S&W history from Bloody Harlan

[McBear]

Back in the 1920s Harlan County Kentucky had a national reputation known as Bloody Harlan. Much from the coal owners/union organizers war for unionization. But some was just a biproduct of that turbulent time.

A revolver has shown up that was part of a shootout that ended the life of the Chief of Police back in 1922. His son, a retired doctor lives across the street from me now. Small world.

The Harlan Daily Enterprise - Harlan City Police locate piece of history

 

[jlrhiner]

Neat history. Those were turbulent times.
Thanks for posting it.

 

[keith44spl]

Neat find on the old revolver.

One of my runnin buddies said he got 5 years worth of LE experience
in 12 months in Harlan and Pike Counties with KSP.

Way back wonder, I work both sides of I-75 in the Boone Nat'l Forest all the way over to the Virginia & W.Virginia lines

A stranger could jest come up missin' in one of them deep hollows if'n he weren't real careful...Even today.

Su Amigo,
Dave

 

[Bedrockk]

How's it like livin round those parts nowadays?

 

[amazingflapjack]

I had a boyhood friend who's Dad was from there, and had an uncle or something that was in one of those broad daylight-middle of the street gun fights during the union conflict. I have always opined that, if we were ever invaded, that those hills (the Appalachians) would be as far as the invaders would get.

 

[McBear]

How's it like livin round those parts nowadays?

I now live in Lexington [contrary to Justified miles, it is 150 miles to Harlan] but go down there often.

It is both the best place on Earth and becoming the worst. With high unemployment and only one industry which fluctuates its employment, the future is not bright. Pot replaced moonshine in the 1970s and now meth is replacing pot so there is both manufacturing and rampant use. The silver lining, I have a childhood friend who retired from US Customs in Miami who is now in Harlan and I sense that a cleanup is imminent. I figure he will be the next sheriff.

 

[McBear]

Neat find on the old revolver.

One of my runnin buddies said he got 5 years worth of LE experience
in 12 months in Harlan and Pike Counties with KSP.

Way back wonder, I work both sides of I-75 in the Boone Nat'l Forest all the way over to the Virginia & W.Virginia lines

A stranger could jest come up missin' in one of them deep hollows if'n he weren't real careful...Even today.

Su Amigo,
Dave

My two favorite LE stories regarding Harlan.

When I was a teen I was at one of the drive-in restaurants in the county. In a nearby car was one of the State Police officers with the wife of a friend. The friend rolled up, saw his wife and pulled the officer out of the window, disarmed him, stripped him naked and handcuffed him to the pole in the front of the drive-in. He then saw me, handed me the officers gun and uniform and took his wife and left. I went inside and called Post 10 and told them to come and get their boy. No charges were filed.

When Billy G Williams became Sheriff in the early 1970s [you can see him [and hear my radio station voice] on the documentary Harlan County USA] he decided to clamp down on bootleggers. One place that LE seldom went was a place called Jones' Creek. With very good reason. As a shiny new special deputy just for this operation I told him I would go up there. I didn't tell him that my uncle was the landowner for the hollar and that I didn't have problems getting through. That thing you see on Justified where folks have families that shadow both sides of right is stone cold accurate.

If your friend knew Redwine or Danny Castle or Billy G or Gurney Luttrell, that was the time that I was there, and with WHLN.

 

[Trooperdan]

The 20's was the time of the French and Eversol war... war, not feud! I had kin on my wife's side that were very involved, they were the Combs. In the mid '60's, I was there for a visit and went out without my wife. Every conversation I got into I had to explain "who's your people"!

 

[hsguy]

Good looking gun and great stories. There was a movie or special on PBS years ago about the labor wars in Harlan County. Well worth watching if you ever run across it.

 

[McBear]

Good looking gun and great stories. There was a movie or special on PBS years ago about the labor wars in Harlan County. Well worth watching if you ever run across it.

The Academy Award winning documentary Harlan County USA from 1976 covers the union issues from the 1970s. There was a show on History Channel called Appalachia narrated by Billy Ray Cyrus which was pretty complete.

For the best history of Harlan there is a series of books written by William D Forester [Federal Judge Karl Forester's father].

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_ath...books&ie=UTF8&field-author=William D Forester