Tag: Governor Henry Hatfield

June 10, 1913: Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Hearings Begin

On June 10, 1913, a U.S. Senate subcommittee opened hearings on the bloody Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike in Kanawha County. This marked the first time a congressional committee had investigated the actions of a state government. The hearings were prompted by labor leader “Mother” Jones, who’d been held under house arrest in the Kanawha County town of Pratt. She’d secretly sent letters to the outside world through a trap door.

The letters reached the desk of U.S. Senator John Kern of Indiana. West Virginia Governor Henry Hatfield soon released “Mother” Jones from house arrest; however, by that time, Senator Kern had already launched his investigation into West Virginia. The committee’s findings came down hard on West Virginia politicians and coal operators. 

The final report condemned the living and working conditions along Paint and Cabin creeks and denounced coal industry methods for weighing coal and paying miners. Mostly, though, it criticized West Virginia government and military officials for continually violating the miners’ constitutional rights, court-martialing union activists while civil courts were still open, and denying strikers their right to due process of law.

February 21, 1913: Legislature Passes Workers' Compensation System

On February 21, 1913, the legislature passed an act creating a workers’ compensation system.

It had been a major campaign issue for incoming Governor Henry Hatfield. In his work as a coalfields physician, Hatfield recognized the need to support injured workers financially.

The system went into effect in October 1913. In the case of a fatal accident, workers’ compensation paid the funeral expenses of the deceased and a stipend for widows and children. In the case of partial disability, workers received half their salaries.

The funds came from a premium paid by employers in exchange for a guarantee they couldn’t be sued by workers injured on the job. This stipulation changed in 1978, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that injured workers could still sue employers under certain conditions.

The workers’ compensation system was always a financial challenge and a source of political controversy. Some felt workers took advantage of workers’ comp, and others accused businesses of not paying their fair share. In 2005, with the system facing bankruptcy, the legislature transferred workers’ comp to a private mutual insurance company, which would become BrickStreet Mutual.

Sept. 15, 1875 – Governor Henry Hatfield Born Near Matewan

Governor Henry Hatfield was born near Matewan on September 15, 1875.

While his Hatfield relatives were fighting their famous feud against the McCoys, Henry was away at college. He eventually became a coal-camp physician in McDowell County. Appalled by the lack of medical facilities, he fought to have three miners’ hospitals established in the state and served as director of the Welch hospital for 13 years.

Hatfield was elected to the state senate in 1908. Four years later, the 37-year-old Republican was elected governor. He pushed for progressive reforms, including the establishment of a Public Service Commission and a workers’ compensation program. He began his term in the middle of the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike, the deadliest conflict of the mine wars. He granted a pardon to labor activist “Mother” Jones and striking miners who had been convicted in military courts. He also chaired a board that essentially ended the strike.

After leaving office, he enlisted in the Army as a chief surgeon during World War I and later served one term as a U.S. senator.

Henry Hatfield died in Huntington in 1962 at age 87.

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