In January 1927, H. Wetter Manufacturing Company, South Pittsburg's largest employer and a unionized company, closed its stove factory. When Wetter tried to reopen with non-union labor, the unions established picket lines, and the strike hurt the local economy. High tension between four local unions and Wetter drove a wedge between employer and employees and divided residents, politicians, and law enforcement officials. Growing resentment, coupled with political rivalries from the last sheriff's race, soon led to officers battling officers. The gunfight on Christmas night of 1927 at Third Street and Cedar Avenue left six officers dead and several injured, bringing national attention to the city. Those killed were Sheriff G. Washington Coppinger, Deputy Lorenza A. Hennessey, City Marshals Benjamin Parker and Ewing Smith, and Wetter guard Oran H. LarRowe; Police Chief James Connor died the next day. Governor Henry H. Horton dispatched the National Guard to curtail additional violence.

Photo: Sandra Hughes