Tag: Charleston WV

Hellraisers Journal – Fred Merrick Arrested at Charleston, West Virginia; Printing Plant of Labor Argus Raided and Confiscated

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Quote Fred Merrick, Hatfield Mad, Wlg Maj p1, May 1, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 1, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia – Fred Merrick of the Socialist Labor Argus Arrested

From The Cincinnati Enquirer of April 30, 1913:

SOCIALIST EDITOR
———-
And Labor Leader Arrested in West Virginia
-Plant Confiscated.

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER.

Labor Argus Seized, Merrick Arrested, Hinton WV Dly Ns p1, Apr 30, 1913
The Hinton Daily News
April 30, 1913

Charleston, W. Va., April 20.-Fritz Merrick, of Pittsburg, Socialist editor, and John L. Ramsey, a member of the United Mine Workers, were arrested this afternoon by the military authorities, and the printing plant of the Labor Argus, a local Socialist publication, was confiscated.

Merrick and Ramsey were seized by Adjutant General Charles D. Elliott, Major John H. Charnock and Captain Charles Wood and were taken to the Kanawha County Jail and placed in custody of Sheriff Bonner Hill on a commitment from the Governor, who acted under the provisions of the code giving him authority to seize persons who are engaged in an effort to incite insurrection.

The mailing list of the publication, which circulates largely through the coal fields, where a strike has recently been in progress, was seized by the officers, together with a number of copies of the newspaper.

Merrick, who served a sentence in Pittsburg for contempt of Court, anticipated his arrest and wired the Pittsburg Socialist last Sunday that “I expect to be arrested within 24 hours, but I shall have completed arrangements by that time to have the Labor Argus published In Pittsburg.”

—————

[Newsclip and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Survey: “Civil War in the West Virginia Coal Mines” by Harold E. West of Baltimore Sun

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Quote Ralph Chaplin, WV Miners Longing for the Spring, Leaves, Paint Creek Miner, ISR p736, Apr 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 9, 1913
“Civil War in the West Virginia Coal Mines” by Harold E. West

From The Survey of April 5, 1913:

War in WV by Harold West, Survey p37, Apr 5, 1913

FOR nearly a year a state of turmoil amounting in practical effects to a civil war has existed in the coal fields of West Virginia. The situation centers in the Kanawha Valley, hardly more than twenty miles from Charleston, the capital of the state.

The military power of the state has been used with only temporary effect; martial law has been declared and continues in force; the governor of the state has been defied and denounced from the state house steps and within his hearing; men and women have been thrown into prison and are still there for espousing the cause of the miners, and the grim hillsides of the canons in which the mines are situated are dotted with the graves of men who have been arrayed against one another in this conflict between capital and labor…..

WV Confiscated Arms, Survey p39, Apr 5, 1913

[U. S. Secretary of Labor William B.] Wilson charged that a condition of peonage existed in the mines and that men were held there by force and compelled to work against their will. The coal operators denied this vehemently, at the same time fighting bitterly a federal inquiry. Evidence I was able to gather on a trip of investigation to the mines convinced me that a form of peonage does, or did exist; that the miners were oppressed; that the rights guaranteed under the constitution were denied them; that the protection of the law of the state was withheld from them and the law openly defied and ignored by the coal operators……

WV Cabin Creek Woman w Rifle bf Her Tent, Survey p40, Apr 5, 1913

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Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Ralph Chaplin on Military Violence Against Striking Miners, Part III

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Quote Ralph Chaplin, WV Miners Longing for the Spring, Leaves, Paint Creek Miner, ISR p736, Apr 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 3, 1913
Ralph Chaplin Travels with Comrade Rumbaugh to West Virginia Strike Zone

From the International Socialist Review of April 1913:

WV Paint Creek Strike by Ralph Chaplin, ISR p729, Apr 1913

[Part III of III.]

When the Leaves Come Out by Ralph Chaplin, ISR p736, Apr 1913

A brief account of a trip made by Comrade Rumbaugh, of Hurricane, W. Va., and myself to the danger zone, might be of interest to readers of the REVIEW. We rode into Charleston “on the front end” and found that city to have the appearance of a place preparing for a siege. Martial law had been declared but a short time previously and the streets were full of soldiers. Yellow-legged sentries were stationed in front of the state house and the governor’s residence. It was rumored that machine guns were mounted in the upper windows of the former building, commanding both entrances to the capitol grounds.

A sentry was also stationed in front of the office of the Labor Argus to guard Comrade W. H. Thompson, who is editing that paper while Comrade Boswell is being “detained” in the bull pen. Comrade Thompson is an ex-Kanawha county coal miner and is unblushingly ”red.” He is the editor of the Huntington Socialist and Labor Star and he has put up as staunch a fight for the cause of the miners as any man in the state. At the city jail we witnessed the interesting spectacle of a bunch of “tin horns” bringing a prisoner from the military district to the city lockup. As the great iron gates swung open to receive them, the spectators commenced hissing the soldiers, calling them “scab herders” and other expressive names. Some of the “yellow legs” glared at these people brazenly but, may they be given due credit, others of the soldiers hung their heads with shame, as if such condemnation from members of their own class was more deadly to them than bullets.

From Charleston we took the labor train that was to carry us into the martial law zone. At Cabin Creek we were almost arrested with a bunch of miners in the car who were poking fun at the grave and ludicrous antics cut by some of the would-be man-killers in khaki. At the Paint Creek junction we remained for several hours, ostensibly to visit some soldier boys of our acquaintance, but in reality to secure information and photographs for the REVIEW and the Labor Star. Comrade Rumbaugh was afterwards arrested and relieved of his camera for attempting to take photographs to illustrate this article. We spoke with dozens of the soldiers, and one of them, an ex-mine guard, admitted that the guards use dum-dum bullets against the miners. He told of two miners who had been killed with these proscribed missiles, one man who had the top of his head completely shot off and another who received a death wound in the breast large enough to “stick your fist into.”

The freight house at Paint Creek has been converted into a bull pen, and over fifty men are now incarcerated there, only three of whom are not native West Virginains. The interior of this place would make a Siberian prison pen look like a haven of refuge. The sleeping accommodations are inadequate, ventilation poor and the floors filthy beyond description. Even with two or three men sleeping in the coal-bin there is no room for the others. The only papers the prisoners are permitted to read are the reactionary local rags and the National Socialist. Mother Jones, Charles Boswell and John Brown have somewhat better quarters elsewhere in town. A sentinel is constantly measuring his paces before the door of each. Dear old Mother Jones in the bull-pen and guarded by armed mercenaries of the Mine Owners! The very thought of it makes blood boil, here in West Virginia.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Ralph Chaplin on Military Violence Against Striking Miners, Part III” →

Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Supreme Court Affirms Martial Law and Military Commission in Case of Mother Jones, Editor Boswell, and UMW Organizers

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Quote Mother Jones, Willing to Die for Miners Cause, WDC Tx p14, Mar 12, 1913—————

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
———-
West Virginia Judge Reject Miners’
Plea Against Gov. Hatfield.

WV Militia v Miners n Mother Jones, Missoulian p6, Feb 21, 1913

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.]

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Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Supreme Court Hands Mother Jones, Editor Boswell, Charles Batley, Paul Paulson, Etc. Over for Trial by Military Commission at Pratt

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Quote WB Hilton re Mother Jones Courage, ed Wlg Maj p10, Mar 6, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 7, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia – State Supreme Court Rules against Miners

From The Wheeling Majority of March 6, 1913:

HdLn UMW Attorneys v Military Comm n WV Supreme Court, Wlg Maj p1, Mar 6, 1913

(Labor Argus Service.)

Charleston, W. Va., March 7.—(Special.)-By an order handed down by the supreme court of West Virginia on last Friday, Mother Jones, Charles H. Boswell, Charles Batley and Paul Paulsen were remanded to the custody of the military commission at Pratt. The court, after having the question of the legality of the military commission argued before it for five solid hours, with its customary evasiveness, said it was not called upon to decide whether the military commission had power to try the petitioners. It being apparent, said the court, that the governor has power, under the law, to detain rioters during the continuance of the disturbance, they would not release the prisoners nor turn them over to the civil courts for trial.

In the face of this dodging attitude of the court, the attorneys for the coal interests and the military court admitted that they were going to try the petitioners before the military commission. The court, however, ignored this fact and refused to give the petitioners a trial to jury, as is provided by the state and national constitutions.

Immediately following the action of the court the military authorities announced they would begin the trials of their victims on March 7. The attorneys for the miners, H. W. Houston and A. M. Belcher, refused to prostitute their profession and lend the color of legality to this anarchial proceeding by appearing before the commission. Their advice to the prisoners is to refuse to have counsel or witnesses and to refuse to answer any questions of the tin-horn bunch of khaki jurists.

—————

A Few Remarks

BY WALTER B. HILTON
[editor of The Wheeling Majority]

Wheeling Majority ed Walter B Hilton, Wlg Maj p4, Mar 6, 1913

HATS OFF to the striking West Virginia miners. They are putting up what is probably the best industrial fight ever waged by American workers. They have had used against the [very best] weapon that the capitalist class could buy with the money that was stolen from the miners in the first place. Thug ‘‘guards” were first employed, then the military and finally the courts. All were at the service of the coal barons of the state and all were hurled at the little fighting group of mine workers. And still they have not been crushed. Hundreds of them have been arrested, dozens have been sentenced, dozens have been killed, and yet such is their glorious spirit that the coal strike is not crushed.

The Kanawha county miners have shown the world an example of working class solidarity and splendid courage. Much of the credit is due “Mother” Jones, that wonderful old woman who went up in the regions controlled by the mine guards, places where no man could go, and agitated and educated and federated. Men organizers had tried it before, only to be beaten by the hired thugs and driven out. Some were killed. But for more than a year they feared to touch this little old woman, who carried her eighty years with her as she tramped the roads, climbed the mountains, walked the cross ties and waded the creeks, carrying the message of industrial solidarity to the thousands who, before her coming, were hopeless.

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Hellraisers Journal: W. V. Strike Leaders, Mother Jones and Other Military Prisoners, Are Subjects of Habeas Corpus Writs

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Quote Kintzer re Mother Jones, WV Angel, ISR p393, Nov 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 19, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia – Strike Leaders Seek Civilian Trials

From the Pittsburg Gazette Times of February 18, 1913:

Paint Creek Strike Heads Seek Release
———-

“Mother” Jones and Other Military Prisoners
Subjects of Habeas Corpus Writs.
———-

THEY WANT CIVIL TRIALS
———-

(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO GAZETTE TIMES.)

Mother Jones, Tacoma Tx p3, Feb 14, 1912

CHARLESTON, W. VA., Feb. 17.-On account of the issuance of writs of habeas corpus, returnable forthwith, against Gov. William K. Glasscock, Adjt. Gen. Charles D. Elliott, Maj. James I. Pratt, president, and the four other members of the military commission appointed to try cases in the martial law district, the military commission has been stopped in the trial of persons under arrest as members of the commission must appear in court tomorrow to argue the writs.

“Mother” Jones, Paul J. Paulson [Paulsen], Charles Boswell and Charles Batley, for whom the writs of habeas corpus were asked today, have not been brought to Charleston and will not likely be brought here unless the court tomorrow insists on their presence while the question of whether the prisoners shall be turned over to the civil authorities is being argued. This action compels the military authorities to produce what evidence they have against the prisoners for the court to determine whether the military commission has jurisdiction. The right of the governor to declare martial law and cause a military commission to be appointed to try all cases, is also to be determined.

The question of the governor’s right to declare martial law was decided in the affirmative in the Charles Vance case, but the right of the military commission to try persons arrested outside of martial law territory has not been determined. Attorneys for the accused believe the court will hold that the military commission has no authority in such cases and that the accused must be tried by the civil authorities, although the alleged offense was committed in what is now a martial law district, previous to the declaration of martial law.

The provost marshal, Capt. John C. Bond, reports no disturbances in the district today. It is known, however, that the militia is searching for persons wanted in connection with some of the recent disturbances.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Arrested; Holly Grove Captured and All the Men of the Town Taken into Custody by Militia

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Quote Mother Jones Buy Guns, Ptt Pst p1, Feb 14, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 17, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia – Mother Jones, Editor Boswell, and Organizers Arrested

From The Pittsburgh Post of February 14, 1913:

“MOTHER” JONES ARRESTED;
MINE TOWN CAPTURED
———-
Socialists Charged With Inciting Rioting;
Militia Surrounds Miners’ Village.
———-

RIOT CALL AT CAPITOL
———-

(SPECIAL TO THE POST.)

Mother Jones, Tacoma Tx p3, Feb 14, 1912

CHARLESTON, W. Va., Feb. 13.-The arrest of “Mother” Jones, famous agitator; C. H. Boswell, editor of a Socialist paper in this city; Paul J. Paulson [Paulsen], of the international organization of the United Mine Workers of America; Frank Bartley [Charles Batley], a Socialist leader, and others here today, brought rapid developments in the Paint Creek strike situation.

“Mother” Jones and her associates are charged with conspiracy and as accessories before the fact in the death of Fred Bobbett, bookkeeper of the Paint Creek Colliery Company in Mucklow. “Mother” Jones, in a speech in Boomer last night is alleged to have urged the miners to come to Charleston today and “take” the capital. She was arrested this afternoon on one of a number of warrants issued, and with her associates will be taken before the military commission.

“Mother Jones” is reported as having said:

Buy guns, and buy good ones; have them where you can lay your hands on them at any minute. I will tell you when and where to use them.

Mother Jones, it is reported, held a meeting in Longacre, two miles below Boomer, at 10 o’clock this morning, and urged striking union miners to refuse to heed orders of the union president to return to work.

A rumor that miners were coming here to take the State capitol caused a sensation. When some miners and citizens began to gather a riot call was sent in from the capitol building, and the local police under Chief Albert Guill rushed to the State house. The streets about the building were crowded with people, most of whom, however, were drawn there by the riot call.

CAPTURE WHOLE VILLAGE.

Detachments from the troops stationed in the strike zone this morning surrounded the village of Holly Grove, which has been the hotbed of trouble makers since the strike broke out, and captured 68 men. With the men a large quantity of arms and ammunition was also taken. Every man in the little town, which is composed of tents and huts, was taken into custody. The women and children were not disturbed.

According to the military officials commanding in the strike zone, all the rioting and attacks made on troops and workmen have had their inception in Holly Grove. It was from this rendezvous that the strikers were wont to sally forth in parties and fire on the guards and others, in the Paint Creek valley. At the time the raid and arrests were made the population of Holly Grove was far below normal. Ordinarily there are several hundred strikers in the little town.

The 68 men arrested were taken to Paint Creek Junction and placed under a strong guard. With the 60 men who had been arrested previously and taken to Paint Creek Junction, today’s arrests swell the number in custody of the militia officials at that point to 128 men.

EXPECT TO CONVICT RIOTERS.

The militia admit they may not be able to prove that all the prisoners were implicated in the disorders in the Paint Creek region, but that they will be able to connect many of the suspects with the outrages, they say they have no doubt.

According to the civil authorities, who were in charge in Mucklow during the battle fought at that point last Monday night, the men implicated came from Holly Grove, and after the trouble had quieted down, returned to the little village and hid their arms.

The military authorities have not been able to get a copy of the proclamation issued by the miners in the Smithers Creek district, which declared they would “tear the heart of the sheriff, kill the governor and wipe the militia off the map,” although it is said that copies of these proclamations were posted in many conspicuous places throughout the district. Especially were copies of the notice freely distributed throughout the district where the foreign population is in the majority.

Four additional companies of militia were ordered to the strike district to-night by Governor Glasscock. Two are from Parkersburg, and one each from Morgantown and Sutton. Six companies are now in the field.

SAYS DEATH LIST IS 28.

HUNTINGTON, W. Va., Feb. 13.-That the death list in the Cabin Creek riot will total 26 instead of 16, is the statement of W. O. Robbett [Bobbitt], a mine superintendent, who brought his brother, Bob Robbett [Fred Bobbitt] who was killed in the riot, to this city for burial. Mr. Robbett [Bobbitt] made the positive statement that there were 24 miners and two mine guards, one of whom was his brother, a volunteer, killed.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Governor Pardons Many Miners Convicted by Military Court During Occupation of Strike Zone

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Quote Mother Jones, UMW Strong, Speech Charleston WV Levee, Aug 1, 1912—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 14, 1913
Charleston, West Virginia – Glasscock Pardons Miners Convicted by Military Court

From The Fairmont West Virginian of January 13, 1913:

GOV. GLASSCOCK PARDONS MANY MINERS
—————

MEN CONVICTED BY MILITARY COURT ARE
PARDONED BY THE GOVERNOR.
—————

WV Dan Chain n SF Nantz, Sent to Moundsvil Pen Nov 21, 1912
Dan Chain and S. F. Nantz Sent to Moundsville Prison
on Nov 21, 1912

CHARLESTON, W. V., Jan. 13.-That Governor Glasscock has issued conditional pardons clearing the State penitentiary of all persons convicted by the military court during the recent occupation by martial law of part of Cabin and Paint Creek became known last night when 12 convicts having sentences ranging from one to seven one-half years, were allowed to take freedom from the walls of the State prison at Moundsvllle by the pardon board of January 3, but were for some reason held up until Saturday.

The greatest secrecy was maintained concerning the governor’s action. Not one of the 80 persons convicted under martial law remains in prison, many having been pardoned heretofore and a few having served their sentences. Of the 12 released Saturday 11 are miners convicted of conspiracy or similar crimes under the second occupation of martial law. Much rejoicing was occasioned in the strike zone Saturday night when it became known that the convicts had been pardoned. Troops were withdrawn from the strike zone December 12, and beginning the day after Christmas all guns taken from the residents of the martial law districts except high power rifles were ordered returned. Hundreds of miners have received their guns.

Last Wednesday night there was an outbreak of strikers on Paint creek when a freight train crew was fired upon and a mine set on fire. Farther trouble is expected in the strike zone.

Of those released Saturday, Shanklin was a mine guard and was sentenced during the first part of martial law rule. All the others were miners. Those released were the following: S. Frank Nance, five years; J. R. Shanklin, one year and $100; Dan Chain, five years; Charles Jarrel, two years; Newt Gump, five years; Rock Spinelli, five years; Angelo Billetlli, five years; Tony Stafford, five years; Grover Jarrell, three years; William Thompson, three years; Joe Raines, five years; Lawrence Cepreant, seven and one-half years.

George Book, serving a one-year sentence for malicious wounding in Logan county, was also pardoned.

[Photograph, emphasis and paragraph breaks added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for November 1902, Part II: Found in Baltimore, Maryland, and with Striking Miners of West Virginia

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Quote Mother Jones to Wayland fr WV Wind Blows Cold, AtR p4, Nov 1, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday December 19, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for November 1902, Part II
Found in Baltimore, Maryland, and in New River Strike Zone of West Virginia

From the Baltimore Sun of November 21, 1902:

MOTHER JONES IN TOWN
———-
Miners’ Friend Calls On Officials
To Stop Immigration.

Mother Jones at Cooper Un, Ryan Walker, Comrade p28, Nov 1902

Mother Jones, the friend of the coal miners, arrived in Baltimore yesterday unannounced. She proceeded at once to hunt up Mr. Thomas A. Smith, chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, introduced herself and started to make known the object of her visit.

[She said:]

I have come here for the purpose of putting a stop to immigrants being brought into this country and employed by coal operators to take the places of the regular miners in the New River district of West Virginia.

Chief Smith laid aside his eyeglasses and took a quiet survey of Mother Jones, who had seated herself in a chair and was tapping the floor impatiently with her foot. Before Mr. Smith could make any statement Mother Jones began to give him and his assistant, Mr. Jacob Schoufarber, a full detailed account of the alleged indignities suffered by the miners at the hands of the operators. After she had finished he statement Mother Jones was referred to the office of the United States Immigration Bureau at the Custom House.

Mother Jones reached the Custom House in due time and was met by Assistant Commissioner Stump. To Mr. Stump she repeated her complaint, and Mr. Stump told her that if she could furnish the bureau with the names of immigrants who had been employed on the other side by the coal miners he would be very glad to look into the case.

“The proper course for you to pursue, madam,” he said, “is to write to Commissioner General F. P. Sargent, giving him all the data you can obtain in the matter.”

“Yes,” said Mother Jones with a long sigh, “that is just what I was told to do with Mr. Powderly when he was in office, and Powderly is a pretty good chap and I believe he kept his seat warm while he was in office.”

“But Mr. Powderly is not there now,” said Mr. Stump, “Mr. Sargent Is in charge.”

[Said Mother Jones:]

Oh, yes, I know him too; he is a jolly old chap, but he has let more immigrants into this country than even Powderly did. These mine owners are a sharp crowd to deal with. They have their agents on the other side and they coach the immigrants what to say when they come here. They are not shipped direct to the coal mines, but are sent in through Wheeling and other points, and when they get there they are herded in stockades with guards all around them and we cannot get anywhere near them.

Mr. Stump reminded his visitor that the proper person to receive her complaint would be Commissioner-General Sargent. She then left the office.

Mother Jones is a little woman, short, but stockily built, with iron gray hair, and speaks very forcibly. She has been called “Mother Jones” by reason of her interest in the welfare of the miners.

[Photograph added.]

From The Chattanooga News of November 27, 1902:

STRIKERS BRACE UP
———-
“Mother” Jones Puts New Heart and Life
Into West Virginia Coal Miners.
———-

Charleston, W. Va., Nov. 27.-The strikers in the New River mining field are making their last stand, encouraged by the magnetism of Mother Jones, who arrived there from Scranton, Pa., where she had expected to testify before the anthracite strike commission.

The West Virginia strike began June 7. It fizzled in the Fairmont field because of the federal injunctions issued by Judge Jackson. A few months ago settlements were reached in the Pocahontas and Kanawha regions, where the men gained notable concessions.

It would be hard to find a more determined band of men than the New River strikers. It was to this field Gov. White sent state troops during the summer and there followed the evictions of thousands of families. The cold weather has been a severe test, but the men are determined to win.

New River has a larger output than any other in West Virginia field and at least 5,000 men are involved in the strike. The United Mine Workers’ Union is caring for them and President Mitchell may soon assume direct charge.

John Richards, president of district No. 17, United Mine Workers, has tendered his resignation, it is understood, under pressure from his conferees, who represented to him that he was the only man who had stood between the miners and operators. The operators absolutely refused to treat with Richards, but intimated that a settlement could be reached if he were out of the way.

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Hellraisers Journal: Usurped Power of West Virginia Martial Law: “Disgrace to the State and a Blot on the American Nation”-Part II

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Quote Mother Jones re Get Rid of Mine Guards, Charleston WV, Aug 15, 1912, Steel Speeches p95—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 9, 1912
Charleston, West Virginia – Usurped Power of Martial Law Disgraces the State

From The Wheeling Majority of December 5, 1912
-Taken from the Charleston Labor Argus:

HdLn re WV Martial Law Dan Chain, Wlg Maj p1, Dec 5, 1912

[Part II of II]

[Charleston, W. Va., Dec. 5.]-Just for an example of the high hand tyranny of [West Virginia’s] military court we will take the cases of Dan Chain, [Silas] Frank Nantz [Socialist marshal of Eskdale] and a few others of their victims. Dan Chain was arrested, taken to Pratt, tried and sentenced to five years in the penitentiary for holding up a train at Cabin Creek Junction with two car loads of transportations Friday, Nov. 14th. To our knowledge Dan Chain was a passenger on the train that was supposed to be held up and did not know the transportation was on the train until he got to Cabin Creek Junction and the railroad crew refused to pull it up the creek, but Dan Chain was not given a chance to introduce evidence in his defense and was railroaded to the penitentiary for five years. Frank Nantz was charged with interfering with an officer in discharge of his duty. This case happened two weeks before martial law was declared at that time the soldiers were doing private guard duty, yet Nantz was railroaded to the penitentiary for five years.

WV Dan Chain n SF Nantz, Sent to Moundsvil Pen Nov 21, 1912
Dan Chain and S. F. Nantz Sent to Moundsville Prison on Nov 21, 1912

Another case is that of [Charles] Coon Jarrell who was brought before the court as witness against another man, and because he did not know anything about the case was accused of perjury and sent to the penitentiary for five years. These are just a few of the many cases where men have been tried by court martial and railroaded to the penitentiary.

Under martial the court martial are supposed only to try offenses committed under martial law. Any offense committed before martial law was declared was no violation of the martial law. If this court has the right to go back two days, two weeks or two months, it has a right to go back two years or ten years. Not satisfied with railroading the men to the penitentiary but the tools of the coal barons are trying to terrorize and intimidate the strikers by arresting and trying the women before Gov. Glasscock’s uniformed court.

When before in the history of this nation have our women been hauled up before a drum head court? Gov. Glasscock made his loyalty to the barons clear when he declared the miners would remember it the longest day they lived. Gen. Elliott, the progressive Bull Mooser, is quoted as saying if he heard of any one alluding to a soldier as a ‘tin horn” he would see that they went to the penitentiary for a year.

Are we living under a despotic monarchy that the citizens should be imprisoned for “Les Majeste?”

And all of this in America, “the land of the free and the home the brave.” In a land where our fathers fought and bled that we might be left a heritage of liberty and be freemen. Have we sunk to the level of Mexican peons that we must submit to the despotism of a dictator, as becomes the cringing subject of a tyrannical czar? The miners of West Virginia are demanding only their constitutional rights as citizens of this great commonwealth, the Czar of Russia nor Diaz of Mexico, would never use any more barbarous or brutal methods than are being used by the state officials to deprive people of these priceless heritages.

Liberty is a sacred thing, more sacred than life itself. A man’s liberty is too sacred to be snatched from him by the arbitrary ruling of a [besmeared?] court, the laws made by the people say that the punishment shall be in accord with the crime committed, so what right has this military court to deprive men of their rights and liberty that a few bloated, foreign stock holders may reap dividends and profits by enslaving the working class?

The miners on Paint and Cabin Creek are fighting for the poorly clad, care-worn women. They are fighting for those bare footed, ragged children, that are shivering in tents these cold winter nights and though every man be locked in prison cells the fight will go on, for the women will take up the fight where the men left off. The working class will stand for just so much persecution before they rebel. Don’t push them too hard or West Virginia’s hills will be painted red with the blood of her sons.

The miners are fighting for freedom with a determination that knows no defeat. Undaunted they look into the muzzle of the soldier’s rifle or face that mockery on justice, the usurped power of a military court. The prison cell is no worse than the midnight darkness of the coal barons slave pen and even death is preferable to a life of slavery.—Labor Argus.

[Photographs, emphasis and paragraph breaks added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Usurped Power of West Virginia Martial Law: “Disgrace to the State and a Blot on the American Nation”-Part II” →