They'll Cut Off Your Project: A Mingo County Chronicle

Chapter 6

6 In Morgantown, ] discussed the problem of Dingess with Dom Garafalo. Dom was a short, dark-"Complexioned Italian, who had worked in West Virginia as a labor organizer with the AFL·CIO. Born in south Philadelphia , he became a union organizer at the age of seventeen . He had been with the OEQ since its inception, first working in eastern Kentllckyand finally becom ing the district director for the state of West Virginia. When I explained the near violence at the Dingess meeting and the threat and danger to Clctis, he became very excited and angry. Although there was little he could say or do, at least he understood some of the obstacles we were meeting in our efforts to organize the poor. Early on Monday morning, a big man in faded bib overalls and an old red hunting shirt came to the EOC office in Williamson, completely out of breath. He had walked lip the stairs instead of riding the elevator. "Where's Perry?" he asked. "He's in his office," Donna replied. "May I tell him yom nalne?" 59 "Why, I am Frank Blair, and I think it's important I see Perry." She buzzed me, and I invited Blair in. "Damned if I ain't out of breath. Walking up them three sets of stairs is rough on a man," he declared. When I inquired why he had not taken the elevator, he said that he didn't know how to operate it. "Perry, now it ain't none of my business, but I read in thc paper what happened to this feUer Blackburn down at Dingess the other night. Now, I live on this side of the tunnel, but I know every one of them over there. I just don't want you to give in to them. And ] want to tell you something else. Now, they'll kill you over therc. Why, there has been seventeen constables and deputy sheriffs killed over there that I know of personally." He pulled a red handkerchief from his back pocket, blew his nose, and then continued, "And that Della Wellman and her outfit are tied right in with Noah Floyd. Anything that goes on down there, he knows all about it. Now, son, you are young, and ] am an old man. Ain't got but a few years left in this old world. You listen; I know what I am talking about. My own brother Morrie is tied in right with them. Do you know Morrie?" Before I could answer, he explained that Morrie was the jailer and a part-time deputy sheriff. "He tells me what they are thinking, and, believe me, they want you out of the county. T hey are feared you are going to tear up their little playhouse," he said, leaning over to spit in the wastebasket beside my desk and using his sleeve to wipe the tobacco juice from the corner of his mouth. He continued, " Now that Della's been in power down there so long, everybody is scared to death of her. If you 60 don't do what she says, she will have Noah cut your check off, or, if you are working on the crash program, she is liable to have YOli moved plum on the other end of the county. And, if you can't get to work, they'll cut you off the program." He reached into his pocket and rattled some pieces of metal by shaking his hand, then looked at me and grinned. "I'll bet you don't even know what that means." " 1am afraid not, Mr. Blair." He pulled from his pocket a handful of 30-30 automatic rifle shells. "You see, the people in Dingess have a warning. You know how an old rattlesnake will sing and warn yOll before he strikes? Well, if you ever hear that noise, you'll know someone is warning you that they are going to get YOli . You didn't know that, did you?" He smiled again. "No, sir," I replied, " but I'm glad you told me." He looked me over carefully. "You are big enough," he said. "Do yOll have a gun?" "No, sir, I don't." "Then don't go back in there without one. You do plan to go back to Dingess and help them people out, don't you?" "Yes, we have talked with several people in Dingess, and...