Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and The Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley is a non-fiction account of the 1969 murder of Mine union leader in running Jock Yablonski and his family in Clarksville, PA. Bradley’s account of the inner political machinations of the Miner Unions in coal country is engaging and accessible –two key points in making non-fiction easier to read. Born and raised in PA, I was interested to learn about this incident in my state’s history as I had not heard of it before.
The murder of Jock Yablonski and his family was planned by Tony Boyle, the Union’s leader and opposition to Yablonski. While Boyle and his cronies enjoyed raking in embezzled funds and padded salaries at the expense of mine safety and regulations, Yablonski actually ran on a platform of walking the walk–not just talking and talk like Boyle. Yablonski’s integrity and desire to truly better the Union and life for its workers was a direct threat to Boyle and his cronies, and the cushy incomes they had been receiving uncontested for years. Boyle enlisted numerous parties to execute his wishes; various middlemen through which to launder money, arrange the assassination details, and employ hit men for hire. Interestingly enough, and perhaps unsurprising, the hit men were quite easy to “break” in terms of ratting out who had hired them. From there, the dominoes fell fast and hard, all the way up to Tony Boyle himself.
Blood Runs Coal is a gritty, engaging read about the violent machinations and power grabs of the United Mine Workers of America, and in turn, the exploitation of its workers at the expense of their very lives and safety. It also reads along the same lines as Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.
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