Rats: Murder in a Mining Town

By Saundra McKee

Rats is set in a western Pennsylvania coal mining community in the early 1920s. The story is a murder mystery that also gives insights into life in the 1920s, especially in a mining town. Billy Hart is the main character. Billy gets caught up in trying to clear his father, th e town's Chief of the Coal and Iron Police, from suspicion of the murder of a mysterious stranger. In his quest, Billy interacts with a variety of interesting characters, including homeless people, World War I veterans, gypsies, scabs, immigrants, bootleggers, Klansmen, law enforcement officials and the clergy, to name a few. Billy faces several dangers and gains surprising new insights about people he thought he knew well. He is forced to make choices that impact his family and himself for years to come. Billy who loves to shoot rats at the local mule barn, learns that some of the nastiest and most dangerous rats are people and not furry long tailed mammals. The story takes place during one week in 1924, but the events and shocking conclusion result in drastic changes in Billy, his family and the town he loves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saundra McKee
• Release date: Apr 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458133625

Saundra McKee

I am a retired educator. I taught in the public schools for 15 years and at the university level for 22 years. I love to travel the world. I enjoy politics, dogs, mysteries and water sports. I am a lay speaker in the United Methodist Church.

Book preview

Rats: Murder in a Mining Town by Sandy McKee

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Published by Saundra McKee at Smashwords. Copyright 2011. Saundra McKee.

Chapter 1

October 1924, Monday

As hard as he tried, Billy Hart could not get the picture of the coal miners carrying a wooden coffin through town that blustery afternoon out of his mind. The coffin had the name of the hated mine superintendent scrawled on it. Billy’s dad said that if the miners didn't get better wages soon, a big strike was certain. Little did Billy know that within twenty four hours, he would see the real body of a mysterious dead man.

He decided to go see Arch. Billy loved working for Arch at the mule barn. In 1924, many twelve year old boys were already working deep in the coal mines. Billy felt very lucky to be staying above the ground. He helped Arch feed the mules that pulled carts of coal through the underground tunnels until the motors could catch them near the big tipple. There were not too many mules left at the barn. Just last year the mine owners decided to move fifty of the sixty mules into the mines full time. Once put into the mines, they never saw daylight again. Arch would go in once a day to feed them, and he said it was awful. You throw some hay or sorghum out for the mules and twenty rats rush out to eat it. Those mines are full of rats, he complained.

Because Billy was tall and strong for his age, Arch once took him into the mines to help feed the mules. It was really scarey. Those filthy rats gave him nightmares. He hoped that he would never have to go in there again.

In some ways Billy was glad that most of the mules were gone from the barn. They all used to kick at him. The few that were left were easy to care for, and best of all, there was Trixie. Trixie looked almost like a horse to Billy. Arch had even given Billy an old saddle so that he could ride Trixie back through the rolling western Pennsylvania hills. Arch constantly reminded Billy to be careful that the dreaded mine superintendent didn't see him riding the mine company's mule. Billy listened to Arch. He liked being around him at the barn and every few weeks, Arch would give him a dollar for his help.

Whenever Arch paid him, Billy gave his mother the money. She would often give him back fifteen cents so that he could buy a box of twenty two shorts at the company store. He'd use them to hunt rabbits and squirrels. His mother was pleased when Billy brought home some game for dinner. Billy had four brothers and sisters, and food, especially meat, cost a lot at the company store. Billy's mom said that when they bought meat there, they paid for the butcher's thumb a few hundred times, since he liked to rest his thumb on the scale when he weighed things.

Sometimes Billy shot rats that got in the mule feed at Arch's barn. One day he shot five of the ugly creatures that both he and Arch agreed were nothing but a nuisance. Arch told Billy that he would pay him a penny for each dead rat. Billy figured he was doing both Arch and the mine a favor by getting rid of the varmits.

The mine owned everything in the town; the store, the houses, the school, the doctor's office, and the hotel. Everyone in the town worked for the mine in one way or another. Sometimes Billy's mother cooked meals at the hotel where many of the greenhorns lived. These were miners who had often just gotten there from Italy, Poland or Latvia. They were bachelors or did not have any family with them and lived in either the hotel or up in Shanty town. Most unmarried men took their meals at the hotel. When Billy's mother wasn't working at the hotel or at home, she cooked and helped to take care of some of the families who were suffering from tuberculosis.

Billy's dad had worked in the mines for a few years, but now he was a constable for the Coal and Iron Police. Standing well over six feet tall and weighing over two hundred and twenty pounds and in his dark blue uniform, Cal Hart commanded respect. Billy got his dark curly hair and deep set blue eyes from his Irish father. Activities in the mining town kept Cal busy. Prohibition had been in effect for over three years, but there was no lack of alcohol among the miners. It seemed like there were always drinking and fighting going on over card games, property or romance. Billy's dad had to keep the peace and often had to arrest unruly men. Since there was no jail, sometimes he would handcuff offenders to the clothesline pole in the family’s back yard overnight. Everyone would see his prisoners on their way to work. In the winter, Billy's mother would sometimes have to give up her half of the bed and Cal would handcuff the culprits to the bedpost where he'd keep watch over them. The next day Cal would either release them or take them to the courthouse jail ten miles away.

Lately, it seemed like Billy's dad was never home. There was always someone causing trouble. Last week when Luella Deemer married a Catholic, the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on a hill above the town. Some townspeople fired shots at the Klan and the Klan fired back. No one was hurt, but the whole town was on edge. Billy’s dad was so angry about the Klan. He said everyone knew who the Klansmen were, but no one would come forward to testify against them. Cal had even put search lights on a few buildings in hopes of catching Klansmen committing their acts, but had little success. He told Billy that the Klan hated people who