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Whirlwind News 07.24.1925

28 Monday Dec 2020

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

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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 in Coal, Logan

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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.”

Guyandotte River Pollution (1925)

15 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Coal, Guyandotte River, Wyoming County

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From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, in a story dated May 22, 1925, comes this bit of history about pollution in the Guyandotte River:

Making Hard Drive To Remove Pollution From Guyan River

Game Protector L.A. Anderson, of Pineville, Wyoming county, under the supervision of the game and fish commission of West Virginia, arranged a number of parties before a local justice of the peace at Mullens, W.Va., the other day on charges of violation of the law against the pollution of streams.

It seems that a restaurant keeper, a tailor, a barber shop, a pool room, all of Mullens, had been guilty of throwing trash boxes and papers and refuse from the restaurant into the Guyan river at that point, but the chief point of interest to the coal industry was the arrest of the Gulf Smokeless Coal Company, operating at Wyco, a point above Mullens, on the Guyan river. At this operation a very modern plant for the cleaning of coal by the screen and air method has been installed and the particular charge against this coal company, which is one that affects the entire industry in Wyoming county, was that they were discharging coal laden water from the mines into the Guyan river.

Both Major W.P. Tams, Jr., president of the Gulf Smokeless Coal Company, and Superintendent Lynch were present at the trial of the case and paid the small nominal fine imposed, explaining to the court that at no time in the past had they been advised that they were violating any provision of the fish and game laws, and moreover, were not aware that they were doing so.

Officer Anderson also swore out a warrant against the Virginian Railway Company for polluting the water at Elmore, W.Va. by throwing cinders from shops and yards. By agreement of both parties the trial of this case was set forward a few days.

The final outcome of these cases will be watched with interest by the coal industry in Wyoming county. If the officials of that county are to construe the law as prohibiting the draining water from the mines in that section into the waters of the Guyan river, then the further development of that country should cease. It would be extremely difficult to interest capital in any form to invest in the mining business, which at best is beset with many difficulties, if it is made practically impossible to effect the drainage of the properties.

George Wolfe Answers John L. Lewis (1925)

07 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by in Coal

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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.”

Rotary Club Offers Cool Reception to UMWA Officials (1925)

02 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Coal, Logan

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From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about a visit to Logan by United Mine Workers of America officials in 1925. The story is dated August 28, 1925.

ROTARY CLUB OPPOSES ACTIVITY OF U.M. OFFICERS

Are Worried of the Dangers of Constitution Tampering; Urged to Watch Coming Sessions of Congress

Wednesday’s luncheon of the Rotary Club proved not only important but decidedly interesting and enjoyable. Rev. W.S. Bradshaw, of Alcolu, S.C., formerly pastor of the First Baptist church of this city, told convincingly of his mammoth potatoes and wonderful chickens and then in a more serious vein commented on action taken by the Chamber of Commerce in connection with the visit here of the United Mine Workers officials and also warned against constitution tampering and asked that much thought be given the proposed child labor amendment and education bill coming before the next session of Congress. Miss Elizabeth Thurmond and Miss Marrella Downs were guests of the club at luncheon. Dr. C.B. Morris was in charge of the boy’s work program for the day.

The following resolutions were presented and unanimously adopted:

“We the Rotary Club of Logan condemn the sporadic attempts of the United Mine Workers of America to unionize the Logan field as the pernicious efforts of non-West Virginians to disturb the stability of our industry to the advantage of other coal-producing states; we further condemn the activities of the United Mine Workers of America as inimical to the public good and delusive to the workers whose espousal of the unionist cause results in unemployment, destitution and misery.

“We pledge ourselves whole-heartedly and unreservedly to the maintenance of the business integrity of our community and of the economic position of our citizens against the assaults of industrial parasites.”

THE LOGAN ROTARY CLUB

R.B. Hayes, President

W.H. Moss, Secretary

State v. Edgar Combs (1923): Statement of Ed Cook and Others, No. 22

02 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Battle of Blair Mountain, Coal, Logan

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Armed March: More Union Miners Arrested (1922)

19 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by in Battle of Blair Mountain, Coal, Logan

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From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this item dated April 7, 1922 about the arrest of more union miners relating to the “armed march” on Logan County:

State Police Bring in Five More Miners

State policemen arrived in Logan Sunday evening with five more men whom they had arrested on Coal River and other points in that section of the state who were charged with being “red necks” or members of the armed body of miners who marched on Logan last August.

Jim and Watt Aldeman, Mote Thompson, George Hensley and Sam Mullins constituted the party under arrest. These men escaped the officers for many months, but the ferreting out process of the state officers goes merrily on and it is understood they are still valiantly seeking others for whom they have warrants and the number now charged with participation in the march and now in jail or under bond will be constantly augmented until the entire number have been rounded up and their names registered with the keeper of the Logan jail.