"Damn!" "Shootin' coal !" "Shootin' coal !" "Danny!" "What in god's name are you doing?" "I got a shot set up back there." "Word come down from Turley." "Tonnage rate?" "They brung it down to 90 cent a ton." "Down!" "?" "Them dagoes are holding fast in #3." "He says, "Take it or leave it."" "Sephus, what we gonna do?" ""Hit were 19 and 20 in the southwest field and things was tough."" ""The miners was trying to bring the union to West Virginia... and the coal operators and their gun thugs was set on keeping 'em out."" ""Them was hand loading' days, they paid you by the ton and they didn't care no more for a man than they done for a draft mule."" "Them was hard people, your coalminers then." "They wudn't nobody you wanted to cross."" ""So push come to shove and pretty soon we had us a war down there in Mingo County, which in them days was known as 'bloody Mingo'."" ""And that's where it all came to a head, there on Tug Fork, in the town of Matewan."" "We done it Mama, we're gonna have the union!" " Just gotta stop for a little repairs." "Sorry for the inconvenience." " They shifted Italians in, right off the boat, so they're still bring coal outa there." "36.5" "I'd sure hate to get a whiff of that mine." "What the hell we stopping for?" "Step down gentleman, this here'll be your new home." "How come we ain't getting off in town?" " Just get in line." "I'n gonna kill him!" ", kill him!" "Get on the train!" "Get on!" "C'mon, Bill!" "Come on!" "Come on, Bill!" "Gimme your hand, man." " Git out of here!" "When do we get to Matewan?" " You don't want to go there mister, ain't nothing but crazy people." "Hi" "Hi" "Everybody was here, then they got word and they gone on up the line a ways." "Some kind of union bizness." "Yeah, I saw." " You best steer clear of it." "My name's Bridey Mae Tolliver." "Uh, Joe Kenehan." "Uh, you know" "Radnor's Boarding House?" " Big white house." "Right on past the coal dock, she's a real sourpuss, though..." "Elma Radnor." "Thank you." "You gonna be in town long?" "It depends." "I'll see you around." "I hope so." " These picks and shovels are to be considered a loan from the Stone Mountain Coal Company." "Their costs will be deducted from you first month's pay." "Tool-sharpeners provided by the company's 25 cents a month." "Use of the wash house is 75 cents a month." "Medical doctor provided by the company is 2 dollars a month, special procedures extra." "Your train ride here provided by the company will be deducted from your first month's pay." "Your pay will be issued as company script, redeemable for all goods and services at the Stone Mountain" "Company Store." "Purchases of any items available at the Company Store from outside merchants will result in firing without pay." " What's to keep y'all from jacking up them prices at your store?" "Name?" "Johnson, they calls me 'Few Clothes'." "Powder, fuses, lamps, head gear and all appropriate clothing will be available at the Company Store, and Stone Mountain will generously advance you a month's supply of these items, payment to be deducted." "I'm going to take you over to camp now where you'll be livin'." "There's some Italian gentleman that are very eager to meet you." "Rentals will be for one room, 250 a month." "Company rule, no more than two people to one room, children included." "Electricity, where that is feasible, will be 1 dollar a month." "Mrs. Radnor?" "Yes." "My name is Joe Kenehan." "I'm going to be in town for a bit and your place here was recommended." "What do you do?" "Uh, I guess I'm looking for work." "You with the Company?" "The company?" " If you ain't with the Company, there ain't no work." "Look mister, don't act the lamb with me." "What's your business here?" " Mama!" " Mama, it's Hillard!" "Them scabs done it, up the line a mile..." "They was all coloured this time, they bust his nose!" "You got any ice?" " Some in the back." "Go fetch me two chunks about this big and a piece of rag." "You a doctor?" " No, but I seen my share of broken noses." "Now just put it up in the air, buddy, just like your watching the clouds." "We'll get that bleeding stopped." "I ga my liggid..." "Say what?" " He said he got his licks in." "Seems to be all the men around here care about, wives and kids are starving, so long as they've got their licks in..." "It's just frustration, is all when you can't take care of them you care about." "I know, it ain't their fault." "Here you go." "This freezes up all them little veins inside." "It's just so they close up and they don't let any more blood out." "You a doctor?" "No." "I'm just a guy looking for a place to stay." "5 dollars a week cash." "That includes dinner and clean sheets." "Hope I'm not making a mistake." "Name is Joe Kenehan." " Well, mostly I work for the railroads, laying track." "Kansas, Missouri..." "I went out west for a bit and worked in a lumber camp." "A little of whatever pays an honest dollar." "I'm a coalminer." "At least until we come out I was." "Had me over in section 3." "I was a trapper boy." "Ain't you a little young?" " I'm almost 15." "There are some in there younger than me." "Of course with the strike now" "I work mostly on running this place." "I help a little, don't I?" "It's gonna be a long one." "That superintendent at Stone Mountain he said he'd go broke before he let one union sumbitch so much as step into his coalmine." " Danny..." "Sorry, ma'am, but that's what he said." "Daniel is a preacher." " Is that so ?" " You ought to hear him testify." "What church you with?" "Well, round here there's the missionary folk... they's" "Hardshell Baptists and then there's the free will folks which is your Softshell Baptists." "Right now I preach for both." "I'll get it." "Daniel is gonna preach tonight over at the missionary." "I never was religious myself." "It's Sephus, mama." "Hello, Elma..." "Mrs. Knightes" " Hello, Sephus." "I come to have a word with your new boarder, if he don't mind." "Excuse me." "Claims he's the fella the union sent us." "Can you prove it ?" "Don't take nothing to have a card printed up." "I guess you'll just have to trust me." "Who wrote "The Iron Hill" ?" "Jack London" " Where's Joe Hill buried at ?" "All over the world." "They scattered his ashes." "Which eye is Big Bill Hayward missing ?" "His right one." " How did Frank Little die ?" "Butte, Montana." "They hung him from a railroad trestle." "You know your stuff." "I was with the Wobbley's." " Me too, back when it meant something." "One big union." " Not around here buddy." "C.E. Lively... this is my restaurant." "Fellas are waitin'." "They don't give a damn whether we live or die just so long as they get the coal out of the ground." "They had us pulling pillars and the roof was working, you know like it does before it's going to fall down." "If I say I ain't dying in here and walk away they'll put me down in some damn puddle in a 2 foot seam and no air to breathe..." "a man can't mine coal that way." "They're just pushing us further than we can go." " The check wayman he'll take 50 pound off your load for slate when there ain't a pebble in it." "It's down in the bottom he'll say where they ain't no looking for it." "Then they raise the prices at the company store the same god damn week that they lower the tonnage rate." "And they still ain't rock dusted that damn hole." "Who'm I talking about?" " Jesus" "I can't hear you!" " Jesus!" "I still can't hear you!" " Jesus!" "Jesus Christ our lord!" "Do you know His name?" "Hallelujah, say yeah!" "Have you felt the warming comfort of His precious love?" "Praise Jesus!" "Praise His holy name!" "Praise His blessed spirit!" "Praise His everlasting love!" "Jesus Christ our lord!" "Listen to me now, listen to me." "The prince of darkness is upon the lion!" "Amen!" "Now in the bible his name is Beelzebub" "Lord of the flies." "Right now on earth today his name is bolshevick socialist!" ", communist!" ", union man!" "Lord of untruth, sower of evil seed, enemy of all that is good and pure and this creature" "walks among us." "What are we gonna do about it?" "First thing we got to have is all of these niggers and all these dagos that come in here to take our jobs thrown out of the mines." "Mines, hell!" "They got 'em in our houses, they're setting at our tables right now and they're sleeping in our beds while we're out living under a piece of canvas at the back of the hollar." "I been a union man my whole life." "I know the story with these coal operators and their gun thugs." "The only thing they understand is the bad end of a bullet." "If we show 'em, we just as soon blow up their damn mines than seen them worked by a bunch of scabs and then they gonna listen." " Someone is coming, it's Alex." "He got someone." "Where did you find him?" "He come right up on the steps" "They told me that C.E. Lively's is where the union mens meet." "So?" "I got business with the union." "That so?" "What's your name, son?" "They calls me "Few Clothes"." "[ LAUGHS ]" "I didn't come here looking for no trouble." "A mans got to eat." " So why don't you go eat, back where you come from?" "They told me that they was jobs here." " Go home nigger." " God damn scab." "You watch your mouth peckerwood!" "I been called nigger and I can't help that's the way white folks is... but I ain't never been called no scab!" "And I ain't fixing' to start up now." "I'll go ton for ton loading coal with any man here." "And when I do, I expects the same dollar for the same work." "You get out of this hollar alive son, you be doin' good for yourself." "Union men my ass." "You want to be treated like men?" "You want to be treated fair?" "You ain't men to that coal company." "You're equipment like a shovel, a gondola car, a hunk of wood brace." "They'll use you til you wear out or you break down, or your buried under a slate fall and then they'll get a new one." "And they don't care what color it is or where it comes from." "It doesn't matter how much coal you can load or how long your family has lived on this land." "If you stand alone you just so much shit to those people." "You think this man is your enemy?" "Huh?" "This is a worker." "Any union keeps this man out ain't a union, it's a god damn club." "Now they got you fighting white against colored, native against foreign, hollar against hollar, when you know there ain't but two sides to this world... them that work and them that don't." "You work, they don't." "That's all you got to know about the enemy." "You say you got guns." "Well I know that you all are brave men and I know you could shoot it out with the company if you had to." "But the coal company don't want this union and the state government don't want it." "The federal government don't want it." "And they're all of them just waiting for an excuse to come down and crush us to nothin'." "Fellas, we're in a hole full of coal gas here." "The tiniest spark at the wrong time is going to be the end of us." "So we got to pick away at this situation slow and careful." "We got to organize and build support." "We got to work together." "Together!" "Til they can't get their coal out of the ground without us cuz we're a union!" "Cuz we're the workers damn it!" "And we take care of each other." " How can we shut the mines down if we don't dynamite 'em?" "The men walk out!" "All of them!" "Fat chance." "And every man that walks out on his own steam we take into the union." " All the dagos and all the coloreds?" "That's what a union is fellas." "You better get used to it." "So this fella owns a vineyard, goes out first thing one morning and he hires some workers." "Says he'll give 'em a dollar for the day which was decent wages in biblical times." "Well then he's at the marketplace and he sees some other fellas and he hires them." "And some more at noon and some at 2 and some at 5 and every time it's the same deal... a dollar for the day and he's hiring all day long right up til 1 hour before quitting time." "Look we're real sorry to barge in on you like this, but it's come to a point where we got to talk to you." "Now I know you people got it hard coming to a new country." "You don't know the rules." "Don't know how things work." "They don't know shit about mining coal that's for sure." "They been dying like flies in that #3 hole." " But how it is, you don't have a whole lot of choice in this thing." "You know what a union is?" "Sindacato." " Sindacato?" "What the situation is, we need every..." " We join the union they shoot us." "We no join the union you shoot us." "Well, that's one way of looking at it." "That dago's just driving me crazy" "Now what's he playing?" "Shhhh" "Now who's that?" "Peckerwood's gone past." "Union men will be up in a few minutes." "What we talking to him for?" "You want to walk back to Alabama?" "The sun goes down and he sends for his foreman and he says to go pay off the workers starting with the ones he picked up just an hour ago and to pay everyone of them the same dollar a day." "And of course the fellas that went out first is roped off about this." "So they get to agitating, complaining so loud that the owner come up and he says, "Look it, we dealt for a dollar and that's what you get." "And what I pay anybody else is none of your look out, so there."" "Now that's all the gospel story says except for the moral Jesus drew out of it." "And so Jesus says," "Thus it will be in the kingdom of heaven the first will be last and the last will be first." "Now it's clear from this parable that Jesus hadn't heard nothin' about the union." "If he was walking the earth today and seen the situation we got with these coal operators he'd a changed his tune." "A man deserveth an hourly wage." "He'd say for those the pit be gassy and the face full of slate, a man still tolleth by the sweat of his brow." "And wants a better deal here on earth, no matter what I got in store for him in the hereafter?" "Praise Jesus!" " Kenehan." "Out kinda late, aren't you?" "I met some people and we got to talking." "Talking?" "Yeah." "Who are you?" "Name is Sid Hatfield." "I'm chief of police around here." "It ain't against the law to talk, is it?" "Depends." "I take care of my people." "You bring them trouble, you're a dead man." "Sleep tight, Kenehan" "Hi." "Well, look at this, Griggsy." "They got up a little reception committee for us" "What is your name, honey?" " Bridey Mae Tolliver." "You like to watch the trains come and go, Bridey Mae?" "Yeah." "And the people what come into town." "There been a lot of new people coming here lately?" "A few." " Fella named Joe Kenehan show up?" "Maybe." "Are you married, Bridey Mae?" "I was." "He got killed in the mine." "That's too bad." "Did you hear that, Griggsy?" "He got killed in the mine." "It's a shame." "Was your husband a union man while he was living?" "No." "He said it wouldn't never take hold down here." "He sounds like a smart fella." "I think that you are real pretty." "You know that, Bridey Mae?" "Thank you." "Don't you think she's pretty, Griggsy?" "You are the best looking mountain trash I've seen in a long while." "We'll see you around." "Let's roll, Griggsy." "The sooner we get out of this shithole the better." "I was putting up blackberrys when Tremel Blankenship come shouting up the hollar that the #5 had blown." "I remember I took the pot off the stovetop and washed up my hands before I went down." "It took two days to dig through." "Then when they brung 'em up you couldn't tell which was which." "They found blood on the walls from fellas trying to claw their way out." "Mrs. Elkins, Mrs. Mounts, Bridey Mae, me... we all lost our men in that fire." "Danny was 7 then." "Now he's back in that same hole." "How did it start?" "Coal dust gets hanging in the air down there and there's a spark." "They could spray the walls down but the company says that'd cost too much." "Hey, was..uh, was Sid Hatfield ever a miner?" "Not for long." "He don't like to be closed in, Sid." "He's always real friendly, smiling Sid." "Then the war come." "Cabell Testerman got to be the mayor." "He made Sid chief of police and then the girl that Cabell married..." "Well..." "I don't want you using Danny on no crazy union business." "A man has to stand up for what he believes in." "Danny ain't no man.." "Look it mister, you gonna be movin' on." "Win or lose your gonna walk on out of this hollar and we gotta stay here." "I intend to leave a union when I go." "My husband used to talk union." "I seen where it got him." " Mama." "People out front mama." "Sorry mister, we're full up." " Not anymore your not, sonny." "Stone Mountain sent us down here." " We're still full up." "Can I help you gentleman?" " These two are trying to push their way in here." "I told them there wasn't no use." " I don't see where you got any say in the matter." "If my mama says you can't stay here then you can't, that's all." "Danny!" "Keep out of this." "Look, I only got one room left." "Well then, somebody is going to have to move, don't they?" "Let me see your register?" " You ain't seen nothin'." "Lady, we're here as guests of the Stone Mountain Coal Company." "They own this house." " Good mornin'." "You fellas movin' in?" "Yeah." " No." "Well, you wont find a better night's sleep anywheres in town." "It's a shame I got to move over to the hotel." "It's business you know." "So you mind if I settle my bill, ma'am?" "Danny, you sign these two gentleman in." "Don't think the company isn't going to hear about this." "Boy, sometimes you got to bend so as you don't break." "Food's awful at the hotel." "Mattresses got lumps, probably cooties, too." "I'll be all right." "I'll get my things." "Thank you." "Now, if you want to stay alive down here, you got to listen up, get a hold of something solid, and give the top a little poke." "Now, if you get a nice ringing sound you're all set." "Got a nice solid top over your head." "You get a kinda hollow sound, like a drum, that slate's sagging a bit, and you gotta put in another post." "You dig coals a long time?" " Since I was 10." "And you?" "We make a shoe." "Everybody in same fabricca Milano, make a shoe." " Shoes." "You make-a shoes?" "As soon as they get that union they'll send us back." "It could be." "But, you try and head out of here now, you be owing' all that money, like they say, company shoot you for a thief." "We just some slaves up here." "They own our black asses." "Gentleman." " Hey, Few, I got a question for you." "Yes..." "Now suppose they let us in this union like they say." "We gonna have to work with them Italian people?" "C'mon babies" "C'mon and get it now, c'mon, c'mon" "C'mon now." "Oh, boy." "Taking a walk?" "I'm going up to the coal camp to meet those new fellas when they come off their shifts." "Your doing union business, ain't ya?" "How you like Mrs. Radnor's?" "Well there wasn't room." "I'm at the hotel now." "Isn't she a sourpuss though?" " Mr. Kenehan!" "They's evictin' in town, Mr. Kenehan" "It's Baldwin, them Baldwin thugs." "This is town property." "Who are you?" "I'm the mayor." "Well, pleased to meet you." "My name is Bill Hickey." "This is Tom Griggs." "We're carrying out an eviction for Stone Mountain." "You can do what you want up at the coal camp, but this is town property." " Stone Mountain holds the deeds on these houses, Cabell." " You need a writ for eviction." "You the law around here?" "Well good." "Then you can help us." "Now these people are trespassing on company property." "They all signed a contract that they wouldn't join any union." "You uh, you Baldwin-Felts agency?" "That's right." " Presently employed by the Stone Mountain Coal Company." "This is from Mr. Turley here, and this is from our boss, Mr. Thomas Felts." "I've met Mr. Felts." "Well good, we won't have any problem." "I wouldn't pee on him if his heart was on fire." "Neither of these will do for a writ." "You'll have to see a judge in Charleston" "What if we ain't got time to go to Charleston?" "Then you better find some." "Now I can't do nothin' about what you pull outside town limits, but you bother these people under my jurisdiction," "I'll put you under arrest." "Yeah?" "You and whose army?" "All you men own a gun?" "Go home and get it." "You're deputies as of now." "The rest of you people stick close, we'll need witnesses." "I'm giving you 10 minutes to get those people's belongings back in the house." "If the rest of the boys was here you wouldn't be so cocky." "If the rest of the boys was here, I'd give you 5 minutes." "Now move it." "You can't win you know, this is going to happen with you, without you." "You can't stop it." "All right boys, let's put it back in." "This ain't our day." " That a boy, Sid!" "I never seen a law man buck a company gun before." "He's mostly a real nice feller, is Sid." "562.5" "I may be mayor of the town, but I'm gonna be mayor of a cemetary." "Contention makes him nervous, though." "We got a motion on the floor here and this is coal miners only." "All them in favor of keeping them scabs out of the mines tomorrow morning using whatever force it looks like is necessary raise your hands." "It's settled then." "Pass them peas, boy." "Pass the peas, Danny." "You boy deaf or dumb or what?" "Daniel ain't dumb, Daniel's a preacher." "That right, boy?" "You a preacher?" "Who do you preach to, boy?" "Squirrels?" "Daniel preached at the meeting last night." "It was a good number of souls there." "You a soul saver, boy?" "You want to have a go at me and Griggsy here." "We ought to be be a real challenge." "He's a squirrel preacher is what stands up on a stump out in the woods and testifies to the holy rodent" " Danny!" "You in a hurry to meet your maker, boy?" " Ain't no guns allowed at table." "Sit down, Danny" "You do what your pretty mama says, preacher." "You put that away now, mister." " Pack it away, Griggsy." "Look, we're gonna be here a while, little lady." "You can have it the easy way or the hard way." "Now, how about them peas?" "Boy's gettin' on my nerves." "Oh lord!" "They told me they would talk to the fellas." "I saw they're faces last night, Joe." "They wasn't buying it." "We're playing right into the company's plans..." "The men voted, Joe." "What more do you want?" "I seen the lights on the hill." "They're sneaking them in for a night shift." "Let's go fellas." " Keller told me you're sent from the union." "Uh-huh." "I bet you seen hundreds of strikes." "Yeah." "I got thrown clear out of the missionary the other night, talking the union from the pulpit." "Is we gettin' close?" " Up there." "[ YELLING ]" "They're down the hill!" "Over here." "When our fellas put their lanterns out, you just hit the dirt." "I think this belongs to you." "I'm with him." "All of you union men, let's welcome our new brothers." "From now on" "Stone Mountain don't move one piece of coal unless it's a union man that moves it." "Let's get out of here." "[ SINGING IN ITALIAN ] 626.5" "Glad you could help us." ""In them days the coal company owned your camp houses, they owned your land, they owned most of the town and the people who run it."" ""If you wasn't for the company, there wasn't too many places you could go that was still on the map."" ""The union didn't have too much they could give to the people, back then."" "" 'All we got in common is our misery'," "Joe Kenehan used to say, 'and the least we can do is share it.' "" "She got the evil eye that one." "Aw, mama." "Don't you let me catch you peeking over there." "She got the evil eye if I ever seen it." "Well, whatta we got here?" "We brung you some food." "Mama stole it from the company." "Quiet, Danny." " Well we can use everything you got." "You people are crazy, you ain't never gonna win this thing." "Then what are you helping us for?" "I got work to do." "We appreciate your help." "I ain't never seen everybody all together like this." "Company don't stand a chance." "Jessie..." "What's the pitch?" "Well I was just saying to the mayor here how we're all trying to do our jobs." "You, and me and him." "And nobody is paying us enough to be dodging no bullets for it." "Um, now," "Mr. Felts has authorized me to make it more attractive for you gentleman to cooperate." "Town ain't for sale, mister." "What about you?" "Now, I figured that little show you were putting on out there the other day was just for bargaining power." "Or are you going to be stupid, too?" "Either a you shit hogs lift a finger in town limits, I'll put you away." "Damn hillbillys always gotta do it the hard way." "You boys are going up against some pretty big people." "Don't push your luck." "How's Jessie these days?" " Oh she's okay, Sid." "You think they're bluffin'?" "Nope." "Neither am I." "Now the way the relief fund works is kind of tricky cuz all the different situations we got going around the country." "We stretched real thin." "There's a lot of strategy to who gets what and when." "I report to the strike committee." "They evaluate the progress we're making here and the political situation and then they release the strike fund to us." "You mean they'd cut us off?" "No, the amount we get is based on..." "What if they think we're going to lose?" "Look the strike committee considers what's best for the union as a whole, but that doesn't mean..." "Politics boys." "Gonna play union, you gotta play politics." "I'm sure Joe don't like that no more than you do." " I don't like it one damn bit." "Me neither, I didn't get into this thing so I can have one more boss to tell me what to do." "The union isn't your boss, it's you." "Then why we gotta wait for some hunkies up in Pittsburgh to give us the word to move?" "Cause it's a democracy." "It's like the United States." "Democracy." " That's a joke." "Quiet!" "Get down, they're shootin!" "Just keep your head down, son." "They're gonna make a night of it." " I think you just got a little piece of bullet left in there." "Company doctor said he wouldn't come out." "But there's a fella in Pikeville on the Kentucky side that'll treat union men on the sly." "He'll be here by noon." "Will he treat colored?" "He treats union, he'll treat colored." "More water, Danny" " Yes, ma'am" "You just hold this up there against that real gentle." "Don't press hard." " Elma, you seen any of the men?" "Only them that's wounded." "How's he doin'?" " Not bad." "At least nobody got killed." "No thanks to you." "Take it easy buddy." "Morning, Joe." " Hey, Bridey." "You seen any of the fellas?" " Not a one." "He's real nice lookin'." "He likes me, I can tell." "How?" " I just know men that's all." "That'd make a cat laugh." "If you want to make that kind of slop for dinner you go back home and make it." "This is United States here and we do things differently." "Listen to me, you can learn something here." "C'mon ladies, what's the problem?" "I thought she was going to make up some cornbread with it." "You should see the slop she come up with." "Miss Elkins," "These people got their own way of doing things." "Well that is a waste of good corn meal if you ask me." "She makes up this porrigly kind of mess I wouldn't feed it to the pigs." " Listen!" "Where's all the men gone to?" "That changes the whole picture." "What I'm saying is unions is fine for some things, but for other things a man's got to go on his own." "Of course that's up to you." "Roscoe..." "You make sindacato, you do what the sindacato say." "I listen to Joe." "Few Clothes..." "We gonna be shooting white folks, right?" "That's the idea." "People hear about black folks shooting white folks, no matter what it's for, there's going to be hell to pay." "You gotta point." "Well then, if you gentleman will excuse us..." "You people have been put out of Stone Mountain Mine housing and some of you have seen fit to take along certain items of food, furniture and clothing that don't belong to you but belong to the company." "As of the day of the strike your script ceased to be legal tender, meaning that any item of food, clothing, and furniture not paid for in cash money must be turned over to me and my deputies and I suggest that you all cooperate." "See, my boys, they didn't get much sleep last night so they're kinda jumpy." "Besides we got the law on our side." " You ain't no law !" "You got to slip around the real law !" "You just got guns is all." "You just thugs." "Yeah, maybe your right, sonny, we just got guns." "You still got to hand in them goods." "Yellow scab-herder, you !" "You hurt?" "You get up from there." " You gotta list of goods?" "Don't need one." "How you gonna know what belongs to the company and what don't?" "He's the red, Hickey." "He's the agitator." "Everybody you see I don't got a gun on me." "What good do you think that's going to do you, red?" "You shoot me folks'll know it was murder." "Well, that's some cold comfort." "Now you listen to me, red..." "We was huntin'." "You folks are making an awful lot of commotion." "You scaredt all the game away." "This your machine?" "Heard it last night, too." "It's an offense to the ear." "Hold it pops, you're talking to the law here." "He ask you anything?" "Where did you get that thing, pal?" "Spanish war?" "Nope, war between the states." "You all get in this machine and get back into town where you belong." "Ain't but one law out here and that's the law of nature." "Let's get the hell out of here." "Folks try and keep the noise down you'll do fine." "Help yourself to the bird and the rabbit." "You see any hogs they probably ours." "We'd appreciate it if you'd leave them be." "Good day to you." "Are you okay, Joe?" "Yeah, I'll be all right if it weren't for my ribs." "Who were those people?" "Rossums, mostly, and a Shuttleworth." "They miners?" " You never find them folks near a hole, They have most of their land stole by the company." "They's hill people." " Foothill people really your genuine hill people." "They can be dangerous." "Now the thing you gotta remember, son is your fuse burns 1 foot per minute." "Make it too long, they might see it." "Make it too short, we'll all be meeting you on the other side." "Damn it." "Air shaft #4" "Go out the back way." "Where is all our other friends tonight, Miss Elma?" "They get tired of the chuck or what?" "I think that old bitty went on strike, laid down her teeth and protested." "They're just particular about who they eat with." " What about you, Miss Elma?" "Are you particular?" "Stone Mountain didn't hold the lease here you two..." "Stone Mountain didn't hold lease here you'd be peddling puntang down in cinder bottom so just shut your mouth about it." "Where's the little preacher tonight?" "Bitch got no table manners." "Elma?" "You know where Danny is?" "No." "I don't know where anybody is." "Ain't nobody wants to tell me either." "You okay?" " Yeah just tired is all." "I been working all day." "This place..." "I been working the day they burned my husband I started and I been working and it..." "It don't never stop." "I get so tired and there ain't nobody." " Look it's hard." "It's hard being on your own." "You don't know nothing about it." " We're in business buddy, let's get going." "What is it?" " Sounds like dynamite up at the mine." "Might be that #5 shaft." "Might be some shootin'." " Hillard!" "Hillard!" " You seen my boy?" "Anybody seen my boy, Hillard?" "That'll be the Baldwins." " Hillard!" "Anybody seen my Hillard?" "It's Baldwins up the hill!" "Shoot low boys!" "Cut 'em down!" "You fellas get on out of here, I'll hold 'em back." "Reese!" "Reese, get up!" "Sephus, c'mon!" " Okay boys, let's spread out, he's here somewhere." " I got him." "He's over here." "Hold it boys, it's me." "Hold your fire boys, it's C.E." " You all right?" " You'd better get back to camp." "Judas." " Hold his leg." "Hold it, hold, hold." "Now I'm just going to pull this back from your leg, boy." "Gimme back that knife, Hillard." " Hey, what happened?" "We was sold." "Them Baldwins come up from behind." "Known right where we was laying out." " They know'd when the men was out of camp today, too." "How's she feelin', buddy?" "You made it." "I thought we lost you back there." "Well, I got off a couple of rounds... buried myself in the leaves." "Seen Reese Hadley go down, though." "Sephus get back?" "I don't think so." "You see what happens when you pick up a gun!" "All I see is them niggers and dagos weren't there tonight and we was sold and somebody gonna pay." "Something bad is happening out there." "Those guns." "Hunting party, that's all." "Now, where was I?" ""time to put all shyness"..." "Time to put all shyness aside and admit to our heartfelt attraction" "I'm not sure how you spell "attraction"." "How about," ""heartfelt desires" ?" "Are you sure you want to do this?" "heartfelt desires, dearest" "Joseph" " Look at that." "Just acovered with gore." "Dogs didn't do all that." "Are you drawing breath, son?" "Baldwins, we were sold..." " What's your name?" "Bosephus..." "Sephus Purcell." " Kin to Nimrod Purcell?" "That's daddy's uncle." "Say some Baldwin agents took ya?" "From behind." " None of them Purcells ever was too bright." "Grab his ankles missus and mind your dress." "He's ableedin' like a stuck pig." "I found 'em boys, he's here." " It's Reese." "Got yourself a martyr." "I tried to stop this." "See any sign of Sephus?" "We'll maybe smell him before we see him." "They found somebody?" "Just stay right here, honey, don't want to look at that mess." "But, I got somethin for Mr. Kenehan." "I don't think he's in no mood to be bothered right now." "I'll see he gets it." "Who is it?" "Oh, just some poor miner whose troubles is finally over." "Don't look, honey." "I talked to Ellix." "He says your phonograph machine is going to be fixed in a couple days now." "It's awful nice of you to do, Everett." "Well, we got to take care of our favorite lady now, don't we?" "You been so generous... thinking about me when that Mr. Kenehan got you all so busy with the union." "That Mr. Kenehan is what I come to talk to you about, Bridey." "I got a suspicion he might not be what he says he is." "What do you mean?" "Bridey," "Did you send Kenehan some sort of letter?" "What do you want?" "No." "He wouldn't." "There's a whole crowd of fellas standing around him, I seen" "Kenehan laughing and waving that letter." "So, I come over to see what was so funny." "A lot of fellers?" "You mind if i have another drink, honey?" "It ain't pretty what I gotta say." "He said some things, Bridey..." ""She been following me around ever since I got here." ""Trailing after me like a dog in heat." ""Sniffing around my legs like a brood bitch." ""She don't wear no drawers", he says, "so she can be ready for whatever stumbles down the pathway."" "He didn't!" "He didn't!" "He said you done it with one of the coloreds." "Lying bastard!" "Bridey," "I think it might be worse than that." "I think he might be a spy in with the coal operators." "Well, he's got the fellas so turned around with all his talk..." "I need for you to help me, Bridey, and sometimes you gotta tell a little bit of a lie just to get the truth across." "We fight them with guns we lose." "That's the whole damn story." "I'm not going to bullshit you fellas and tell you there won't ever come a time when the people that own this state send the word down to have us all murdered." "But, if we don't stand together now as workers, we got no hope at all." "Help me up." "You going somewhere?" "This is miner's business and you ain't no miner." "You two come along." "So, ah last night he comes up here and uh, he's all drunk and everything and I says as how I didn't want to have nothin' to do with him and... and I would call some of you fellers" "for help and he says that all of you was" "taken care of." "Taken care of, huh?" "When I seen that there weren't no help I ..." "He uh, kinda forced me, he... he forced me." " Easy..." "That's okay." "You better hear this first hand." "Go ahead honey, what happened then?" "And afterwards he thrown money on the bed like I were some kind of a whore." "You done just fine, honey." "Now why don't you go sit outside for a minute while we figure out what we're going to do about this." "So he don't have no sense with women, so what?" "You know how Bridey builds things up." "Take a look at this that our friend left laying on the floor last night." "Baldwin Felts Agency" "What it say?" " It's a death warrant is what for Mr. Joseph Kenehan." "So it's goodbye Mr. Kenehan, tonight." "Miners?" "How'd you manage that?" "That tramp that goes to meet the passenger train." "Seems she's got the eye for Kenehan." "So he put it in her head that Kenehan has been bad mouthing her all around town." "He's got her down there right now crying to the miners and... he's got these papers from Bluefield." "I didn't leave my Colt like this." "You spying little bastard!" "What'd you hear, huh?" "What did you hear?" " Nothin'." " Horseshit!" "Hit him, Bill!" "See this medal?" "You know how I won this, preacher boy, huh?" "I was sitting alone in a ditch in France and this Kraut jumps in right next to me and I took my bayonet and I stuck him right in the face." "And then another jumps in and I stick him too." "And another, and another and another..." "They just kept coming one at a time all night long." "And, a little bit, I got to worried that they weren't all dead, so I stuck them all again a couple times just to make sure." "And in the morning they said that I was a war hero." "Well, I'm gonna stay close to you tonight, preacher boy." "And you let one wrong word fly and I'm gonna put one in your skull and I'll do the same for your pretty mama." "You know I ain't lying, don't ya, boy?" "Yes, sir." "Man who draws the short straw gets to do the job, and word don't travel beyond this room about who it is." "The rest of us will want a good alibi." "I figure in that prayer meeting tonight, right under the preacher's nose." "Welcome to the union, son." "What's the story?" "Ludie heard that the Baldwins was coming after you tonight and I'm supposed to stick by you." "You got the shit detail again, huh?" "You all right, Danny?" " You got your sermon memorized?" "I bet he don't know anymore scripture than I do." "And that ain't a whole hell of a lot, is it, Griggsy?" " You know any?" "I never got no further then, "In the beginning was the word..."" "Guess we both doomed to the hot place." "Lord relies on little shits like this one to spread His word," "I don't want no truck with heaven." "And, as for hell, well we been to West Virginia !" "Ahhh !" " What in god's name you doin', son?" "I just got your leaks all stopped and here your trying to bust them open again." "I got to get down there, they got to know." "You ain't goin' nowheres unless it's in a pine box." "Where's your sense?" "I got to..." " I wish those fellas'd get here." "Huh?" "If they're comin' I wish they'd hurry up." "I don't want any more shooting' in the woods." "You ever use one of those?" "10th Cavalry, in Cuba, back in '98." "San Juan Hill." "Pretty rough down there?" "Did what I had to." "Is it true you're a red?" "Yeah, I suppose it is." "Then how come you don't carry a gun?" "Well, we carry little round bombs." "Don't you read the papers?" "I want to tell you tonight about the blackness in the heart of man." "Gonna warn you about the many and devious ways in which satan will hide from you the truth of who your real friends are." "I'm going to do it with a story from the Patriarchs." "Now, we all know about Joseph and how out of all Jacob's 12 children he was the smartest and the smoothest and how his brothers got so jealous they pulled off his coat of many colors and whooped on him and left him out" "to be sold into slavery." "But Joseph was not your ordinary fella even for biblical times, he had a special way with him." "A way of looking at the grand scheme of things." "So when this fella Potiphar bought him for a slave" "Joseph just smiled and vowed he was going to be a good one," "Making the best of a bad situation he put his heart to his work and was honest and friendly in his dealings and before you knew it he was just about running" "Potiphar's households and fields and all his business' for him." "The only trouble was Potiphar's wife." "Now she was what you might call a loose woman" "When I was in Leavenworth there was a bunch of Mennonites, mainly because they wouldn't fight in the war, it's against their religion." "It's also against their religion to shave their beards or wear buttons on their clothes and they was being forced to do both by the prison guards." "So, they refused to work and they went on a strike right there in Hell's Half Acre." "They was handcuffed to the bars of a cell house 8 hours a day for two full weeks." "They were put with their arms up, like this, so's they had to stand on their toes or those cuffs would cut into their wrists." "Can't nobody stay on their toes 8 hours, so pretty soon their fingers would start to swell up." "They turned blue and then they'd crack open." "Blood would run down their arms," "8 hours a day, day after day." "Still they wouldn't work." "Still they tore the buttons off their uniforms every time they were sewed back on." "They tore them with their teeth because they're hands wouldn't close no more." "So now I don't claim a thing for myself." "But them fellas they ain't never lifted a gun in their lives" "and you couldn't find any braver in my book." " I wish them fellas would get here." "Also in Potiphar's employ at this time were a couple of spies from one of his enemies." "Fellas that wanted to bring him down in the world and get their hands on his fields and houses." "They seen the want and lust in Mrs. Potiphar, and seen it would be good for their purposes to get shed of the young Joseph." "So they come to Potiphar's wife" "She calls Joseph in and she asks him one more time," "Joseph will you lie with me?" "And he says, no ma'am I won't." "And she sets up a ruckus and grabs a hold of his garment he's wearing and rends it in two before he can get clear." "Potiphar runs in with his guards and she's a-bawling her eyes out and shaking like a leaf." "Your servant Joseph, she says" "He come in here and tried to make me lie with him." "Only when I called out he fled leaving this here garment as evidence." "And not only that, she says, he's been spying and plotting against you with your enemies." "He means to take over here and have you killed." "Potiphar had no reason to misbelieve his wife." "Joseph was a slave and a foreigner." "So he gathered up his servants and household workers and they went and slew Joseph dead." "Cut him from gut to gizzard and left him bleeding in the street." "And lo they never learned of Mrs. Potiphar's lies and went to their maker, unrepentant, with innocent blood on their hands." "Draw your own conclusions." "Gettin' awful late." " Shhhhh..." "You hear somethin'?" "No, you?" "Yeah I think I did." "Like somebody moaning." "Maybe it's the fellas." "I think we should go out there and have a look." "Who's that?" "That's..." "Mingala." "Well, we better get back to camp?" "Wait a minute" "Well, at least we didn't waste a trip." "No way." "It won't spread." "Is C.E. inside?" "No such luck." "Find that son of a bitch." "How come they waste more food in one day than a poor worker's family has on their table in a week?" "Now let me ask you?" "Who's sweat was it that went into building those mansions?" " "Once they seen how they'd almost done an innocent man" ""it was like Joe couldn't say no wrong." ""We moved out into the Mango County then" ""spreading the word about the union." ""Spreading like wildfire over to Red Jacket," ""to Ragland and Delbarton all up and down the Tug Fork river" ""bringing the union out to all the folks that needed help." ""Putting the spirit into them and trying to shut down the" ""whole southwest field."" " Helping themselves to our land and our labor for too damn long." ""Joe Kenehan said how there was a new day comin' and sometimes" ""I could just about see it." ""But it were a dangerous living for a union man and you" ""didn't dare turn your back." ""It was hard times and it was hungry times, too." ""The union relief was spread thin." "And with the hope of a new day" ""you can feed your soul" ""but leave your belly rumbling,"" "Scoot!" "Lady?" "Since there's just me and Hillard, and you got all these little ones," "well..." "You know what to do with this?" "Hillard brung it in." "It's for you." "I ain't gonna watch no babies go hungry, now here you go on." "Here is some navy beans and these here is ramps." "Now you can cook with these." "They put a taste in your stew." "Anyhow..." "Well, I... figure we's all in this together." "You sure got some pretty babies." "Who's your favorite pitcher?" " Hod Eller." "He's from Logan county." "You get to play ball much?" "When the mines were open." "Joe..." "Yeah?" "You ever kill anybody?" "What brought that up?" "Bet Sid has." "He were in the war." "All I saw was workers killing' workers and it wasn't any point in it." "They thrown you in jail cause you wouldn't go?" "Them two years kept me from killin some poor stiff that got pushed out on a battlefield by rich folks and politicians," "and they were worth it." "It's gettin' dark, Danny." "You better go get that coal." "You see there, right there by the railroad trestle?" "That's where Cap Hatfield and his boy Joe Glenn killed three men." "Boy wasn't but 13." "Used a Winchester." "You think it hurts much?" "A bullet?" "Beats dying in a damn coal mine." "Boy wasn't but 13 year old, Joe Glenn." "Must be in there." "He always sleeps with the lights on." "Just gotta be quiet is all." " Let's get the little bastards." " Over here." " Grab him, cut him off." " Well, well what we got here?" "Smarts a little don't it boy?" "Hillard, right?" "Now, how about you give us the names of your ring leaders up in Logan?" "Give us 5 names boy, that's all, 5 names and we'll let you go." "That's fair isn't it?" " Never." "Griggsy..." "Talk to us boy." "Talk to us!" "I'll rot in hell first." " Have it your way." "Mr. Lively." "Boy, I sentence you to death for the crime of stealing company property and being a dirty bolshevist union man." "You got 10 seconds to talk." " Talk." " Whoo, what a smell, Boy dirtied his diapers." " We want names, son." "I can't," "I sworn on a bible." " Then we're going to have to get down to it son." " Use the razor." " Hold him boys." "Just a little nick, boy." " Get it off your chest, son." "Plyant Mount, Bill Mahan, Asa Radnor, J.T. Keadle... 5, give us 5, boy." "And Harley Shilton." " Kill him." "NO!" "So where do them fellas he named live?" "Clay Hill." "Where's that?" "It's a cemetery." "Them are all fellas that was killed in a gas fire 5-6 years ago." "Nothin' like a young boy dyin' to stir things up." "Baldwin's coming into town tomorrow, Kenehan." "You fellas have any idea what's waiting for us?" "You mean they didn't tell you?" "No." "I just seen a line in the papers of 'Opportunity for red-blooded American men..." "'Immediate openings, high pay 'travel, chance for advancement." "Apply Baldwin Felts and 'write your own ticket.'" "When the natives get restless someplace they put that out." "Hook some more cannon fodder." "Ever hear of the Hatfields and McCoys, son?" "Yeah, of course I have." "This Matewan is their stomping grounds." "They'll put a bullet in your brain as soon as they look at ya." "Sid, we have authorization to put these miners off company property here in town." "Not from me you don't." "And we also go a warrant for your arrest, you give us any trouble." "This ain't worth shit and you know it." "One way or another we're going to carry out these evictions, tomorrow morning." "Gentleman." "They come to kill me." "Hillard was my friend." "When I first come down to the mines it was Hillard who'd show me what to do." "He was a good coal miner, a good union man." "And he always took care of his mama." "I don't know how they could have done him like they did." "All he wanted to do was live decent, that's all." "Sometimes people say how God willed it, how everything is" "His plan." "Well..." "I don't think He planned on Hillard a'laying here amongst all these Elkinses." "Not this young in his life." "I think all God plans is we get born and we got to take it from there." "So you rest in peace, Hillard." "You rest easy cause we're going to take up where you left off." "Amen." "You gonna tell us to turn the other cheek, still?" "Shootin' is what they want now." "Maybe it's what we want, too." "You expect too much of people, Joe." "Your still after that one big union but most of us, we can't see past this hollar." "I need to talk to the men." "Wouldn't be decent now." "I'll call a meeting in the morning, first thing." "Pass the word to stay out from town tomorrow." "Something up?" "Got a feelin'." "You know how white folks is when they gets all excited." "Nothin's gonna bring Hillard back you know." "Danny, I came here to help." "Sure you did." "First people come here to help us with some money." "Next we know we got no land." "Then they say they're going to help us with a job and a place to live and they stick us in some damn coal camp and let us dig out their mines." "Now you come here to help us bring in the new day." "Well, Hillard ain't gonna see no new day." "We had about as much help as we can stand." "We gotta take care of ourselves." "We got to take care of each other." "Joe!" "." "Joe!" "The men go to town." "See it?" "No need for you to be in on this." "It's my town too, they're my people." "Y'all have no right to come to this here town with all these people and drawing guns and terrorizing them." "The writs you have are not valid for this town." "If you can't get one.." " NO!" "Oh..." "Jesus, don't shoot me." "I just wanted to talk." "I just wanted to talk." "I can't feel my legs." ""There was a trial but there wasn't nobody going to pass" ""guilty on Sid Hatfield in Mingo county." ""Sid got married to mayor Testerman's widow and then" ""the Baldwins they caught him unarmed" ""walking up the steps of the McDowell county court house." ""They shot 15 bullets into him," ""right in broad daylight and C.E. Lively stepped in and put one" ""right through his skull." ""Wasn't even a trial on that one." ""That was the start of the great Coalfield War and us miners" ""took the worst of it, like Joe said we would." ""It's just one big union the whole world over as Joe Kenehan" ""used to say." ""And from the day of the Matewan massacre that's what I preached." ""That was my religion." ""We buried Joe Kenehan with our own." ""My mama she thought he wouldn't never stay," ""but now he's with us for always," ""laying up here in these West Virginia hills.""