Coal Wars | Bloody Mingo | 3

American History Tellers

Wondery

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, History, Education For Kids

4.7 • 18.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2020

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In May 1920, Sheriff Sid Hatfield won the loyalty of Mingo County’s miners after a deadly gun battle that left seven Baldwin-Felts agents dead on the streets of Matewan, West Virginia. That summer, the coal companies brought in trainloads of strikebreakers to get the mines running again. But local miners were electrified by the Matewan Massacre and they waged an all-out guerilla war as Hatfield awaited trial for murder.

For months, gunfire and explosions echoed over the hills of Mingo County as the coal companies and their hired guards fought back with equal force. As “Bloody Mingo” made national headlines, the Governor moved to stop the unrest, imposing martial law. Soon, the military regime ruling Mingo County unleashed new atrocities against the miners and their families. And a shocking assassination sparked calls for revenge.

Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/historytellers.

Support us by supporting our sponsors!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to American History Tellers add free on Amazon Music,
0:05.6	download the app today.
0:09.4	Imagine it's early morning in August 1920 in Mohawk, West Virginia.
0:22.6	You're an operator for the Mohawk Coal and Coacomany.
0:25.9	All Union miners have been on strike for months, but your relief your mind is finally back
0:30.3	up and running again.
0:31.9	And that's only because you brought in strikebreakers.
0:35.7	The work day won't start for another three hours, but you came in before sunrise to go
0:40.4	over some paperwork.
0:42.4	Profits are still far below where they were last year, and you're desperately seeking
0:45.8	a way to make up the shortfall.
0:50.2	You rush outside and search for the source of commotion.
0:57.0	For the past few weeks, Union men have been showing up to try to organize your loyal
1:00.9	miners.
1:01.9	You expect to see them again, but what you find stops you in your tracks.
1:06.0	Half a dozen men are rigging dynamite around your pump machinery.
1:09.3	You're just about ten yards away, so close you can see the matches in their hands.
1:13.6	Hey, what are you doing?
1:16.0	One of the men stops, turns and smiles at you.
1:18.8	It's not an ounce of fear in his eyes.
1:21.0	Please, we can't run this mine without that pump.
1:23.4	Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you brought in your last trainload
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wondery, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wondery and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.