An undercover detective risks exposure to help his family during a coal strike
One of the more violent coal strikes in Western Maryland occurred in 1922 as the union made an all-out attempt to unionize the coal mines in the area. Because the union didn’t want to give up Maryland, the strike lasted months longer here than in other areas of the country. Strike the Fuse, a new novel by James Rada, Jr., captures this tumultuous period in the county’s history. Strike the Fuse is the second book in the Black Fire Trilogy. The first book, Smoldering Betrayal, was released in 2018. The story follows Matt Ansaro, a WWI veteran who is a now a Pinkerton detective. He returns to his hometown of Eckhart in 1922 after being away for five years. His family doesn’t know his current profession or that he has been sent to Eckhart to spy out union activity for Read more…
Wild Frostburg, MD, During Prohibition
Although the United States government banned the sale, production and transportation of alcohol in 1920, it made no difference to the residents of Frostburg. Liquor and beer flowed so freely in the Mountain City that drunks staggered through the streets with little fear of consequences. Once the U.S. Congress ratified nationwide Prohibition in January 1919, the Volstead Act, passed later that year, provided the means to enforce liquor and beer sales and manufacture. Prohibition went into effect on midnight January 17, 1920, and the first arrest under the Volstead Act was made less than an hour later (in Chicago). The first arrest in Frostburg of someone violating the Volstead Act didn’t happen until October 21, 1922, nearly three years after Prohibition started. By then, the city had a statewide reputation for out-of-control drunkenness and not enforcement of Prohibition. A 1921 Read more…
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