YELLOWDOG CONTRACT

1
YELLOW-DOG CONTRACT

• Miners were often forced to sign yellow-dog
  contracts which said they would be fired if they
  joined a union or tried to get others to join a
  union.
• Miners who refused to sign or were considered
  trouble because of their union views were put on
  a blacklist and other companies would not hire
  them.
• The Supreme Court ruled in the Hitchman Case that
  yellow-dog contracts were legal.

2
STRIKE

• THE MINERS WEAPON AGAINST THE COAL COMPANIES
• A strike is a stoppage in work in order to get
  ones demands met.

3
UNHOLY FOUR

• INJUNCTIONS
• SCABS
• MINE GUARDS (THUGS)
• STATE MILITIA

4
MOTHER JONES

• Miners Angel
• Organized miners to join union
• Arrested deported from WV many times

5
PAINT CREEK/CABIN CREEK MINE WARS (1912-1913)

• In 1912 Paint Creek miners contract from 1902
  expired with the coal company
• Company refused to renew the contract
• Miners went on strike asking for a 9-hour workday
  and to be paid in cash instead of scrip
• Cabin Creek miners joined the strike

6
BATTLE AT MUCKLEW

• July 25, 1912
• Fighting broke out between Paint Creek/Cabin
  Creek miners and Baldwin-Felts Detectives
• 12 miners 4 mine guards killed
• Gov. Glasscock sends state militia and declares
  martial law

7

• After martial law miners resort to guerilla
  warfare against mine guards
• Hundreds of miners sentenced to long prison terms
• 83 year old Mother Jones sentenced to 20 years in
  prison

8

• Miners attack 3 coal camps to stop scabs from
  working the mines
• 1 company miner killed, several injured
• Sheriff leads a posse to Holly Grove where miners
  families are living in tents
• 2 people killed and 16 injured
• Both sides blame each other

9

• Bull Moose Special, armored train with mounted
  machine gun, fires into the miners tents where
  their families are living
• Miners retaliate attacking coal camp at Mucklew
• 12 miners killed, 4 mine guards
• Gov. Glasscock sends milita back in

10
GOV. GLASSCOCK

• Declared Martial Law after the battle at Muckew
  durin Paint Creek/Cabin Creek mine wars
• Arrested Mother Jones miners
• Took miners weapons but not mine guards

11
GOV. GLASSCOCK

• Outlawed union meetings
• Had state militia evict miners and provide
  protection to scabs

12
GOV. HATFIELD

• Ended mine wars in 1913
• Gave both sides an ultimatum ending the Paint
  Creek/Cabin Creek Strike
• Reduce prison terms of Mother Jones miners

13
TERMS OF GOV. HATFIELDS END TO THE STRIKE

• 9 hour workday
• Miners could shop at stores other than the
  company store
• Miners would be paid twice a month
• Miners could have a checkweighman to make sure
  they werent being cheated when they were paid
  for amount of coal they mined

14
SID TWO-GUN HATFIELD

• Chief of Police in Matewan
• Fought in Matewan Massacre
• Found not guilty of murder
• Killed on the steps of the courthouse in Welch

15
MATEWAN MASSACRE

• Striking miners in Matewan had been evicted
• Baldwin-Felts Detectives try to arrest Chief of
  Police Sid Hatfield who says the evictions are
  illegal
• Hatfield and Detectives each claim to have arrest
  warrants for each other

16
BLOODY MINGO

• Shooting starts and 9 men, including the brother
  of the head of the detective agency, are killed
• Hatfield and 20 miners are charged with murder
• Open warfare wages between the 2 sides for the
  next year in Mingo County

17
BATTLE OF BLAIR MT.

• 3000 miners march from Kanawha County after Sid
  Hatfield and Ed Chambers are shot down on the
  courthouse steps at Welch (the men were standing
  a new trial after being found not guilty)
• miners were marching to unionize Logan County

18
BATTLE OF BLAIR MT.

• Miners were called Rednecks because they wore
  red bandanas around their necks during the march
• Mother Jones tries to stop the miners
• Bill Blizzard Fred Keeney lead the miners on
  the march
• Sheriff Don Chafin of Logan County vows to stop
  the miners

19
BATTLE OF BLAIR MT.

• Miners stop but then continue march when they
  hear deputies have killed 5 miners
• Sheriff Chafin drops bombs from his private
  airplane onto the miners
• Fighting lasts 4 days Gov. Morgan calls President
  Harding who sends federal troops to stop the
  fighting at Blair Mt.

20
BATTLE OF BLAIR MT.

• Miners leave or surrender to federal troops
  refusing to fight against their country
• 3 confirmed deaths and 40 wounded among Chafins
  forces -- no numbers among miners
• Over 500 miners arrested
• Largest labor uprising in U.S. history