Mark A. Bradley's book, "Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America," a finalist for the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Fact Crime, covers the 1969 New Year's Eve murder of United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) rebel Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, his wife and his daughter.
In the small hours of New Yearâs Eve 51 years ago, three neâer-do-wells who had been stalking Joseph âJockâ Yablonski worked up the nerve to finish the job they had been hired to do.
Fortified by whiskey and beer, they crept into Yablonskiâs 200-year-old farmhouse in Clarksville. First they gunned down Yablonskiâs daughter, Charlotte, as she slept with curlers in her hair. Then, they walked into Yablonskiâs bedroom, and fired at his wife, Margaret. Finally, they pumped bullets into Yablonskiâs torso and head as he was fumbling with his own gun. Five days passed before their bodies were found.