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If I had to go with another one not mentioned already, I think Henry D. Hatfield was a great governor. He was a surgeon who battled the coal barons and championed workers' rights at a time when there wasn't any (won't get into any disputes about contemporary labor unions). He got legislation for workers' comp and miner's hospitals passed and pardoned the old matriarch of the mine strikes, Mother Jones.
The greatest personal feat, in my opinion, came on the heels of the Holly Grove incident. A coal operator and sheriff sent in a train with a machine gun and opened fire on the tent colony where striking miners had been living for a year. The former governor declared martial law and sent in 1200 militiamen to the camp, and some miners were tried at martial tribunals and were jailed. A month later, Hatfield, as the new governor, sneaked out of Charleston and went down to the camp to treat the sick and injured in the camp. I'm not trying to slight Tomblin or any recent governor, but personally going down and treating those who opposed many of the people who helped you get into office, just for humanity's sake, is a rare feat for anyone let alone the governor of the state.
After he saw everything, he resolved to do what he could to end the strike. A few months later he got the operators to give some rights to the miners and ended the strike. The best part was leading up to it, he had a meeting with one of the coal operators in his office and got into an argument. He got so mad he decked the guy and sent him packing. I love it.
If I had to go with another one not mentioned already, I think Henry D. Hatfield was a great governor. He was a surgeon who battled the coal barons and championed workers' rights at a time when there wasn't any (won't get into any disputes about contemporary labor unions). He got legislation for workers' comp and miner's hospitals passed and pardoned the old matriarch of the mine strikes, Mother Jones.
The greatest personal feat, in my opinion, came on the heels of the Holly Grove incident. A coal operator and sheriff sent in a train with a machine gun and opened fire on the tent colony where striking miners had been living for a year. The former governor declared martial law and sent in 1200 militiamen to the camp, and some miners were tried at martial tribunals and were jailed. A month later, Hatfield, as the new governor, sneaked out of Charleston and went down to the camp to treat the sick and injured in the camp. I'm not trying to slight Tomblin or any recent governor, but personally going down and treating those who opposed many of the people who helped you get into office, just for humanity's sake, is a rare feat for anyone let alone the governor of the state.
After he saw everything, he resolved to do what he could to end the strike. A few months later he got the operators to give some rights to the miners and ended the strike. The best part was leading up to it, he had a meeting with one of the coal operators in his office and got into an argument. He got so mad he decked the guy and sent him packing. I love it.
Another great Governor, there is a picture/plauque of him in Welch Emergency Hospital(old Welch Miners Hospital#1) where he was Chief Surgeon, it speaks of him treating sick and wounded miners, pushing for medical rights for all coalfield and state residents and gives some of his family lineage(he was Devil Anse Hatfield's nephew).
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