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Hellraisers Journal -Monday March 24, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia – State Supreme Court Upholds Martial Law
From The New York Times of March 22, 1913:
COURT AFFIRMS MARTIAL LAW
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West Virginia Judge Reject Miners’
Plea Against Gov. Hatfield.
CHARLESTON, West Va., March 21.-In an opinion handed down late to-day the Supreme Court of Appeals affirms the right of the Governor to declare martial law and appoint a military commission.
The opinion was rendered in the case of “Mother” Mary Jones, Charles H. Boswell, Paul J. Paulson [Paulsen], and Charles Bartley [Batley] against Gov. Hatfield and members of the military commission, asking for a writ of habeas corpus to compel the Governor and military authorities to turn the petitioners over to the civil authorities. The petitioners denied the right of the Governor and the military commission to try persons apprehended outside the military zone of the Kanawha County coal fields.
The opinion, which was written by Judge Poffenbarger, President of the court, holds that the Governor has the right to arrest out of military district all persons who shall give aid, support, or information to persons within the zone who break the laws. It further states that the Governor and military commission have the right to detain or imprison persons apprehended outside the martial law section. The court does not think the declaration of martial law or the creation of a military commission contravenes the Constitution of the Stale or of the United States.
Martial law will be continued indefinitely in the Kanawha coal field. Gov. Hatfield so announced to-day at the close of his personal investigation of conditions in the district.
He intimated that a rebellious spirit was being fomented by persons outside the district and threatened to arrest the agitators. He said:
“I am satisfied that by doing this I shall be well within the limits of the executive power and authority, and at the same time I will in this way obtain a further knowledge of the purpose of those who are rebellious for use in the determination of the question of the wisdom of resort to more extreme measures as a means of restoring the supremacy and due administration of civil laws…..”
Gov. Hatfield late to-day released four prisoners held by the military authorities in connection with the strike troubles. This makes a total of twenty-nine prisoners held by the military authorities who have been freed by the Executive within two days. Most of these, it is said, have never been tried, but several have important evidence against other prisoners.
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
From the Appeal to Reason of March 22, 1913:
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, Willing to Die for Miners Cause
WDC Tx p14, Mar 12, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1913-03-12/ed-1/seq-14/
The New York Times
(New York, New York)
-Mar 22, 1913
https://www.newspapers.com/image/26039532/
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-Mar 22, 1913, page 1
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/appeal-to-reason/130322-appealtoreason-w903.pdf
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121553739/mar-22-1913-appeal-to-reason-trying/
IMAGE
WV Militia v Miners n Mother Jones, Missoulian p6, Feb 21, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83025316/1913-02-21/ed-1/seq-6/
See also:
The Court-Martial of Mother Jones
-by Edward M. Steel
University Press of Kentucky, Nov 16, 1995
https://books.google.com/books?id=AbwYuZlwN6UC
In March 1913, labor agitator Mary Harris “Mother” Jones and forty-seven other civilians were tried by a [West Virginia] military court on charges of murder and conspiracy to murder, charges stemming from violence that erupted during the long coal miners’ strike in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek areas of Kanawha County, West Virginia. Immediately after the trial, some of the convicted defendants received conditional pardons, but Mother Jones and eleven others remained in custody until early May…
Insurrection and martial law.
Opinions of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in the cases of state ex rel. Mays v. Brown, warden of State penitentiary, state ex rel. Nance v. same, and in re Mary Jones, Charles H. Boswell, Charles Batley, and Paul J. Paulson.
WDC, 1913
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10b8q&view=2up&seq=7
-in re Mary Jones, etc, decided March 21, 1913
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10b8q&view=2up&seq=41
-Judge Robinson Dissenting
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t3dz10b8q&view=2up&seq=66
Two Dissenting Opinions of Judge Ira E. Robinson of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia in the famous Habeas Corpus cases of Mays, Nance, “Mother Jones”, Charles Batley, Charles H Boswell and Paul J. Paulson. These citizens of the United States were tried by a Military Commission and imprisoned without a jury trial. Such trial having been denied them by the majority opinion of the Supreme Court.
The Kanawha Citizen Printers, Publishers and Binders
Charleston, West Virginia, 1913
http://cfss.indstate.edu/debspams/r6615t5_1917.pdf
Tag: West Virginia Court Martial of Mother Jones + 48 of 1913
https://weneverforget.org/tag/west-virginia-court-martial-of-mother-jones-48-of-1913/
Tag: Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike of 1912-1913
https://weneverforget.org/tag/paint-creek-cabin-creek-strike-of-1912-1913/
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The Spirit Of Mother Jones” from Andy Irvine