Avella Pa. A town with a Dark Spot and How it played a deadly part in the Cliftonville WV Coal mine Riot which killed a Brooke CountySheriff and 13 known Miners.and many to this day unknown

When you ride thru the town of Avella Pa. today its one of those sleepy post industrial coal mining towns  you can tell it was very prosperous town at one time when you see the large now abandoned Town Bank  But you would never know the dark spot this town would play in the Cliftonville Riot in nearby  Wellsville WV .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avella,_Pennsylvania

 

It was a hot July 17 when Union Miners would gather in the town of Avella  upset over the nearby Cliftonville mine being sold and now worked by Non Union Miners . They where supposedly going to peacefully remove them but it ended up a riot with the local Brooke County Sheriff Duval dead as well as 13 miners in the ensuing battle which saw the mines equipment and tipple destroyed. 

http://www.fortvance.org/FV_Docs/Cliftonville_Mine_Riot_of_1922.pdf

http://www.wvculture.org/history/labor/cliftonville05.html

http://www.brookecountywvgenealogy.org/cliftonville-mine.html

They marched the 4 miles to the mine from Avella that morning and what was suppose to be peaceful was anything but .

In the end several miners received jail sentences while the others got charges dismissed  and the total number killed as well as who murdered the sheriff is unknown to this day.
and it is an all but forgotten tragedy and case of union members using violence and intimidation instead of our courts system.