McDowell County, West Virginia coal tipple
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McDowell County, West Virginia,
Historical Facts
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Eyewitnesses reported between 25 and 50 shots fired on
the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch, WV, August 1, 1921. Matewan Police Chief, 26 year old, W. J.
"Smiling Sid" Hatfield and 22 year old Ed Chambers, lay dead. Charged with "shooting up" the
Mohawk coal tipple during this controversial union organizational period with
the UMWA against big coal operators, the two were gunned down in cold blood
on the steps of courthouse.
A US Senate Committee tied the untimely deaths back to
a prior shooting spree in Matewan,
WV, which occurred on May 19, 1920. Brothers of Thomas L. Felts, a partner in
the Baldwin-Felts (union busters) Agency were killed (7 Baldwin-Felts
employees killed). Sid Hatfield, with
18 additional men, charged with the shootings, were acquitted of all charges.
Thomas Felts, owner of the Baldwin-Felts Agency,
admitted to furnishing men to coal operators to intercede in matters against
possible union organizational efforts by the United Miner Workers.
McDowell County-world's largest coal producing county
in the world for 22 years
US
Senator Robert C. Byrd - his foster father worked in the coal mines on the
banks of the Elkhorn Branch of the Tug Fork and the family lived in West Virginia
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