| 4. | James Wiley Ridings was born on 7 Feb 1891 in Laurel Co, KY (son of George Daniel Ridings and Lillian Frances Jones); died on 27 Jul 1980 in Fayette Co, KY; was buried in Bell Co, KY. Notes:
Newpaper account of coal union activity:
Turnblazer was trapped in his hotel room. The deputies set off giant firecrackers outside his room. They dragged their knuckles across the door, threatening to break in and take the union men out. As night drew on, his position became increasingly precarious. Shots were fired in the street. Turnblazer succeeded in calling Virgil Hampton, an organizer working in Bell County. Hampton went immediately to Sheriff James W. Ridings of Bell County who, with his brother, chief deputy Chester Ridings, hurried to Harlan to the office of Circuit Judge James Gilbert. Gilbert contacted the Governor by 'phone. The Governor issued the following order:
"Captain Diamond E. Perkins, two officers and forty--two men of
Company "A", 149th Infantry, Kentucky National Guard, are hereby
ordered on active duty for the purpose of maintaining law and order in
Harlan County, Kentucky, and specifically for the purpose of protecting
the lives of William Turnblazer and other members of the United Mine
Workers of America who are now held prisoners in the Lewallen Hotel
by the Sheriff of Harlan County and his deputies."
At midnight the National Guard arrived and escorted Turnblazer and
his group out of the county. The thugs were reluctant to obey the
orders of Captain Perkins and for a few minutes it looked as if war would start.
Some of the thugs followed the National Guard and organizers to the Bell County Line.
The Union officials abandoned further efforts to visit the county.
In April, 1935, the contract with the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association expired. It was not renewed.
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On April 1, 1941, the UMWA called yet another strike. Most mines in twelve states closed after 400,000 miners walked out. However, in Mingo Hollow the nonunion mines continued to operate. On April 14, 1941, a large group of union men, many from Harlan County, where violence had already been experienced, met a Colmar Road just north of Middlesboro to organize. The number of cars there has been estimated as high as fifty. James W. Ridings, the international representative of the UMWA, addressed the crowd. There are mixed reports as to what took place at this meeting, but the result was a convoy drove through Middlesboro and on to Mingo Hollow where they planned to meet the evening shift and convince them to sign in support of the union.
The location where the confrontation and battle took place just happened to be the exact same location as the Cherokee slaughter of the Mingo Indians, the Quarterhouse battle and now the coal miner’s confrontation. As often seen to be expected by the mountain people, things happen in threes. This being the third event in the exact same spot.
When C. W. "Dusty" Rhodes, manager of the American Association and president of the Fork Ridge Coal Company, learned the convoy of men was headed toward the mines, he determined to meet the situation head on. He drove out to the mines where he met three deputies and asked them to tell the group to keep the road open. The deputies attempted to convey the request but were ignored and disarmed.
Rhodes then went to the schoolhouse near his mines. E. W. Silvers, vice-president and treasurer of Fork Ridge Coal Company joined him there. Silvers had been warned of the pending trouble through a phone call from his brother-in-law in Middlesboro. John Rhodes, Dusty’s brother and J. H. Woodson, manager of Kentucky Utilities also joined the group. After some discussion, they decided to drive down to the area where the pickets were blocking the road and deal with the situation. Bob Robinson, a former Tennessee Highway Patrolman, rode in the car with Dusty Rhodes serving as his bodyguard.
The first miners getting off work started down the road and when they saw the road blocked they returned to the mine. Three miners decided to try and run through the roadblock and were stopped. Two of them signed the "check off" supporting the union and the third refused. He was dragged out of his car but before anything could be done to him their attention was diverted by three other cars coming from the direction of the mine.
Silvers got out of his car and started toward the group of pickets. He stopped and spoke to them asking that there not be any trouble. Four or five union men grabbed him and threw him to the ground. At the same time this was happening, Robinson and Rhodes stepped out of their car. Robinson screamed something at the pickets and headed toward the front of the car with a rifle in his hands. Rhodes got out of the car on the other side. One shot rang out then two more. After a brief pause, a barrage of gunfire loosed a hailstorm of bullets for a minute or more. The union men who greatly outnumbered the company men killed three immediately. The company men took cover underneath the cars and returned fire killing one and wounding nine.
The union men, realizing the extent of the killing and injuries, put their wounded in cars and sped back toward Middlesboro. Woodson crawled from beneath the car and attempted to call an ambulance, but soon realized all four men were already dead.
The death of the two highly esteemed members of Middlesboro caused some to call the event a massacre. For others it was a righteous battle that had yielded a martyr. Over three hundred people attended the funerals of Rhodes and Silvers. Three thousand attended the funeral of Sam Evans.
Indictments were issued for James Ridings, A. C. Pace, the nine wounded men and three hundred unnamed miners. William Turnblazer, the president of District 19 was also charged with first-degree murder even though he was not even in town at the time of the killings. The rationale used was that he had encouraged an atmosphere of violence that led directly to the tragedy. After this violence, the other non-union mine owners insisted their men join the union, as they wanted no more killing.
The trial for the murder of Rhodes did not get underway until the day after Pearl Harbor when attention was diverted elsewhere. It took four days to select a jury with over nine hundred potential jurors called. Many did not show, many others had ties to the union or admitted to an opinion. Finally a jury of farmers was selected.
Testimony was completed in four days and the jury deliberated five and a half hours before returning not guilty verdicts for all defendants. Trials for the murders of Silvers and Robinson were delayed and finally, in August 1942, dismissed with a directed acquittal.
Buried:
GRid=27002814
James married Maggie Wilkerson on 11 Jan 1912 in Laurel Co, KY. Maggie was born on 18 Aug 1893 in Buncombe Co, NC; died on 4 May 1980 in Bell Co, KY; was buried in Bell Co, KY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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