The Tally War: The 1906 North Carolina Railroad Riot

We’ve told the story of labor conflicts from Harlan, Kentucky to Blair Mountain, West Virginia. This week, we tell a story that’s not set in the Kentucky or West Virginia coalfields, but in Western North Carolina. It’s the story of the 1906 “Tally War,” a violent clash between Italian railroad laborers and company officials of contractors for the South and Western Railroad, which was building their railroad through the North Carolina mountains.  Between Spruce Pine and Marion, North Carolina, a violent confrontation erupted over a wage dispute and the harsh conditions in the railroad construction camps that ended in an international incident between the United States and Italy.It’s another one of the Stories of Appalachia.Subscribe to the Stories podcast on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss a single one of our Stories of Appalachia. Thanks for listening.