Bluefield Daily Telegraph McDowell Co. WV 1899 Bluefield Daily Telegraph, January 21, 1899 LUMBER COMPANIES and RAILROADS That dashing, pushing enterprising lumberman, Mr. Buford of the Northfork Lumber Company has added a second locomotive to his equipment. He sent the thing through the mines to the mill on North Fork of Tug. Lumber companies operating throughout McDowell County built the first railroads in McDowell. They graded and lay narrow-gauged tracks and created switchbacks throughout the hollows to move timber from the hollows to mills built in McDowell. Each company had its own tram system to accommodate tracts of timber in watersheds (North Fork, Panther, Knox Creek, etc.) it worked, and so few areas in McDowell were without dinkie railroads--so-called because of the small dinkie locomotives that powered laden flatbeds that snaked throughout McDowell. Several of these companies, such as the Panther Lumber Company, were owned by C. L. Ritter (later, Georgia -Pacific) out of Huntington. Although the dinkies hauled mostly timber, they did accommodate emerging communities by hauling in supplies and offering a rudimentary system of transportation to people who rode on the flatbeds. When later, stardard-guaged railroads moved into McDowell, they incorporated and expanded upon the beds and tracks first graded and laid by the lumber companies. A few large lumber companies in McDowell: Tug River Lumber and Mill Company, Dry Fork Knox Creek Lumber Co., Devon, WV Panther Creek Lumber Co. Sandy Huff Lumber Co., Iaeger (two miles to the east) North Fork Lumber Company ***************************************************** Bluefield Daily Telegraph February 20, 1902 Lewis Young, colored, is a condemned murderer, sentenced to be hanged May 1st. The arrival of Young at the state penitentiary made a total of eight condemned murderers now awaiting their date of execution at the West Virginia penitentiary. This is the largest number of condemned men the instituiton has yet had. ************************************************************* BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH McDOWELL NOTES February 22, 1899 W. II. Thomas, general manager of he Algoma Coal and Coke Company, was in the city (Bluefield) yesterday. E. S. Hutchinson, of Maybeury, general manager of Lick Branch Colliery, was in the city yesterday. Lewis Collins of Iaeger was in the city yesterday en route home from a business trip to Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. John Cooper of Coopers passed through the city en route to Philadelphia on a ten-days' visit. Col. Jas. S.. Browning of Pocahontas has been appointed by Governor Tyler of Virginia to a position on the state board of agriulture. Mrs. Miles, a widow lady who has been running a boarding house at Keystone, but who recently moved to this city (Bluefield), was robbed of $270 dollars yesterday by Bob Sylvia, one of her former boarders. Sylvia came up from Keystone on a visit several days ago and pretending to be sick he was taken in by Mrs. Miles. Yesterday while she was out of the room preparing him something to eat he ransacked the room and secured the money, leaving for parts unknown. ********************************************************* Bluefield Daily Telegraph March 3, 1904 A New Lumber Company Chartered The Secretary of state ( WV) has issued a charter to the Wilson Creek Lumber Company of Welch to own and operate saw mills and conduct a lumber business; capital, $1,000. Incorporators: James Hamill, R. E. Pendleton, _?_Seaman, R. B. Bl? gdon. and Wentz, all of Columbus, Ohio. ***************************************************** BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH McDowell Excerpts April 4, 1899 Cap't. J. A. Steele, chief-of- police of Allegheny City, Pa., spent the day in the city (Bluefield) and coal field with his friend, Detective W. G. Baldwin (of Baldwin-Felts). NOTE: This item has significance in that it connects Baldwins to PA . Just as the PA coal companies almost certainly controlled a national coal trust within an alliance among themselves, it is highly likely that Cap't. Steele in PA represented an enforcement agency that executed the will of the trust wherever it operated. The fact that Steele is chief-of-police hints that the trust's enforcement arm sought to contol local law positions which would back the trust in local legal maneuvers when problems arose. Sheriff Don Chaffin of Logan County, for example, used his office to support the operators; on the other hand, Police Chief Sid Hatfield of Matewan did not. No doubt, the coal trust sought the support of both offices as well as other local law offices throughout the coalfields. In the Pocahontas Coal Field, the coal trust's main enforcement arm emerged as the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency. Loyalities, objectives, tactics, and training would have been similar to those developed from PA, regardless of location, and it is not improbable that agents transferred around within the opertors' spheres of concern just as operators' administrators did--William Lang, for example. W. G. Baldwin, a Tazewell County, VA, native, headquartered first in Bluefield and later in Roanoke, VA, to accommodate the Norfolk and Western Railroad and the operators in the Pocahontas Coal Field.- Mr. Baldwin also worked in Wise County, VA, as well as other places in the coalfields ofVA, WVA, and KY, and dispersed his agents--some undercover-- throughout the region. From the beginning, coal operators in the coalfields from Flat Top to Kenova on the Ohio River kept residents and passers-by under intense surveillance, and they maintained what amounted to an economic police state upon the behalf of the coal operators in the coalfields. They kept very close tabs on hotel registers and train passengers, and so no one entered, left, or moved around within the Tug River/Big Sandy Region without their knowledge. Newspaper items alone point out the pervasivness of inquiry and observation about who was where and when they were and where they were. In fact, at least one researcher suggests the Bluefield Telegraph was little more than the opertors' local mouthpiece in the coalfields. Little if any privacy existed until the state developed navigable roads in the 1920's. Until then, people could make no unpublished moves about where they were staying or where they were going--or where they had been. So long as most people traveled exclusively by train in the coal fields--roughly 1890's-1920's--detective agents and Baldwin- Felts had access to unlimited information on all citizens and became a law unto themselves. They used the public's perception of them as legitimate representatives of the government's judicial system to the operators' advantage although, of course, Baldwin- Felts never represented or claimed to represent the government's judicial system. Rather, Baldwin-Felts represented the operators who had a stronghold upon and within the coalfields. For nearly thirty years, Baldwin-Felts investigated and reported back to the operators upon the lives of all who worked and lived in the Pocahontas Coal Field. No detail lacked signifinance, and the Agency's attention to all details preserved the Coal Trust despite President Theodore Roosevelt's campaign to break up trusts. Even today, the trust exists in that a very few still own McDowell County--including the N & S Railroad, which owns over a third of McDowell County. ************************************************* BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH McDowell Excerpts April 4, 1899 Cap't. J. A. Steele, chief-of- police of Allegheny City, Pa., spent the day in the city (Bluefield) and coal field with his friend, Detective W. G. Baldwin (of Baldwin-Felts). NOTE: This item has significance in that it connects Baldwins to PA . Just as the PA coal companies almost certainly controlled a national coal trust within an alliance among themselves, it is highly likely that Cap't. Steele in PA represented an enforcement agency that executed the will of the trust wherever it operated. The fact that Steele is chief-of-police hints that the trust's enforcement arm sought to contol local law positions which would back the trust in local legal maneuvers when problems arose. Sheriff Don Chaffin of Logan County, for example, used his office to support the operators; on the other hand, Police Chief Sid Hatfield of Matewan did not. No doubt, the coal trust sought the support of both offices as well as other local law offices throughout the coalfields. In the Pocahontas Coal Field, the coal trust's main enforcement arm emerged as the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency. Loyalities, objectives, tactics, and training would have been similar to those developed from PA, regardless of location, and it is not improbable that agents transferred around within the opertors' spheres of concern just as operators' administrators did--William Lang, for example. W. G. Baldwin, a Tazewell County, VA, native, headqurtered first in Bluefield and later in Roanoke, VA, to accommodate the Norfolk and Western Railroad and the operators in the Pocahontas Coal Field.- Mr. Baldwin also worked in Wise County, VA, as well as other places in the coalfields ofVA, WVA, and KY, and dispersed his agents--some undercover-- throughout the region. From the beginning, coal operators in the coalfields from Flat Top to Kenova on the Ohio River kept residents and passers-by under intense surveillance, and they maintained what amounted to an economic police state upon the behalf of the coal operators in the coalfields. They kept very close tabs on hotel registers and train passengers, and so no one entered, left, or moved around within the Tug River/Big Sandy Region without their knowledge. Newspaper items alone point out the pervasivness of inquiry and observation about who was where and when they were and where they were. In fact, at least one researcher suggests the Bluefield Telegraph was little more than the opertors' local mouthpiece in the coalfields. Little if any privacy existed until the state developed navigable roads in the 1920's. Until then, people could make no unpublished moves about where they were staying or where they were going--or where they had been. So long as most people traveled exclusively by train in the coal fields--roughly 1890's-1920's--detective agents and Baldwin-Felts had access to unlimited information on all citizens and became a law unto themselves. They used the public's perception of them as legitimate representatives of the government's judicial system to the operators' advantage although, of course, Baldwin-Felts never represented or claimed to represent the government's judicial system. Rather, Baldwin-Felts represented the operators who had a stronghold upon and within the coalfields. For nearly thirty years, Baldwin-Felts investigated and reported back to the operators upon the lives of all who worked and lived in the Pocahontas Coal Field. No detail lacked signifinance, and the Agency's attention to all details preserved the Coal Trust despite President Theodore Roosevelt's campaign to break up trusts. Even today, the trust exists in that a very few still own McDowell County--including the N & S Railroad, which owns over a third of McDowell County. Submitted by June White ******************************************************** Bluefield Daily Telegraph April 13, 1899 ISABELLA FREEMAN Mrs. Isabella Freeman, relict of the late John Freeman of Caswell Creek Coal and Coke Company,died at her home at Simmons at 11:45 pm. Tuesday night and will be buried at Simmons on Friday afternoon at 2. p m. Mrs. Freeman was born in England but spent the greater part of her life in this country. Her husband, John Freeman was one of the pioneers of the Pocahontas Coal Field. He was the first president of the Caswell Creek Company. Mrs. Freeman left the following children: John Bilby, a son by a former marriage; Mrs. Jenkin Jones; Mrs. Chas. Scott; Mrs. Samuel Toy, Mrs. S. M. Blanton; Mrs. George Dikinson; and three sons George, Wesley and Rolin Freeman. She was a lady highly esteem and beloved, and her death is a source of general regret both in the section in which she lived and in this city (Bluefield). ************************************************************** Bluefield Daily Telegraph June 28, 1899 John Bilby, proprietor of the Iaeger House, was up from Iaeger yesterday visiting his brother-in-law Hubert Hunter, on Railroad Avenue (in Bluefield). NOTE: John Bilby was the son of Isabella Freeman by her first marriage and the step-son of her second husband, John Freeman of the Caswell Coal and Coke Company. Passenger train No. 12 was about an hour late yesterday afternoon, caused by the left cylinder head blowing out of the engine near Roderfield. In Eckman, A Youth to Fortune and to Fame Unknown At Eckman there resides a youth to fortune and to fame unknown but more the less ambitious. His greatest desire is to become a champion slugger. Yesterday, after having looked upon the wine when it was red, he avowed his intention of making a name for himself in the puglistic world, and repairing to Calhoun's Saloon, essayed to "clear out the shop." The shop, however, objected to being cleaned out, and in he melee the would-be champion received injuries which, it is possible, may prove fatal. ******************************************************88 AD Roanoke Times, reprinted in BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH, July 14, 1899 FELTS CAPTURES BROWN, WHO WAYLAID AND SHOT US MARSHALL RATCLIFFE Detective Felts, of the Baldwin forces, has captured a man named Brown who is said to be the man who waylaid and shot George Ratcliffe, a US Marshall, last week at Sword's Creek, VA. Ratcliffe, with Deputy Collector Fry, were on their way to raid a distillery . Brown's accomplices are still at large. ***************************************************** Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Page 1 July 4, 1899 To the Editor of the Telegraph: It has never been a pleasant duty to write upon the death of anyone, and especially a friend who was laboring for the upbuilding of God's house and for the betterment of the race. It is therefore sad and painful to call the public attention to the untimely end of Henry Dickerson, who was hurt in the mines of the Upland Coal and Coke Company at Elkhorn on June 17, by falling slate. He bore his sufferings with Christian fortitude until Saturday, the first instant when he closed his eyes never to open them more upon this earth, and slept peacefully in the arms of Jesus, where sickness, pain and death are felt and feared no more. He lived two weeks from the time of his injury until his death. Mr. Dickerson was one of the most trust-worthy and oldest employee the Upland Company had. The officials of that Company were sad to lose him. Kind hands did all that could be done for him. The Lodge of which he was a member were faithful and true to their obligation. He was buried with the highest honor of his order, the Elkhorn Lodge 3794, G. U. O. of O. F. His remains were brought to Bramwell, W. VA., on Sunday morning and conveyed to the Bluestone Baptist Church. Rev. R. H. McCoy, the esteemed pastor of the Upland Baptist Church, of which the deceased was deacon and church clerk, conducted the funeral services, using as a text Judges 5:28, "Why is it the chariot is so long coming?". The Pocahontas and Bramwell Odd Fellows were in attendance. He leaves a wife and one child, mother, three brothers and two sisters and other relatives,and a large host of sorrowing friends to mourn their loss. We can but say, "Sleep on, Brother Dickerson. We will meet thee in heaven where parting will be no more." Peace to his ashes. A FRIEND ********************************************************* McD0WELL EXCERPTS, Bluefield Daily Telegraph July 14. 1899 Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Clarke of Kyle were visiting Bluefield friends yesterday. E. W. Dodd of Tazewell was in the city yesterday and left last night for Vivian. Charles Hunt of Welch is in the city the guest of his father, Squire H. F. Hunt. TO WEST VIRGINIA MINERS, from the Times Star I am informed that your paper reaches more people in West Virginia than any other, and I take the liberty of asking you to publish briefly the state of affairs here among the miners. The miners in this territory and in Arkansas are on a strike and the operators have agents in West Virginia seeking to to get them to take the place of the strikers. This is all right of itself, but the agents protest that there is no trouble here among the miners and by false representatation have succeeded in bringing several hundred colored men to this territory. The recent arrivals, upon learning the true conditions of affairs here have refused to go to work and being deserted by the mine owners are living in wretched conditions. The strikers care for them as best they can but have little means with which to do so. Please warn all West Virginia miners not to come here, as they can not possibly better their condition in life. Wm. Arbekilt, Miner G. F. Ford Editor, Lehigh Topics Lehigh, Indian Territory (Oklahoma) Printed in the BLUEFIELD DAILY TELEGRAPH July 14, 1899 ************************************************ Bluefield Daily Telegraph October 24, 1899 A VERY UNFORTUNATE KILLING IN KEYSTONE A very unfortunate killing occurred at Keystone Saturday. Anthony Kell, a stone mason,while passing a saloon, received a stray shot and died about an hour afterwards. He was about 35 year s of age, a good citizen, and leaves a wife and several children. A coroner's jury was convened Sunday evening and brought in a verdict that Kell came to his death by a shot from a pistol in the hands of Lewis Young. Young has been lodged in jail. It is said that Young, who is a bar keeper at Calhoun's Saloon, was shooting at another party when Mr. Kell was shot accidentally.