W.Va. museum tells story of mine wars
By Daniel Tyson REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER
MATEWAN — It started here on May 19, 1920, when seven men carrying Winchester rifles and pistols got off the Norfolk and Western’s No. 29 out of Bluefield under gray clouds and light rain.
Within a few hours the climax of West Virginia’s mine wars would occur, a shootout between Baldwin-Felts detectives and coal miners, led by the town’s sheriff, Sid Hatfield. Like many events in history, what actually happened is lost. It is unknown who mouthed off first or who fired the first shot. But it makes a good story.
And that’s history — the stories of people, place and time. The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum opened Saturday with the mission of telling the stories of the people, place and time of those wars and the paradox of coal...
W.Va. museum tells story of mine wars
By Daniel Tyson REGISTER-HERALD REPORTER
MATEWAN — It started here on May 19, 1920, when seven men carrying Winchester rifles and pistols got off the Norfolk and Western’s No. 29 out of Bluefield under gray clouds and light rain.
Within a few hours the climax of West Virginia’s mine wars would occur, a shootout between Baldwin-Felts detectives and coal miners, led by the town’s sheriff, Sid Hatfield. Like many events in history, what actually happened is lost. It is unknown who mouthed off first or who fired the first shot. But it makes a good story.
And that’s history — the stories of people, place and time. The West Virginia Mine Wars Museum opened Saturday with the mission of telling the stories of the people, place and time of those wars and the paradox of coal...
W.Va. museum tells story of mine wars
