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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 30, 1921
Staples, West Virginia – Miners Die Fighting in Battle with Brockus
From the Baltimore Sun of August 29, 1921:
FIVE MEN FALL AS MINERS
AND POLICE CLASH
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West Virginia Troops Fired On When
They Order Band To Surrender.
———-STATE POSSE THEN FORCED TO RETREAT
———-
1,500 To 2,000 Armed Men Reported
Gathered At Blair, Logan Co.
———-State Police Headquarters, Ethel, W. Va., Aug. 28.-Five men fell in an encounter early this morning between an armed band and State troopers on Beach Creek [which runs into Spruce Fork near Sharples, about 6 miles north of Blair], Logan county, near the Boone-Logan county line, Capt. J. R. Brockus, commanding, State police and deputy sheriffs, reported this afternoon. There was much shooting on either side, he said. Whether all the men who fell were killed, Captain Brockus was unable to state.
STATE TROOPS RETREAT.
He added that after his men had seen those who had fallen picked up and carried away by their companions the State troopers and deputies retired because some of their number were in civilian clothes and it was difficult to distinguish them in the darkness from the men comprising the armed band.
The clash was at close range, according to Captain Brockus’ report, the men firing at each other where but eight to ten feet apart.
Prior to the fight, Captain Brockus said, 11 prisoners had been taken by the patrolling party which set out from Logan yesterday, ostensibly toward Blair and Sharples. Four of the prisoners escaped during the engagement, it was said, and one of them is believed to have been killed.
Captain Brockus was at the head of the advance guard of troopers and deputies. It was this detachment, comprising 12 men that engaged the armed band. The patrol, while proceeding toward Sharples, Captain Brockus reported, ran across five men on foot. All were armed with rifles and one had a shotgun, he said.
CAPTAIN BROCKUS’ REPORT.
“We called upon these men to disarm, which they did,” the Captain continued.
“We placed them under arrest and proceeded down the road. Further on we met two automobiles and placed six additional armed men under arrest.
“With the 11 prisoners we marched on toward Sharples and came upon another squad of five armed men. Some one called to us that we would not be allowed to pass. We called upon them to surrender their arms, but received in reply a volley of shots.
“Our men returned the fire and in the fight five men fell to the ground. We waited until we saw that they were picked up and carried away, and then decided to discontinue the advance for the present. It was very dark and some of our deputies were in civilian clothes, hampering our distinguishing them.”…..
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[Emphasis added, map added from New York Daily News of Aug. 27th.]
Note: this is the same Captain Brockus who perpetrated the raid on Lick Creek Tent Colony in Mingo County in which Striking Miner Alex Breedlove was shot and killed with his hands in the air and a prayer on his lips.
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SOURCE
Miners March, Aug 28, 1921,
WNF Sharples Greer Morrison, Savage p105
Thunder In the Mountains
The West Virginia Mine War, 1920–21
-by Lon Savage
University of Pittsburgh Pre, Sep 11, 1990
https://books.google.com/books?id=u-n7AwAAQBAJ
The Sun
(Baltimore, Maryland)
-Aug 29, 1921
https://www.newspapers.com/image/373285865/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83034681/aug-29-1921-baltimore-sun-cpt-brockus/
IMAGE
Miners March Map Marmet to Mingo, NY Dly Ns p8, Aug 27, 1921
https://www.newspapers.com/image/410259989/
See also:
The Miners’ Side of the Battle of Staples:
When Miners March
-by William C. Blizzard
PM Press, 2010
https://books.google.com/books?id=dm37BgAAQBAJ
Pages 254-6:
It will be recalled that Mingo County was still under martial law, with Major Tom Davis, a veteran of such labor-quelling measures, in charge. About 2:30 a.m., Aug. 27, Davis ordered State Police Captain James R. Brockus, of Lick Creek fame, to proceed to the aid of Don Chafin in Logan County. Brockus, with about 85 or 86 other regular state police and “volunteers” did he was told. The Captain did not go into Logan just to help [Sheriff] Chafin in a general way, but for a specific purpose. This was to lead a group of men across Blair Mountain and serve warrants on union coal miners. This Brockus proceeded to do, augmenting his armed force by adding a number of Chafin’s deputies thereto…..
Brockus left Mingo County with his armed force about six ‘o’clock on the morning of the 27th and met Don Chafin, who gave the Captain warrants for the arrest of 30 or 40 miners who lived on Little Coal River in union territory. Brockus picked up some deputies from Chafin , swelling his forces to about 130 men , and they crossed Blair Mountain about dusk in regular military formation. That is , there was an advance guard of 15 men and two guides about 200 yards in advance of the main body of police.
Just on the other side of Blair Mountain they were met by five union men who challenged them but surrendered without resistance. These men were arrested, evidently without warrants, and placed at the head of the column. This was a thoughtful measure, for the miners were advised to tell anyone who challenged not to fire, and it was also protection or shield for the police. The same process was repeated several times, with the number of prisoner-shields increasing, until Brockus and his force reached the town of Sharples, where they found another detachment of five miners. Brockus of course maintains that these men fired upon his group of 130 men after he had asked what they were doing there at that time of night. (It could not have been later than eight o’clock). Whoever fired first, two of the miners killed and the other three fell, wounded. Shooting then became general , according to Brockus, with miners firing from houses in Sharples and the police shooting back.
[Note: Newspaper accounts state that Brockus and his force reached Sharples early Sunday morning, Aug. 28th.]
However it was, it is a fact that not one of the 130 police and deputies was scratched, while houses in Sharples were pierced by bullets and the challenging patrol of miners lay dead and wounded. News of this shooting at Sharples, done by what had all the appearances of an advance guard of a much larger force, spread through the coal camps of Boone and Kanawha counties. “Don Chafin’s thugs are invading the union fields, and they have already murdered our men! was the alarm that struck the ears of the union miners.
Miners returning home from their intended march to Logan simply turned on their heels, and with angry faces declared that once again they had been doubled-crossed. No leader could have stopped the movement then , not with the tongue of Demosthenes. The Armed March began again.
[Emphasis added.]
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 16, 1921
Lick Creek Tent Colony of Mingo County
– Striker Alex Breedlove Shot Down in Raid Led by Cpt Brockus
Map: Sharples, Blair, Blair Mt, Ethel, WV
-enlarge at Sharples to see Beach Creek at Spruce Fork
Map: Boone County WV
Map: Logan County WV
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Battle of Blair Mountain · David Rovics