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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 7, 1920
Mingo County, West Virginia – Mine Owners’ Gunthugs Maintain “Law and Order”
From The Butte Daily Bulletin of September 29, 1920:
West Virginia Mine Owners Take Steps
to Get More U. S. Regulars
—————By PAUL HANNA.
(Staff Writer, the Federated Press.)Washington, Sept. 29.-West Virginia mine owners have acted quickly to overcome the complaint of Mingo county miners against the anti-labor conduct of federal troops in that district.
The detailed charges against federal troops made by Fred Mooney, district president [secretary-treasurer] of the United Mine Workers was printed in Federated Press newspapers on the morning of Sept. 24. That same afternoon the following “news” dispatch was sent out from Charleston, W. Va., and widely printed in the capitalist press:
A reign of terror and lawlessness still prevails in the Williamson and Pocahontas coal fields, according to reports sifting through from various sources and reaching here today.
Then, under a sub-heading inserted by the Washington Times which reads “Troops Badly Needed,” the dispatch continues:
Activities of gun wielders are at present confined to back woods, with every possibility of becoming more general should any attempt be made to remove the United States soldiers stationed in that district. Conditions are such that should the troops be removed a wave of crime would be let loose, according to reports received here.
The above dispatch is a perfect example of the “news” composed in the offices of the West Virginia mine owners and handed to subservient press associations to send over the country. Not a single name, place, date or incident is cited in the dispatch to justify the sensational report, which, in the Washington Times bears big-type headlines that read: “West Virginia Miners’ Revolt Grows. Reign of Terror and Lawlessness Threatens to Become General.”
It is a truism of the West Virginia situation that the mine owners must have martial law to stamp out union organizing or else acknowledge defeat and consent to collective bargaining.
Secretary of War Baker today refused to comment on Fred Mooney’s indictment of federal troops in Mingo county. He stated, however, that no report on the situation had been made to him and that no complaint had been filed by President Lewis, of the United Mine Workers, or by anyone else.
[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p230
https://books.google.com/books?id=vI-xAAAAIAAJ
The Butte Daily Bulletin
(Butte, Montana)
-Sept 29, 1920
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045085/1920-09-29/ed-1/seq-1/
See also:
Tag: Paul Hanna
https://weneverforget.org/tag/paul-hanna/
For more on Federated Press, see Survey of April 23, 1921
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=vaIqAAAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA128
For series from Paul Hanna on WV Miners’ Struggle, see:
Oklahoma Leader
“Member Federated Press”
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Sept 20, 1920, page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/658349632/
Sept 22, 1920, page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/658350197/
Sept 23, 1920, page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/658349657/
Sept 24, 1920 page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/665649099/
Sept 27, 1920, page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/658348811/
Sept 28, 1920, page3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/658349105/
Sept 29, 1920, page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/658349418/
Sept 30, 1920, page 3
https://www.newspapers.com/image/658349164/
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They’ll Never Keep Us Down – Hazel Dickens