In Logan County, WV (see the film Matewan) the sheriff and his deputies were the private army of the coal companies. When Chapin retired, he was given half ownership of a mine as a reward for his “service.”
My grandmother ran a boarding house on High Street in Logan and the sheriff would come by every now and then to check out the new arrivals in town. I know that after she asked if the sheriff had her husband killed, she would have pulled the trigger, but she had no firearms.
In spite of my unflappable anti-union stance, I'll admit that Matewan is among my very favorite films. I enjoy watching fine acting by people such as Chris Cooper and James Earl Jones. At my age of 70, I've long been able to divorce a message I may not agree with yet still acknowledge a well-done filmic achievement. I may very well be in that small subset of people who has both busted a union (as I did in Western Pennsylvania) but owns a DVD of Matewan. The music in that film, of course, is outstanding.