Today in Labor History May 18, 1920: The Battle of Matewan occurred in the town of Matewan, Mingo County, West Virginia. It started when the mine bosses fired miners for joining the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and evicted them from their company housing. Sheriff Sid Hatfield supported the miners’ right to organize and tried to arrest the detectives. The detectives, in turn, tried to arrest Hatfield. Unbeknownst to the detectives, armed miners had surrounded them. No one knows who shot first, but when the smoke had cleared, there were 7 dead detectives, including Albert and Lee Felts, and 4 dead townspeople, including the mayor. The episode became known as the “Matewan Battle” or “Matewan Massacre,” and is depicted in John Sayles’ film Matewan.

It should be pointed out that mining was one of the most dangerous and corrupt industries around. Owners typically forced the miners to live in company towns and purchase living necessities from their company stores at inflated prices. They paid the men in scrip, which was useless outside of the company towns. In the time leading up to the Battle of Matewan, miners in other parts of the country had won a 27% wage increase. The time was ripe for organizing southern Appalachia. The UMWA sent in their best organizers, including Mother Jones. 3,000 men signed union cards in the early spring of 1920. Yet, at the same time, vigilantes, detectives and goons were murdering miners in the region. And the company was evicting anyone who signed up. So, hundreds of miners and their families were living in the Stony Mountain Camp Tent Colony.

In order to quell the violence, the governor sent in the state police to take control of Matewan. Hatfield cooperated. And the miners, encouraged by the departure of the Baldwin Thugs, increased their organizing efforts. On July 1, they went on strike again and were met with even more violence. Striking miners were beaten and left to die in the streets. And the remaining Felts brother, Tom, instigated a vendetta against Sheriff Hatfield, eventually having him killed by his agency in 1921.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #matewan #miners #strike #union #massacre #film #acab #Detectives

In The Heat of the Night is John Ball’s Virgil Tibbs series. Not only is it a superior crime in a Sherlock Holmes style but relevant statement on ignorance in the Jim Crow era.

Hopefully no one will edit this one for sensitivity in the future or ban it from education.

@bookstodon #bookstodon #crimebooks #MysteryBooks #mystery #Detectives #VirgilTibbs #policeprocedural

any #Sherlock peeps watching Magpie Murders? So many signs Pünd is queer (the author character is canonically bi, the assistant is the gay partner in the irl narrative, his labor camp history, etc) but it doesn't seem (so far) to be canon.

Totally different sitch than Sherlock, but it still has me gnashing my teeth just a hair.
#queer #detectives #please #cmon