Matewan Oral History Project Collection
Sc2003-135

Everett Faddis Interview

John Hennen: This is John Hennen for the Matewan Development Center near Woodlawn, Virginia in the home of Everett Faddis. Conducting an oral history interview. It's approximately 3:35 in the afternoon of July twentieth. Thursday. Sound check on mike two. Sound check.

J: Mr. Faddis, uh...to get started here, tell me please, when and where you were born and your full name and something about your...your parents?

Everett Faddis: I was born in Carol, County. September the twentieth, nineteen hundred and four.

J: And is Carol County being pretty close to where we are right now, near Woodlawn?.

EF: Yeah. Yeah. That's right.

J: Okay. And your full name is Everett...

EF: Everett Creed Faddis.

J: Creed. C.R.E.E.D.

EF: Right.

J: And what were your parents names please?

EF: My daddy's name was John Monroe Faddis. No. John Adams Faddis. I'm thinkin' about my wife's daddy. John Adams Faddis.

J: Um-hum. And your mother's name? complete name.

EF: Jeanetta Julia Felts.

J: And what sort of work did your father do?

EF: He was a probation officer and a farmer and uh...he was Tom Felts' farm boss.

J: Now Tom Felts, this is the same Tom Felts as the owner/operator of the Baldwin-Felts detective agency?

EF: Right. Um-hum.

J: Okay. And this Tom Felts was your mother's...

EF: brother?

J: Is that correct?

EF: That's right. Um-hum.

J: Now, your father was probatin' officer for Carol County?

EF: Un-hun. Carol County.

J: Did he ever work as an agent for the Baldwin-Felts detective agency?

EF: Not to my...not to my knowledge. I don't think so.

J: Tell me, if you would just uh...something about the personality and the...the...the character in the background of Tom, Albert, and Lee Felts.

EF: Well.

J: You know. It doesn't have to a specific question. Just whatever comes into your mind tell me about it.

EF: Well, they were honorable people and they were liked and honorable.

J: When approximately did the Felts brothers or did...did Tom Felts get involved...or start the Baldwin-Felts agency?

EF: Well, it's so far back I don't remember.

J: Okay. Did he begin the agency himself or in partnership with Mr. Baldwin?

EF: He was in partnership with Albert BAldwin of Roanoke.

J: Um-hum. And where were the uh...main headquarters for the agency?

EF: Well, uh...Bluefield. Bluefield, West Virginia.

J: Did they have an office in Galax?

EF: No.

J: Now, your Uncle Tom, probably one of the most prominent figures around this area.

EF: He sure was.

J: WHat other...what other endeavors was he involved in besides the Baldwin-Felts detective agency?

EF: Well, he was farmin'. He had twelve hundred acres of land in Carol and Grason County. Employed several people.

J: Did he at one time served in the Virginia General Assembly? Is that correct?

EF: That's right. Um-hum.

J: Was that towards the end of his life or earlier on?

EF: It was earlier...earlier on.

J: Excuse me. Now what...what precisely were the duties for the Baldwin-Felts Agency? ANd who..who would they work for? Who did they...

EF: They worked for Norfolk & Western Railroad and uh..coalminers I mean coal companies.

J: Did you know a man named C E Lively who was employed by the Felts Agency?

EF: I sure...I sure did. Yeah.

J: Was he from this area?

EF: No. He wudn't. He was from West Virginia.

J: Oh. He was a native West Virginian.

EF: Un-hun. To my knowledge, I think so. I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure.

J: Would you happen to know, now, of course he was involved as an agent for Baldwin-Felts during the coal strikes in 1920 and twenty-one. Would you happen to know what he did after that time period?

EF: No. I don't.

J: Okay. To your knowledge, did he remain in the employ of the Baldwin-Felts?

EF: I thank that's right.

J: Okay. And are you aware of what part of the country or how long he lived after that uh....

EF: No. I have no idea.

J: Okay. Did your Uncle Tom employ agents mostly from this area? From...did he...

EF: No. I thank most of them was from West Virginia.

J: Is that right?

EF: I'm pretty sure. I...that's right.

J: Now, Tom was the oldest of the brothers. Is that correct?

EF: Yeah. That's right.

J: Now, was Tom...

EF: And Monroe and Albert and Lee.

J: And of those four, Tom was the only one to die a natural death. Is that correct?

EF: That's right.

J: What were the circumstances of Monroe's death?

EF: Well he was in partnership with a man named Jerdon Lyons (Jordon) in Low Gap, North Carolina and they fell out over their business some way and Lyons shot and killed him.

J: So he wasn't employed by the Baldwin-Felts agency.

EF: No. he wasn't. And Lyons uh...he left. Nobody never did know where he went. Tom Felts tried to hunt him down and he...he even went to New York lookin' for him and never did locate him. Don't know what ever happened to that man.

J: Hum. What sort of business were Monroe and Lyons involved in?

EF: I...general...general merchandise business.

J: Hum. So they basically were involved in a business argument and that's it huh?

EF: That's right.

J: Hum. What were the circumstances surrounding the celebrated court house shootings in Hellsville, in 1912?

EF: Well, the Allens were, they were moonshiners and I...they were kindly arrogant people and uh...they wanted their way about everything and they had them up over there, I think it's over where they had a prisoner. The law had a prisoner and Allen's took him away from them and they had them in court and that's what happened.

J: So, a verdict came down that the...a guilty verdict for something?

EF: Yeah. That's right. They was gonna lock them up and lock...I forget which one it was. Floyd or Sidney one that they were gonna lock up. I don't recall just which one it was.

J: Ow you said later on, you went to school with one of the Allens.

EF: Yeah. Jack Allen's son. Troy Allen. I went to school with him at Woodlawn. He was a right nice boy uh...

J: But you said you use to carry a pistol to school?

EF: You don't put that.. (laughing)

J: Well, that's just history.

EF: Well, sure yeah. I used to carry a gun to school with me.

J: What were...what was the involvement of uh...the Baldwin-Felts agents in that..that shootout. Were they retained to collect evidence on the Allens or something. It's not clear to me.

EF: No. They...the Allens went back in the mountains and they had a posse and it went out on them and they couldn't locate them here and uh...they was Edwards with the Allens that married one of the Allens, I understand that he had a sweetheart back here and he wrote her a letter and they got in touch were they were located in Iowa, I'm pretty sure that's were it was.

J: Um-hum.

EF: Tom Felts went out and arrested them and brought them back.

J: Tom went out by himself?

EF: I don't recall where they was anybody with him or not. I don't know.

J: UN-hun.

EF: And Floyd Allen and..and Sidney Edwards were electrocuted.

J: By the state of Virginia?

EF: Un-hun.

J: Of the three uh...Felts...did you ever know Monroe?

EF: No, I never met him.

J: Never met him?

EF: I never did know him.

J: But of the three Felts brothers, or your uncles, uh...which one was the best shot? I know they were all supposed to be pretty good shots...

EF: They were all good. I just don't...I couldn't tell you exactly. I know Albert was mighty good.

J: UN-hun.

EF: And uh...I'd go bird huntin' with them and we'd flush a cubby of birds and boy, they'd slaughter them. I was..I don't remember...recall just how old I was cause I was young and I would spot the birds where they would fall you know, what the dogs didn't bring into us. They had good dogs at that time and they would retrieve the birds and bring them to you.

J: Un-hun. Were Albert and Lee involved in any other business pursuits beside the detective agency?

EF: Uh...Lee had a little farm over on towards Freeze, Virginia on the river and Albert, I don't know of any other business he was in.

J: Did they have families?

EF: Yeah. Albert had a boy and a girl and Lee had a..he had two boys.

J: So these would have been your first cousins then?

EF: Right.

J: Were they approximately the same age as you or somewhat younger uh...or?

EF: Well, they was...all of them were younger than me.

J: Un-hun.

EF: All except one of Lee's boy's got killed at the Galax fair. He...shootin' gallery and uh...guy shot hit him accidentally and he died. His name was Lee.

J: Hum. Was he just a young kid at that time?

EF: Well, he was a teenager.

J: When uh...when Lee and Albert went to Matewan in May, 1920, uh...you saw them the day before. Is that correct?

EF: No. I saw them the day they were leavin' for Matewan. They stopped at our home for a few minutes then proceeded to go on to Matewan. And that was the last time I seen them except in their caskets. Had a special train that run into Galax that brought their bodies in.

J: Oh, yeah. WHere did that...did that train come from uh...Williamson, West Virginia or...

EF: It come from Pulaski, well I guess it did come from Williamson. Train switched at Pulaski you know, and Pulaski had a branch on in to Galax. It is discontinued now.

J: Now, on the day that they left from Matewan, were they..did they take the train or were they driving a car?

EF: No. They drove a car.

J: Um-hum. To you knowledge, did any...did other agents go with them in the car or just the two of them?

EF: just the two.

J: How bout the other agents? Did they go on a train?

EF: I don't...I don't recall how they went.

J: UM-hum. When the special train come back with Lee and Albert's bodies, was that train also carrying the bodies of other Baldwin-Felts uh..who had been killed in Matewan?

EF: Uh...I don't...I don't recall. Possibly so...but I was young. I met the train. I remember when the train pulled in to the station there at Galax. And they took their bodies up to my grandfather Felts and took a window out to let the casket go in...in the room you know, where they showed them.

J: Um-hum. So they had a service there and then your grandfather's house and then went to the cemetery.

EF: I think that's right.

J: Before they left for Matewan, they were...I believe you said you saw them in the barn on your father's...

EF: I think we...we had a barn beside of the road and they'd stopped an come over and talked to us awhile and then they proceeded on to Matewan.

J: Did they give any indication that they thought there might be trouble in Matewan or just routine job?

EF: I don't...I don't recall their conversation. I was a young fellow back in them days. I just don't...I remember them stopping. I just don't remember their conversation.

J: Did uh...did Tom or Albert or Lee ever mention to you or did your father ever tell you or anything, what...what kind of weapons the Baldwin-Felts agents would take on a job like this?

EF: THey had rifles and I understand that they had packed their rifles and gettin' ready to leave when Sid Hatfield told my Uncle Albert that the mayor wanted to see him and he went in his office and he shot uh..Lee and I mean shot Albert and turned and shot and killed the mayor and married the mayors wife.

J: So Sid...so Sid Hatfield did this?

EF: Yeah. Un-hun.

J: ANd this took place inside. In the mayor's office?

EF: That's right.

J: WHen word got back, excuse me, when word got back, to this area, say to your Uncle Tom, what was the reaction of your family and of Uncle Tom too? WHat had happened in Matewan?

EF: Well I don't...I don't remember Uncle Tom. I..I understand he was in the train a goin' into Matewan and they understood that uh...the train people kept the train goin'. They didn't stop in Matewan. THey were layin' in wait to kill him when he got off the train but they pulled on through.

J: So, your Uncle Tom was following Albert and Lee into town?

EF: Evidently, he was. I'm not sure about that.

J: When you met the...the special funeral train, uh...in Galax, was your Uncle Tom with you at that time?

EF: I can't recall. I just don't remember who was with me. But anyway, I remember the train a comin' in and.

J: Was there a big crowd at the train?

EF: THere was right many people yeah.

J: And how bout at the funeral...the funeral...the ceme...the burial. Was there a big crowd at the uh...cemetery.

EF: Yes there was a big crowd there. Yeah.

J: Did your Uncle Tom ever indicate to you that uh...that the killing of his...his brothers was...there was gonna be a retaliation for that or...

EF: No I never..I never heard him day [sic] anything about that.

J: Um-hum.

EF: But i might add that when someone killed one of the Baldwin-Felts detectives, boy, they'd hunt them down wherever they went.

J: Is that right?

EF: Yeah. They tried to get Reece CHambers and never could find him.

J: Yeah. Did your father know Reece CHambers? Excuse me, did your Uncle Tom know Reece CHambers?

EF: I...I supposed he did.

J: WHat was..

EF: I don't...

J: What uh...was Reece's role on the day of the Matewan massacre? The day of the shootings on Matewan?

EF: He evidently, he was in simply with the strikers.

J: Um-hum.

EF: Cause he killed uh...he killed Albert...no, he killed Lee Felts. I heard that Lee Felts when he heard the gun fire inside the mayor's office at that he started to go in and Reece Chambers was down the street and shot him through the heart with a high powered rifle. And I also heard they was a boy across the street shootin' at Lee and he killed that boy. I don't know whether that's true or not.

J: Did Lee manage to get off a shot and...

EF: Not to my knowledge except if he did... he killed that boy. I don't know. I heard that that's what happened now I don't know.

J: Un-hun.

EF: I never heard anybody confirm that as bein' true.

J: Well, to the best of your knowledge, how many Baldwin-Felts agents went to town...went to Matewan.

EF: Well, I would say it's roughly that they was a dozen of them.

J: About a dozen?

EF: Yeah.

J: So that would mean then, five escaped the massacre then?

EF: I don't know how many really.

J: Did any...to your knowledge, did any of the agents who were in Matewan that day and escaped the massacre, uh....live in this area or returned to live in this area?

EF: Yeah, I know of three, Higgins and uh...let's see they was Higgins and uh...Anderson brothers. Jim and Walt Anderson.

J: Un-hun. How did they escape. What were the circumstances of their escape?

EF: I've heard that the Anderson brothers, one of them got shot in the shoulder and the other one picked him and they...the train was comin' through and they caught the train and escaped. And I've heard that uh...Higgins had started in the drug store and somebody hit him in the head with a jug and he fell back on the street and somebody shot him.

J: And he was killed?

EF: Um-hum.

J: Yeah. I've heard that story and the way I've heard the story is that he was shot by Ed CHambers.

EF: Could've been. I..I really don't know.

J: NOw was this the uh....the fellow who at one time was police chief in Galax?

EF: Yeah. Walt Anderson was.

J: Oh. Anderson was? Okay. Would you happen to know the name of the agent who managed to escape by swimming across the Tug River?

EF: No. I don't. I did know at one time back when I was young, But I can't recall who it was.

J: Was there more than one who escaped in that fashion?

EF: Uh...one was all I remember.

J: Un-hun.

EF: ANd they's one named Lucas. I understand that went in a basement and got in a barrel. (laughing) I've heard that, I don't know and he escaped that way.

J: Hid in a barrel in Matewan?

EF: Yeah.

J: ANd that was Lucas?

EF: THat's what I'm...what I understand.

J: Do you recall hearing the news in 1921 when Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were killed? WEre shot?

EF: Vaguely, I remember it. Them talkin' about it. But that happened on the court house steps is my understanding.

J: Did you Uncle Tom continue to operate the BAldwin-Felts agents..agency after the death of Albert and Lee?

EF: For some time, I don't remember just how long.

J: Un-hun. Did he run that operation pretty much as a one man show?

EF: Yeah. He and Albert Baldwin of course, but Tome Felts office was in Bluefield and he...he more or less took charge there.

J: NOw, he owned...as you said, he owned a great deal of land around here.

EF: He owned twelve hundred acres in Carol and Grason County.

J: But did he...did he actually live here or live in Bluefield?

EF: He...he lived in Bluefield and here. He had a home in Cliff..Cliffhue and he had a home in Bluefield.

J: Un-hun. Do you have any idea, rough approximation of about how many agents the Baldwin-Felts would have in the field at any one time?

EF: I don't have the slightest idea.

J: Did the...did there...did there...were their services more in demand during periods of strikes or did they...were they constantly employed?

EF: Well now, that I don't know whether they were constantly employed or not but i know they worked for the railroad or the mining companies.

J: No,when the agency hired uh...and agent, would that be for a long term or for a job to job uh...

EF: Well they, just job to job is my way of thinkin'. I'm pretty sure that's the way it happened. Course he had some that he employed regular.

J: Un-hun. Did you ever work in any capacity for your Uncle Tom?

EF: No. I worked for his son. Ford dealership.

J: Now your Uncle Tom live until 1937. Is that correct?

EF: I declare, I don't remember just what year it was but he died in the hospital. Johnson Willis Hospital in Richmond Virginia.

J: That..to the best of your knowledge, the records...have pretty much all the records of the Baldwin-Felts agency been lost? or are there some around that you know of?

EF: Not any that I know of.

J: After the death of Tom, did the Baldwin-Felts agency go out of business or did someone else take it over?

EF: Well, I think it went out of business.

J: Did it?

EF: Um-hum.

J: And to your knowledge, did they have an office uh...in Matewan at one time?

EF: I really...I really don't know. I believe Mr. Harmon, he keeps pretty good records of all that. I believe he stated that they did have an office there.

J: Un-hun.

EF: I don't know.

J: Your Uncle Tom was married and had a family. Is that correct?

EF: He had one son. Gordon Creed Felts.

J: Was Gordon ever employed by the BAldwin-Felts agency?

EF: No. He wasn't.

J: I can't remember if I ask you or not. Were you ever employed by the Baldwin-Felts Agency?

EF: No.

J: That's right. That's right, I ask you if you had been.

EF: Um-hum.

J: Just for the record, if you would give me a run down of your employment history and your service and...and running the tavern and that kind of thing. That's oral history too.

EF: You mean with the work that I've done?

J: Yeah.

EF: Well, I run the tavern. I run a motel and service stations and uh...I was employed from the state at Slater Lake State Park and I was correctional supervisory officer for the state Penal institution for seven and a half years.

J: that was in the state penn at Richmond.

ED [sic]: It was in the state penitentiary farm is right...right out of Richmond at ?????????.

J: Now, I know that...that your a pretty good pistol shot yourself. Who taught you how to shoot?

EF: Well, I mostly taught myself.

J: Did you?

EF: Yeah.

J: So your Uncle Albert didn't teach you how to shoot?

EF: No, he didn't.

J: So you pretty much picked it up yourself?

EF: No, I did that myself and I...I was a prison guard there, you know, for seven and a half years and we would go out on the range and shoot and I was a good shot and the lieutenants would bet ten dollars to another one that I could beat anyone a shootin' which I could. I was a good shot.

J: Were most of the boys that you grew up with pretty good shots too?

EF: Yeah, they were. I...growed up with guns. I always liked guns.

J: Un-hun.

EF: Done a lot of huntin' and go back in the mountains and shoot pheasants. It was just natural I reckon to pick up a gun and go huntin'.

J: Was your father a hunter?

EF: No. He didn't hunt. Not to my knowledge any.

J: How bout your Uncle Tom. Did he hunt.

EF: To a certain...not like Albert and Lee. THey liked to hunt right much but Uncle Tom never did hunt to much. He like to go possum huntin'. I went with him one night up all night long when I was goin' to school and I had eleven possums in the sack and they would frighten each other and climb the sack and really wore me out.

J: What's the process of the possum huntin'? How do your get the possum?

EF: We got a dog that'll tree them in a tree you know and you kill them . I'll never forget Uncle Tom dogs treed on one time and uh...he thought he saw it up in the tree and he shot two or three times with his pistol didn't fall. He had a man with us and he made that man climb that tree, he says, I'm gonna see. That possum should have fell and got up there and it was a bunch of leaves. (laughing)

J: It wasn't even a possum?

EF: No, it wasn't no...the possum had been up the tree and come down and left you know. Dog thought it was up there.

J: Did your Uncle Tom do much of anything else for recreation or was he pretty much runnin' his business at the time?

EF: Well, he didn't stay around here too much and he mostly in Bluefield you know back when I was growin' up. Course, I used to drive him around right smart. Roanoke, and Johnson City Tennessee and if he done anything else, I don't know.

J: So you would...you would drive him around just to look after his various jobs?

EF: That's right. Yeah.

J: When he would...when he would travel, was he used...did he stay, say, in a hotel at the expense of the coal companies or the uh...

EF: No. He always paid the bill. I don't know whether the coal companies paid anything or not.

J: UN-hu,

EF: I know he got me a job with the Norfolk and Western Railroad in Roanoke and I would...had a good job. I'd take a big chalk and mark box cars and gunned over where they need repairin' and crew would come by and repair them and then I'd go out and hire people and write passes for them to ride the train. Pretty good job.

J: He helped you get...he got...

EF: He got it for me. Yeah. some of the people I hired retired.

J: Now, let's see, you did say that's how he got started in the detective business was working for N & W. Is that right?

EF: Well now, I don't know. I would presume so.

J: Did Lee and Albert ever live in Bluefield or did they live here all their life?

EF: No. they lived in...they lived here.

J: What was the reaction of...of Tom, say the personal reaction of your Uncle Tom when Albert and Lee were...were killed That you saw? I assume he was devastated but...

EF: Oh, sure. I...I just don't recall. I know he was...he was really mad and he wanted them brought to justice, the people that done the killing you know. I understand they had the trial and they come clear and then they uh...had Sid..Sid Hatfield come to the court house for some reason, I don't know just what it was but then uh...C.E. Lively shot him down on the court house steps, I don't know whether he went for his gun or what. Seem to me like, someone said Sid went for his gun and when he did, Lively shot him down.

J: Um-hum.

EF: Now, I don't know about Chambers. Was he shot at the same time? Do you, I guess he was.

J: Yeah. Um-hum.

EF: Lively was a good shot and oh, he...he let them have it.

J: What's uh...describe LIvely to me. Was he a big guy or little guy or...

EF: Well, I'd say he weighed about a hundred and seventy pounds.

J: Un-hun.

EF: Nice lookin' gentleman. Sharp as a tack.

J: Would you happen to know how he first got connected with the detec...with the agency?

EF: NO. I don't have any idea.

J: Cause he worked for them pretty regular it seems.

EF: Yeah Un-hun.

J: Now, at that shooting of...of the shoot out, where Sid and Ed Chambers were killed the other,..there were too other Baldwin-Felts agents there also. Is that correct?

EF: I don't know. Just don't know.

J: When your Uncle Tom ran for congress. Was he elected or was he defeated?

EF: No, he was a republican you know, and the democrats, had elected. No. It was kindly hard for the state of Virginia for a republican to get into office.

J: Yeh.

EF: ANd uh...it still is.

J: was he serving as...in the state senate or assembly at the time he ran for congress?

EF: I don't recall. I imagine he was.

J: Was he a close ally...well, he was a republican. I don't guess he would have been to close and ally of Harry Berg would he. Or was he? That you know of.

EF: That I don't know.

J: ANything else you'd particularly like to to mention from a personal standpoint about the...your uncles your uh...your family here?

EF: No, it's been so long ago. I've kindly lost out on it.

J: Yeah.

EF: Lot of it you know.

J: Was there much...do you recall much discussion in and around Woodlawn and Galax about what was goin' on in Matewan. About the strikes or the shootings or anything.

EF: Well, it's been so long ago I really can't recall. I don't remember.

J: But Galax had a newspaper that probably covered some of the...

EF: OH, sure. Yeah. THey...they had a gazette.

J: UN-hun.

EF: And they's a lot of write ups in the Gazette about it. IN fact, I give them a lot to write, you know, papers that i had. Let them copy it.

J: Un-hun.

EG: Mr. Harmon's got about four scrap books that I had that I let Mr. Harmon have them and uh...tells about all this happening out in West Virginia and the things that they were in. The thing that they did. And you might see Mr. Harmon and copy some of that that is interesting to you.

Matewan Oral History Project Collection