Rendville the Lawless and Godless: Life & Crime in a Coal Town

Founded in 1879, Rendville’s rough character can be attributed to the post-Civil War economic crises, labor issues, racial tensions, and poor living conditions. When Rendville was established, the nation was just coming out of one of the most severe economic crises of the nineteenth-century brought about by the Panic of 1873. Economic crises typified the post war era and the Gilded Age, but coal was itself, a combustible industry fraught with constant instability. Locally, tensions boiled over right after Rendville was founded, creating the ‘Corning War’ in 1880. This labor dispute over the sliding scale, an inferior payment method that tied miners’ salaries to the market value of coal, became violent when miners in the Sunday Creek Valley protested and the African American miners at William Rend’s No. 3 Mine refused. On August 29, a hotel that housed Black miners in Rendville was burned down, the floors having been saturated with coal oil. In September, Governor Foster sent guardsmen to maintain the peace, but by the end of the conflict three soldiers were seriously wounded and another fifteen to twenty were injured. Only two years after these skirmishes, the Sunday Creek Valley was devastated by severe flooding on August 3, 1882. The flood not only carried buildings and destroyed bridges, but displaced mine tracks and coal cars. Shortly after this, the valley plunged into the Great Hocking Valley Coal Strike, which lasted from June 1884 until March 18, 1885. Within this period of time, Rendville’s small infrastructure would have struggled to keep up with its booming population which increased from a mere 349 in 1880 to well over 1,500 and possibly as many as 2,500 only three years later. Beyond these crises, newspapers reported other tragedies that occurred in Rendville between 1880 and 1884. One miner’s son was killed playing on a train car. Owen Murray opened his door one morning to find a baby in a basket with its birthdate, name, and a promise to half its mother’s earnings. Beyond that, a miner was killed in a mine blast and another laborer perished when he was crushed by logs. Fraught with turbulence and tragedy, Rendville provided an ideal environment for crime.

Although nearly half a century had elapsed since he lived in Rendville, Adam Clayton Powell’s recollections of depraved life and crime in Rendville were not unfounded. In just five years there were no fewer than thirteen destructive or violent crimes committed which left at least four dead. Between 1880 and 1884 there was at least one burglary, one act of arson, and one property destroyed by a mob. Property was not the only thing at risk, one person was assaulted, two men were stabbed so badly that their limbs had to be amputated, three people endured non-fatal shootings, and at least four others were murdered. While the Logan Hocking Sentinel was prejudiced in its perception of Rendville, and its report of nine killings in 1882 alone was likely inflated, Rendville was by all means a dangerous and lawless place to live. 

Just as Powell remembered fifty years later, many of these crimes revolved around Rendville’s biggest vices—gambling and alcohol. He himself noted that he gambled away not only all of his earnings and money, but also money he borrowed. In fact, in 1883 there were a total of twenty-four saloons in the small town (as opposed to two churches), and of the thirteen violent crimes reported, nearly a quarter explicitly involved a saloon. One drunken man who stumbled across the train tracks, was hit and thrown between rail ties, miraculously only suffering scratches. However, while crime was exacerbated by the culture surrounding saloons, Rendville’s most infamous crime was not alcohol related, even if it did involve two saloon owning families.

Although Rendville had 250-300 families of African descent by 1884, Rendville’s sole lynching was not racially motivated, but the result of a quarrel between two white families, the Cliffords and the Hickeys. James Clifford, originally from Vinton County, allegedly scandalized his family when he married Mary Ann Hickey of Rendville in September of 1883. James’s older brother Peter, allegedly said he would rather see his brother dead than married to a Hickey. Mrs. Hickey returned by supposedly insulting Peter’s wife in downtown Rendville. Angered by the Hickey’s disrespect, on February 3, 1884, Peter went to Richard Hickey’s place in Rendville to settle the affair, and subsequently beat Hickey in a fight. Later that evening, Peter answered his door at his home in Corning and was shot. He later died from his wounds, but not before telling his wife that it was Richard Hickey and his son. Several were arrested, including Richard Hickey and Richard’s brother-in-law Joe Reddy. That night a mob from Corning broke into the jail and lynched Richard Hickey. The mob also hung Joe Reddy, but when his rope broke and he pleaded his innocence, the mob decided to spare him for the trial. A number of suspects were arrested for the lynching, including James Clifford. While the murder and lynching were bad enough, these families continued to menace Southeast Ohio, the Cleveland Daily Herald referred to the Cliffords as the ‘Sunday Creek Sinners.’ James Clifford escaped the Lancaster jail when the jailer was reportedly drugged. Bill Clifford was arrested in Perry County for shooting with the intent to kill at Mount Hope Station in Vinton County, but later met a violent death at the hands of Dick Craney in a saloon dispute. Another brother of Peter Clifford was wanted for a felonious assault on Ed Dunn a saloon keeper in Vinton County. Even Peter was apparently no saint, reportedly having been involved in a number of affrays in Rendville, even whipping the stepson of Richard Hickey. The Hickey’s were no better. Richard’s widow remarried and reopened Hickey’s saloon, making the news again in 1888 when she shot and killed her new husband James Whitfield. Whether from labor disputes, racial tensions, poor living conditions, or crime, “life was cheap” in coal towns and Rendville was no exception.

For years Rendville was a raucous town until it was reformed by African American religious, political, and labor leaders in the latter half of the 1880s. These local African American leaders who not only created a more secure sense of community, but transcended boundaries and the infamous ‘color line.’ According to Powell, Rendville’s renewal was nearly miraculous. During March 1885, a revival at the town’s only two churches, a Baptist and Methodist, altered the course of the community. Not only was Powell converted during these revivals, but he remembered witnessing saloon owners emptying liquor barrels into the street and others burning their gambling apparatus. Five preachers including himself were born out of that revival. Newspapers corroborate his claim of renewal. During the second half of the 1880s there were only two violent crimes that made headlines, both shootings, and both by people who had made the news before. In addition to the religious revival, which undoubtedly contributed to change in the community, progress was perpetuated by a new energetic mayor. Already holding the distinction as being the first person of African descent to graduate from a medical school in Ohio, Dr. Isaiah Tuppins was successfully elected mayor of Rendville in 1886, when white people still constituted the majority of the votes. This was largely due to Tuppin’s influence and character. As early as 1884, Tuppins shared news of Rendville with other African American communities in the state including places as far away as Cleveland. Tuppins even helped prevent a Black man from being lynched in Corning in 1887 by threatening to personally lead Rendville residents in an attack on Corning if justice was not upheld. However, it was his fervent interest in labor reform which earned him the support of the Knights of Labor who claimed credit for his election. Few African American labor leaders were as well-known as Rendville’s Knights of Labor member Richard Davis. Davis wrote to the National Labor Tribune and throughout the 1880s and 1890s, assisted labor organizations such as the American Federation of Labor and was even the appointed to the executive board of the United Mine Workers from 1890 to 1896. Within the UMW he was one of less than two percent of Blacks to hold district level office in the 1890s and after him there would not be not be another African American to serve on the executive board until 1973. Throughout his service for labor reform Davis sought a balanced approach to racial tensions and tried to maintain equity and stability between labor and capital. At a labor demonstration in 1888 at Springfield, Ohio, Tuppins argued that part of the reason for Rendville’s improvement was its reforms in labor and education. His speech took place within a year of opening an integrated school in Rendville. Around 1900, the school was taught by a young eighteen-year-old girl, Mary Murray, the same girl abandoned on the doorstep of Owen Murray’s house in August of 1882—Rendville had gone full circle.

By the end of the 1880s Rendville had experienced revival and renewal. The community and its leaders had exchanged turbulence and tragedy for tranquility and relative stability. This transformation in second half of the 1880s was the result of African American determinism, a testament to Rendville’s leaders who overcame all odds and the color line.

Books

Doppen, Frans H. Richard L. Davis and the Color Line in Ohio Coal A Hocking Valley Mine Labor Organizer, 1862-1900. Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies, 41. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

Meyers, David, Nyla Vollmer, and Elise Meyers Walker. Carrying Coal to Columbus Mining in the Hocking Valley. Charleston: The History Press, 2017.

Graham, Albert. History of Fairfield and Perry Counties, Ohio. Chicago: W.H. Beers & Co., 1883.

Powell Sr., Adam Clayton. Against the Tide An Autobiography. New York: Richard R Smith, 1938.

Newspapers

“A Brave Deed.” The Cleveland Gazette (Cleveland, Ohio), November 10, 1888. Newspaper Archive.

“A Family Quarrel Results in a Husband’s Murder.” Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), December 25, 1888. Plain Dealer Historical.

“A Lively Locality.” The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio), March 14, 1884. Newspaper Archive.

“A Shooting Case.” The Cincinnati Commercial (Cincinnati, Ohio), November 25, 1882. Newspaper Archive.

“A Trio. Three Boys killed in one day while Stealing rides on cars.” Xenia Daily Gazette (Xenia, Ohio), February 13, 1882. Newspaper Archive.

“A Wench Killed Her Fellah.” The Hocking Sentinel (Logan, Ohio), October 5, 1882. Newspaper Archive.

“Additional Arrest of Rendville Lynchers.” The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio), March 7, 1884. Newspaper Archive.

“Arrests for Burglary.” The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio), August 15, 1883. Newspaper Archive.

“Avenged By A Mob.” Cleveland Daily Herald (Cleveland, Ohio), February 5, 1884. Nineteenth Century U.S. Newpapers.

“Fatal Result of a Shooting Affray.” The Cincinnati Commercial (Cincinnati, Ohio), November 1, 1881. Newspaper Archive.

“Lynch Law.” The Elyria Weekly Republican (Elyria, Ohio), February 7, 1884. Newspaper Archive.

“Lynch Law in Ohio. The Cold Blooded Murder Of A Young Man In Rendville.” Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), February 4, 1884. Plain Dealer Historical.

“More About Elmont.” The Norwalk Daily Reflector (Norwalk, Ohio), August 21, 1883. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighborhood Notes & News.” Marion Daily Star (Marion, Ohio), February 8, 1881. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), August 10, 1882. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), August 31, 1882. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), December 7, 1882. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), February 14, 1884. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), June 16, 1881. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), March 22, 1883. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), March 29, 1883. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), March 24, 1881. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), May 3, 1883. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), May 20, 1886. Newspaper Archive.

“Neighboring Counties.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), September 15, 1881. Newspaper Archive.

“New Lexington.” The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio), September 17, 1881. Newspaper Archive.

“Ohio Vigilants.” The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette (Cincinnati, Ohio), February 5, 1884. Newspaper Archive.

“Released From Jail by a Mob.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat (St. Louis, Missouri), June 18, 1884. Nineteenth Century U.S. Newpapers.

“Rendville Items.” Cleveland Gazette (Cleveland, Ohio), June 28, 1884. Newspaper Archive.

“Riotous Strikers.” The Athens Messenger (Athens, Ohio), September 2, 1880. Newspaper Archive.

“Speedy Vengeance.” Boston Daily Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), February 4, 1884. Newspaper Archive.

“Sunday Creek Sinners.” Cleveland Daily Herald (Cleveland, Ohio), March 14, 1884. Nineteenth Century U.S. Newpapers.

“The Colored Mayor. Dr. Tuppins. of Rendville, and What He Has to Say About Labor.” Xenia Daily Gazette (Xenia, Ohio), June 21, 1887. Newspaper Archive.

“The News.” Cleveland Daily Herald (Cleveland, Ohio), October 3, 1882. Nineteenth Century U.S. Newpapers.

Other Sources

Ancestry. “Oney Murray in the 1900 United States Federal Census.” Accessed August 14, 2020. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7602&h=41321285&tid=&pid=&queryId=9a235c5840436af059bafc80f54f8332&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Gfb664&_phstart=successSource.

Ancestry. “Peter Clifford in the 1870 United States Federal Census.” Accessed August 14, 2020. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7163&h=37723022&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Gfb611&_phstart=successSource.

Photos courtesy of the Little Cities of Black Diamonds archive. Shawnee, Ohio.