Muhlenberg County Kentucky
Mining
Union Miners Shot in Hopkins County
Union Coal Miners are Wounded and Gassed Tuesday Afternoon at Mannington.
Machine guns, mounted on the coal tipple and in abandoned houses near the mines at Mannington were used on a delegation of Union Coal Miners when they approached the mine to talk to the miners regarding uniting with the United Mine Workers of America Tuesday afternoon.
From 10 to 15 of the Union Men were wounded or gas burned in the assault which marked the first major outbreak in the campaign of the United Mine Workers of America, the shooting of Union Men occuring in Hopkins, the County known to Muhlenberg Miners as the Scab Coal District of Western Kentucky.
From 700 to 1200 miners were estimated to have been in the march, and according to Muhlenberg county men, a command was made for them to “halt,” and almost at the same instance bullets and tear gas was used, which resulted in seriously wounding three members of their party, one perhaps fatally.
The three wounded men were treated for their wounds at the Madisonville Hospital. They were Enos Martin, 31, of Crofton, wounded in the chest; Henry Hollins, 65, of Martwick, wounded in the back, and Ishmael Brown, shot through the foot.
A member of the party branded the reports that shots were fired by members of their party as a “lie.”
Source: “Union miners shot in Hopkins County.” The Messenger [Central City, KY], 31 Oct 1935, p. 1.
Updated April 23, 2020