EDWIGHT - Recalling a Coal River Company Town
By Johnny M Vergis
Special Thanks to Goldenseal Magazine
Let me take you to my hometown, Edwight, Raleigh County, back in the 1940's when I was growing up there. Let's look down from Turkey Rock on the mountain above town. There are coal miners walking to and from between the bathhouse and the company store, children playing, and womenfolk moving about. What a bustlng place my town is.
Dropping down to the intersection of State Route 3 and the dirt road that leads across a girder bridge into town, we see two business establishments. One is a gas station with a large oval sign that reads "Esso." Look at those pumps where the gasoline rises to the top, enclosed in a glass container for anyone to inspect its purity. This is the garage owned and operated by Clyde Montgomery, whose house is built onto the back of his business. On the other side of the intersection is the Coffee Pot Cafe, which in later years will become a teenage hangout.
As automobiles cross, the wooden planks of the bridge clap and rumble. Coali River flows below. The water runs greenish and clear except where Hazy Creek meets the Big Coal. Here the water turns black from coal dust washed off at the tipple
Look there on the side of the mountain. That repugnant blue smoke comes from slate, a discard of coal, that has ignited after years of exposure. At night the smoldering slate dump produces a shimmering red glow. It will burn uncontrolled for years to come, part of the backdrop to my youth in Edwight.
The biggest building in town, the company store, looks ahead. It's constructed of red brck and surrounded on three sides by a wooden porch, with wooden steps leading up to the main floor My favorite part of the store is on the south end. Here you can get comic books and honest-to-goodness cherry coke and Superman comics.
The other end of the store building houses the offices where miners can go in to the teller's window and draw out scrip, which is debited against future wages. The man in the office who always wears a hat and smokes a cigar is called "Big Tom." Those other two clerks are Arthur 'Shorty' Jarrell, brother to Orville the town barber, and Reginald Dietz, the father of Gene and Bob, two of my playmates
To your right is another teller window, where you can buy stamps for your letters Yes, Edwight has a post office and the post office is in the company store. Mrs. Lively is the postmistress. She will be responsible in later years for my going into the U.S Air force. I suppose the recruiters go to the post office to locate eligible candidates.
As you leave this office and enter the middle door on the outside of the store building, you go past the soda fountain on the right. Straight ahead are steps that lead up to the store offices. On the loser floor there is meat, clothing, toys and many other articles for sale. In the dry goods section is a lady named Ruth Foster, and in the meat department is Mr. Sharp the butchre. The manager of the store is Aubrey Ward, whose son is another one of my playmates.
The miner's bathhouse is the resposibility of Ray 'Shorty' Williams, the father of my friends Billy and Harry. As I help Billy assist his father in cleaning up the bathhouse, I notice that the miners' clothes and personal belongings hang in baskets from the ceiling, hoisted there by a chain and secured with a lock. I still think it's a strange system.
Across the street from the company store is the town poolrook, operated for the company by Claude robinson and later by Kenneth Eskins and Bill Parsons. A center island divides the poolroom into two sections, one side for the whites and one for the 'colored' clientele. This is a popular place, but when they try to get into the hamburger business they fail miserably. The best hamburgers come from Mike's Place, a successful non company restaurant and beer joint.
On one end of the poolroom building is the town doctor'soffice. Dr Ford, our doctor, willlater move to Beckley to continue his practice. In later years a new doctor's office made of cinder block will be built just across the street, to be operated by kindly Dr. John D Lee, assisted by Mary Brown.
In addition to poker and pool, baseball is the miners' pastime. Taking the mound for our team is an awesome lefthander, Glenn Rutledge, a giant of a man. Catching for Glenn is the versatile and talkative Don Lamb, whose chatter can unnerve any batter, especially when combined with Glen's stare. Shortstop Tommy Holley's premature gray hair disguised his agility and responsiveness. He can quickly turn a clear hit into a double play to retire the side. Assisting him is Bill Smith, also the manager, who makes each play as if there's nothing to it. Other outstanding players are outfielders 'Bunny" Hudson and Eddie 'Jack' Soulsby.
Edwight, West Virginia, late 1920's. Photographer Unknown
The main street, a dirt road with new potholes after every rain, runs parallel to Coal River. Soth sides of the street are lined with wooden sidewalks, company houses, and a few independent business establishments which aren't on company property. The frame houses are painted either full gray or white Some of the porches are screened in, and they generally include a squeaky wooden swing. Some places have picket of chain link fences. An occasional white-washed fence or tree brightens a yard and represents the occupants' attempte to personalize their rented surroundings.
A couple of water pumps located at strategic locations provide cool, clear drinking water. Grab the long metal handle and pump up and down, and before long you will have water flowing. Juse look at that young boy with his hand and mouth cupped over the spout, slurping and pumping at about the same rate. Notice how he wipes his hands on his bib overalls when he's finished.
The town's businessmen include the barber, Orville Jarrell, who gave me my first haircut. When I climb up in the big barber chair located under a greasy-looking overhead fan, Orville has to put a slat across the arms so I will sit high enough for him to cut my hair. I don't mind Orville using scissors, but I dread his hand-powered clippers. For every hair that is clipped probably a dozen are pulled out by the roots.
There are always several active and retired miners sitting around Orville's shop. I see 'Old Tom' Foster is here today. I beleive he has the scruffiest beard I have ever seen. Orville applies hot steamy towels to his beard and asks if the towels are too hot. "No, not at all," is the reply. It looks as if the man's face is on fire. Old Tom's shave sounds like someone scraping their fingernails across sandpaper.
Edwight's other business establishments include a shoe repair shop owned by George Harashohartis, last name shortened to Hartis, a Greek immigrant. Adjacent to the shoe shop is a grocery store owned first by Carl Daniel and later by Johnny Price. That white school sbus also belongs to Mr. Price. It is used to pick up church-goers from up and down the road to take them to his church at Pettus.
There is also a combination restaurant and beer joint owned by another Greek immigrant, Mike Vergis. Mike's Place doesn't have television, but you can catch the fights there every Saturday night! There are also two boarding houses, one run by Lottie Spencer and one by Nannie Jarrell, a small, elderly lady. I occasionally help Nannie by going out to the henhouse to get her eggs.
And Edwight has a town dogcatcher, or should I say dog liquidator? I'm not sure if this person was hired by the coal company or if he just appointed himself, but he is not very popular because of his distasteful method of solving Edwight's dog population problem. He just stands in the street and fires away. His rifle has felled many a dog right in the middle of town.
Besides automobiles, other modes of transportation on Edwight's main street are horses, mules, and horsedrawn wagons. I once saw an individual ride by on a cow, saddle and all.
We must not forget the elementary school, a red brick, four-room building with a rocky playground. Either by design or because of the limited space, the third and fourth grades and the fifth and sixth are combined. My first grade teacher is an understanding lady named Mrs. Jarrell. I can still picture myself standing in the doorway of the classroom, bawling as my mother handed me over to her.
Some of the other teachers are Vada Webb, Rosebelle Tabor, and Inez Bone. At the front of each room is a picture of George Washington. (I don't know why, but the Father of Oour Country will later disappear from his place of prominence in the classrooms.) Every morning we line up in columns outside of the school and place our right hand over our heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance. A few years ago when we would say "to the flag," we extended our hand toward the flag to complete the pledge. This was later changed, probably because we wanted to get away from anything resembling Hitler's Seig Heil salute.
These are the World War II years and the war and related events dominate our lives. I remember April 12, 1945, in particular. The people of Edwight are somber. Most walk around shaking their heads in dismay. Just a few moments ago, it was announced over the radio that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, our president, had died at Warm Springs, Georgia, of a cerebral hemorrhage, Mike Vergis closed his restaurant, packed the family into the car, and just quietly drove around in disbelief.
Then six months later there is a very different mood in Edwight, man and boys firing rifles and pistols in the air. People are shouting, "At last! At last!" And so it is, the war is over! Some of our boys would come home and some wouldn't, including my grade school principal and idol, Clint Richmond. I really liked him and will never forget him.
Going to the theater on Saturday nights if a big thrill, if not actually dangerous. It isn't uncommon to get hit in the back of the head with a marble or some other object after the movie starts. Sometimes it gets worse. One night, some kid threw .22 caliber bullets into the burnside stove. The western movie really came alive! The manager, also the railroad station-master, is an elderly gentleman, Mr. Showen. He has grabbed many a kid by the ear and thrown him out of the theater - one I particularly remember. The stars of the day are Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Wild Bill Elliott, Sunset Carson, James Starrett, Hopalong Cassidy, Al 'Lash' LaRue, Tex Ritter, and my favorite, Johnny 'Mack' Brown.
We also entertain ourselves by participating in the Boy Scouts. Thanks to scoutmaster Bill Smith, we are well equipped with army tents, backpacks, cooking utensils, and other gear. Sometimes we go on camping trips and even to a summer camp at Shanklins Ferry on the New River. Tommy Soulsby represented our troop at the Boy Scout Jamboree in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, one year.
When someone shows up with a football, that's all it takes to get a mean game started, tackle football without benefit of protective gear. Bill Lamb, Tommy soulsby and I played on the Raleigh County Championship Football Team in 1951. This would be Marsh Fork's first-ever championship team with no county losses. Harry Williams is best known for boxing. He and I go at it like two wild men, but there must be a less painful way to work off steam. that Harry can hit, but King 'Boy' Pettry is the muscle man of the town. I suspect he sent off for the Charles Atlas course that appears on the back page of the comic books.
On Sunday you can hear the church bell ringing in Edwight. As small children, we were allowed to grab the rope and swing up and down to ring the bell, announcing Sunday scholl and church. Our place of worship is a pretty little Presbyterian church with a pitched roof and a steeple on the front. It's located behind and just to the right of the company store, and you have to cross a small wooden bridge over Hazy Creek to get to it.
We pull curtains to section off the individual Sunday school classes at our church. This system works fine if the teacher next to you doesn't talk too loudly. Our minister is Davidena McNair, a wonderful lady. The only funeral I can recall is for a German immigrant, Cal Biegan, who worked for Mike Vergis. He died with no known family and is buried in an unmarked grave in Naoma.
As I look over the town I see other people that I know. That's Tommy Holley, one of the best baseball players on the Edwight team. Coming down the road on a horse is a black man with a big smile. It can be no other than John Winbush. Little do I know that these good men, and others will be killed by the Edwight coal mine.
My earliest recollection of a mine fatality was that of a Mr. Kersey, who was electrocuted when he touched a 'hot' trolley wire. I never met the man, but he was the father of my first playmates, Kenneth, Franklin, and Scotty. This tragedy has left Mrs. Kersey with the responsibility of raising three young sons and a daughter. Hats off to a gutsy woman!
Even if you aren't killed, you can still suffer a severe injury or sickness in the coal mines. Take the caseof the town doctor's two sons. Why they would want to go into the coal mines is a mystery to me, but they did. Danny Lee came out minus a leg, and his brother was paralyzed from the waist down.
Workingi in a coal mine is hard work. Edward Soulsby, the father of my closest childhood friend, Tommy, is so fatigued after coming in from work that he often lies down on his back porch without even taking his work clothes off. That fellow there coming in from the coal mines, stooped over and holding his metal lunch pail with both hands in the small of his back, is Bill Walker. Hard labor in the mines has taken its toll on him also.
On a happier occasion, Mike Vergis is presented with a copy of the United Mine Workers of America charter which established Local Union No. 6815 at Edwight on December 22, 1933. The chartter is in a large frame with pictures showing Mike as he appeared in 1933 and in 1947. The plaque reads, "Presented to Mike Vergis in appreciation of his great and unselfish service in the organization of local #6815 UMWA," and is signed by President Charles Williams and several other officers. Although it's not disclosed on the plaque, it can now be told that Mike allowed the miners to meet secretly in the back room of his restaurant to organize and conduct business that would eventually lead to their membership in the UMWA.
Mike's restaurant is a good place to end our tour. Looking down the street from inside, I see Jackie Pettry riding by on his horse. As he trots by, someone yells out, "Hi Ho Silver!" Jackie responds by saying, "You little hellion!" and chases the lad on horseback. Today, this young culprit will be dressed down and taught respect for others. Learning manners is part of what happened to us at my town of Edwight, and it's one of the things I remember about the place.
