Exploring life in 1920s & 1930s in Harlan County
Supplement to the Harlan Daily Enterprise Wednesday, March 28, 2018
B2 Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Harlan Daily Enterprise
HERITAGE XXXIII
Harlan Co. grows, prospers during ‘Roaring 20s’ File Report
The 1920s were a time of rapid development for Harlan County, bringing with it the promise of prosperity. This development, however, was threatened at the decade’s end by the Great Depression. The county’s population nearly doubled over the course of the decade. The 1930 census recorded the county as having 64,697 people, an increase over the 1920 population of 34,546. Many cities throughout the county also saw their populations grow. Harlan’s population increased by 65 percent to reach the 1930 total of 4,377. The number of Cumberland’s residents also increased, jumping from 300 people in 1920 to 2,647 in 1930. Evarts grew from 502 residents in 1920 to 1,438 by the decade’s end, and in 1930, Loyall had 1,468 people. A preliminary census report put the city of Harlan’s unemployment level at 83 people. This was just slightly less than the national unemployment rate of 2 percent given by the U.S. Census Bureau. As of 1930, Harlan County was the largest county in the region. The increase was thought to be the largest growth of any county in the United States, according to John Feather, supervisor of the Census for the 13th District of Kentucky. As the number of people in the area grew, old ways of life began to change. From 1920 to 1930, the number of farms in the county dwindled from 1,452 to 502. The Enterprise also grew during this period. In May 1922, J.M. Alverson, of Paris, Kentucky, bought the Harlan Enterprise. Alverson served as owner, man-
ager and publisher. The newspaper was published every Friday until Aug. 1, 1928. That date marked the change of the paper’s name to the Harlan Daily Enterprise. With a new name came a new publishing schedule. The paper was on the newsstands every day except Monday. At that time, the paper was the only morning daily in southeastern Kentucky. In August 1929, the paper began to be published every afternoon except Saturday and on Sunday, when it was a morning edition. COAL TAKES
CENTER STAGE As the county grew and moved away from farming, coal production became even more important. In 1927, Harlan County led the state in producing coal. More than 13 million tons of coal were produced in the county that year, marking an increase of 2 million tons from 1925. With the increase in coal production, more roads and railroad tracks were needed in the county to make shipping easier. The Harlan-Wallins road was finished in 1924. A year later, the Harlan-Pennington Gap highway opened, connecting with the Lonesome Pine Trail and the Boone Trail to Bristol. Sections of the Mayo Trail were finished in the later part of the decade. The Harlan-Pineville road opened in July 1928 and was followed by the completion of the road from Lynch to Harlan. This road connected Lynch, Benham, Cumberland and Harlan for the first time. New railroad routes promised to open up Harlan’s coal production to new markets. In November 1927, the L&N Railroad
File photos
A coal miner at Lynch is pictured in the 1920s.
Benham’s town fathers and law enforcement officers posed on the steps of city hall in 1920 with what is apparently a confiscated moonshine still and “worms.” bought five miles of the Martin’s Fork line from Lenarue. The railroad hoped to extend the line so it would run from Chevrolet to Hagan, Va., and connect with the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio line. It would take L&N $6 million and two years to complete this new route from Harlan to the Carolinas. A Harlan County landmark was also built during this decade. The courthouse and jail, which cost
around $220,000, were completed in June 1922. The courthouse was ready to open on July 7, 1922. Fifty-five prisoners had already been moved into the jail. About three weeks later, six of the prisoners made the first attempt to break out of the new jail. The men had picked a lock and climbed through a vent to reach the roof. The prisoners were caught on the roof as they were preparing to climb
Portal 31 Construction in 1920.
down a rope made of 15 blankets tied together. GREAT DEPRESSION ARRIVES Despite the growth and building up of the area, the county began to feel the effects of the Depression. An article in the Oct. 5, 1930, issue of the Enterprise downplayed the Depression’s harm to the county. The article said that more building was taking place and more money was being spent on
File photo
more improvements in the county than ever before. To support the argument, the article cited several instances of the coal industry growing stronger in the area. New mines were appearing and older mines were opening up more seams of coal and building new tipples. A harsher picture of life in Harlan County near the end of the decade was shown in William D. Forester’s book “Before We Forget.” According to Forester, property valuation in the county had declined by more that $2 million from 1929 to 1930. The 1930 coal production had decreased 12.7 percent from the 1929 amount. The people were suffering as Forester points out the notices, published in the Enterprise, of people being sent to poorhouses at the end of the decade. COUNTY FACES DISASTERS Some parts of the county were also threatened by fires and floods during this period. A fire hit Evarts’ business section in July 1924. Sixteen business buildings were destroyed and several others were damaged. Nearly 50 people who lived above the businesses were left homeless. Two buildings were blown up to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings or to a bridge. Other attempts at saving items from the fire weren’t so successful. People dragged goods from their burning businesses and stacked the items in the street, only to see them destroyed as the fire came nearer. A fire burned through Wallins’ business section on Sept. 7, 1928. Twelve business and two homes were destroyed while several other buildings were damaged. Each fire caused around $100,000 in damages. Flood waters also filled the streets in many parts of the county in November 1928. The waters nearly reached the level of the record flood of 1918. Several homes and
See 1920s | 5
HERITAGE XXXIII
Harlan Daily Enterprise
Harlan Co. — then and now
By Joe P. Asher joe.asher@harlandaily.com
The Harlan County of the 1920s and 30s was a mix of coal mining, country living, a bit of bootlegging and some bloodshed along with many hardships of day to day life which most folks in the modern age have not had to face. According to Freida Felosi, 92, who grew up just across the mountain in Virginia as well as Harlan, day to day life has changed quite a bit since that era. One of the most obvious differences, according to Felosi, is the commonplace use of electricity in most every home these days. “In Virginia, they didn’t have what the coal camps had, they were farmers,” Felosi said. “It was a long time before they got electricity.” Harlan has always had a very close relationship with coal, and turns in the industry impacted everybody in the county in a big way then just as they do now. “Daddy was trying to make a living,” she said. “When the mines would go out on strike, he thought they were going to stay that way forever. He’d up and take us over to Virginia and he’d farm for other people. If you don’t have a farm of your own, you can’t make any money.” Felosi said her father would work for 50 cents a day. “Times got better over here in Harlan — they wanted a machine man — that was the last time daddy moved,” Felosi said. Many daily luxuries most take for granted these days simply were not available. Felosi remembered her sister getting sick, illustrating
how complicated a simple illness could be. “There were hardly any doctors,” Felosi said. “Nobody had a car…they just used old fashioned medicines.” She said when her family moved to Harlan from Virginia, some things improved for her family. “When we moved over here, we were tickled to death,” Felosi said. “We had electricity, one of those long cords that came down from the ceiling. We didn’t have water in the house and we had to use coal ( for heat), a company delivered coal to us.” Felosi explained her father would go into the mountains and cut wood to burn along with the coal to make the coal last longer and burn hotter. She says she never cared for meat, which could be scarce at that time. “The only meat we had was pork in the winter and chicken anytime we wanted it,” Felosi said. “Daddy raised his own hogs and chickens.” She remembers her mother paying for her and her siblings’ Easter outfits by selling turkey eggs to a local store. Other modern-day conveniences absent during this period in most Harlan homes included refrigerators, running water and televisions. According to Felosi, school was a bit different than what the average student would expect nowadays, from having multiple grades in one room to the harsher forms of discipline including paddling. “We had one teacher for three grades when I was in eighth grade,” Felosi said.
See THEN & NOW | 6
Joe P. Asher|Daily Enterprise
Freida Felosi, born in 1925, has seen a lot of changes in Harlan County.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018 B3
HERITAGE XXXIII
B4 Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Harlan Daily Enterprise
The ‘turbulent 30s’
Miner unrest, labor disputes, meningitis outbreak hit Harlan Co. File Report By 1931, Harlan County was in the midst of a national economic depression. Harlan miners took a 10 percent wage reduction in their already low pay on Feb. 16, 1931. At the same time, local relief funds to help the hungry were depleted. That year, 84 children in Harlan died because of malnutrition. For some miners, the news got even worse. On March 13, 1931, the Banner Fork Ford Mines in Wallins closed. In the next year, businesses all over Harlan County began to go under. On Jan. 12, 1932, the Citizens National Bank of Harlan closed. While an ad appeared the next day in the Harlan Daily Enterprise urging people not to panic, it would have been hard not to. Most mines cut workers’ hours and soon only two mines were operating more than three days a week. The market for coal had fallen so dramatically, companies mined only the most profitable sections of their land. According to William D. Forester’s work, “Harlan County: The Turbulent Thirties,” it was not uncommon to see gondolas at Verda dump their slack coal into the river. Partly due to tight credit, and more significantly because of job losses, local clothing and furniture stores went out of business en masse. The Depression also affected the Harlan Independent Schools, which were forced to cut 13 teaching positions and shorten its term in 1932. The city of Harlan, which had been compensating citizens with vouchers instead of currency, was also undergoing severe fiscal turmoil. In May 1932, Kentucky Utilities threatened to shut off the city street lights because of a $14,624 debt dating back to 1929. As commerce lagged and wages diminished, poverty set in on residents. Several organizations appeared to offer aid to those whose pride began to give way to starvation. On Dec. 2, 1932, the Harlan County Relief Committee reported 7,447 people had already requested food and other assistance. The Harlan Daily Enterprise also felt the economic pressure. In response, it held a contest, in which popular, attractive young women competed to sell the most subscriptions. In return, the winners received new cars. Another contest awarded a universally trusted currency, gold, to youngsters who signed up the most people. LABOR UNREST Due to the Depression, Harlan County entered the 30s with a declining coal market. Though without any significant union activity before the decade began, by 1939 the UMW was recognized by Harlan coal operators. This transformation was not an easy one. Violence, terrorism and intimidation were the norm when many coal operators dealt with union organizers.
By the end of the decade, the cost of this transformation in terms of human life would total 11 dead and 20 wounded. Law enforcement, which was often connected with the coal operators, was responsible for four dead miners, four more wounded and the injury of two newsmen. The National Guard, which visited Harlan frequently during the 1930s, killed two and wounded three. Labor was responsible for five dead deputies and the wounding of five others. Though the Harlan Daily Enterprise protested the national media’s treatment of the subject matter, frequent violence resulting from union conflicts and other political issues helped to earn Harlan the ignominious title: Bloody Harlan. With a relatively-low coal pay scale, union miners wanted company recognition and better pay. They didn’t want to be limited to living in the coal camps or shopping at camp commissaries. Moreover, miners were paid by the tonnage produced, but the coal companies often required them to do several hours of non-mine related work a day and the scales used often seemed to be in set the company’s favor. In this regard, the miners wanted check weigh men hired who could independently verify the tonnage. They also wanted the deputized mine guards, many of whom had criminal records and were controlled by the coal companies, removed. On March 1, 1931, the United Mine Workers (UMW) began a new drive for members in Harlan and Bell counties with a mass meeting in Pineville. In the next few days, 500 to 700 of the miners in attendance were fired. In sympathy for these miners, others began an unofficial strike. Evarts soon became the center of union activity because many fired and evicted miners could move there and receive aide from the town folks. Miners from Black Mountain Coal Company, who were active in the union movement, were one significant source which increased the strike numbers. Between March 1 and May 5, approximately 1,000 miners were either striking or discharged from Black Mountain Coal Company. In March, union miners had weekend marches from Evarts to other areas, such as Harlan, Wallins and Louellen. Between 8,000 and 9,000 union members were recruited countywide during this first strike campaign. By April 1931, tensions in Evarts often erupted in violence. One cause was a weak support system for the strikers. UMW had no money or food to aid them. In turn, starving miners looted stores around the city. At the same time, anti-union forces were also active in Evarts as evidenced by the burning of 16 homes. On April 16, 1931, union miner Bill Burnett shot
and killed Deputy Sheriff Jess Pace after he pursued and shot Burnett. At Shields, a dynamite blast destroyed a mine opening in early May. On April 28, 50 union miners near Evarts hid in bushes and fired at non-union miners who were going to work. Deputies fired rounds into the hills for an hour. According to an article in the Harlan Daily Enterprise, 16 Cawood houses, which union members had recently vacated, were burned on April 30 while gunmen drove back and forth for two hours firing into the post office, a restaurant, and two homes. On May 4, 1931, Judge D.C. Jones declared a state of lawlessness in Harlan. BATTLE OF EVARTS This activity culminated in the famous Battle of Evarts on May 5, 1931. That morning violence erupted when union members fired on a caravan of mine guards, deputies and a moving van transporting a non-union miner’s File photos possessions to Black Mountain’s Without any significant union activity before the decade began, by 1939 the camp. When it was finished, Jim UMW was recognized by Harlan coal operators. This transformation was not Daniels, Howard Jones, Otto Lee and union miner Carl Richmond an easy one. Violence, terrorism and intimidation were the norm. were dead. Many people were arrested could do little to keep the strike pulled the National Guard out of and blamed for the murders. going. On Saturday, May 24, min- Harlan. William Jones, the UMW secre- ers tried to rally in front of courtAccording to Hevener, from tary, was blamed for planning house in Harlan. Sheriff John 1931 to 1937 both Sheriffs Blair the whole affair and sentenced Henry Blair ordered tear gas to and Theodore Roosevelt Midto life in prison. Asa Cusick, the be used and announced that no dleton used deputies to bar Evarts chief of police, Al Benson, more rallies would be permitted. union organizers from entering assistant chief, and Joe Cawood, To end the strike, UMW and lead- the county and to disrupt union a merchant who had assisted ers of the powerful Harlan Coun- meetings within Harlan. evicted miners, were also ar- ty Coal Operators Association Blair, county sheriff from 1930rested for murder. Eventually, 43 (HCCO) met with the governor to 1933, publicly stated that during union miners were indicted and negotiate a settlement. Accord- the 1931-1932 strikes, “I did all in jailed. The International Workers ing to “Which Side Are You On?” my power to aid the coal operaof the World (IWW), which had by John W. Hevener, the HCCO tors.” a smaller presence in the county knew it held the upper hand and During this period he was than the UMW, was also blamed; refused to compromise. included in the popular union the police raided Jones’ house Eventually, the starved miners song, “Which Side Are You On?,” and accused him of IWW affili- returned to work and, by June which was penned by a miner’s ation. 17, the strike was dead. Approx- wife, Florence Reece. As the song The governor called in the imately 900, to 1,000 union min- goes, “You go to Harlan County, National Guard, which arrived ers refuse to sign “yellow-dog” there is no neutral there. You’ll several days after the battle to contracts renouncing the union either be a union man or a thug replace mine guards, to main- and were subsequently blacklistSee 1930s | 6 tain order. At this point, unions ed. On July 5, 1931, the governor
HERITAGE XXXIII
Harlan Daily Enterprise
1920s From page 2 bridges were washed away, with the total damage estimated at being over $100,000. Georgetown suffered the most damage. Over 1,000 people were left homeless until the water receded. In March 1929, another flood hit the area, forcing thousands of people to seek shelter. Around 100 people were temporarily housed in the courthouse’s jury room. Damages were estimated to have been around $100,000. The decade also saw the first mining explosion in Harlan County at the Black Mountain Corp. at Kenvir on May 22, 1928. Seven miners were killed and one was missing. Only the missing miner’s lunch bucket and coat were found. Eight men were trapped in the mines after the explosion but were rescued. About 100 miners who worked the night shift were inside the mine at the time of the explosion. The heat and smoke pouring from the mine kept rescuers back at first. One group tried to go inside the mine shortly after the accident, but the heavy smoke was too much for them and they had to come out quickly. A rescue team was also forced out of the mine by the smoke. The chief electrician at the mines, Frank Chow, then went in by himself. Chow had gone about 2,000 feet into the mine until he found two bodies. As he tried to drag the bodies outside, he was overcome by gas fumes. Chow died later that morning. The dangers of mining were echoed in an article published next to the story on the explosion. A slate fall killed two miners at Southern Mining Company’s mines at Balkans. A motor had hit the mine props, causing the slate fall. ELECTION FRAUD INVESTIGATED
Other large stories in the decade dealt with charges of fraud in elections. Questions about one Harlan County sheriff ’s election led to a recount and the elimination of both candidates for the position. A recount of the votes in the November 1925 election was ordered by Special Judge Henry R. Prewitt. Candidate Floyd Ball was seeking to set aside James Greene’s election to sheriff. Ball wanted a recount in all the 55 precincts outside of Lynch and wanted the Lynch precincts’ votes thrown out. The recount led Ball to gain 178 votes. The gain was said to come from counting formerly invalid votes. On these ballots, voters had checked a box for write-in candidates instead of the box next to Ball’s name. Two men, C.E. Booth and Fred See, the assistant superintendent at Lynch, were indicted on charges of preventing Democratic challengers from serving on Election Day. John W. Forester, who went to Lynch as an inspector, testified that he had been denied admission as a challenger at a precinct. Greene had filed a cross appeal charging
that large amounts of money were spent for Ball’s candidacy. The Court of Appeals found that both candidates appeared to have spent a large amount of money in their campaign. Special Judge Henry R. Prewitt, of Mount Sterling, decided that neither candidate was entitled to the position because of many irregularities. The Court of Appeals upheld his decision and threw the election out. Judge J.R. Howard was to appoint George Ward, the assistant secretary of the Harlan County Coal Operators’ Association, to the office of sheriff of the county in November 1926. Ward would hold the office on until Jan. 28, when a sheriff to be elected in the next election would take office. More politicians faced scrutiny in October 1929. The Court of Appeals ruled ‘no election’ in the August primary for the Republican nomination for sheriff of Harlan County. The opinion also reversed the Harlan Circuit Court, which, after a contest by J.S. Greene, had awarded the certificate of nomination to Joe Cawood. The appellate court called for the cancellation of the certificate and made the “no election” ruling because of violations of the election such as bribery, perjury, obstruction of justice and false swearing. A VIOLENT ERA Murders in the county also captured headlines
during the decade. Three men allegedly shot two officers after not being allowed to drive over the freshly-paved Harlan-Pineville road at Molus on the evening of July 6, 1928. Alec Napier, Alec Kelly and Charles Smith were accused of shooting Sheriff Floyd Ball and Deputy Sheriff John Hensley. While the accused men were in jail, a mob reportedly formed outside the jail to hang the men. A deputy was sent out to talk to the alleged leader of the mob and urged the men to disperse. The trial for Ball’s murder was held in September 1929. A night watchman for the Highway Department of Molus testified that another highway department employee called the police for help when Kelly kept ordering the employees to let them drive across the newly paved road. He also testified that he saw Kelly with a gun. A couple testified that after their car got stuck on the road near Molus, the accused men helped them get the car back on the road. The couple testified that as they were preparing to leave, they saw Kelly shoot the officers. They said Napier also shot Hensley once. Kelly testified that he had shot Hensley after the officer hit him above his left eye without warning. He said that neither officer ever said they were arresting the men. As Hensley hit him, Kelly said he shot the officer. Kelly said that as he shot Hensley, Ball began firing at him. Kelly said he then shot Ball. Kelly said that
See 1920s | 6
he was the only one who shot the officers. After hearing the testimony of 101 witnesses, the jury found Smith not guilty and sentenced Kelly and Napier to 21 years in the penitentiary. The verdict in the Hensley case came back about a week later. Smith was again found not guilty. Napier was given 15 years and Kelly was sentenced to life in prison. Another murder case, which was thought to be put to rest, was reexamined in March 1927 when the supposed victim was found alive in the county. Condy Dabney had been convicted of killing Mary Vickery. His girlfriend, Marie Jackson, testified that a body found at a mine was that of Vickery and that Dabney had killed her. He had served 11 months of a life sentence before Vickery, who had taken an assumed name and left town, came back to Harlan County. The body had been misidentified because a hat similar to Vickery’s was found with it. After the supposedly dead woman reappeared, Jackson admitted that she had known all along that the body was actually Lelia Cole and that Dabney was innocent. Jackson said that she had lied because she was mad at Dabney after an argument. She also said that Cole’s alleged killer,
Wednesday, March 28, 2018 B5 Charlie Williams, paid her $50 to keep quiet. Williams had been arrested after the body was found but was released when Jackson accused Dabney of the murder. Another criminal activity, bootlegging, was mentioned routinely in the Enterprise throughout the decade. So many of these cases clogged the courts that, in his statement to the grand jury in November 1926, Judge J.G. Forester urged people to obey the law, especially the prohibition laws. Forester said
that cases dealing with breaking prohibition laws took up most of the court’s time during every session. In what was said to be the largest seizure of illegal alcohol in the county ever, deputies confiscated and poured out about 1,400 gallons of still-beer at Cranks Creek in January 1929.
Editor’s Note: This article was written by former Enterprise contributing writer Andrea Noe.
Doing right by you because we live right by you. Roger Fannin Agency Manager
Ed Leisge Agent
Pete Cornett Agent
Nick Noe Agent
108 Walnut St. Harlan, KY 40831 606 - 573- 4575 Roger.Fannin@kyfb.com KENTUCKY FARM BUREAU
INSURANCE
Then & Now From page 2 “I would say the way they do it now is better, when it comes to handling the grades.” School lessons were completed by the light of oil lamps, something today’s school children would likely only see as a novelty. Felosi was the oldest of eight children and left school to take care of the younger children, according to her daughter Vicki. “I went back and got my GED,” Felosi added. Felosi remembered taking a bus from her residence near Liggett to the city of Harlan at a cost
of 10 cents a trip. “I had to go to Harlan to get my driver’s license and to the courthouse to pay taxes,” Felosi explained. She said a trip to Harlan was also required to shop for clothes or large appliances, which she did at several of the stores located downtown at the time. Felosi was married to her husband Victor for 72 years. She is also a long-time member of Liggett Baptist Church. Of course, there were a few other things going on in Harlan
1930s From page 4 for J. H. Blair.” At one point, Blair warned strikers what to expect if they became violent. “Hell, yes, I’ve issued orders to shoot to kill,” he told one reporter. “When ambushers fire on my men, they’ll shoot back, and shoot to kill. That’s what we use guns for here.” NMU parade in Harlan During the summer of 1931, many desperate, blacklisted miners, feeling betrayed by the UMW, began working with the National Miners Union (NMU), a communist-backed union. They established relief kitchens throughout the county and quickly recruited up to 4,000 members in 10 local unions. Parades throughout the county were held complete with Soviet flags displaying the hammer and sickle. An Aug. 10, 1931, article in the Harlan Daily Enterprise, which was opposed to organized labor though much of the 30s, stated that police quickly cracked down on the “reds.” At this time, the sheriff had over 50 deputies, many of them mine guards. The miners called them “gun thugs” because of their lack of respect for the law and many had criminal records. Controlled by the companies for which they worked, these deputies raided NMU members’ homes and public soup kitchens. On Aug. 30, two NMU miners were shot. By October, there were no NMU kitchens left in Harlan County. On Aug. 9, the Harlan Daily Enterprise endorsed this heavy-handed police work, writing that “an iron heel must be used to stamp out the foul growth” of the NMU. In January 1931, the NMU began a small, doomed strike. By that point, most of its members were blacklisted and had very little power. The Dreiser affair
Yet the union had friends outside of Harlan who repeatedly attempted to visit. Calling themselves the “National Defense of Political Prisoners,” writers Theodore Dreiser, John Dos Passos and six others visited Harlan to report on the conditions in the county coal fields. The group held public hearings, talked to miners and attended NMU meetings. Coal company sympathizers were not glad to see Dreiser’s presence in the area. While in Bell County, he was indicted on charges of adultery for living openly with his secretary, Maria Pergan. According to Forester, mountain sleuths outfoxed the New York writer by placing toothpicks at the closed door to Pergan’s room when Dreiser entered it one evening. In the morning, the toothpicks remained undisturbed, indicating he had not left the room. In response to the charges, the writer defended himself with an unorthodox public claim of impotence. Once departed, Dreiser was indicted for criminal syndicalism, but New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt refused to sign the extradition papers. Many other groups interested in examining Harlan County’s mining conditions were treated less than cordially by pro-operator interests. Writers Waldo Frank, Malcolm Cowley and Edmond Wilson were in Pineville for only four hours before being escorted to the state line and told not to return. In March of 1932, 40 members of the National Student League were turned back at the state line. Representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union were treated similarly. New labor efforts Outsiders aside, two failed NMU march attempts, on Jan. 1 and Jan. 17 of 1932, illustrated the
County during that era. Previous Enterprise reports show some landmark events in Harlan County during the 1920s and 30s include the county leading the state in producing coal in 1927. More than 13 million tons of coal were produced in Harlan that year, an increase of 2 million tons from 1925. Harlan City Police Chief James C. Pope was killed in the line of duty on Nov. 28, 1922. According to www.odmp.org Pope was shot and killed as he and an officer attempted to arrest two men who were creating a disturbance at a home on Cumberland Avenue. Pope had been summoned to the home from court, where he was testifying in
failure of the NMUs efforts in Harlan County. In June 1933, the National Industrial Recovery Act passed, which gave employees the right to join a union of their choice and bargain collectively. That summer, UMW President John L. Lewis sent organizers all over the coal fields to organize quickly before employers discovered ways of circumvent the law. New agreements set standards for the coal industry. In September 1933 the operators and unions established the Bituminous Coal Code and set minimum prices for all mines and established district boards to enforce them. The government started a chain of grievance and arbitration boards for miners and operators. In the next two years, contracts were signed between the coal industry and unions setting minimum daily wages and maximum daily hours. These contracts only applied to mines where union members worked. Armed with the new laws, the UMW began an organizing drive in the summer of 1933 and managed to recruit 5,000 Harlan County members. In the face of violence and intimidation tactics, these gains were shortlived. Miners were still routinely fired for joining the union. A union leader’s church was burned down, deputy sheriffs fired at union members’ cars and, in Pineville, a union leader’s apartment was dynamited. Deputies disrupted union rallies. At the Shields march, union members were pistol-whipped and beaten. At Lynch, U.S. Coal and Coke began a company union to combat the UMW. After the summer of 1933, the union had little access to mines and was unable to continue organizing. By 1935, there were only three union mines left, and two of them, Clover Splint and Black Star, soon terminated union contracts. Black Mountain was the only operating union mine.
HOWARD LAW FIRM www.howardlawplc.com
Joshua D. Howard
Harlan Daily Enterprise
HERITAGE XXXIII
B6 Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Whitney M. Howard
Danny Lunsford
('( ;Wij 9bel[h Ijh[[j" Ik_j[ , Feij E\\_Y[ 8en (,+ >WhbWd" A[djkYao *&.)' ,&, +-)#&&&' M[Xi_j[0 mmm$^emWhZbWmfbY$Yec
Delivering more than the expected: Practical wisdom, trusted advice.
a trial. When he arrived at the home with another officer, they were confronted by the father of one of the men creating the disturbance. The father told the chief that he would bring the two men down to the court shortly. As they discussed this, one of the men came downstairs holding a gun. The officer with Pope immediately began to struggle with the man as the second man came into the room from the basement. Shots were exchanged and Pope, the first suspect and the father were all killed. The second suspect fled the scene. A previous article published in the Enterprise states another criminal activity, bootlegging, was mentioned routinely in the
In February 1935, the UMW tried unsuccessfully to unionize Lynch and Benham. Union organizers were quickly arrested and had to give up the project. One state investigation reported to the governor that Sheriff Theodore Roosevelt Middleton should reform his force. In 1935, Gov. Ruby Laffoon appointed a commission to investigate the Harlan situation. The commission concluded, “the present situation of deputized mine guards and one-sided administration of the law must be abolished.” Because of the governors’ race, however, nothing happened to Harlan’s sheriff. Throughout all of this violence, the Harlan Daily Enterprise continued its line against the unions. In one piece, editor James Alverson warned readers of the “menacing hand that threatens to dip its slimy tentacles into the peace and quietude of our laboring men.” Wagner Act In 1935, the Wagner Act, which gave employees the right to organize and bargain as a union, was enacted. Unfortunately for union interests, it remained tied up in court for two years and little changed until 1937. Hearing the news, union members gathered in Evarts on July 7, 1935, to celebrate the Wagner Act. Instead of festivities, the “Second Battle of Evarts” broke out. Sheriff Middleton’s deputies arrived and beat two union members, including one of the speakers. The crowd quickly dispersed. Arrest warrants were issued for several of the deputies, but a grand jury failed to indite anyone. In 1937, the tide began to change for Harlan County union members. The Wagner Act was declared constitutional and a string of well-publicized violent acts brought national attention to Harlan. The most infamous of these was the murder of union organizer Marshall Musick’s son. In Washington, Senator Robert M. LaFollette of Wisconsin began hearings about the violence in the county and the Harlan coal operators’ violations of laws. These hearings were widely publicized and discredited the HCCO. The tide turns In Kentucky, pro-union federal policies made significant changes. Kentucky’s governor abolished the mine guard system, many operators left the HCCO and unions were able to begin a large or-
Enterprise throughout the 1920s. Due to the number of bootlegging cases clogging the courts at the time, Judge J.G. Forester made a statement to the grand jury in November of 1926 urging people to obey the law, especially the prohibition laws. Forester said that cases dealing with breaking prohibition laws took up most of the court’s time during every session. In what was said to be the largest seizure of illegal alcohol in the county ever, deputies confiscated and poured out about 1,400 gallons of still-beer at Cranks Creek in January 1929. To sum it up, Harlan County’s history has many different sides, with each showing a different aspect of mountain culture.
ganizing drive. The UMW filed charges against seven operators who fired union miners with the new National Labor Relations Board. In turn, the board ordered 205 union miners reinstated and compensated for back wages. The FBI also investigated the HCCO. On Sept. 27, 1937, 22 coal companies, 24 operators, Middleton and 22 deputies were indicted for violating the Wagner Act and conspiring to depriave miners of civil rights. Their May 1938 London trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial. On Aug. 28, 1938, HCCO and unions finally signed a contract which came close to full union recognition. Union officials and members could now travel freely. A new headquarters was established in downtown Harlan. In 1939, Harlan’s union miners and coal operators had a 121 day standoff. On May 13, the HCCO walked out of the Joint Appalachian Union-Coal Operators agreement in New York. The UMW wanted either a union-shop clause or a no-penalty clause, meaning they could strike within the contract. A national strike began on April 3, 1939, and all the mines in Harlan closed. This time, the UMW was well prepared with provisions and money to bond homes for people and ensure there were no evictions. Until late May, few mines reopened. On May 15, Gov. Happy Chandler sent in the National Guard to reopen the mines. While the coal operators had state help, the unions had federal assistance. The Roosevelt administration stepped in to pressure the HCCO into an agreement and threatened a retrial of the conspiracy case. The federal Works Project Administration began providing strikers with food near the end of the strike and the Justice Department watched the county for civil rights violations. The strike was non-violent until its last days. On July 12, at a picket line in Totz, fighting began. Two union miners, Dock Caldwell and Daniel Noe, were killed and union members Noble Bowman, John Kennedy, and Frank Laws were wounded. Two soldiers, Captain Hanbery and Private Mason, were also injured. The long strike was finally settled on July 19, 1939. The agreement called for a no-penalty clause but no union-shop clause. Contested elections Politically, the county was torn by a series of con-
tested elections in which a pattern of election fraud, violence and National Guard intervention developed. According to Forester, coal operators were “vitally interested in controlling the offices they felt necessary in their fight against labor organizations.” In this regard, Judge D.C. Jones was the centerpiece of their hold on local government. County sheriff, commonwealth attorney and county judge were among the indispensable positions. The county election of 1933 is a good example of illegal electoral activities. Ted and Clarence Middleton had reportedly seized an illegally stuffed ballot box from the Black Mountain election district two days before the Republican primary. They arrived in downtown Harlan with guns loaded and seized control of city hall. Mayor L.O. Smith reacted by asking the governor to call out the National Guard to resolve the situation. During the same election, General Denhardt arrived in the county on Aug. 6 and dispatched a squad of soldiers to disburse rival political combatants who were firing upon each other in the Tway district. According to Forester, many methods of ballot tampering were utilized during the 30s. Chain ballots, vote buying, stuffing the box, buying off tabulators and, on some occasions, viewing voters through peep holes were known to occur. At other times, vote fixers would go into the booth with their “clients” to ensure they cast the right ballot. In November 1937, Harlan County again voted with the National Guard in attendance. Chandler ordered in the guard, because there was a good chance for Democratic victories in the previously Republican county. Middleton and 40 state highway patrolmen were incarcerated for the duration of the balloting. Meningitis outbreak On Feb. 4, 1936, the first case of what would become a spinal meningitis epidemic, which spread to nearly the entire county, was reported in Wallins. The epidemic, which was known to kill children within 24 hours, caused first Cumberland, and later the entire county, to be placed under quarantine by County Health Official Dr. W.P. Cawood. While restricting public assemblies, schools and bars remained largely open. During this period which ran into 1937, a makeshift emergency hospital was constructed at Martins Fork. The clinic lost 25 of the approximately 100 meningitis patients it treated. In all, 320 people suffered from the disease which claimed 75 lives. Editor’s note: This article was written by Warren Parish, a former Enterprise staff writer.