Nine Lives of Charles E. Lively

The West Virginia and Colorado Coal Mine Wars of the early twentieth century was a tumultuous and violent time in our nation’s history.  At the center of this saga is Charles Everett Lively, perhaps one of the deadliest of the undercover agents of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.  Although it’s been almost one hundred years since the bloodshed in La Veta, Ludlow, Matewan, and Welch, the names of William G. Baldwin, Thomas L. Felts, and Charles E. Lively can still stir an extraordinary level of hatred among those same coal mining communities. From the record, it’s clear that Lively killed no fewer than three men in his lifetime, one in Colorado and two in West Virginia. It also appears that killing was something that came easy for him. The Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency was one of several private detective agencies like Pinkerton, that performed many freelance security and detective tasks, including strike breaking.  Among the agency’s best clients were the owners of the coal mines o