Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency

Um, okay.

In May of 1912, though, the coal operators hired the notorious Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to break the strike.

Okay, so these are like Pinkertons.

Yes.

Okay? So again, this is just very anti-union stuff happening.

Yep.

But on April 27th of 1920, Mingo County officials arrested a Baldwin-Felts detective, quote, "for illegally evicting miners of the Burnwell company as punishment for union activity." Basically, the, the local sheriffs and cops there are like, "You're not allowed to evict people.

Like, that's not your role."

Ahead of the crew walks Albert Felts, calm, methodical, his brother Lee right beside him.

All morning, the Baldwin-Felts detectives have been working the hollows outside town, pulling striking families and their furniture into the mud, the same scene repeated house after house.

A woman on a porch, a screaming child, men in suits throwing out what little the miners owned.

By afternoon, the job is done.

His name was Sid Hatfield.

And those same guys from Ludlow, the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, they were in the business of killing workers.

when they were trying to get a safe workplace and you know one of the things that you know that happened was the battle of blair mountain was the largest insurrection besides the civil war in united states history 10 to 15 000 striking miners with squirrel rifles uh rifles excuse me they you know they were they were fighting uh the national guard federal troops strike breakers and one of the things that's really of interest to me and nobody really I guess they got erased out of the American lexicon.

But, you know, the the strike breakers, they wore white armbands on their arms so they could distinguish themselves is they were coming in to break the strike.

Now, how about them peas? Boy's getting on my nerves.

And, of course, they were Baldwin thugs from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.

Incarnate.

Yeah.

So the owner got to make all of the decisions concerning the mines and in their minds about the employees of the mine.

Companies, therefore, employed organizations like Baldwin-Felts Detectives as private armies.

This is like you said, the private detective companies, where our mercenaries are coming from.

These private armies and mercenaries would intimidate union organizers.

No, yeah, but like, so in these company towns, I mentioned there was no public services and There's no police force.

No, there's the company.

There's the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.

Which, of course, are