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The Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency was a private detective agency in the United States. Today it is most remembered for its violent confrontations with labor union members in such places as the Pocahantas Coal Field region of West Virginia, the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike of 1912 in West Virginia, and in Ludlow, Colorado leading up to the Ludlow Massacre. Further members of the agency were central actors in the events that lead to the Battle of Blair Mountain. == Formation of the agency == The agency was founded in the early 1890s by William Gibbony Baldwin as the Baldwin Detective Agency. Baldwin, the senior member of the firm, was a native of Tazewell County, Virginia. An avid reader of detective novels in his youth, Baldwin was a small storekeeper in his early days. He then studied dentistry, but left that profession in order to become a detective. He began his career in 1884 with the Eureka Detective Agency in Charleston, West Virginia. After founding the Baldwin Detective Agency, he then moved to Roanoke, Virginia, to oversee security operations in the Norfolk & Western Railway’s coalfield district, later being appointed chief special agent (a position he held until his retirement in 1930). Thomas Lafayette Felts was a native of Galax, Virginia, who was educated as a lawyer and was a member of the Virginia Bar Association. In 1900, he joined the Baldwin Detective Agency as a partner who could provide legal advice to the firm. In 1910, the name of the agency was changed to the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency, headquartered in Bluefield, West Virginia. Originally, the company provided investigative services to railroads for train robberies and other crimes.〔Velke III, John, ''The True Story of the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency'', ISBN 0-9664336-1-0, ISBN 978-0-9664336-1-6 (2004)〕 Little is known about this chapter in the history of Baldwin–Felts, but it is known that the company provided guards for railway and mine payrolls, as well as to accompany coal trains into the coalfields. The company investigated train wrecks, robberies and thefts. By the early 1900s, the agency had also undertaken detective work for both federal and state government agencies. The agency became known for crime-busting after it successfully tracked down members of the Allen family wanted in a shootout in 1912 at the Carroll County Courthouse in Hillsville, Virginia, that left the judge, the sheriff, the prosecutor, a juror and a witness dead or dying. Though two of the Allens fled the state, the Baldwin–Felts detectives (led by Thomas Felts) managed to locate and arrest all of the fugitives within six months. By 1913, railroad crimes and associated banditry had decreased and Baldwin–Felts turned to other fields, in particular private security forces for mining companies. At the time, public law enforcement and the maintenance of order in labor-management disputes was often left to company owners. Baldwin–Felts supplied guards and detectives that were used by the mining industry to suppress strikes, to collect intelligence on unions, to prevent labor organizers from entering company grounds and even to evict workers living in company-owned housing who had joined a union, gone on strike or failed to pay rent. This work soon brought the agency into conflict with labor and unions. Baldwin–Felts is today best known for its violent confrontations with labor union members in such places as the Pocohantas Coal Field region of West Virginia, the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike of 1912 in West Virginia, and in Ludlow, Colorado in southern Colorado. Among union members, Baldwin–Felts agents were regarded as hired thugs. A former attorney general of West Virginia, Howard B. Lee, who knew both Baldwin and Felts, recalled that the men were the "two most feared and hated men in the mountains."〔Lee, Howard B., ''Bloodletting in Appalachia: The Story of West Virginia's Four Major Mine Wars and Other Thrilling Incidents Of Its Coal Fields'', Morgantown: West Virginia University Press (1969), p. 53〕 Both Baldwin and Felts were also involved in banking and Baldwin later served as president and member of the board of directors of several banks. Felts was later elected to two terms as a Virginia state senator. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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