Tag: Bill Blizzard

September 28, 1955: Labor Activist Mother Blizzard Dies

Labor activist Sarah “Mother” Blizzard died on September 28, 1955, at age 90. She spent her early years on her family’s farm in Fayette County.

She, her husband, and her children were actively involved in the United Mine Workers of America union from its earliest days. After her support for the 1902 coal strike led to the Blizzards’ eviction from their home, they moved to Cabin Creek in Kanawha County. During the violent Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike of 1912, “Mother” Blizzard allowed striking miners to camp on her land and joined forces with famed labor leader “Mother” Jones, to whom she was often compared. 

“Mother” Blizzard and “Mother” Jones once participated in a march where they supposedly struck policemen with their umbrellas. “Mother” Blizzard also organized a group of women to block the Bull Moose Special from launching a second attack on a tent colony of miners. The Bull Moose was a special armored train coal operators used during the strike.

“Mother” Blizzard, as she was affectionately known, was the actual mother of UMWA District 17 President Bill Blizzard and great-grandmother of current UMWA President Cecil Roberts. 

July 31, 1958: Labor Leader Bill Blizzard Dies at 65

  Labor leader Bill Blizzard died on July 31, 1958, at age 65. The Kanawha County native was the son of two passionate union activists.

During the 1910s, Blizzard quickly rose in rank in the United Mine Workers of America labor union. In 1921, he played a key role in the armed miners’ march on Logan County and personally led some of the front-line fighting at the Battle of Blair Mountain. He was charged with treason and murder for his actions. He was tried in the Jefferson County Courthouse in Charles Town—ironically, in the same building where John Brown had been convicted of treason six decades before.

Although Blizzard was acquitted of all charges, he lost leverage in the union. In 1931, however, he won favor again by helping to defeat a rival miners’ union. He served as president of UMWA’s District 17 from 1945 until 1955, when he was forced out by national president John L. Lewis.

Bill Blizzard was one of the most influential labor leaders in West Virginia history and one of the main reasons the UMWA became a political powerhouse in the state.

May 27, 1922: Labor Leader Bill Blizzard Acquitted of Treason Charges

On May 27, 1922, a jury acquitted labor leader Bill Blizzard of committing treason against West Virginia. The charges were related to the recent Battle of Blair Mountain. Blizzard was one of several more radical leaders who’d risen to power in the United Mine Workers of America during the 1910s. After the battle, prosecutors brought Blizzard to trial first, believing they had the best case against him.

The trial was moved to Charles Town, the seat of Jefferson County, far from the southern coalfields. Ironically, 63 years earlier, abolitionist John Brown had been convicted of treason in the very same courthouse.

Blizzard’s trial centered on where he was during the Battle of Blair Mountain. The prosecution claimed he’d shadowed the marchers and closely followed their progress. The defense argued he’d remained in Charleston. Questions about the reliability of some prosecution witnesses, and Blizzard’s role in convincing the miners to lay down their arms, led to his acquittal.

In the end, only one miner, Walter Allen, was convicted of treason over the Mine Wars. Another miner, John Wilburn, and his two sons were convicted of second-degree murder.

January 23, 1888: Labor Leader Fred Mooney Born

Labor leader Fred Mooney was born in Kanawha County on January 23, 1888. At age 13, he began working in coal mines as a trapper boy. 

Six years later, at the young age of 19, he became secretary-treasurer of District 17 of the United Mine Workers of America.

Mooney was part of a more radical leadership team that also included district President Fred Keeney and Vice President Bill Blizzard. This was a particularly active period in the Mine Wars—a violent time that pitted miners against coal operators. Mooney was a key union organizer in Mingo County in the weeks leading up to the Matewan Massacre.

And, he helped oversee the 1921 armed march on Logan and Mingo counties. The march culminated in the Battle of Blair Mountain. His most lasting contribution to history is his autobiography, Struggle in the Coal Fields.

In it, he provided firsthand accounts of the Mine Wars and the subsequent trials, in which more than 500 miners were indicted for treason and murder. Almost all, including Mooney, were acquitted. Fred Mooney committed suicide in Fairmont in 1952 at the age of 64.

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