Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 9, 1922 Charles Town, West Virginia – Powerful Forces Work to Covict Union Miners
From The Bottle Maker of October 1922:
Charles Town Spirit of Jefferson October 3, 1922
Charlestown, W. Va., Sept. 5.—Industrial feudalism, allied with and enthroned upon a local aristocracy, and exploiting the naivette of guileless farmers and and unsuspecting rural population, is moving mercilessly and relentlessly in the ancient court house of this town to defeat and destroy organized labor in West Virginia, drive labor unions from the borders of the State, and take a new lease upon control and domination of government in West Virginia.
In this undertaking, industrial oppression and vengence is masquerading behind the law and the prosecuting power of the State, utilizing the executive machinery of the State, and subsidizing newspapers and news dispatches, to accomplish the end sought.
Walter Allen, a young official of the United Mine Workers in West Virginia, is on trial in Charles Town on a charge of treason against the State. Allen is one of twenty-three officials of this union who were indicted in the coal-tainted courts of Logan county last year on the charge of treason. More than 500 others are indicted on charges of conspiracy or murder. These indictments were found after the union miners of Kanawha, Fayette, and Raleigh counties rebelling against the venal industrial conditions of Logan and Mingo counties, and finding that gunmen of the coal operators prevented peaceful union organization, had attempted to right their wrongs by an invasion of those counties directed against company gunmen.
William Blizzard, president of sub-district No. 2 of this union, was another of the twenty-three. Blizzard was acquitted last May after a trial of five weeks, but no such fortune seems to be in prospect for Allen. Every resource at the command of a great and entrenched industrial feudalism in West Virginia-a feudalism that makes governors, elects legislatures, and controls political parties and newspapers—is being brought to bear to convict Allen and all of his associates, and through their confinement in the State prison, break up the miners’ union, and drive unionism as a whole from the State.
Social Pressure Used
The jury that holds the fate of Allen in its hands is made up for the most part of Jefferson county farmers. There are one or two business men on it. These farmers, through subtle influences that move swiftly even in agricultural regions, are being made to understand that Allen must be convicted—that “the State demands this at the hands of the people of Jefferson county.” And they dare not refuse!
To properly understand what is going on in Charles Town—and the trial of Walter Allen is to be followed by other similar trials during the fall and winter—it is well to look into the environment and social atmosphere of this town, and examine the subtle and tenuous influences that are playing so large a part in Allen’s trial, and demanding his conviction at all hazards.
Charles Town is one of the oldest settlements in the eastern states. Charles Washington, brother of the Revolutionary general and first president, had his country estate, “Harewood,” in the outskirts of the town. The principal building of the town is named in memory of Charles Washington. The principal street bears the name of “Washington,” and the cross streets are named Charles, George, Samuel, Mildred, Martha, and so on, in honor of members of the Washington family. The lineal descendents of Charles Washington reside in and around the town, and constitute the apex of the local “aristocracy” that has sprung up from colonial days, and holds the past in supreme reverence and veneration.
Where Ancestry Counts
Charles Town thrives on its ancestry. Men and women are known for who and what their forefathers were and did, and not for anything they have ever done. Descendants of these colonial landed proprietors gather in Charles Town to discuss what their forefathers did and keep alive the lineal relationships between them.
Farming in Jefferson county is and always has been a profitable business. Productivity of soil and plentiful rain has enabled its farmers each year to harvest abundant crops and increase their sizeable financial reserves. They for the most part have partaken of the spirit of landed aristocracy, and have prideful feeling in both their broad acres and their ancestral connections. They revere the social aristocracy of their county seat. They handle their funds through a bank on the main street of the town—conducted by the “first families,” and financial foundation of the local aristocracy. This bank is indissolubly connected with the social and ancestral traditions of Charles Town and Jefferson county. Recognition by it is more than a business courtesy— it is a “social honor,” a mark of distinction, and accords the benefit of approval at the hands of Charles Town’s aristocracy.
Sympathy at First
When the trial of Blizzard started the local population was inclined to sympathize with the miners. Courtesies were extended to them and they were received into the homes of the town. They told the story of their wrongs in simple and direct language. Plainly the sentiment of the town was in their favor. Blizzard was acquitted.
Behind the prosecution of Blizzard was massed the strength of the great coal producing interests of Logan and surrounding counties. The State was without adequate funds to defray the enormous cost of bringing scores of witnesses from southern West Virginia, 300 miles away, and paying for their maintenance in Charles Town. W. R. Thurmond, president of the coal operators’ association of Logan county, testified on the witness stand at the trial of Blizzard that his organization had advanced more than $15,000 for this purpose, but “expected to get it back from the State.” A hotel proprietor boasted recently that he had received $23,000 in “coal money” for housing and feeding State witnesses.
The bank on the principal street was the depository of over $50,000 of “coal money” to assist in the prosecution.
In the prosecution of the case, John Chafin, state’s attorney in Logan county, appeared as nominally in charge. Associated with him, however, as leading counsel was Charles W. Osenton, a Fayette county lawyer who is reputed to have large holdings in coal mining corporations, is known as a political “wheel horse” in the State, a maker of governors, and one of the national committeemen for the State.
Another special prosecutor was Albert Belcher, of Charleston, who appeared before the Kenyon committee of the United States Senate a year ago in the investigation of strike disorders in the southern West Virginia coal fields as an attorney for coal mining interests and mine owners’ associations. A third prosecutor was Forrest Washington Brown, of Charles Town, a lineal descendant of the Washingtons of Revolutionary days, and a social pillar of Jefferson county aristocracy.
While seeking to convey the impression that the State was conducting this prosecution, every essential figure on the prosecution side was actively identified with the coal producers of the State. Thurmond was on hand to see the job well done. Other coal operators were there with him. Some of the largest coal mining personages in the State came to participate in the secret conferences that were held in the back end of Brown’s law office, or took place at Harper’s Ferry, nearby, or in Washington. George Williams, coal lawyer and alleged legislative lobbyist of coal interests, handled the witnesses outside of the court room, and carried the check-book for the coal money.
Governor a Witness
The governor of the State, Ephraim F. Morgan, appeared as a witness for the prosecution in Blizzard’s trial. He was also a witness against Allen.
The acquittal of Blizzard was a surprise and disappointment for the coal interests. They rallied quickly,however, and seizing the opportunity offered by the ancient traditions and social environment of Charles Town, laid plans for securing the conviction of the remaining defendants. They brought to bear the influence of the local bank, where the “coal money” was deposited. No prospective juror would dare to face the displeasure of that institution. They besought Lawyer Brown to “swing” the local aristocracy into line, and put an end to the hospitality to union miners who were in the town.
At the same time rumors began to spread over the county that the Blizzard jury had “been bribed.” Acquisitions of new automobiles or a new suit of clothes were pointed to as indicative of sudden and ill-gotten wealth-money surreptitiously paid by the United Mine Workers for the acquittal of Blizzard.
The cases were freely talked over in the county, and it became known that Charles Town’s aristocracy was displeased and resentful over the verdict that had been rendered. A social campaign to bring about the conviction of the remaining defendants was put into motion. The financial interests of the county exerted an influence in the matter. Gradually it became recognized in the county that there must be convictions in the remaining trials.
Two Convictions Follow
Under these circumstances, and in this atmosphere, the cases of the Rev. Wilburn and his son, John Wilburn, charged with murder, were called to trial. Convictions followed in short order.
And now the trial of young Allen is in progress. The coal lawyers are prosecuting him. The coal interests are standing grimly in the background to see the job well done. Coal money is again stacked in the vaults of the local bank. Coal lobbyists are working among the witnesses for the State. The local aristocracy is eagerly watching. The town itself breaths the spirit of conviction for Allen. Convictions in this case, and for the remaining cases to come to trial, are apparently being reduced to a mere automatic process.
Reporters for several West Virginia newspapers are on the ground, and some of them alleged to be in the pay of the coal interests. News reports of the trial are thus poisoned at the source, and the people of West Virginia are being told that testimony clinching the claim of guilt of Allen is being put in by the prosecution, and that his conviction seems assured.
Allen is battling to establish his claim of innocence. He fully realizes however, that subtle and powerful influences have been put into motion against him by the coal interests and are working strongly for his conviction. He realizes the stupendous task of bringing about his acquittal.
In these surroundings and under these circumstances the remaining defendants under the indictments found in Logan county are to come to trial. By these methods, and under this disguise, the great coal interests of West Virginia are moving relentlessly to break up the United Mine Workers in the State, destroy labor unions within its borders, and tighten the grip they hold on the public affairs and the industrial life of the State.
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