Hellraisers Journal: United Mine Workers Journal: “Newspaper Reporters Fired on by State Police” by Mildred Morris

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Quote Mildred Morris, re Reporters Held in Logan WV, UMWJ p4, Sept 15, 1921—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday September 16, 1921
Mildred Morris Describes Her Sojourn into the Battle Zone of West Virginia

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

HUNTINGTON , W. Va .– Four newspaper correspondents who have the memorable experience of penetrating the mountainous regions where war between the miners and state police has been raging for nearly two weeks and being the first to obtain an eye-witness picture of the firing line, are alive tonight by the grace of God.

As a member of the party I arrived here after escaping from Logan, where the four of us had been placed under guard.

Under a shower of bullets from both sides we convinced ourselves that war–real war-has been going on in West Virginia.

Three times a fusillade of steel bullets poured on us from the Springfield rifles of the state gunmen and three times we were fired on by the miners.

And after it was all over we were taken with our wounded to Logan, under guard.

Boyden Sparkes, of the New York Tribune, was shot through the leg and a bullet all but penetrated his scalp. One of the miners whom we had persuaded to act as a guide was shot in the ankle and is seriously wounded. When we were able to convince the state police, whose lines we had penetrated, that we were non-combatants merely on a sightseeing tour all military operations ceased while officers stared at us in amazement and asked:

“How in h–-l we had got there and what we meant?”

Military passes we presented from General Bandholtz, representative of the War Department, and commander of the United States troops now in the war zone were scorned.

“We don’t know nothing about him. Nobody has told us federal troops are here and we haven’t seen them, so we don’t know nothing about them,” the young officer in charge informed us.

Charged with being spies and “red necks” we were taken to state military headquarters in Logan and after an insulting examination by Sheriff Don Chafin of Logan county, we were ordered taken to a hotel. Each of us, including the wounded members of our party, was placed in charge of a guard, who was given orders to accompany us wherever we went.

For more than three hours I was subjected to indignities by this guard and other members of the state police.

Only after frantic appeals Mr. Sparkes was permitted to communicate with his office in New York in order that his wife might know he was not seriously injured. None of the rest of us was permitted to establish our identity and our passes from General Bandholtz were received with the same scorn by Sheriff Chafin and his attaches as the officers of the state police on the battle front had shown. My guard, an insolent youth, insisted on going with me into the bedroom assigned to me. When I objected he said he was acting under orders. To avoid this indignity, I was compelled to sit in the hotel lobby while more insolent and youthful members of the state police made insolent queries and threatened me if I refused to answer.

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Hellraisers Journal: Labor World: Samuel Gompers on the Fight of West Virginia’s Miners Against Government by Gunthugs

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Mingo Co Sprigg Local Sec E Jude re Gunthugs, UMWJ p14, Aug 15, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 12, 1921
Gompers on Fight of West Virginia Miners Against Government by Gunthug

From the Duluth Labor World of September 10, 1921:

Gompers re WV Gunmen v Mine Workers, LW p1, Sept 10, 1921

WASHINGTON, D. C., Sept. 8.—Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, in a statement issued this week sets forth the fundamental facts in relation to the situation in West Virginia. He declares that in the mines there an unrestrained, unlimited greed absolutely dominates.

“The appetite of this private greed is upheld by a private army of killers the like of which exists in no other state,” says the labor chief. He shows how the state government has crumbled under the rule of the mining interests and declares the federal government must destroy the rule of gunmen by restoring civil government.

Information Lacking.

[Says Mr. Gompers in his statement:]

With the situation in West Virginia at a most critical juncture it is almost beyond belief that there has not been placed before the public complete and accurate information regarding the events leading up to the position taken by the President of the United States.

There are certain basic facts which must lie considered before there can be fair and proper judgment of the West Virginia situation. These facts have not been presented adequately and in most cases not at all.

The public press has been negligent and the federal government has been equally so in not presenting to the people the full underlying truth.

Prejudice Miners’ Case.

The great mass of news relating to West Virginia conveys the impression that lawless bands of miners are roving the state without reason except an unjustified bitterness against the mine owners. “Uneducated mountaineers,” they are called.

There are four basis facts which are consistently ignored and which it is the duty of government and press to present. These are:

1—The mines of West Virginia constitute the last refuge of autocracy in the mining industry. In these mines an unrestrained, unlimited greed dominates absolutely. Absentee owners hold immense tracts of rich mining land, demanding only dividends.

Private Army of Killers.

2—T’he appetite of this private greed is upheld by a private army of killers the like of which no longer exists in any other state. This private army is paid by the mine owners and naturally seeks to justify its presence by making “business” for itself in the form of trouble. The Baldwin-Felts detective agency recruits this army, but the mine owners pay the bill. Deputy sheriffs, paid by mine owners, form another wing of the private army, equally dangerous.

A Direct Protest.

3—The present strike is a direct protest against the action of the mine owners of West Virginia in refusing to abide by the award of the United States coal commission. If the United States government at this time de­fends the mine owners and does not destroy the private armies of the mine owners the government is in the position of sustaining a defiance of an order issued by its own authority.

4—The state government of West Virginia has broken down, not because the miners have protested against lawlessness, but because it has failed to stop the mine owners from enforcing law as a private business at the hands of privately paid and privately directed gunmen.

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Hellraisers Journal: Forty Warrants Issued For Rebel Miners’ Army in West Virginia; Illinois Miners Returning Home in Rain

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 11, 1921
Forty Warrants Issued For West Virginia Miners’ Army

From the Baltimore Sun of September 9, 1921:

WARRANTS OUT FOR 40 IN W. VA. MINERS’ ARMY
———-
Special Grand Jury Next Week To Hear Evidence
Of Recent Disorders.
———-

PART OF TROOPS WITHDRAWN
———-
Military Authorities Indicate They Anticipate
No More Marches Into Mingo.
———-

re March of IL Miners, Returning Home, Blt Sun p2, Sept 9, 1921

Charleston, W. Va., Sept. 8.-The first step toward the prosecution of those alleged to be responsible for disturbances along the Boone-Logan county border was taken today when 40 warrants were issued at Logan at the instance of County Prosecutor John Chafin, it was, announced today at Governor Morgan’s office. It was stated further that a special grand jury would be called there next week before which witnesses, already summoned, are expected to appear.

It was not known at the Governor’s office for whom the warrants were issued, according to the announcement.

Part of the Federal forces sent into West Virginia last week today were withdrawn. The Twenty-sixth Infantry returned to Camp Dix, New Jersey; the Eighty-eight Aero Squadron, with the exception of two airships and crews, left for Langley Field, Virginia, and the Chemical Warfare Service Section for Edgewood Arsenal, New Jersey.

No official statement was made concerning further withdrawals of troops, but it was learned that, should the Nineteenth Infantry be sent back to its home station, the Fortieth Regiment, Col. E. A. Shuttlesworth commanding, now on duty in Logan county, would be distributed throughout the district affected by the gathering of miners and others during the latter part of August.

The military authorities today indicated they anticipated no further attempts at marches into Mingo county on the part of protestants against State martial law in force there.

—–

Federal Agents Investigating.

Washington, Sept. 8.-Any action by the Federal Government to fix the responsibility for the recent mine disorders in the West Virginia coal fields will depend on the results of investigations now being made, it was said today at the Department of Justice.

Federal agents are at work, it was said, but no reports from them have yet reached the department. 

—————

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From The West Virginian: “Fighting Miners Have Gone Home; Quiet Prevails” -Guns Turned In

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday September 6, 1921
Fighting West Virginia Miners Have Gone Home; Quiet Prevails

From The West Virginian of September 5, 1921:

Battle of Blair Mountain, HdLn Quiet, Wvgn p1, Sept 5, 1921Battle of Blair Mountain, Keeney, Mooney, Petry of District 17 UMWA, Wvgn p1, Sept 5, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: News from Battle of Blair Mountain: 400 Miners Surrender to U.S. Troops; Reporter Shot, Sticks on Job

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 5, 1921
West Virginia’s Mine War Wanes as Miners Surrender to U.S. Troops

From the New York Tribune of September 4, 1921:

Battle of Blair Mountain, 400 Miners Surrender, Boyden Sparkes Article, NY Tb p1, Sept 4, 1921

Battle of Blair Mountain, Boyden Sparkes Shot Twice, NY Tb p1, Sept 4, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Fight Resumes on the Tug; Regulars Push Up to Scene of Battle on Spruce Fork Ridge at Blair Mountain

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 4, 1921
West Virginia – Regulars Pushing Up to Scene of Battle at Blair Mountain

From The West Virginian of September 3, 1921:

Battle of Blair Mountain, HdLn Fight on Tug, Spruce Fork Ridge Quiet, WVgn p1, Sept 3, 1921

Battle of Blair Mountain, Regulars on Way to Scene, WVgn p1, Sept 3, 1921

Battle of Blair Mountain, Fight on Tug KY Border, WVgn p1, Sept 3, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Fighting Continues at Blair Mountain; Nurses Accompany Redneck Miners’ Army, Troops on Move

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 3, 1921
Fighting Continues at Blair Mountain, West Virginia

From The West Virginian of September 2, 1921:

Battle of Blair Mountain, HdLn, WVgn p1, Sept 2, 1921—–

Battle of Blair Mountain, Nurses, WVgn p1, Sept 2, 1921
Nurses Accompany Redneck Miners’ Army

—–

Battle of Blair Mountain, Fighting Today, Troops Coming, WVgn p1, Sept 2, 1921—–

Battle of Blair Mountain, Miners at Madison Keeney Speaks, WVgn p1, Sept 2, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Armed West Virginia Miners Seize Trains, Advance on Logan by Way of Jeffrey, Sharples and Blair

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday September 2, 1921
Armed West Virginia Miners Advance Through Logan County

From The West Virginian of September 1, 1921:

Battle of Blair Mt HdLn, WVgn p1, Sept 1, 1921Battle of Blair Mt, WVgn p1, Sept 1, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Redneck Miners’ Army Confronts Sheriff Chafin’s Deputized Gunthugs at Blair Mountain

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 1, 1921
Blair Mountain, West Virginia – Miners’ Army Battles Chafin’s Gunthugs

From The West Virginian of August 31, 1921:

Battle of Blair Mt HdLn, WVgn p1, Aug 31, 1921Battle of Blair Mt HdLn, WVgn p1, Aug 31, 1921

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Hellraisers Journal: Miners Gather Again for March on Mingo by Way of Logan; Cabin Creek Miners Arrive at the Front

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Quote Fred Mooney, Mingo Co Gunthugs, UMWJ p15, Dec 1, 1920—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday August 31, 1921
West Virginia Miners Gather Once Again to March to Mingo

From The West Virginian of August 30, 1921:

Battle of Blair Mt, WVgn p1, Aug 30, 1921

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