Tag: Baldwin-Felts Gunthugs

Hellraisers Journal: Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers Murdered by Baldwin-Felts Gunthugs at Welch, West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Telegram Workman to FK re Sid Hatfield n Ed Chambers, WVgn p4, Aug 1, 1921—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 1, 1921
Welch, West Virginia – Hatfield and Chambers Murdered by Gunthugs

From The West Virginian of August 1, 1921:

Bnr Hdln, Sid Hatfield Killed, WVgn p1, Aug 1, 1921

CHAMBERS ALSO DEAD AS RESULT OF
BATTLE WITH DETECTIVES AT WELCH
———-

Victims Were to have Appeared in
Court There Today
—–
FIVE ARE ARRESTED
—–
Shooting Took Place in the
Court House Yard,
Report
—–

WELCH, W. Va., Aug. 1-Sid Hatfield, chief of police of Matewan and Edward Chambers, a police man of that place, were killed in a gun fight in the court house yard here shortly before noon today. C. E. Lively, a [Baldwin-Felts] private detective and four other persons were arrested in connection with the shooting…..

Matewan Defendants Sid Hatfield n Ed Chambers, WV Hx Center, see also UMWJ p14, June 15, 1921

—————

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: C. E. Lively Testifies Before Senate Committee, Joined United Mine Workers as Baldwin-Felts Spy

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p230—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday July 22, 1921
Washington, D. C. – C. E. Lively Testifies Before Senate Investigating Committee

From the Baltimore Sun of July 21, 1921:

WVCF Sen Com, Testimony C. E. Lively, Blt Sun p3, July 21, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Sid Hatfield Testifies Before Senate Investigating Committee, Relates Details of Battle of Matewan

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Sid Hatfield, re Evictions per R Minor, Lbtr p11 , Aug 1920—————-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday July 18, 1921
Washington, D. C. – Sid Hatfield Tells of Battle with Baldwin-Felts Gunthugs 

From the Washington Evening Star of July 17, 1921:

WVCF Sen Com, Testimony Sid Hatfield, WDC Eve Str p7, July 17, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: United Mine Workers Journal: Photograph of Miners Acquitted of Murder in Battle of Matewan

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Sid Hatfield, Matewan Friends, NYT p6, Mar 22, 1921—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 26, 1921
“Miners Who Were Acquitted of Murder” -Photograph by Henry Koop

From the United Mine Workers Journal of June 15, 1921:

Matewan Defendants Acquitted, UMWJ p14, June 15, 1921

[Photograph cropped:]

Matewan Defendants Acquitted, WV Hx Center, see UMWJ p14, June 15, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Sid Hatfield Goes to Williamson Alone, Post Bonds on Warrant Charging Assault of Mine Superintendent

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Sid Hatfield, re Gunthugs n Right to Organize, Altoona Tb Lbr Ns p10, Sept 3, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 26, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Hatfield Arrives Alone to Post Bond 

From The Washington Herald of May 25, 1921:

HATFIELD AVOIDS DEPUTIES AND
GOES TO SHERIFF ALONE
———-
Baldwin-Felts Detectives Acquitted of
Slaying Mingo Mayor.
———-

Sid Hatfield crpd, Two Gun, Akron Beacon Jr p1, Mar 21, 1921

WILLIAMSON. W. Va., May 24.-“Sid” Hatfield, of Matewan, reputed champion “two-gun bad man” of Mingo county, came to town today. The sheriff had sent a deputy or two to bring him on a warrant charging him with an assault with a rifle on P. J. Smith, superintendent of the Stone Mountain mine, but Hatfield took the train alone. Half the town was down to the station to see him arrive, and the “white way” was all lit up in expectation that something might happen, but Hatfield walked up to the court house, hung around until the sheriff got back from feeding the bloodhounds, then gave bonds and went home on No. 16. The town sagged back into dullness. At the sheriff’s office, Hatfield exposed his gold bridgework in a smile and remarked

When I aim to go anywhere I aim to go alone. They’ve got in the habit of blaming me for everything that happens at Matewan.

Hatfield, who is accounted the most dangerous man in the mountains is a queer mixture. He is as strong against liquor as is Bryan and as for gambling, only last week he chased a Kentucky native out of Matewan in a rage for suggesting that he be permitted to open a poker game. But gun shooting is something different. For months residents of these parts have been giving Matewan a wide berth, and one finds automobiles in this town sticking inside the city limits, unless it is something urgent.

This morning the mine of Lynn Coal and Coke company, just above Matewan, was burned. This mine was abandoned after the strike was called. The operators say that last winter strikers were allowed to take up quarters in company houses at Lynn on agreement they would vacate May 1. When moving day arrived some refused and evictions followed. Mine owners attribute the fire to strikers and term it another instance of sabotage. At Leesburg a Greenbriar county jury today acquitted the six Baldwin-Felts detectives who were on trial for killing Mayor Testerman and Tots Tinsley in the battle of Matewan May 19, 1920, when 10 were killed.

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for the Appeal to Reason: “West Virginia is today in a state of civil war.”

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 21, 1921
Winthrop D. Lane on Civil War in West Virginia

From the Appeal to Reason of February 19, 1921:

Coal Barons, Guns and Courts in Hand, Fight
Attempts of Miners to Organize Unions

Facts West Virginia, Mingo, AtR p2, Feb 19, 1921

(You have read endless dispatches about the troubles in the mining district of West Virginia. But the Associated Press true to its time-established policy has obscured the issues of the struggle. The daily press, as a rule, presents no clear account of the conflict. In fact, in the ordinary news dispatches the miners are given the worst of the account. But one daily paper—the New York Evening Post-has seen fit to send a special reporter to the scene of the conflict, with instructions to tell the truth. He tells it in the following story, which, coming from a capitalist daily, cannot be accused of bias in favor of the miners. Indeed, you will note that this reporter is exceedingly careful not to tread too severely upon the toes of the coal operators. But, with all his caution and moderation, he gives the facts. Winthrop D. Lane, the author of the following article, is well known in the labor movement as a writer for The Survey, a liberal magazine which has in the past published many exposures by Mr. Lane of the persecutions of the workers:)

—–

BY WINTHROP D. LANE.

Mr. Lane has just spent six weeks in the bituminous coal field of West Virginia for the New York Evening Post. He went there to try to get a picture not only of the industrial conflict going on in that state, but also of the civilization back of it. He talked to operators, sat by the fire in miners’ homes, visited many mining camps, entered mines, and discussed the struggle with officials of the union.

WEST VIRGINIA is today in a state of civil war. This civil war is of a peculiar kind. It is not being fought by armies in the field, led by military commanders and seeking military victory. It is more subtle and covert than that. It is being fought through many of the ordinary channels of civilization.

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Hellraisers Journal: Williamson, Mingo County, West Virginia: “Sid Hatfield and Tom Felts Size Each Other Up in Court”

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Sid Hatfield, re Gunthugs n Right to Organize, Altoona Tb Lbr Ns p10, Sept 3, 1920————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 8, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Hatfield and Felts Size Each Other Up in Court

From the Baltimore Sun of February 6, 1921:

Sid Hatfield And Tom Felts Size
Each Other Up In Court
———-

Principal In Mingo Trial Engages In Duel Of Eyes With
Head Of Detective Agency, As Process Of Securing
Jury Slowly Drags Along.
———-

(By a Staff Correspondent of The Sun.)

Sid Hatfield, ed Labor News, Altoona Tb PA p10, Sept 3, 1920Williamson, W. Va., Feb. 5.-This has been a day of speculation and rumors and of desperate struggle on the part of everyone, except Sid Hatfield and the 20 others on trial for the Matewan murders, to be reasonably cheerful and comfortable. Court adjourned before noon today without having added to the jury panel and left all of those in attendance upon the case with nothing to do except talk and wander about muddy streets in a dismal rain, with bare, scarred, cut-over hills rising at one’s elbows, it seemed, to press down the gloom.

Out of all that came to the front stories from quarters favorable to the defense that the prosecution is deliberately trying to prevent a jury being selected in this county. The theory is that there is little hope of any Mingo county jury convicting Hatfield and the others, while there may be some hope that a jury from another county will do so, if the West Virginia Legislature passes the bill permitting juries to be drawn in murder cases from other counties. Also the theory is that the desire of the prosecution to get the case before a jury where there would be more chance to convict is based upon more than the usual ardor of the prosecution for success, or even that ardor plus the anxiety of the Williamson coal operators for conviction.

Added to all of that is the blood feud created by the killing of Albert and Lee Felts in the Matewan battle. They were brothers of Tom Felts, manager of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency. Tom Felts, known in these parts as “the man-hunter extraordinary,” a suave gracious-mannered man, and next to John J. Coniff, chief counsel for the defense, the most impressive and distinguished looking man connected with the case, is on the spot, surrounded by a large number of trusted operatives. He is supposed to be paying part of the large force of lawyers assisting Prosecuting Attorney Bronson, and he wants blood for the blood of his brothers.

Melodrama in life is had when he appears in court. Sid Hatfield occupies his consciousness, and he occupies that of Hatfield. After he had directed attention of the court to Hatfield’s possession of guns in court, and thereby led not merely to disarming the mountain fighter, but to the frisking of everyone entering the courtroom, including reporters, who do not know which end of a pistol goes off, the absorption of the two men in each other, when Felts is in court, became more pronounced. Each concentrated upon the other, is moved by an almost boyish craving to emphasize by physical proximity lack of fear.

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Hellraisers Journal: Frank Keeney Seeks Senate Investigation of Conditions in Coalfields of Mingo County, West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p230———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 6, 1921
Washington, District of Columbia – President Keeney Seeks Senate Investigation

From The Washington Times of February 5, 1921:

URGES SENATE QUIZ IN MINGO
———-

Mine Workers’ Chief Says Constitution
is in Discard-Gunmen in Power.
—–
By DAVID M. CHURCH.
International News Service.

 

Declaring that “the Constitution has been kicked into the discard in West Virginia,” Frank Keeney, president of District No. 17 of the United Mine Workers of America, is here today seeking a Senatorial investigation of labor troubles in the West Virginia coal fields.

“GOVERNED BY GUNMEN.”

Keeney, Prz UMW D17, Lbtr p9, Aug 1920

[Said Keeney:]

The time has come for civil government to be restored in Mingo county and other West Virginia fields. We want a Senate committee to investigate this situation. The miners want them to come into the fields, see conditions as they are, investigate present and past troubles, and let the chips fall where they may.

Keeney today conferred with a number of Senators and laid before them evidence of what he termed “the brutal government of gunmen.” He stated that he had assurances that a resolution would be introduced in the Senate shortly authorizing a complete investigation of the West Virginia troubles.

[Said Keeney:]

The fact that the troops are in West Virginia is prima facia evidence that civil government has been destroyed there. We are tired of these shooting affrays and lawlessness, and we can prove that the blame for these shooting affrays can be laid at the door of the operators’ gunmen. We have evidence to back up all of our statements, and we are confident that this evidence will stand the scrutiny of any fair committee.

MINERS ARE DISARMED.

Why, all the miners have been disarmed by the troops, yet it is claimed that the miners are doing some of the shooting. They say that some of the troopers have been shot at as many as forty times. Let me tell you that those miners are crack shots, and it they ever shot at a trooper more than twice he wouldn’t be alive. We are willing for a committee of Senators to decide who is doing the shooting.

The Winchester rifle and the gun is the law in West Virginia coal fields now, and the gunmen aren’t at all backward in telling you so, either.

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Hellraisers Journal: United Mine Workers of America Will Support Mountaineers on Trial at Williamson, West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p230———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 5, 1921
United Mine Workers of America to Support Matewan Defendants 

From the United Mine Workers Journal of February 1, 1921:

Union Will Support the
Twenty-four Mountaineers

CRTN BF Thugs Law n Order in WV, BDB p1, Sept 29, 1920

WASHINGTON, January 23.-The twenty four mountaineers who go on trial on a charge of first-degree murder Wednesday at Williamson, W. Va., will have the complete support, moral and material, of the United Mine Workers of America, according to an announcement here tonight by William Green, national secretary and treasurer of the organization.

The trial is the result of a sensational gun battle in the main street of Matewan on May 19th last, which resulted in ten deaths, including the mayor of the city and seven Baldwin-Felts guards. The fight is said to have had its origin in the attempts of the guards to arrest Sid Hatfield, chief of police of Matewan. Hatfield, a descendant of the feudists of Hatfield-McCoy fame, is the most prominent in the group of defendants, which includes special police deputies of Matewan and members of the miners’ union.

In his statement here tonight Mr. Green declared:

The United Mine Workers of America are prepared to afford full support, both moral and material, to the twenty-four defendants in the murder trial at Williamson, W. Va., this week. This trial is a direct result of the barbarous warfare waged on members of the United Mine Workers by the coal operators of Mingo county. And, so long as lives of members of our organization are at stake, we intend to put at their disposal every means for establishing their innocence of the charge. The court, of course, will determine their fate. But we will offer the defense every facility in our power.

The United Mine Workers are determined to see justice done the locked-out miners of Mingo county. These men and their families were evicted from their homes for the “crime” of joining the union. The operators employed professional gunmen to hasten the evictions. We are insistent that the use of gunmen in West Virginia mining areas shall cease. It is time that a republican form of government, as ordained by the constitution, should be restored in Mingo county and the arbitrary rule of the coal barons brought to an end.

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Hellraisers Journal: Sid Hatfield, Matewan Police Chief, and 19 Citizens on Trial in Mingo County for Killing of Gunthugs

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Sid Hatfield, re Evictions per R Minor, Lbtr p11 , Aug 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday January 26, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Trial of Sid Hatfield and 19 Matewan Men Set to Start

From Indiana’s Logansport Pharos-Tribune of January 25, 1921:

TWENTY MEN GOING ON TRIAL FOR THE KILLING
OF MINE GUARDS AT MATEWAN
—–

FRIENDS AND FOES MEET IN WILLIAMSON, W. VA.,
AS POLICE CHIEF AND 19 CITIZENS FACE COURT
—– 

Matewan Trial Sid Hatfield etc, DRWGs, Bismarck Dly Tb p2, Jan 27, 1921

(N. E. A. Staff Special.)

WILLIAMSON, W. Va., Jan. 26.-Friend and foe rub elbows here, as miners and Baldwin-Felt guards assemble for the trial of Sid Hatfield, chief of police at Matewan, and 19 of his fellow citizens charged with killing seven Baldwins in a street battle.

Five Baldwin-Felts detectives engaged in the same battle will be tried under change of venue at Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, in April.

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