Category: Hellraisers Journal

Hellraisers Journal: Sid Hatfield and Nine Others Arrested at Matewan, Taken to Williamson, and Charged with Murder

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday May 26, 1920
Matewan, West Virginia – Chief of Police Sid Hatfield Arrested

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of May 25, 1920:

Sid Hatfield Plus Arrested, Whlg Int p1, May 25, 1920

MATEWAN, W. Va., May 24.-Sid Hatfield, chief of police of Matewan, Mingo county, and nine others were arrested today and taken to Williamson, where they were arraigned before Judge James Damron of the circuit court, charged with the murder of L. C. Felts and other Baldwin-Felts detectives in the recent Matewan riots.

They waived examination and were released on bond in the sum of $3,000 each.

Among the men arrested with Hatfield were: Reese Chambers, Clare Overstreet, Charle Kiser, Douglas Mounts, [Ed] Chambers, Ezra Fry, Billy Bowmen and two others.

The men were taken to Williamson by Jackson Arnold, chief of the state department of public safety, and other members of the state constabulary.

Other arrests are expected, as fifteen warrants have been issued for miners. Warrants have also been issued for the four surviving detectives who are alleged to have participated in the battle.

———-

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Yellow Dog to Blame for Battle with Company Gunthugs at Matewan, Mingo County, West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 25, 1920
Matewan, West Virginia – Correspondent Russ Simonton on “Yaller Dog”

From the Harrisburg Evening News of May 24, 1920:

Matewan, Yaller Dog by R Simonton, Hbrg PA Eve Ns p17, May 24, 1920—–

MATEFAN [Matewan], W. Va., May 24.-State police patrol this coal town because Americans refused to sign away their rights as citizens.

Here is the history of the events which led a few days ago to the killing of Mayor Testerman, it is said, in cold blood, by mine private detectives [Baldwin-Felts gunthugs], and a battle between citizens and detectives that cost a total of twelve lives.

Fighting Union

Matewan miners want to affiliate with the United Mine Workers of America. Mine operators of the Tug Creek District are opposed to any labor organizations.

Organizers were sent here last April. They held street meetings. A few miners joined them, then right and left those who joined lost their jobs. These men became organizers themselves. Obviously that sort of thing could not continue long. There are 6000 miners in this district and two-thirds or more live in company houses and buy food from company stores.

“Yaller Dog” Appears

The “Yaller Dog” soon made its appearance. It is a marvelous document. In part It reads:

In consideration of my employment I agree that I will not affiliate with or give assistance to any union or labor organization without first giving you notice. Should I fall to comply with this agreement, our relations shall be terminated. I will leave your premises and will surrender without notice any house occupied by me, it being understood that such house is incident to my employ.

The “Yaller Dog” made no favorable impression with these drawling, slow-moving hill miners.

Not half a dozen signed the agreement.

Wholesale firing began and man after man was discharged and several mines boarded up their drifts and loaded the miners out.

Then Hughie Coombs, Methodist minister and one of the first men discharged for joining the union, arranged, he said, that if dispossession proceedings should be started, the sheriff [George Blankenship] of Mingoco [Mingo Co.] should serve the papers.

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Hellraisers Journal: Butte Daily Bulletin: At Matewan, W. V: Baldwin-Felts Gunmen “have at last met their just deserts.”

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 23, 1920
Matewan, West Virginia – Gunthug Brothers Invade the Wrong Town

From The Butte Daily Bulletin of May 22, 1920:

Matewan, Felts Bros Got What Needed, BDB p1, May 22, 1920———-

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Hellraisers Journal: Slaughter of Miners Leads to Bill Establishing U. S. Bureau of Mines; Needs Presidents Signature

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Mother Jones Quote, Life Cheaper Than Props, Trinidad CO, Sept 16, 1913, Hse Com p2630———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 22, 1910
Washington, D. C. – Congressman Wilson on Plan to Establish Bureau of Mines

From the Duluth Labor World of May 21, 1910:

MnDs, UMW Urges Bill f Mine Bureau, LW p1, May 21, 1910———-

State to Establish Bureau of Mines Regarded
as Means of Checking Fearful Death Toll
of Those Who Work Beneath the Ground.
Signature of President Only Lacking.
—–

WASHINGTON, D. C., May. 20.—A death toll of over twenty thousand of human lives, lives of miners sacrificed in the United States in the last ten years, has at last forced congress to take the first tardy and hesitating step towards checking the senseless slaughter by establishing a national bureau of mines. The bill now only lacks the president’s signature to become law.

Monongah MnDs, Women at Mouth of Mine, Ptt Prs, Dec 10, 1907
The Monongah W. V. Mine Disaster of December 6, 1907, 362 killed.
—–
Darr MnDs, Stricken relatives, Ptt Prs p1, Dec 21, 1907
The Darr (Pa.) Mine Disaster of December 19, 1907, 239 killed.
—–

Asked as to the immediate effect which a bureau of mines would have upon the everyday life of the miner, Representative [Wiliam B.] Wilson, former secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America, himself a practical coal miner, first drew attention to the terrible loss of life in the American mines as compared with abroad. He said:

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for April 1910, Part II: Found in Senate Lobby of Nation’s Capitol Berating Senator Charles Dick

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones to Sen Dick, WDC, LW p1, Apr 30, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 20, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1910, Part II:
-Found in Washington D. C. Berating Author of Dick Military Law

From the Duluth Labor World of April 30, 1910:

MOTHER JONES RAKES OHIO’S
WATCH CHARM SENATOR
OVER COALS
——–

Mother Jones, Latest Picture, Ft Wayne Dly Ns p9, Apr 9, 1910

WASHINGTON, D. C., April 29.— Mother Jones, whose “boys” are working in every coal mine in Pennsylvania and every mineral camp of Colorado, met Senator Dick, of the notorious Dick military law, as that urbane member of the upper house was standing in the senate lobby of the [Capitol].

All smiles and gladness the senator acknowledged the introduction to the white-haired woman and offered his hand, but “Mother” dropped hers significantly to her side:

I’m fighting you, Senator Dick. It was your work that sent two thousand guns out to Colorado in the last big strike, and shot us up.

“You don’t look as if you had been injured, Madam,” flushed the senator.

“No thanks to your law and the guns that killed others while they missed me,” answered the woman whose appearance and participation in almost every miners’ strike during the last thirty years has earned for her the name of “stormy petrel.”

“But, madam,” argued Senator Dick, “don’t we need soldiers in time of revolution?”

[Flashed Mother Jones:]

In the revolution that drove King George back across the sea, yes. But do we need a law that will do for America what the Irish constabulary law did for Ireland? No, no. Senator Dick, I saw the brutal and bloody work of the militia in Colorado, and the truth is that the guns your law would place in the hands of the mine owners and the mill owners are loaded with bullets for the hearts of the workers.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for April 1910, Part I: Found Fighting for Coal Miners, Brewery Girls, and Mexican Comrades

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Young Again, Special UMWC Cinc OH p62, Mar 24, 1910———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 19, 1910
Mother Jones News Round-Up for April 1910, Part I:
-Found in the Thick of the Fight on Behalf of Working Class Men and Women

From the Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Democratic Banner of April 5, 1910:

DROP THEIR PICKS AT STROKE OF TWELVE.
———-

Mother Jones, Mt V OH Dem Banner p7, Apr 5, 1910

Coal Miners’ Strike Is a Reality.
—–

200,000 MEN ARE IDLE
—–
D. H. Sullivan Falls Heir
to Ohio Situation.
—–

THINKS SETTLEMENT IN SIGHT
—–
General Belief Is That Suspension
Will Be of Short Duration and That
Country Will Experience No
Serious Result From Shutdown
-Pittsburg Operators Anxious to Sign.
—–

Columbus, O., April 1- Dennis H. Sullivan of Coshocton today assumed his duties as president of the Ohio miners’ union, and made the announcement that nearly every union miner in the state is now idle, work at all mines having been suspended in response to the general order to quit work until new agreements are signed between the operators and officials of the union, in accordance with the 5-cent increase demanded as an ultimatum by the miners present at the Cincinnati conference.

Mr. Sullivan said:

The miners of Ohio stopped work at midnight, but this is in accord with an understanding with the operators. Every miner in the state went out, with the exception of cases in which there has been special permission granted for them to run.

Some mines are run to furnish coal for some specific purpose. For instance, there will be a mine whose entire output is taken by certain locomotives or by a furnace. Here is a contract [picking one from his desk] signed by an eastern Ohio operating company. A furnace is absolutely dependent on these mines, and if they were closed the business would so to some other mine, outside the state, or the furnace would close. We’re not driving business from the state; we’re for Ohio. So in all these cases privilege is given to continue work, pending adjustment of local differences at some later time.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for April 1910, Part I: Found Fighting for Coal Miners, Brewery Girls, and Mexican Comrades” →