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Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 18, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Daughter of Defendant Testifies for State
From the Baltimore Sun of February 13, 1921:
By John W. Owens.
Staff Correspondent of The Sun.Williamson, W. Va., Feb. 12.-The taking of testimony for the prosecution in the trial of Sid Hatfield and others for the Matewan killings was started finally today, after weeks of fighting over preliminaries and was sufficiently dramatic to warrant the lurid predictions that have been made since the indictments were returned and to justify what has been written about the feudist spirit of the people of these hills.
AGAINST OWN FATHER.
[And Brother]When court adjourned, shortly before noon, the daughter of one of the men on trial for murder [and sister of another] was on the stand for the prosecution, smilingly giving testimony which the prosecution hopes to pass as a foundation for its contention that Albert Felts and six other Baldwin-Felts detectives were killed at Matewan on May 19 as the result of deliberate and premeditated murder plans. The girl witness had been preceded by another girl, her cousin, and the niece of the girl’s father, whose testimony was offered to the same end.
Elsie Chambers and May Chafin were the two girls. The first is the daughter of Reece Chambers [and sister of Ed Chambers], the oldest of the three Chambers among the defendants. The second girl is Reece Chambers’ niece, 17 years old. She bounded out of the witness room ornamented in a white sweater and a white tam o’shanter to match, smiled at acquaintances in all parts of the courtroom, gave her relatives and the other defendants a complacent glance and then proceeded to give damaging testimony for the side of the case that is after hanging or imprisonment as a verdict. Her cousin, a little older and more dignified, but equally cheerful, backed her statement.
BYSTANDERS AVERT TRAGEDY.
The first serious danger of gun play in the strike situation here since the Matewan murder trial started occurred this afternoon. C. F. [Frank] Keeney, president of District No. 17 of the United Mine Workers embracing these fields, and High Sheriff William Hatfield, of McDowell county, whipped out their guns following a bitter altercation. Bystanders interfered in time to prevent shooting.
Sheriff Hatfield had come here to take back to McDowell county a member of the miners organization who is under charges there. The union leaders of the miners held that McDowell county is enemy’s county, in which all manner of oppressions are visited upon miners. Both Keeney and Hatfield left Williamson, W.Va., soon after the affair, Keeney for his home in Charleston and Hatfield for Welch.
The girl witnesses today were telephone operators at Matewan when the gun battle took place there between the detectives of the Baldwin agency, who had gone to Matewan to evict miners from homes owned by coal operators, and men of the town…..
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[Emphasis added.]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Sid Hatfield, Altoona Tb Lbr Ns p10, Sept 3, 1920
https://www.newspapers.com/image/55476997/
The Sun
(Baltimore, Maryland)
-Feb 13, 1921
https://www.newspapers.com/image/373337189/
See also:
Tag: Ed Chambers
https://weneverforget.org/tag/ed-chambers/
Tag: Matewan Defendants of 1920
https://weneverforget.org/tag/matewan-defendants-of-1920/
Feb 13, 1921, Baltimore Sun, Matewan Trial, Feb 12, Testimony of Elsie Chambers & May Chafin, Part I & II
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71384792/feb-13-1921-baltimore-sun-matewan/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71385024/feb-13-1921-baltimore-sun-matewan/
Feb 14, 1921, Baltimore Sun, Matewan Trial, Feb 13, Will Attack Testimony of Chambers & Chafin
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71386415/feb-14-1921-baltimore-sun-matewan/
Feb 15, 1921, Baltimore Sun, Matewan Trial, Feb 14, Further Testimony of May Chafin, Elsie Chambers
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/71387143/feb-15-1921-baltimore-sun-matewan/
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Fire in the Hole – Hazel Dickens