckley, West Virginia

“Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy” is available for purchase at Tamarack in Beckley, West Virginia

Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy

20 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Lincoln County Feud, Wyoming County

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Appalachia, Beckley, Blood in West Virginia, book, books, Brandon Kirk, feuds, history, Lincoln County Feud, Mary Catherine Brooks, newspaper, Register-Herald, true crime, West Virginia, writing, Wyoming County Report

My book and I are featured in today’s Wyoming County Report, a supplement to the Register-Herald newspaper. The Register-Herald is produced in Beckley, southern West Virginia’s largest city. It carries a circulation of 29,000. Thanks to reporter, Mary Catherine Brooks, for writing such a nice story. http://m.wycoreport.com/news/article_1c9f77a6-559a-11e4-9b92-8766b49facd4.html?mode=jqm

Tamarack: The Best of West Virginia at Beckley, WV

28 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Lincoln County Feud

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Beckley, Blood in West Virginia, book, books, Brandon Kirk, history, Lincoln County Feud, Tamarack, West Virginia, writing

"Blood in West Virginia" is available for purchase at Tamarack, our state's premiere showcase for native art

“Blood in West Virginia” is available for purchase at Tamarack, our state’s premiere showcase for native art

In Search of Ed Haley 13

01 Saturday Dec 2012

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Ed Haley

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Appalachia, Ashland, Beckley, Bluefield, Chillicothe, Ed Haley, Ella Haley, Farmers, fiddler, fiddlers, fiddling, Gallipolis, Gene Goforth, Hazard, history, Jenkins, Jess Adams, John Hartford, Kentucky, Lawrence Haley, Lexington, Missouri, Morehead, music, Nila Adams, Ohio, Pat Haley, Pikeville, Portsmouth, Pound, Princeton, Shannon County, U.S. South, Virginia, West Virginia, Winchester, writers, writing

Ed Haley spent his young bachelor days just “running around all over,” Lawrence said. He didn’t know any specifics about that time in his life but I could fill in the blanks based on memories of myself at that age. When I was growing up in Missouri, Gene Goforth, the great Shannon County fiddler took me into some of the darkest dives I could ever imagine — real “skull orchards.” Those places were filled with hot-tempered, burly men who were mean enough to fight or kill anyone. Even though Gene and I felt safe around them because we played their type of music, there was always an unpredictable danger in the air. I bet Ed’s music at that time in his life was as exciting as anything I would’ve ever wanted to hear, but to stay in some of those old taverns to hear it would’ve been like being in a cave full of rattlesnakes.

I asked Lawrence if he had any idea about how far Ed traveled with his music and he said, “I don’t know where he went when he was single, running the country. The way people talked, he started out about the time he married my mother. Hell, he was going twenty years before that. When he married my mother was more or less his settling down time. Well, I know he’s been all the way south through Beckley and Princeton and Bluefield, West Virginia and all the way down into Pikeville, Kentucky and over into Pound, Virginia. I guess he’s been as far as Hazard and Jenkins, Kentucky and all those little towns. County seats mostly is where he played.”

Lawrence didn’t think Ed made it as far west as Lexington, Kentucky. “They say that he never was down through the Bluegrass, but I’m pretty sure he’s been as far west into Kentucky as Winchester,” he said. “And I know he’s been to Morehead and Farmers; that’s a little town just outside of Morehead, Kentucky. He’s been to Chillicothe and Portsmouth, Gallipolis — up in Ohio that a way. Now, I don’t think he ever made it into the Carolinas or Johnson City, Tennessee but if he did it was before my time.”

Lawrence said his parents supported the family by playing music on the streets, but would play just about anywhere money could be made. “Pop used to go down to Portsmouth to a steel mill. It’s closed down now. It was a pretty good sized mill. They made everything from steel plate down to wire nails and fencing and everything else in there. It was Detroit Steel or one of those. He used to go down there, and he’d go to the railroad YMCA, too, because there was all the time train men coming and going on the N&W train line. A lot of train crews’d come in there and stay all night and Pop and Mom used to go in there and play right in the YMCA building. They used to do it down here at the Russell Y.”

Lawrence told me more about seeing Ed and Ella play for dances. “I’ve walked Mom and Pop to Morehead down the C&O Railroad tracks to Farmers — that’s six or seven miles — to play at a home. They’d take any rugs and furniture out of a room and pack them in another room and then dance. It might have been seven to nine o’clock sets, but it seemed to me like they lasted all night. I’ve seen Pop sit one set right after another without really stopping. When he’d play a piece of music, he’d play it as long as the caller wanted to call. Pop’d play ten minutes on a piece of music if that’s what was requested. Them was awful long sets. I’d get up and we’d start home at daybreak.”

I asked how Ed was paid for a dance and he said, “It would be more or less passing the hat or somebody coming up and wanting a certain piece of music played in a set or something. I don’t think they ever contracted a certain monetary fee for anything. They just took it as it came.”

Lawrence obviously preferred to think of Ed and Ella playing at dances instead of on the sidewalks, probably because street musicians are often regarded as being little more than talented bums. It was surely more romantic to think of them at county fairs, courthouses or little country houses. No doubt, he thought his father was above the street scene and likely had strong memories of long hot or cold days spent on sidewalks with passersby throwing out nickels and occasional slurs.

Pat gave me a little insight into that facet of Ed’s life story when she asked Lawrence if he’d told me about his “winter coat.” Lawrence said no because I wanted to know about Pop — not him — but she said, “Oh, I thought that was cute. He was a little boy and he was with his mama and they were in Cincinnati. It was very, very cold and he didn’t have a coat. And they were standing — you know his mama was playing — and his mother had told him he would get his winter coat for Christmas and he said, ‘Santa Claus better hurry up, Mama, ’cause I won’t be here.’ His mother went that very day and bought him that winter coat so he got his coat from Santa Claus a little bit early.”

Those were clearly memories that Lawrence didn’t care to re-hash.

“Sometimes it was good, sometimes it was lean,” he said. “Apparently, Mom and Pop was making enough. They always kept some kind of roof over our heads. We didn’t have anything fancy. Mom swept her own floors a lot of times, and she swept barefooted, and that’s the way she knew her floor was clean. She felt with her toes and her feet.”

Pat said, “My mother-in-law was very, very particular. She couldn’t stand to feel the least little thing on her — it bothered her. And if she sat down at your table — even though somebody would say, ‘These are very clean people’ — she would put her hand in the cup or the glass and run her hands over the plate. And I’ve heard people tell that they had the cleanest clothes in the area because she scrubbed them on a board and she would scrub twice as hard and twice as long to be sure those clothes were clean.”

On occasion, according to Pat, Ella even hired out neighbors to work for her. “Aunt Nila Adams worked some for your Mom,” she said to Lawrence. “She did a lot of the big cleaning.” She looked at me, “And his mother paid them well,” seemingly in an effort to compensate for the “winter coat” story. “She paid better than the average.”

Lawrence said, “Well, people like Nila Adams and Jess Adams — he was a hard-working man. He just was uneducated and that’s all he ever knew was hard work. And a lot of times that ditch-digging and hard work wasn’t around, so I guess Mom helped Nila Adams. When she’d come clean house for Mom she was helping Nila Adams keep her household together, too, in a way.”

One thing was to be understood: Ed Haley and his wife were not bums on the street begging for money. They were professional musicians who earned a decent living and who raised their children as well as any one else in the neighborhood.

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?

Recent Posts

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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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