Hellraisers Journal: Widow of Mayor Testerman, Now Mrs. Sid Hatfield, Center of Attraction at Williamson Courthouse

16th September 202016th August 2020 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Sid Hatfield, re Evictions per R Minor, Lbtr p11 , Aug 1920 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 16, 1920
Williamson, West Virginia – Bride of Sid Hatfield Main Attraction at Court

From The Seattle Star of September 15, 1920:

Mrs. Sid Hatfield [Jessie Lee Maynard Testerman Hatfield], wife of Chief of Police Sid Hatfield, of Matewan, West Virginia, under indictment for the killing of Albert Felts, mine detective, in a street battle last May, is said by many to be the prettiest woman in Mingo county. She was the widow of Mayor Testerman, shot, it is charged, by Felts. She married Hatfield shortly after Testerman’s death. It is said that this was the dying wish of the mayor. Mrs. Hatfield accompanied her husband to court at Williamson and was the center of attraction in the crowded court room during the preliminary hearings of Hatfield’s case.

———-

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Widow of Mayor Testerman, Now Mrs. Sid Hatfield, Center of Attraction at Williamson Courthouse” →

Hellraisers Journal: Twenty-Three Miners and Citizens of Matewan Indicted for Murder of Baldwin-Felts Gunthugs

15th September 202016th August 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p230 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 15, 1920
Williamson, Mingo County, West Virginia – Sid Hatfield Among Those Indicted

From The Bismarck Tribune of September 13, 1920:

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Hellraisers Journal: U. S. Troops in Mingo Co. with Mission to End War Between Union Miners and Operators’ Gunthugs

31st August 20204th August 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 31, 1920
Mingo County, West Virginia – U. S. Troops Arrive to End Mine War

From the Baltimore Sun of August 30, 1920:

U. S. TROOP BATTALION TAKES
OVER MINE AREA
———-
Soldiers From Camp Sherman, Ohio, Arrive
At Scene Of Clashes In West Virginia.
—–

WILL HOLD 50-MILE “FRONT”
—–
Riot Equipment Carried-Trials Of Those
Accused Of Killing 10 Men At Matewan
To Be Held September 6.
—–

(By the Associated Press.)

Washington Times
August 29, 1920

Williamson, W. Va., Aug. 29.-A battalion of United States Infantry, numbering between 400 and 500, under command of Col. Samuel Burkhardt, Jr., arrived here this morning from Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio.

A detachment of soldiers will be stationed at each mine in the strike zone from Kermit East to Delorme, a distance of 50 miles, it was announced.

Colonel Burkhardt was met by T. M. Davis, adjutant-general of West Virginia, representing Gov. John J. Cornwell, who yesterday asked the Government for troops because of disorders in connection with the coal strike in the Mingo Field during the summer. They visited a number of points in the district and mapped out distribution of the troops. Of the 65 mines in the district 20 or more have remained open during the strike, according to operators.

The troops were armed with regulation riot equipment, including rifles and machine guns, and carried one-pound cannon. Five trucks. one ambulance, and several motorcycles were also unloaded from the troop train.

The situation throughout Mingo county was reported quiet today. Martial law has not been proclaimed yet in the strike district, nor will it be, Colonel Burkhardt said, until occasion for such action arises.

The residents of Matewan and Williamson are said to have been relieved considerably by the arrival of the United States troops, owing to the frequent disturbances in the region during the strike. Their presence was welcomed particularly, according to local authorities, in view of the approach of the trials of 24 men indicted for the killing at Matewan May 19 of seven detectives, the Mayor of the town and two other men in a battle between miners, citizens and private detectives.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1920, Part II: Speech at Williamson WV Described, Found in Indianapolis, Indiana

22nd August 202029th July 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

Quote Mother Jones, Un-Christ-Like Greed, IN DlyT Ipls p1, July 15, 1920 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 22, 1920
-Mother Jones News for July 1920, Part II
Speech at Williamson, W. Va., Described; Found in Indianapolis

From the Buffalo Labor Journal of July 8, 1920:

MOUNTAIN MEN AROUSED
—–

Williamson, W. Va. [June 20, 1920]-“The motto of West Virginia, ‘Mountainers are always free,’ will be made effective,” declared Mother Jones in an address to over 5,000 miners of Mingo county. A drenching rain did not deter the workers from coming out of the mountains, the tent colonies of evicted strikers and neighboring towns. Mayor Porter of this place assured the meeting that he was in perfect sympathy with their efforts to rid the state of Baldwin-Feltz detective thugs, employed by the coal owners.

Secretary Pauley of the West Virginia Federation of Labor told the miners that trade unionists through out the state are behind them in this fight for law and order.

The recent murder of the mayor of Matewan and other citizens by the Baldwin-Feltz detective thugs, who were attempting to evict miners without due process of law, has aroused organized labor to greater activity against these private armies of the coal owners. The same condition prevails in Logan and McDowell counties. Governor Cornwell ignores these outlaws while delivering lectures and issuing statements on the need for “100 per cent. Americanism.”

[Photograph added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1920, Part II: Speech at Williamson WV Described, Found in Indianapolis, Indiana” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1920, Part I: Found in Nation’s Capital after Visit to Matewan, West Virginia

21st August 202029th July 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

Quote Mother Jones, IN DlyT Ipls p1, July 15, 1920

———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday August 21, 1920
-Mother Jones News for July 1920, Part I
Found in Washington, D. C., after Visit to Matewan, West Virginia

From the United Mine Workers Journal of July 1, 1920:

…..Mingo county is now 100 per cent organized. Approximately 6,000 new members have been taken in in that county since the Matewan battle.

The first convention of the United Mine Workers of America ever held in Mingo county was held at Williamson, the county seat, on June 23. The sessions were held in the court house, the purpose of the convention being to formulate a set of demands as to wages and working conditions to be presented to the operators. The above photograph was taken on the court house steps, and it shows the delegates, some of the officials of District 17, and also some of the international organizers who were active in effecting the organization……

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for July 1920, Part I: Found in Nation’s Capital after Visit to Matewan, West Virginia” →

Hellraisers Journal: UMW District 17 Sends Letter to West Virginia Governor in Defense of Mingo County Sheriff

20th August 202027th July 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

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

Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 20, 1920
Mingo County, West Virginia – District 17 Defends Sheriff Blankenship

From the United Mine Workers Journal of August 15, 1920:

-from page 7:

Pointed Letter Sent
to West Virginia Governor

The reconvened scale convention of District 17, which was held at Charleston, W. Va., July 15, 16 and 17, for the purpose of dealing with certain differentials, voted unanimously to send the following communication to Governor Cornwell, of that state:

Charleston, W. Va., July 19, 1920.

Hon. John J. Cornwell, Governor of West Virginia,
Charleston, W. Va.

Dear Sir—In its issue of July 17, 1920, The Charleston Gazette carries copies of a telegram and letter alleged to have been sent by you to Sheriff Blankenship of Mingo county, West Virginia, relating to disorders along the Tug River in that county.

These letters do an injustice to our officials and membership by carrying the imputation that they have failed to co-operate with the civil authorities in the preservation of law and order. They also carry the inference that the officials of this district have appealed to the federal government for federal troops to be sent into Mingo county and other sections of this state. You must certainly know that neither of these imputations is true.

Sheriff Blankenship and the other peace officers of Mingo county will no doubt gladly testify to the fact that the officials of our district have at all times consulted and cooperated with him in an effort to protect the citizens of that county from the lawless gang of gunmen and thugs turned loose upon them by the coal operators, who have endeavored to supersede the civil authorities by the introduction of a private army of their own. In marked contrast to your attitude toward the lawless invasion of that county by private gunmen of the operators, Sheriff Blankenship and his deputies have attempted to uphold the law and to throw its protecting folds around the peaceful and law-abiding citizens of that section. In all of his efforts he has the earnest and whole-hearted support of our officials and membership.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at Princeton, W. V.-Near Headquarters of Baldwin-Felts Gunthugs, Part II

18th August 202028th August 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p227 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday August 18, 1920
West Virginia – Mother Jones Speaks at Princeton, West Virginia, Part II

August 15, 1920 – Princeton, West Virginia
-Mother Jones Speaks at Public Meeting, Part II of III:

Now I am going to talk, men. I have come up against those things [the brutalities of the Baldwin-Felts gunthug system], perhaps, more than any other one person. I was up in Raleigh, and these Baldwin-Felts turned two machine guns on me—two here, and one here (pointing to each side of her head and her forehead). It was on Sunday and they put their guns against my head, but I took no back water, and they didn’t shoot them. They didn’t pull the trigger.

These Baldwin-Felts men, when they had that machine gun up there in Cabin Creek, turned that machine gun to murder thirty-six men that didn’t even have a pen-knife, and were coming down to meet me. The men screamed, and I jumped out of the buggy and went up and put my hands on the guns and told them not to shoot a bullet. They told me to take my hands off and I told them I had a right to examine them. They made me wade a creek the next day up to here (pointing), but I came back and organized the men.

I am not like you, a pack of damn measly cowards. Damn you. They are so afraid of the operators—so afraid of the managers.

Did you ever watch a mule in a mine. If a mule turns his head around and the boss goes on, the mule takes to his hind legs and says “Get the Hell out of here.”

Here is the thing. We are after this. This paper said today that I came in here and there is always trouble. Well, we are not after trouble. We are not looking for trouble. We are going to do this. The newspaper men are organized. The mine owners are organized and have their Union. The lawyers are in their Union. The sky-pilots are in their Union. The judiciary are in their Union. The merchants are in their Union. Don’t you think we have the same rights they have? Now if you don’t think so, we are going to show you, and we are not going to offer you or your press apology for doing it.

It is so sickening and nauseating to hear men talking today. We are moving.

I was along the Coast and after I had gone, the men sent for me to come back. Everywhere there is that unrest. Now, what is the cause of this unrest? It is injustice.

You cannot stop this thing with police. You cannot stop it with deportation, nor with the assassination of the press. It is the awakening. The night bell of the worker is ringing in the dawn of that new day. Hanging, deporting and shooting them is not going to stop it. There is nothing that will stop it but industrial and social justice.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at Princeton, W. V.-Near Headquarters of Baldwin-Felts Gunthugs, Part I

17th August 202028th August 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

Quote Mother Jones Princeton WV Speech Aug 15, 1920, Steel Speeches, p226 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 17, 1920
West Virginia – Mother Jones Fights for Miners, Causes Trouble for Mine Operators

From The Richmond Daily Register of August 6, 1920:

“Mother” Jones has reached the West Virginia mines and is said to be responsible for much of the recent trouble started there.

[Photograph added.]

August 15, 1920 – Princeton, West Virginia
-Mother Jones Speaks at Public Meeting, Part I of III:

My friends, in all the ages of man the human race has trod, it has looked forward to that mighty power where men could enjoy the right to live as nature intended that they should.

We have not made millionaires, but we have made billionaires on both sides of the house. We have built up the greatest oligarchy that the world has ever known in history.

On the other side, we have the greatest slaves the world has ever known. There is no getting away from that.

I am not going to abuse the operators nor the bosses for their system. The mine owners and the steel robbers are all a product of the system of industry. It is just like an ulcer, and we have got to clean the ulcer.

(Hissing from the audience.)

God—they make me sick. They are worse than an old bunch of cats yelling for their mother.

Today, the world has turned over. The average man don’t see it. The ministers don’t see it and they don’t see what is wrong. They cannot see it. But the man who sits in the tower and his fortune of clouds clash, knows there is a cause for those clouds clashing before the clap of thunder comes. All over the world is the clashing of clouds. In the office, the doctor don’t pay attention to it. The man who watches the clouds don’t understand it. People want to watch the battle.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks at Princeton, W. V.-Near Headquarters of Baldwin-Felts Gunthugs, Part I” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the New York Liberator: “The Wars of West Virginia” by Robert Minor, Part IV of IV

5th August 202020th July 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921

Quote Robert Minor re Battle of Matewan, Lbtr p13, Aug 1920 ———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 5, 1920
Robert Minor on the Battle at Matewan Between Citizens and Gunthugs

From the New York Liberator of August 1920:

IV of IV

About half past five in the afternoon, Chief Hatfield was standing around when a boy runs in, saying, “The thugs is come to town!”

Sid Hatfield walked out quick to the back street and there was Albert and Lee Felts and C. B. Cunningham, the gunman that was known for being quick on the draw. And standing back of them was ten Baldwin-Felts men. Then there was a dummy that had been hanging around town all day without any gun and not letting on he was a Baldwin-Felts man.

Sid walked up to Albert Felts and says, “I’ve got a warrant for you.”

Albert sort of grinned and says, “I’ll return the compliment; I’ve got a warrant for you.” All of the thugs kind of shuffled around on one foot and then the other, and pretty soon Sid was surrounded. Sid looked around and seen there was no friends near, only Isaac Brewer, the town policeman, was standing quiet.

Albert Felts says to Sid, “We’ll take you up to Bluefield on the train that’s due in seven minutes.” Sid says nothing and just smiles. And Albert says, “We’ll ride on the Pullman, Sid,” and walks Sid over to near the place where the end of the train will stop, and says, “Is this where the Pullman stops?” and Sid said “Yes.”

Sid knew it wasn’t no Pullman ride they planned for him, but that they wanted to be near the end of the train to jump on when they got through with him. The train only stops a minute.

They stood around waiting, and Sid kind of edged back towards the town-side of the street, near the back door of Chambers’ hardware store. Albert Felts and Cunningham the gunman kept close to, Sid, while Lee Felts and the ten other gunmen was standing back a little piece, nearer the railroad track. Albert says again that the train will be in in seven minutes and they would take the Pullman.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the New York Liberator: “The Wars of West Virginia” by Robert Minor, Part III of IV

4th August 202020th July 2020 Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921