ISSUED: 19 April 2022
MEDIA CONTACT: Dana Costa
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities, Lifelong Learning Program, and Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education are sponsoring a series of events in April and May commemorating the centennial anniversary of Mine Wars treason trials that took place in the Jefferson County Courthouse.
One hundred years ago, the streets of Charles Town were filled with coal miners and their families who had traveled more than 250 miles from West Virginia’s southern coalfields for treason trials against the state of West Virginia that resulted from the September 1921 Battle at Blair Mountain. The battle between union members and mine guards had ended September 4, 1921, after federal troops were brought in.
The state of West Virginia charged 20 United Mine Workers (UMW) District 17 members with treason. The trials were moved to Jefferson County, where no coal mines existed, on a change of venue. In the spring of 1922, several miners were jailed in Charles Town. Doug Estepp, Mine Wars historian, said two were tried in the Jefferson County Courthouse—Bill Blizzard, who was found not guilty, and Walter Allen, who was found guilty. A third trial for Frank Keeney started in Jefferson County and was moved to Morgan and Greenbrier counties before it ended without resolution.
Shepherd is working with Estepp’s Coal Country Tours and the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum to plan the series. Events include:
- April 22, 7 p.m.—screening the feature film “Matewan” at Shepherd’s Reynolds Hall with a film discussion led by Doug Estepp, Mine Wars historian.
- April 30, 7 p.m.—panel discussion exploring events leading up to the Mine Wars and the significance of the trials at the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education with Chuck Keeney, history professor, author of “The Road to Blair Mountain: Saving a Mine Wars Battlefield from King Coal,” and great-grandson of Frank Keeney; West Virginia writer Denise Giardina; Twenty-Third Judicial Circuit Court Judge Dave Hammer, supervising judge of Jefferson County; and Estepp.
- May 6, 7 p.m.—screening of the PBS American Experience documentary “The Mine Wars” in Reynolds Hall, which brings to life the struggle that turned the coalfields of southern West Virginia into a blood-soaked war zone where basic constitutional rights and freedoms were violently contested.
- May 13, 5-7 p.m.—tours of the historic Jefferson County Courthouse, 100 E. Washington St., Charles Town, and the courtroom where the treason trials took place.
- May 13, 7:30 p.m.—live concert featuring miners’ and workers’ rights’ songs of the period performed at the Old Opera House, 204 N. George St., Charles Town, and arranged by musicians Mary Hott, who has put to music the tale of West Virginia’s Mine Wars; and labor musician Tom Breiding.
Mine Wars events held at Shepherd University and the Jefferson County Courthouse tours are free and open to the public. Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the Old Opera House. Information about all the events is available on the West Virginia Treason Trials Centennial Facebook page or by calling Estepp at 540-233-0543.
Sponsorships are available for community members and groups who want to support keeping these historic events vivid in our collective memory. To support the series, call Hott at 978-844-0527.
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