Episode Transcript
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0:00
Welcome to From Beneath the Hollywood Sign.
0:02
If you love old movies, Hollywood history,
0:04
or the golden age of filmmaking, you've
0:06
gotten to the right place. This is
0:08
the podcast. The talks about amazing stories
0:10
of Tinseltown from another era and fascinating
0:12
conversations with writer producer Steve Cuban an
0:15
actress writer and then mcnamara. So Steve
0:17
did Ava Gardner and Howard Hughes
0:19
have a good relationship? Well they
0:21
did until he dislocated her jaw line. Or
0:23
don't worry she hitting back with an ashtray
0:26
from the the Hollywood sign is the gym
0:28
joint for you. Hello
0:32
My name's my host of the
0:34
pirate history podcast Pirates rank among
0:36
the most mythology said romanticized of
0:39
all historical fig so it can
0:41
become easy to forget that pirates
0:43
were real people that had real
0:45
world concerned. If you like pales
0:48
of High Seas adventure derring do
0:50
and also want to learn more
0:52
about who Black Beard supported to
0:54
be king, you can learn more
0:57
about all of that at the
0:59
Pirate History podcast. Southern.
1:11
Gothic is a podcast that
1:13
explores the history behind some
1:15
of the American South's darkest
1:17
days, greatest mysteries and most
1:19
chilling ghost stories. On
1:38
our most recent episode, we went
1:40
on down to Alabama to honor
1:42
the man whose lives were lost
1:44
in the explosion at the Banner
1:46
Coal Mine. And as
1:49
we discuss these men, they wore
1:51
an everyday coal miners who risk
1:53
their wives for a paycheck. Most.
1:56
Were convicts least to the Pride
1:58
Consolidated Coal Company. By the
2:00
state. Unfortunately, this
2:02
was not an isolated instance
2:04
by any means and this
2:07
exploited even corrupt system of
2:09
convict we seen ran rampant
2:11
until World War Two. Now
2:15
while Alabama was one of the
2:18
biggest offenders and also the last
2:20
state to abolish the practice, Other
2:23
states followed their own trajectory, sin.
2:26
Here in Tennessee Convict we
2:28
seen was outlawed. His early
2:30
is eighteen Ninety Four. But.
2:33
Your work is they didn't do it out of
2:35
the goodness of their heart. Rather,
2:38
It was the result of a
2:40
violent uprising of free minors known
2:42
as the Coal Creek War. Following
2:54
the Civil War, shrewd businessman purchased
2:56
hundreds of acres of land out
2:59
nice Tennessee to gain control of
3:01
the deep veins of coal and
3:03
iron ore in the mountains cumberland
3:06
plot So. At
3:08
first hundreds of local folks
3:10
were hired on as minors,
3:12
which made an incredible impact
3:14
on these once isolated communities
3:16
by offering steady jobs with
3:18
regular pay. But
3:21
as we know, mining coal
3:23
exactly the safest, most lucrative
3:25
gig aside from the dangerous
3:27
working conditions in the long
3:29
hours, miners were often paid
3:32
extremely low wages and in
3:34
many cases they were paid
3:36
and what was called company
3:38
scrip instead of cash. These
3:41
were tokens that could only
3:43
be used at company owned
3:45
stores, which often inflated prices.
3:48
As a result, men became trapped in
3:51
a cycle of debt that they could
3:53
never work their way out. Us. So.
3:55
Strikes or com and at coal mines all
3:58
across the nation, not just the South, But.
4:01
What was different here was the
4:03
way the company's dealt with the
4:05
striking and unionized workers. They just
4:08
shut down the minds and reopened.
4:10
With. Least convict A labour. Well.
4:16
In July of Eighty Ninety One. Miners.
4:19
In the Coal Creek Valley, the
4:21
most lucrative mining region in a
4:23
state of Tennessee. Decided enough was
4:25
enough. On.
4:28
The night of July fourteenth, three
4:30
hundred men armed to the teeth,
4:32
descended upon the Stockade and Bryce
4:35
feel where the convicts would replace
4:37
them several weeks before were housed.
4:41
Completely. Outnumbered and undoubtedly outgunned,
4:43
the guards didn't put up a
4:45
fight and they surrendered the convicts
4:47
to the men who then marched
4:50
them out to the train station
4:52
and center mall back east to
4:54
Knoxville and a brazen display of
4:57
defiance against the coal companies. They.
5:00
Then send a telegram the Governor
5:03
Buchanan asking for him to intervene
5:05
on their behalf, which they believed
5:07
he would since he ran on
5:09
a pro labor campaign. But to
5:12
their surprise, the Governor's response to
5:14
the situation was not on their
5:16
behalf. On
5:19
July sixteenth, the personally join
5:21
several companies of the state
5:23
militia and. Escorted the convicts
5:25
back to Bryce Fill for the
5:27
minds to be reopened. There
5:29
he asked for the free minor stuff.
5:32
Bear with him and remain peaceful That
5:34
he really was a champion of their
5:36
movement, but. It. Was his job to
5:38
enforce the law? Is it was written? Why?
5:41
I could do nothing else. Provides a
5:44
power to change the law. White Van
5:46
I could have done something Bryce felt,
5:48
but as it was, I did what
5:50
I considered my duty. Or
5:53
see the was carried out and. That.
5:55
Is just what I did. The
5:59
governor laugh the following day, but
6:01
one hundred seven militiamen remain with
6:04
the convicts. The Bryce Fill Stockade.
6:06
Commanded. By Colonel Granville
6:08
Severe. But. Y'all
6:11
those one hundred seven men weren't
6:13
gonna be doing too much because.
6:16
After. Buchanan's response. Minors.
6:19
From as far away as Kentucky
6:21
came down to the Coal Craig
6:23
Valley to take part in what
6:25
was next. On
6:31
July twentieth, armed minors again descended
6:34
on the price will start aid,
6:36
but this time it's estimated that
6:38
there were about two thousand men
6:41
in their ranks. Severe had no
6:43
choice but to surrender, which he
6:46
willingly did as long as they
6:48
promise not to destroy company property.
6:51
So once again, convicts were sent
6:53
back to Knoxville and are trained.
6:56
But this time those two thousand
6:58
men did not stop. And rice
7:00
bill they continued their march out
7:02
Coal Creek and did the same
7:04
the stockade there. Now
7:08
governors and was forced and so
7:10
he struck a deal with the
7:12
miners, promising to hold a special
7:15
session of the state legislature to
7:17
put an end to convict We
7:19
see. As. Long as they
7:21
would agree to a sixty day
7:23
truce and allow the mining operations
7:26
to continue uninterrupted. So
7:28
they did just that. But.
7:30
In the end, Things. Did not
7:32
go as they hoped back in Nashville.
7:38
Rather, Than abolishing the states
7:40
convict leasing system. The. State
7:42
legislature did the opposite. They.
7:45
Passed a law explicitly targeting
7:47
miners who interfered with it.
7:50
During. The Governor the power to
7:52
take any action necessary. To. Protect
7:54
the system as it was. Well.
7:58
You can probably tell what. The
8:00
next. The. Miners declared
8:02
an all out war. First,
8:13
once. Again, sees the Stargate
8:16
bryce go and call Creek
8:18
but now it was not
8:20
peaceful. Company buildings were destroyed
8:22
and looted. Fire said in
8:24
over three hundred convicts were
8:26
released for the minors. didn't
8:28
send him back to Knoxville
8:30
like they had before. They
8:33
let those convicts go entirely,
8:35
even supplying the man with
8:37
food and clothes so that
8:39
they could integrate back into
8:41
society. Then.
8:43
Two days later, another one hundred
8:46
fifty three convicts were freed from
8:48
the stockade at All Over Springs,
8:50
which was also burned to the
8:52
ground. By.
8:55
Now folks from all over Appalachia
8:57
were coming down to join with
9:00
the minors and. On
9:02
January First, Eighteen Ninety Two.
9:04
When. Gov. Buchanan returns convicts
9:06
to Call Creek. He
9:08
does it with an occupying army
9:10
of militiamen. Commanded by
9:12
Jake Killer Anderson. These.
9:15
Men than builds of forward on
9:18
what would become known as Militia
9:20
Hill overlooking Cool Creek and. Be.
9:22
Outfitted the aptly named Ford
9:24
Anderson with a gatling gun.
9:27
And intense rapid firing. Early
9:30
machine got. Then.
9:32
Over the next few months,
9:35
the situation abd in flowed
9:37
with periods of peace in
9:39
violence, but by August the
9:41
insurrection spread west and escalated
9:43
once again, When. A group
9:45
of men raided and destroyed or
9:47
Tracy City. Start Date: Inspired
9:50
by the successful Malaya Neither Group
9:53
attack, the Inman started several days
9:55
later, forcing coke ovens and minds
9:58
to be shut down. Over
10:00
the state. Back.
10:02
At all over Springs though, a shootout
10:05
took place and for once the militia
10:07
held their ground. but it wasn't for
10:09
a walk. In less
10:12
than twenty four hours, fifteen hundred
10:14
miners return to Oliver Springs and.
10:17
On. August Eighteenth, Eighty Ninety Two,
10:19
the militia captain was taken
10:22
hostage. It's
10:24
still. A Cold Creek War.
10:26
Continued. On. Eventually,
10:30
after almost two years of fighting.
10:33
Both. The Tennessee State Government, and
10:35
the mining companies. I just had
10:38
enough. After all, the
10:40
states profits from leasing out these
10:42
prisoners had an entirely erased by
10:44
the cost of keeping the militia
10:46
there to protect them. So
10:49
the state legislature went ahead and
10:51
allowed to convict least contracts to
10:53
expire and. On January first,
10:55
Eighteen Ninety Four, the convict a
10:58
leasing system came to an end
11:00
in the State of Tennessee. What's.
11:03
Interesting here though is that this
11:06
didn't happen in response to the
11:08
horrific conditions of minds are ethical
11:11
considerations and civil rights issues regarding
11:13
be exploited of nature of the
11:15
system. Rather, Here
11:18
in Tennessee. It ended because
11:20
the system which is no longer
11:22
a lucrative. Two
11:36
years. Later and eighteen Ninety six,
11:39
the Brushing Mountain State Penitentiary
11:41
opened it's doors to how's
11:43
the Convicts Or once least,
11:45
to the minds. But.
11:47
This facility wasn't just jail, it
11:50
was also a coal mine for
11:52
the state. You
11:54
see, Tennessee might have abolished we
11:56
see now prisoners, but that didn't
11:58
mean they couldn't. Rocket off convict
12:01
a labor done for the state
12:03
itself. Can
12:05
cause y'all Today Brushing Mountain
12:08
State Penitentiary is considered one
12:10
of Tennessee's most haunted locations.
12:14
The will probably get into that another time.
12:19
My name is Brandon Shaq
12:21
Snyder and you were listening
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