PERRY COUNTY KY COAL FIELD WARS OF THE 1960s and “The Watches of the Night”
Key words: Hazard, Perry County KY, UMWA STRIKES, Berman Gibson, Harry Caudill, Tilford, Jewel Ridge, Leatherwood, Blue Diamond Coal Co, Delphia
Milton Smith, Jr. Smithfamoftenn@hotmail.com June 16, 2021
1970s Harlan County struggles between the UMWA and Duke Power’s Eastover mine at Brookside was made famous by the award winning (and controversial) movie Harlan County USA. I contend that the Hazard and Perry County conflicts of the early 1960s were far more desperate and dramatic than the 1970’s Eastover/ Brookside strike.
I recently read the Harry M. Caudill book “The Watches of the Night” copyright 1976 by Atlantic Monthly Press Books. This was a sequel to his 1963 book “Night Comes to the Cumberlands”. The Watches of the Night briefly discusses what I call the “Berman Gibson Movement”. This sparked memories of the tumultuous late 1950’s and the early 1960’s. Economic strife and violence that particularly affected the Perry County Coal fields and some adjoining mines in Letcher and Leslie County. These series of strikes in possibly late 1950s into the mid-1960s were especially dramatic in the Leatherwood Creek valley of southern Perry County. The valley was basically a Y that emptied into the North Fork Kentucky River at Cornettsville. Blue Diamond Coal’s Leatherwood #1 (originally with an address of Toner) was at the top right of the valley and bordered Leslie, Letcher, and Harlan counties. At the head of the left top of the Y was the Blue Diamond Coal Co’s Tilford mine (sometimes referred as Leatherwood #2). The Jewel Ridge mine adjoined Tilford.
Background; my father MILTON SMITH returned from the US Army in 1947. Daddy was a capable young man. As a 20 year old Army Tech 5 he had been responsible for managing an Officers and Enlisted Men Clubs in Italy. He began work at Leatherwood as a UMWA member. He met and married my mother ALMA SPENCER in 1949. Daddy’s capabilities enabled him to become a “Company Man” and foreman of Tipples before he was 30. I was born in 1951 at the Leatherwood Coal town operated by Blue Diamond Coal Co in the upper Cloverfork branch of Leatherwood creek in Perry County KY. From 1954–1963 we lived at the Tilford “Leatherwood #2” mine at the head of Leatherwood creek. Toner was the original name for Leatherwood. Tilford bordered the Jewel Ridge coal camp and mine. Leatherwood had about 300 houses, Tilford maybe 60 and Jewel Ridge no more than 40. These were probably the last coal camps built in southeast Kentucky and began production after the end of World War 2.
Both Harry Caudill books describe the post World War 2 pressures on the Appalachian Coal industry and its people. These included the switch from steam locomotives by railroads; the influx of cheap foreign oil, the initial nuclear electric plants, increased use of natural gas, and further mechanization of coal mining. Adding to these woes were the ruthless pricing of TVA and the ramping up of strip mining. Coal Companies were in a decline and the remaining few struggling for survival.
On the Union side; the UMWA had also been suffering since the 1940s. Legendary John L. Lewis stepped down in 1960 succeeded by sickly 72 year old Thomas Kennedy instead of Lewis’ preferred W.A. “Tough Tony” Boyle. Mr. Boyle actually ran the UMWA and became President in late 1962. The UMWA was being mismanaged. The extent of the mismanagement and criminal corruption would not be known until later.
The UMWA increased demands for higher payments to the UMWA Pension and Health Funds. However, the Coal Companies were not in a position to meet those demands. The stage of a tragic struggle between two desperate groups was set.
The “Watches” book makes several references to what I call “THE BERMAN GIBSON MOVEMENT” of the early 1960’s. Added desperation came with the UMWA’s 1962 announcement that they would be closing or selling the recently completed hospitals and curtailing benefits and pensions.
Harry Caudill described Berman Gibson as “…a man of little education, but enormous self confidence”; “..an extremely gifted demagogue who could describe complex issues in simple and seemingly comprehensible terms.” Coal miners tended to blame their increasing unemployment to greed of the coal companies. It was not that simple; but something had to give.
Mr. Berman Gibson called a mass meeting at the Hazard courthouse. He believed the glory days and happiness of the miners could be achieved by insisting “No coal except union coal!” and insisted that coal companies meet the UMWA contracts and financial demands. If the miners stood together; they could restore their prosperity and reclaim the jobs and benefits some of them and their fathers had won during the 1930s!
Thus began what Caudill called an almost “religious movement”. The strikers included well trained veterans of Korean War and World War 2. Caudill’s book makes only a few vague references to violence such as “the burning of the supposed largest wood coal tipple in the world near Hazard” and various dynamited equipment; Mr. Gibson’s trailer and a room of the Perry County Sheriff’s house. Some of the burnt coal tipples, destroyed equipment and buildings were probably destroyed by the companies. It was an opportunity to convert no longer needed property to an insurance company check!
Per Caudill; October 30, 1962 a procession of cars carrying “scab miners” to work in Letcher County was overwhelmed by a “mob” of pickets at a roadblock on the crest of Pine Mountain. (I am sure this occurred on the Pine Mountain between Gordon and Cumberland.) The offending miners were thrashed and stripped of their guns. One miner testified to the Grand Jury “throwed ’em down over the mountainside and rolled a car or two down on top of ‘em.”
During the “first round” of labor strife my Grandfather KELMAN SPENCER was a Union man who lived at Leatherwood coal camp. He had a schedule to be on the picket line. Usually the line was midway between Stoney Fork and Delphia, KY near Hall’s grocery. Other picket lines were just below Leatherwood coal camp in the Bee Tree curve and at the Leslie County line at the southern entrance to the coal camp. Grandpa was required to carry a gun! My Dad who was a company foreman at the Tilford coal tipple had to buy a gun for him. They worked out a schedule to exchange the gun; Grandpa had to have it when he was on picket duty and Daddy would borrow it when he knew he had to drive thru the picket line for any reason.
My Father was not particularly worried about local strikers and picketers as most were his lifelong neighbors. He was concerned about the “Roving Pickets” that included outsiders who did not know him and one or two locals who he considered dangerous bullies who were prone to violence if they could hide in the crowd.
Grandpa Spencer was a big believer in the Berman Gibson movement. Dad thought Gibson was a fraud or making a “Bad situation worse”. Mr. Gibson also ran for Sheriff of Perry County during the early 1960s. Harry Caudill noted that Berman Gibson was obvious at various strike violence scenes due to his nickel plated automatic shotgun. Although Gibson tried for several actions; he was never convicted.
I recall a lot more violence than mentioned in Caudill’s book. For example;
1. The Leatherwood valley included several railroad bridges dynamited by the strikers during the early strike. The bridge just below my Grandfather LEMUEL P SMITH’s house was damaged by one of these blasts. It blew out his windows. Grandpa Smith was a Union Man but did not take part in most of these strike actions. He was recovering from a mining accident that badly broke both his legs. However, he was thoroughly grilled by law enforcement! He had not been informed by his Union buddies about the planned explosion. Dynamite sales quickly became tightly regulated! It did not sound plausible that the strikers hiked thru the mountains in the dark carrying cases of dynamite when it was just a short walk from my Grandpa Smith’s house. But he always insisted that he did not know. At least one person was convicted of attempting to dynamite the bridge at Stony Fork. He was not a coal miner or UMWA member. Just an outsider taking advantage to create chaos.
2. The L&N Railroad began putting guards on the Leatherwood Creek bridges. The innovative strikers then damaged a bridge on the main line on the Kentucky River. The goal was to damage the bridges just enough to cause 2 or 3 weeks for repair.
3. During 1961 and 1962 the Tilford mine attempted to work with non-union miners. For several days strikers on the mountain above our house opened fire at the coal tram 300 yards or so across the creek when coal miners would be riding out at the end of shift. But one day the tram cars had armed guards who shot back in a major gun battle. Although never officially reported; a Union friend of my father was seriously wounded. Supposedly the UMWA sent him to a hospital in Utah where he was an invalid for several years before passing away. That was the only time I heard a “BAR” a Browning Automatic Rifle that was so effective in World War 2.
4. In 1961 or early 1962 my Grandpa Spencer (age 60) was laid off from the LEATHERWOOD Blue Diamond mine. I remember his despair as he had school age children. He sold his 1956 Plymouth for $400 to buy 2 houses in the coal camp that were torn down to build his Breathitt County home on land given by his mother-in-law. Fortunately, in late 1963 or 1964 he was called back and lived with us at Leatherwood. His specialty was old fashioned drilling and dynamiting coal in order to get large block coal. This was called “Shooting Coal”.
5. On several occasions school buses were stopped to ensure no “scab miners” were on board.
6. Parked coal trucks were dynamited at Tilford.
7. In 1962 Blue Diamond sold/transferred the Tilford operation to a newly created Blair Fork Coal Co. It never resumed operation of the Tilford Coal Tipple. I think the Jewell Ridge Tipple was used for several years.
8. The closing of Tilford pretty much caused the strikes in that area to fizzle. Jewell Ridge was a Southern Labor Union mine. I believed they transferred their operation to the new Blair Fork Coal Co.
9. I note that the Jewell Ridge Coal Co. (based in Jewell Ridge, VA) sold their remaining operations to Pittston Coal in 1966 after bitter lawsuits between the 50% CEO and his 50% owner relatives.
10. There was a brief period of peace in late 1962 to mid 1963 at Leatherwood before a second round of strikes; as Blue Diamond Coal Co. signed a contract with the UMWA for the Leatherwood mine. Apparently they had a big contract that only the Leatherwood mine could fulfill.
11. We moved from Tilford to Leatherwood in early 1963.
12. In mid 1964 a second round of strikers and violence began for the Leatherwood mine of Blue Diamond Coal Co. In March 1965 a non-union miner was killed by a shot thru the back in his pickup at the Perry/Leslie county line. Several men were charged. The State Police was going over his truck when we drove by. It was a white circa 1950 International Harvester. Several years ago THE KENTUCKY EXPLORER had an article by his daughter. Because of threats he had purchased a rifle from the Leatherwood store during his lunch break the day he died. My mother was the saleslady. Her book NO TEARS FOR ERNEST CREECH documents the death of her father of 10 children counting his name sake son born just weeks after his death. The Leslie County Jury reportedly was out only 10 minutes before returning a Not Guilty verdict against the several accused men.
13. Fortunately the Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church intervened to assume the operation of the UMWA hospitals. These were called “the UMW hospitals” long after that name was deserved.
14. The miner strikers faded away. Only later did they learn of the corruption and criminality of the UMWA leaders such as W.A. “Tony” Boyle. He and others were later convicted of the later killing his opponent Yablonski and wife and daughter.
15. Other corruption included the UMWA had loaned money to Non-Union mines, bought a major bank in Washington DC and funded it with non-interest bearing Union money.
16. Both my grandfathers had great difficulty getting their UMWA pensions in the mid 1960’s. The Union kept creating new hoops and reasons that stalled their pensions.
The strikes fizzled and more coal companies closed. By 1966 the once booming Blue Diamond Leatherwood company town was nearly a “Ghost Town” with few residents and many empty or demolished buildings. I note that Mr. Berman Gibson proclaimed he had no role in the later Leatherwood strikes.
Looking back there was some humor. During the strike at Tilford; the company provided Dad with a custom stock M-1 carbine to guard the silent coal tipple. He was amazed that the 80 shot “banana clip” magazine was longer than the rifle. He said “I should kick myself for giving it back!” Even more humorously, my jittery mother would carry a little 22 caliber revolver she borrowed from my grandmother Smith.
The ultimate humor was about 1965 at Leatherwood. One weekend Dad used his prized 20 guage Browning shotgun on a squirrel. The next day he learned how the guards scrambled looking for the source of the mysterious shot! Daddy spent decades providing for squirrels and regretted his squirrel hunting past.
The small coal camp of Tilford and giant coal tipple quickly faded away. When we moved from Leatherwood in early 1966 the once giant coal town of more than 1,000 people was down to less than 25 households. The Livingston Elementary school closed in the spring of 1964. Delphia Elementary closed the same time. A few years ago there was still a few houses left at Jewel Ridge. The last buildings of Leatherwood were demolished and reclaimed about 10 years ago.
I would recommend any of Harry Caudill’s books. There is a theme of despondency in THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT that so little progress had been made since the 1963 NIGHT COMES TO THE CUMBERLANDS. Some of the few improvements were in the “Black Lung” Benefit process and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. During the late 1970’s because of the Arab Oil Embargo the Appalachian coal industry experienced a “boom” that lasted for several years. But it is the least relevant among Caudill’s many fine books.
The “Berman Gibson Movement” was motivated by desperate people trying to save their way of living. Perhaps they viewed it as “A Last Best Hope” against the odds they could see. What they did not realize (or were slow to accept) was that the UMWA was far more corrupt than they suspected. Sometimes “Hope” is merely “Denying Reality”.
I still have the snub nose 38 that my company management Dad bought that his striking father-in-law was required to have on the picket line. I chuckle thinking how they would meet to exchange one gun between them. That 38 worked both sides of the picket line!! To my knowledge it was only fired to make noise on the 4th of July.
Amazingly, there is still an annual Leatherwood Reunion that is held in Lafollette TENN. The brief 15 or so prime years of Leatherwood was a magical time for my parents’ generation that arose just as World War 2 ended. That magic is still remembered as proven by the more than 50 years of reunions held in Tennessee.
In October 2019 I drove through the Leatherwood valley with my older son. It was hard for him to believe that giant coal tipples and sizeable company towns had existed where now large trees existed. We did take photos of the remaining buildings at the independent community of Delphia that is a shadow of its former self.
Milton Smith, Jr. SmithFamOfTenn@hotmail.com June 16, 2021
