Police chief of the town of
Matewan,
West Virginia, in the early 1920's that sympathised with the side of coal miners trying to
unionise under the
United Mine Workers of America (
UMWA), against the wishes of the local coal
company.
On May 19, 1920, a gunfight erupted between striking miners and the detective agency (aka
thugs-for-hire)
Baldwin-Felts sent to evict the strikers and their families from
Stone Mountain Coal Camp. By its end ten people were dead: 2 miners, Mayor
Testerman and 7 detectives including Al and Lee Felts.
Vowing revenge,
Tom Felts assassinated an unarmed
Sid Hatfield and his deputy
Ed Chambers on the steps of the
McDowell County Courthouse, sparking an armed rebellion of over 10,000 West Virginia miners in the
Battle of Blair Mountain.