Article Discussion

My great-grandfather was one of the seven Baldwin-Felts agents killed at Matewan, Clayton Troy Higgins. He was a retired police chief of Galax, Virginia.

I have been researching labor violence, and I would like to hear from people with family ties to the Felts agents. Please send me an email at B_L_Bush@yahoo.com

Baldwin Felts Thugs is what they were referred to, still are to some of the old-timers. Like all the union-busting strikebreakers, they were simply hired killers. In the end, the coal companies destroyed the rights of the miners and the union is hardly a factor at all these days. Sad what has happened.