General John D. ImbodenGeneral John D. Imboden
Lawyer, politician, Confederate general, land developer, promoter of coal and the founder of the town of Damascus, Virginia. All these jobs were held by one man for whom a mine
Category: The 1890’s
French, The Alderson LionFrench, The Alderson Lion
The latter part of the 19th century was the golden age of the circus in America. A traveling circus with its acrobats, wild animals and the sideshow was an attraction
Buried Alive – The Story of Octavia HatcherBuried Alive – The Story of Octavia Hatcher
James Hatcher married Octavia Smith in Pikeville, Kentucky, in 1889. The couple had a son, Jacob, who died shortly after his birth and Octavia soon spiraled into a deep depression
UMW District 17 Formed – April 21, 1890UMW District 17 Formed – April 21, 1890
On January 25th, 1890, the United Mine Workers union was formed at a convention in Columbus, Ohio. The new union was formed by the merger of two older unions, the
Death By PsychicDeath By Psychic
At the turn of the 20th century, a Kentucky man obsessed with spiritualism, fortune-telling, seances and speaking to the dead, was convinced to marry a “psychic” and give her all
Cap Hatfield’s RunCap Hatfield’s Run
Over 120 years ago one of Devil Anse Hatfield’s sons made his escape from a Williamson, West Virginia, jail. How he got in that jail, why he escaped and where
The Coal Creek WarThe Coal Creek War
One of the first labor uprisings in the coal industry happened in the 1890’s, in Coal Creek, Tennessee. The miners were forced to compete with prison labor, at much less
A Hike On The Red Fox Trail (To The Killing Rock)A Hike On The Red Fox Trail (To The Killing Rock)
I recently took a hike on the Red Fox Trail near Pound, Virginia, a walk of about a mile and a quarter up Pine Mountain to the Killing Rock, scene
The Wright-Templeton GangThe Wright-Templeton Gang
The bloody legacy of the Civil War lived on in Appalachia up until the beginning of the 20th century in the form of feuds and honor killings between those who
The Massacre at LattimerThe Massacre at Lattimer
On September 10, 1897, more than a dozen coal miners, mainly eastern European immigrants, were shot and killed by police while on strike at the Lattimer mine in Hazelton, Pennsylvania.