Albert and Lee were the brothers of Thomas Felts, the co-owner and director of the private detective agency. On May 19, 1920, a dozen Baldwin–Felts detectives, including Lee Felts, arrived in Matewan in Mingo County and connected with Lee’s brother Albert Felts. The coal companies then hired agents of the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency to evict the families of their former employees. Over 3,000 Mingo County miners joined the union-and were summarily fired. This unionization push included efforts from Mother Jones, who gave fiery speeches at the age of 83, and Frank Keeney, president of the local union district. He was under increased pressure to do so from both miners elsewhere participating in the United Mine Workers coal strike of 1919, and from affected mine operators who were now being undercut by nonunion mines in West Virginia. Lewis sought to finally end the three-decade resistance to unionization in the area. As miners in the area lived almost exclusively in company towns, termination also meant eviction. Since the founding of the United Mine Workers union in 1890, coal mines in Mingo County, West Virginia and its surrounds hired only non-union workers, and strictly enforced employment contracts that included union membership as grounds for immediate termination.
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