Baldwin Felts Detective Agency

I'm loving this tread guys. I've researched coal mining from my interests in rail roading.
I am going to look up those books mentioned and acquire them. You folks are a virtual fountain of information.
 
Thanks moosedog, my favorite source for out of print books in bookfinder.com, they are used by most of the major on-line book sellers who are used by numerous smaller independant book sellers.

The book mentioned by ColbyBruce is titled "Struggle In The Coalfields" by Fred Mooney. There are three copies, all listed by Amazon. The lowest priced one is listed as "readable" for it's condition and I would rather get one in better shape. The other two are a little high priced for me right now, especially the one in the U.K. Of Course if you buy the cheaper one you can loan it to me. There is a 12 page pamphlet with the same title written by Kim Mooney, it appears to be a work of political propaganda and doesn't appear to be related to Fred Mooneys book.
 
Jellybean:

Thanks for the information about Sid Hatfield and the Huntington, WV Police Department. I will try to contact them and see if they maintained records on the Felts brothers weapons.

HKSmith
 
I'm glad I can help and good luck to both of you on your searches. Moosedog if you've never been to W.VA. it has some of the nicest people and some of the best scenery you can ask for. My wife and I go there every chance we can just to get out of Ohio. In fact my favorite quip is: "What's separates Heaven from Hell? The Ohio River."
 
Yes, I have been to WV on several occassions, rafting the New River and researching the NF&G Railroad near Rainelle.
You are correct on it being beautiful and the people being great, always an enjoyable trip.
 
Speaking of WV, Matewan and the New River have you ever heard of Thurmond, WV.? It's a small town next to the New River and is where the movie "Matewan" was filmed because it looked like a 1920s coal town and they didn't have to build a movie set. I've been to it twice and most of it is rotting into the ground. If you like trains, rivers and Appalachian history this is a great destination. The old train depot is now a museum and there are train tracks every where you step.
 
Jellybean,My first summer working with AEP I assisted a coal buyer,we had to take samples off coal face.They don't pay those guys enough we traveled 1 mile underground.It's the close to hell as I ever want to be.I retired after 25 years working at coal fired generating plant .Moosedog you'll like Thurmond alot of history.
 
Belfastman, I know what you mean, I don't think I'd want to try it. I like to explore caverns but crawling around in some of those coal mines that are only about three feet high would be something else. My wife and I drove down to Sago WV last year to see the memorial to the miners that died there in 2006, it is a moving experience. It is in the middle of nowhere but there were miners from several other states visiting it at the same time we were there, I never realized how close of a brotherhood they had.

There is a tour you can take down into a coal mine at Beckley WV, but my wife is afraid to go on it. Which means I don't have to tell her I'd be afraid too.

And as long as we are talking WV, railroads and tourism, there is a working Shay locomotive at the Cass Scenic Railroad near Cass WV.
 
I am from Maggofin County in eastern Ky and I can remember the struggles of the miners in the 70's and 80's. It was not much different than then than it was 50 years prior. If you can find it a documentary was made in the mid 70's call Harlan County USA. This shown the struggle of miners against Duke Power.

Another little know fact was the US Air Corp was called out to do a bombing raid on striking miners, this was the only time that they where call in to attack US citizens. The raid was cancled do to fog. I don't remember all the details but I am sure a google search will provide more details.

Tim.
 
My Dad is from Bluefield. Back when I was a teen, my Grandfather, a Bluefield railroad worker, told me about the Matewan Massacre, a firsthand story, and I of course being a know it all teen thought he was pulling my leg so I didn't pay too much attention.
icon_rolleyes.gif
Thats one of the things I'd go back to and change if I could.
 
Timb1, thanks for the info, I've never heard of any of that, I guess I was too busy to stop and look. I read about the documentary on Wikipedia it sounds pretty interesting, I'm going to put it on my list of things to do but haven't been able to do any of them. I have heard of Harlan County though, and I believe every word of it.

geoff40, that's how I was with my Grandfather, he would tell stories for hours and I just wanted to run, run, run. He used to tell me how dangerous it was to go to an area called "Porter Creek", I thought he was acting tough because he was related to them, but he wasn't kidding.
 
June, 2007 issue of Precision Shooting magazine had a fascinating article on "Two Gun" Sid Hatfield and the Matewan events by Joe Roxby. Back issues are available from Precision Shooting Inc., 222 McKee St., Manchester, CT 06040, www.precisionshooting.com.
 
Belfastman, thanks for the info I thought it was Blair Mt. but wasn't sure.

I also remember only about half listening to the stories in my younger days. One I recall was about a stand off between company agents armed with Thompsons and a few locals armed with Krags and 03 Springfields. Needless to say the agents wasted a lot of ammo because they never got anywhere close enough to be effective and when the locals took a shot someone went down. I wish I had lstened to all the details.

On the same theme of misted opertunites, I once had the chace to look over Devil Anse Hatflied's 7.5 inch target triple lock. I wish I had written down the asking price and the serial number but what does a young teenager know.

Youth is wasted on the young, Tim.
 
Belfastman, it was around 30 years ago, an old east Ky gun trader had it. His name was Harrison Preist, he traded in the Paintsville, Prestonsberg, Pikeville area. He had a healthy price on it at the time, somewhere in the 800-1200 range. The old TL had quite a lot of holster wear on it.

I was around 12-14 at the time, wish I could remember all the details, but I was impressed at the time. I knew then it was a peice of history.
 
Mas, Thanks for the info and the link. I had found several interesting pictures of Sid when I was doing my research which I can't find now. One of my three biggest internet research complaints.

Timb1, that would have been interesting if it was authentic. I have a book about "Devil Anse" by Coleman Coleman C. Hatfield, his great grandson, and Robert Y. Spence titled "The Tale Of The Devil". They mention a couple of double action revolvers and a Winchester repeating rifle that were used during the feud but it was more because they were very uncommon in that area at the time. I'm not saying he couldn't have owned one, he died in January of 1921, unfortunately this book wasn't written about his firearms.
 
This thread peaked my interest again, I tracked down a copy of "Thunder In The Mountains" by Lon Savage. I just finished chapter two which describes the battle at Matewan a little different than H. B. Lee's book. This version sounds a lot more plausible.
 
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