Ed Whitfield & Earl Whitney

Ed Whitfield and Earl Whitney, two Black coal miners employed by the Island Creek Colliery Company, were seized by a white mob on December 15, 1919 while being transported by deputies from Chapmanville to Huntington. The two had been accused of killing E.D. Meek, a white construction foreman. The mob took them from custody, backed them against a rail car, and shot them, then threw their bodies into the Guyandotte River. Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin — who would later organize the armed force that fought striking miners at the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 — declined to investigate the killings. It was the only lynching recorded in West Virginia's southern coalfields during the nationwide wave of racial violence in the summer and fall of 1919 known as Red Summer. No one was ever charged.

Chapmanville, WV · Logan County

• 1919: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The victims' identities, occupation, and the December 15, 1919 date and circumstances, per the West Virginia Encyclopedia and multiple historical accounts.
• Sheriff Don Chafin declined to investigate the killings, per the same sources; no one was ever charged.

• Whether Whitfield and Whitney had any actual connection to Meek's killing was never established in any court.
• The identities of the individual mob members were never publicly documented.

• West Virginia Encyclopedia (e-WV) — “African American Heritage”
• The Clio — “Whitfield and Whitney Lynching Site”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs