Fork Ridge Coal Mine Wars
From the site by Three
Tragic Events in Mingo Hollow by Smith D. Ray
Fork Ridge, Claiborne County was named from a nearby
mountain spur. It is located in the northwestern portion of the county
on the Kentucky border. Fork Ridge was settled in 1890 when the Fork
Ridge Coal & Coke Company opened a mine in the section.
The third tragic event to happen at
the Tennessee-Kentucky line where Claiborne County and Bell County adjoin,
about five miles southwest of Middlesboro, was called "The Mingo
Massacre" by some and "The Battle of Fork Ridge" by others. This
incident resulted in four men being killed and nine others wounded.
Those killed were: C. W. Rhodes,
president and general manager of the Fork Ridge Coal & Coke Company and
director of the American Association; E. W. Silvers, vice president and
treasurer of the Fork Ridge Coal & Coke Company; Bob Robinson of Tazewell,
former sergeant in the Tennessee highway patrol; and Sam Evans of Middlesboro,
a member of the union pickets.
Those injured were: R. W. Lawson;
Alford Smith; Walter Polly; Earl Alley; John Holland; Clayton Webb; Millard
Forester; A. J. Napier and a ninth person who came in the next day after having
hidden in the mountains overnight.
The situation that resulted in this
tragedy had been getting worse for years. The coal mines in Yellow Creek Valley
began to be developed some fifty years prior to this event. The railroad reached
the area in 1889. Almost immediately the union organizing agitation in the coal
fields in other regions reached the newly accessible mines. In 1890, various miners’
unions joined to form the United Mine Workers of America and designated
District #19 as the district that included eastern Tennessee and southeastern
Kentucky, including the Yellow Creek Valley.
The strength of the union varied
over the years with mounting pressure to support nationwide strikes and company
pressure to resist any strike. In the fall of 1900 District 19 came out in a
sympathy strike of its union nationwide. The strike was short-lived.
In 1901 the Yellow Creek Coal and
Lumber Company was formed with E. S. Helburn, Joe
Bosworth, J. G. Fitzpatrick and A. H. Rennebaum as
owners of the company. These men, known locally as "The Yellow Creek
Crowd" were active and influential civic leaders for many years. Their
families were close friends with their wives working together on community
activities and their children often intermarried. The strength of these men and
others who owned the mines kept many of the mines operating as non-union mines
for years.
In 1910, mine operators in District
19 refused to sign the UMWA contract when it came up for renewal. By 1919,
there was again a strike to force the
recognition of the UMWA in the mines. In 1921, the UMWA called a general strike
that lasted into 1922. This idled twelve to fifteen
thousand miners in the area. Nonunion miners who tried to work were threatened
and even fired upon. Eventually all the mines were closed. (Clippings during the 1922
strike when my grandfather, County Judge, L.G. Payne and Sheriff O.I.
Mink requested from the Governor of Tennessee, A.A. Taylor, that Troops be sent
to help quell the violence. None were sent and eventually the violence in the
Mingo Hollow resulted in the deaths of several striking miners as Deputy
Sherriff Charles Mink, brother of Sherriff I.O. Mink)
Finally the strike was settled and
miners returned to work. In 1924, District 19 broke with the UMWA and accepted
a reduction in wages. Then the depression hit and times were tough for all.
Times remained unsettled through the 1930’s with boom and bust years for the
coal industry.
On April 1, 1941, the UMWA called
yet another strike. Most mines in twelve states closed after 400,000 miners
walked out. However, in Mingo Hollow the nonunion mines continued to operate.
On April 14, 1941, a large group of union men, many from Harlan County, where
violence had already been experienced, met a Colmar Road just north of
Middlesboro to organize. The number of cars there has been estimated as high as
fifty. James W. Ridings, the international representative of the UMWA,
addressed the crowd. There are mixed reports as to what took place at this
meeting, but the result was a convoy drove through Middlesboro and on to Mingo
Hollow where they planned to meet the evening shift and convince them to sign
in support of the union.
The location where the confrontation
and battle took place just happened to be the exact same location as the
Cherokee slaughter of the Mingo Indians, the Quarterhouse
battle and now the coal miner’s confrontation. As often seen to be expected by
the mountain people, things happen in threes. This being the
third event in the exact same spot.
When C. W. "Dusty" Rhodes,
manager of the American Association and president of the Fork Ridge Coal
Company, learned the convoy of men was headed toward the mines, he determined
to meet the situation head on. He drove out to the mines where he met three
deputies and asked them to tell the group to keep the road open. The deputies
attempted to convey the request but were ignored and disarmed.
Rhodes then went to the schoolhouse
near his mines. E. W. Silvers, vice-president and treasurer of Fork Ridge Coal
Company joined him there. Silvers had been warned of the pending trouble
through a phone call from his brother-in-law in Middlesboro. John Rhodes, Dusty’s brother and J. H. Woodson, manager of Kentucky
Utilities also joined the group. After some discussion, they decided to drive
down to the area where the pickets were blocking the road and deal with the
situation. Bob Robinson, a former Tennessee Highway Patrolman, rode in the car
with Dusty Rhodes serving as his bodyguard.
The first miners getting off work
started down the road and when they saw the road blocked they returned to the
mine. Three miners decided to try and run through the roadblock and were
stopped. Two of them signed the "check off" supporting the union and
the third refused. He was dragged out of his car but before anything could be
done to him their attention was diverted by three other cars coming from the
direction of the mine.
Silvers got out of his car and
started toward the group of pickets. He stopped and spoke to them asking that
there not be any trouble. Four or five union men grabbed him and threw him to
the ground. At the same time this was happening, Robinson and Rhodes stepped
out of their car. Robinson screamed something at the pickets and headed toward
the front of the car with a rifle in his hands. Rhodes got out of the car on
the other side. One shot rang out then two more. After a brief pause, a barrage
of gunfire loosed a hailstorm of bullets for a minute or more. The union men
who greatly outnumbered the company men killed three immediately. The company
men took cover underneath the cars and returned fire killing one and wounding
nine.
The union men, realizing the extent
of the killing and injuries, put their wounded in cars and sped back toward
Middlesboro. Woodson crawled from beneath the car and attempted to call an
ambulance, but soon realized all four men were already dead.
The death of the two highly esteemed
members of Middlesboro caused some to call the event a massacre. For others it
was a righteous battle that had yielded a martyr. Over three hundred people
attended the funerals of Rhodes and Silvers. Three thousand attended the funeral
of Sam Evans.
Indictments were issued for James
Ridings, A. C. Pace, the nine wounded men and three hundred unnamed miners.
William Turnblazer, the president of District 19 was
also charged with first-degree murder even though he was not even in town at
the time of the killings. The rationale used was that he had encouraged an
atmosphere of violence that led directly to the tragedy. After this violence,
the other non-union mine owners insisted their men join the union, as they
wanted no more killing.
The trial for the murder of Rhodes
did not get underway until the day after Pearl Harbor when attention was
diverted elsewhere. It took four days to select a jury with over nine hundred
potential jurors called. Many did not show, many others had ties to the union
or admitted to an opinion. Finally a jury of farmers was selected.
Testimony was completed in four days
and the jury deliberated five and a half hours before returning not guilty
verdicts for all defendants. Trials for the murders of Silvers and Robinson
were delayed and finally, in August 1942, dismissed with a directed acquittal.
The coal boom continued through 1947
when District 19 had 20,000 unionized miners. However, by 1953, nearly a third
of Kentucky’s miners were unemployed as a result of changes in the mining
industry, overseas coal importation and closure of many small mines. This trend
continued until District 19 had only 4,589 members in 1964.
A remembrance by Roxie Sells, a Tennessee
grandmother and member of
Save Our Cumberland Mountains.
Courtesy of Save Our Cumberland Mountains
Don’t ever
let anyone tell you that land that has been strip mined can ever be reclaimed
to anything like it was before.
We had never heard of strip mining before 1948 or 1949 when they started working not far from our home in northwest Claiborne County, Tennessee. We thought they had found a rich pocket of coal and when they got it they would leave. Never did we dream that 57 or 58 years later they would still be there ripping and tearing up what used to be such a beautiful place.
Tennessee and Kentucky State Line Sign
Following provided by Joe Payne
My childhood memories of my Robinson
family were of my Aunt Lucile Robinson who had married Henry Horton Robinson.
Horton was a first cousin to Jacob Baylor "Bob" Robinson.
Pauline Robinson, Horton's sister, had married Tipton Payne, a first cousin to
my father, Al Payne. So the Payne/Robinson relationship was close.
My generation only heard mostly second hand accounts of the events
surrounding Sgt. Bob Robinson's death but from knowing and attending the
Tazewell United Methodist Church his mother, Elizabeth Norflett
L. Schultz Robinson and from the rest of the Robinson's who visited from North
Carolina, I was always sure that they were the kindest and most honest people
that I would want to know.
The Robinson and Rose families were close and from what I can discern from the
1920 census Jacob Baylor "Bob", then 13, was living with his
brother's Ben Henry and Schultz in the household of J.W. Rose, Sr. and J.W.'s son Earnest 15. With them was J.W.'s
brother-in-law G.M. Moyers and Laura Rose Moyers, and J.W. Rose, Sr sister. G.M. Moyers was apparently the son of
Henry Moyers. Henry Moyers had several
other children, daughters Roxie and Kattie, son
Billie, daughter Lillie and sons Cloud and Robert.
The follow pictures were sent to me by Beth Robinson Bunch in December 2007.
Beth is the daughter of William Jacob Robinson, who in trun was the son of Jacob Baylor "Bob" Robinson,
the son of Sterling Robert Robinson. A few are from pictures that I have
in my collection from my parents and are scanned here.
Another page I have located thanks to Randy Bullen is
the AUCTION SITE of Sgt. Robert (Bob)
Robinson's Tennessee State Patrol .38 Colt service revolver.
It sold in 2013 for a mere $17,250.
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My
great grandfather Robert Sterling Robinson in front of his restaurant, City
Cafe. |
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The Betty
Lou Cafe. My grandmother Alta Robinson standing behind my grandfather Sgt Bob Robinson (Highway Patrol) sitting next to him is
Sterling Robinson son of my great grandfathers brother Ben, my great
grandfather standing in the middle of the floor Robert "Sterling"
Robinson, another cousin leaning up against the wall, and John Greer at
the table. |
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