Ginger: The Life and Death of Albert Goodwin

July 27, 1918. Heavy heat burned down on the small mining town of Cumberland on Vancouver Island. In the nearby wildernes of Comox Lake, a special police constable broke through the bush to come shockingly face to face with a stranger. A slight, red-haired man stood holding a rifle. This was the fugitive they sought, considered subversive and dangerous. With no time to aim, the constable shot as he raised his own weapon. This is the "official" version of the events of that day. The life of Albert "Ginger" Goodwin, one of British Columbia's most colourful figures, had come to a controversial end. [This book] is the story of a remarkable man, and a fascinating period in BC history. Arriving on Vancouver Island in 1910, Ginger Goodwin joined hundreds of others slaving in the hellholes of the Cumberland Mines. There he found blacklung, explosions, and deadly vapours; hazards which killed hundreds of miners in a short century of coal mining. What he saw made him one of the most effective labour leaders the province has ever seen, and led ultimately to his untimely end. Susan Mayse combines the skills of the historian and novelist in this gripping biography. From fragments of recorded history, official documents, and exhaustive interviews with the coal miners who knew Cumberland and knew Ginger Goodwin, she has pieced together an extraordinary tale. --Publisher's desscription

OCLC: 1309039620