The Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency

    The Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency enforced public law for the coal industry. There methods, though, were far from humane. This was not necessarily because of the members, but that they worked for the coal operators themselves. They often used brutal repressive policies to keep miners in order. Founded in the early 1980s by William G. Baldwin and Thomas L. Felts, the original reason the agency was established was to police and protect railroads. With the booming coal industry, the agency quickly expanded its business. When coal mine operators hired these guards, their main focus was to prevent miner’s from organizing unions.

These Guards, called “thugs” by the miners, managed to break up a miner strike at the New River Field in 1902. However in 1912, when they tried to stop the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike, the miners resisted violently. The fight resulted in deaths of not only miners and bystanders, but also many guards. Following this event, in 1920, the union organization (United Mine Workers of America) began striking along the Tug Fork. The agency acted again in what would be know as the Matewan Massacre of May 19th. Guards began evicting families from their homes, much to the miner’s distaste. Led by police chief Sid Hatfield, the angry miners killed seven detectives. Two of them were members of the Felt’s family (Al and Lee Felts). 

After the accused were tried and found not guilty, Baldwin-Felts agents brutally shot and killed Hatfield and deputy Ed Chambers. The miner’s response was immediate and they organized a march of over 10,000 miners in september of 1921. This march led to the Battle of Blue mountain, which really resulted in little to no success for the union miners. The Baldwin-Felt’s guards were also involved in the 1914 Ludlow Massacre, known for the burning of women and children in a union tent colony. This event is what truly began showing the agency in a negative light. The use of guards rapidly declined from the 20s to the 30s. The agency finally closed in 1937 after the death of Felts. (Baldwin had died a year prior).

How it relates to Pynchon

Stray and Ewball are heading to the Coalfields of Colorado during the Ludlow Masscre, something that Stray mentions often on page 976. This is a brief mention, but it is clear that Stray is in Ludlow and we will be seeing more of what is going on.

Following this the next time were hear about Ludlow is on page 1004 when Frank is thinking about his future meeting up with Stray. In the scene, Frank brings up how it seemed that there were more dogs around than usual, later saying it was as if they were being brought away from the canyons so they were not exposed to the violence coming in the canyons, aka the massacre. 

     Shortly after this we see a scene directly discussing the agency. On pages 1008-11 there is discussion of a camp at Ludlow. The brutality of the guards is discussed in vivid and graphic detail. It discusses how they would rape women and beat up children who made fun of them, much like what we hear the Baldwin-Felts Agency took part in. It also mentions what seems like a tank that the agency created to keep large unruly crowds at bay. Jesse finds out that there are many of these tanks and finds it ironic that the guards speak of it as if it is the victim. Pynchon also mentions the Paint Creek-Cabin strike directly on page 1009. 

Sources:
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/333
http://www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/532
http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://www.appalachianhistory.net/2008/01/lengthiest-murder-trial-in-wv-history.htm