Tag: Fred Mooney

Hellraisers Journal: Mine Workers’ Union Calls Off Strike in Mingo County, West Virginia; Tent Colonies to be Abandoned

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
Share

Quote Mother Jones, WDC Tx p15, Aug 26, 1921—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 28, 1922
Mingo County, West Virginia – United Mine Workers Calls Off Strike

From The West Virginian of October 27, 1922:

END OF TWO-YEAR STRIKE IN MINGO
STOPS MINE WAR
—————
Big Factor in Labor Disturbances in State
Passes Out of Existence.
———-

CHARLESTON, W. Va., Oct. 27.-Mingo County, greatest single factor in the labor disturbances of the Southern West Virginia coal fields, was free from the last vestige of its “mine war” today with the announcement made last night that the two year strike there had been abandoned by the United Mine Workers.

Mingo Co WV, Tent Colony, Map, WVgn p1, May 19, 1921

The announcement was first made at Williamson by R. B. White International organizer, on receipt of a letter from International President John L. Lewis, and was confirmed at district headquarters here by District Secretary Fred Mooney. The principal visible effect will be abandonment of the tent colonies maintained since the strike began, July 1, 1920, and the possible return to work in the non-union mines of the county of some of the 200 occupants of the colonies and of the strikers, whose numbers are variously estimated by union and operator authorities.

The attempted unionizing of the Mingo County mines was the beginning of a long series of events reaching their high points in the declaration of martial law and the “miner’s march” that was halted after a week’s fighting on the Logan-Boone County border in 1921. Out of evictions of miners’ families before the strike was called grew the famous Matewan street battle, when Baldwin and Felts detectives and inhabitants clashed with a death toll of ten and from that time on a series of disorders, including much shooting across the Tug River, separating West Virginia and Kentucky, caused a number of deaths. Martial law was declared May 19, 1921, and this proclamation was followed by another and the establishment of a military force June 27 of the same year, after the courts had held military occupation was necessary to martial law.

Rumors that union men were being mistreated in Mingo, coupled with the killing at Welch in August, 1921, of Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers, chief figures in the Matewan battle, were given by union miners in other fields as the causes of the march late in August on which are based the trials of union officials now being held at Charles Town.

The announcement that the union had abandoned the strike came close on the heels of the repeal on October 17, this year, by Governor Morgan of the martial law proclamations that had been in force for fifteen months.

Mingo Co WV, Lick Creek Tents Destroyed, UMWJ p5, Aug 1, 1921

Union officials have declared that relief work in the tent colonies at one time was costing $25,000 a week and more recently was being conducted at a cost of $11,000 a week. The tent colonies also figured in the suit now pending in federal courts, known as the Borderland case, in which an injunction against the colonies was sought but was denied by the Circuit Court after having been granted in the District Court.

[Photographs and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mine Workers’ Union Calls Off Strike in Mingo County, West Virginia; Tent Colonies to be Abandoned” →

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1912, Part II: Found Speaking at Eskdale, W. V., Unafraid of Brutal Cabin Creek Gunthugs

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Fred Mooney re Mother Jones at Cabin Creek Aug 6, 1912, Ab p27—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 18, 1912
Mother Jones News Round-Up for August 1912, Part II
Found Speaking to West Virginia Miners at Eskdale on Cabin Creek

Circular distributed in Eskdale August 4th through the 6th:

From the Clarksburg Daily Telegram of August 6, 1912:

SPREAD OF MINERS’ STRIKE TO
CABIN CREEK IS FEARED
———-

“MOTHER” JONES BUSY
———-
Big Meeting is Being Held Today for
Purpose of Sympathetic Strike.
———-

CHARLESTON. Aug. 6.-With no threat of an immediate outbreak and with Governor Glasscock conferring with the miners, all is quiet today in the strike zone on Paint creek. The miners insist that until the special guards employed by the coal companies are disarmed there can be no reconciliation. The operators claim that the guards are already disarmed.

Some fear is expressed today that some of the miners on Cabin creek will join the strikers. From the beginning the strikers have attempted to get the Cabin creek miners to join them but have failed. Today a meeting of miners is scheduled to be held at Eskdale and it will be addressed by “Mother” Jones. Many of the strikers have planned to attend in the hope of getting a sympathetic strike.

Several thousand miners are employed on Cabin creek and in case the strike spreads over that section the situation will become more serious, and the proclamation prepared for martial law by the governor will likely be issued. In that event the militia will be recruited to full strength. Already some new enlistments have been accepted.

Representatives of the miners called upon Governor Glasscock here this morning, but the result of the conference was not made public.

From The Fairmont West Virginian of August 7, 1912:

CONFERENCE
———-

CHARLESTON, W. Va., Aug. 7.-The conference with the miners and operators were continued yesterday by Governor Glasscock, but no one had any statement to make for publication, all agreeing that while various phases of the strike situation on Paint Creek were discussed with a view to placing before the governor the issue contended by each side, no definite conclusion was reached, nor did the operators and miners join in any statement or facts. Each held separate conferences with the state’s executive…..

A meeting of eight hundred miners was addressed yesterday [August 6th] by “Mother” Jones at Eskdale, on Cabin Creek, and the miners organized. The aged leader’s advice was far different to that given in her speech in this last week. The miners were unarmed and have promised to return to work tomorrow. They offered to help protect rather than destroy property.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1912, Part II: Found Speaking at Eskdale, W. V., Unafraid of Brutal Cabin Creek Gunthugs” →

Hellraisers Journal: Martial Law Declared in Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike District of West Virginia; Militia Collects Weapons

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 5, 1912
Martial Law Declared in Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike Zone

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of September 4, 1912:

HdLn WV Martial Law Declared, Wlg Int p1, Sept 4, 1912

Special Dispatch to the Intelligencer.

CHARLESTON, W. Va., September 3.-With more than 200,000 rounds of ammunition, seven modern Colts’ machine guns, fifteen hundred rifles of various kinds, from the highest priced and most modern make, down to the ordinary 22-caliber and bushels of revolvers, that is the term used by the militia authorities in answering the question as to the number of concealed weapons they now have-is the sum total of artillery the state captured during the first twelve hours of martial law in the Paint and Cabin Creek section of Kanawha county and of the Kanawha coal district.

Promptly at 6 o’clock this morning the proclamation went into effect. The nine companies of state militia with every available officer was scattered through the district and promptly at the hour fixed swooped down on store and cabin, operators residence and fortifications constructed by the coal operators and took possession of all firearms and other dangerous weapons. In no instance today was it necessary to arrest in order to secure weapons. That the miners and any of the mine guards had an idea that martial law was coming and got beyond the reach of the militia is definitely known.

Attack a Surprise.

This district is mountainous, making it possible for great numbers of men to conceal themselves and then attempt to escape under cover. While some may be successful the militia has stretched out along the boundary line to guard against just such a condition. The territory embraced in the proclamation is about twenty miles in length and from seven to twelve miles wide and contains at the present time about 18,000 or 20,000 people. Under the West Virginia law the rules and regulations of the regular army control in case of martial law is:

“A court-martial and a military commission have been appointed which may try offenses committed by either soldiers or citizens in the territory under martial law,” said Governor Glasscock today.

“For this duty I have selected men in whom I have the highest confidence because their power is almost ultimate and they may impose such punishment, including death, as they deem proper in the exigencies of the occasion.” 

[…..]

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Martial Law Declared in Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike District of West Virginia; Militia Collects Weapons” →

Hellraisers Journal: From The North American Review: “The Miners and the Law of Treason” by James G. Randall, Part II

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
Share

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 4, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Miners on Trial for Treason Against the State, Part II

From The North American Review of September 1922:

THE MINERS AND THE LAW OF TREASON

BY JAMES G. RANDALL

[Part II of II]

Billy Blizzard and Family, Lt Dg p14, June 17, 1922

Turning to the case of the miners, we find that the offense for which they (or rather a selected number of them) are held is treason against the State of West Virginia. In the Constitution of the State of West Virginia there is the following provision:

Treason against the State shall consist only in levying war against it, or in adhering to its enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. Treason shall be punished, according to the character of the acts committed, by the infliction of one or more of the penalties of death, imprisonment or fine, as may be prescribed by law.

It will be noticed that the provisions in the West Virginia Constitution resemble those of the Federal Constitution in the definition of the offense and the requirements as to evidence sustaining the overt act, but that the State Constitution goes farther than that of the United States in that it specifies the general nature of the punishment. An examination of the West Virginia code shows that the punishment, as further defined by the Legislature, shall be death, or, at the discretion of the jury, confinement in the penitentiary not less than three nor more than ten years and confiscation of the real and personal estate. Withholding knowledge of treason, attempting to justify armed insurrection by written or printed words, or engaging in an unlawful assemblage, are punishable by lesser penalties, thus indicating that these offenses are regarded as distinct from treason itself. As to what constitutes “levying war” against the State, this is largely a matter for interpretation by the court, and it appears that Judge Woods has made considerable use of Federal as well as State decisions in determining his rulings.

The acts for which the miners are on trial took place in connection with the serious outbreak of August, 1921. As a climax of years of growing hostility, during which the United Mine Workers had made repeated efforts to unionize the mine fields of Logan and Mingo counties, several hundred men assembled on August 20 at Marmet, West Virginia, with the intention of making some kind of demonstration or attack, the exact purpose of which is disputed. An important feature of the case is that the Governor had previously proclaimed martial law in Mingo County, and had sent State troops into that county to preserve order. It is the contention of the prosecution that the acts of the miners constituted a defiance of this martial law, and an intention to resist the troops.

An appeal by “Mother Jones”, a well-known leader among the miners, failed to disperse them, and the armed force, picturesquely uniformed in blue overalls and red bandanna handkerchiefs, proceeded on their march. The first violence occurred at Sharples in Boone County, where a small force of State police was resisted by the miners while seeking to serve warrants upon men wanted by the Logan County authorities. Several miners were killed and from this time the march assumed much more alarming proportions. By the time the Boone-Logan county line was reached the invaders numbered about eight thousand. Don Chafin, sheriff of Logan County, raised a defending force of approximately two thousand which he commanded until, after some delay, Governor Morgan commissioned Colonel Eubanks to take charge with State troops. For over a week the opposing “armies” confronted each other over an extended mountainous battle-front in the neighborhood of Blair, and there was considerable detached fighting. On the defending side three deputy sheriffs were killed, and it was for their deaths that the indictments for murder were drawn. Probably more than twenty of the invaders lost their lives.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The North American Review: “The Miners and the Law of Treason” by James G. Randall, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: After Speech by Mother Jones, Miners of Cabin Creek Walk Out on Strike to Join the Strike at Paint Creek

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Fred Mooney re Mother Jones at Cabin Creek Aug 6, 1912, Ab p27—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 12, 1912
Cabin Creek, West Virginia – 3,000 Miners Walk Out on Strike, Join Paint Creek Strike

From The Cincinnati Enquirer of August 11, 1912:

HdLn Cabin Creek WV Joins Strike, Cnc Enq p6, Aug 11, 1912

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER.

 Charleston. W. Va., August 10.-Still more serious became the strike situation in the Kanawha Valley to-day when 3,000 coal miners employed in the nonunion mines on Cabin Creek laid down their picks, bringing the total number of striking miners in the Kanawha coal fields above the 5,000 mark.

In the Cabin Creek field the miners walked out without making any demands upon the coal operators, asserting that they would refuse to longer work under the conditions existing on that creek, but they are expected to insist upon the employers recognizing the United Mine Workers’ organisation, the same demand made by the striking miners on Paint Creek, and the removal of the Baldwin Guards.

In addition to the general strike on Paint Creek, which has been in progress since last April, and the present extension of the strike to the mines on Cabin Creek, 1,400 miners are idle at Boomer, Fayette County, in close proximity to the strike zone. The miners at Boomer walked out Friday because of the refusal of the mine owners to meet their demand in connection with the semi-monthly pay day…..

Says Miners Are Assaulted.

“Mother” Jones, one of the strike leaders, who initiated the strike movement on Cabin Creek when she spoke to 800 miners at Eskdale on Thursday [Tuesday, August 6th], stated to-day that the guards on the Cabin Creek had assaulted a score of the miners since yesterday morning. She said further that the national organization of mine workers would be compelled to care for the 3,000 or 4,000 striking miners and their families from the Cabin Creek section.

The mines on Cabin Creek have been operated on the open shop plan since 1904, when the Miners Union in that field was destroyed. Since that year no efforts have been made to organize the miners on that creek, but the coal operators in the adjoining organized field have complained bitterly against being forced by the miners to compete in the markets with the coal produced by the nonunion labor on Cabin Creak.

The strike on Cabin Creek was a severe disappointment to Governor Glasscock, who has been making an effort to bring together the contending forces on Paint Creek. The action of the Cabin Creek miners further complicates a situation that appeared almost ready for solution…..

—————

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: After Speech by Mother Jones, Miners of Cabin Creek Walk Out on Strike to Join the Strike at Paint Creek” →

Hellraisers Journal: Battle at Mucklow Between Miners and Company Gunthugs Leaves One Dead, Many Injured

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
Share

Quote Fred Mooney re July 1912 Battle of Mucklow, Ab—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 31, 1912
Mucklow, West Virginia – Striking Miners Battle Company Gunthugs

From The Wheeling Intelligencer of July 27, 1912:

HdLn re Battle of Mucklow, Wlg Int p1, July 27, 1912

From The Pittsburgh Post of July 30, 1912:

Photos re Mucklow WV, Ptt Pst p3, July 30, 1912

Top, left to right:
Troop train arriving at Mucklow, W. Va. Every man on Paint Creek goes armed, and the excitement is intense.
General view of Mucklow, showing the company store and tipple on the left, and troops beginning their encampment on the right.

Bottom, left to right:
Prisoners accused of murdering mine guards. Twenty-two of these were taken on Saturday by Baldwin men, who surrounded them with an armed guard.
Tent and family of one of the destitute and evicted miners.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Battle at Mucklow Between Miners and Company Gunthugs Leaves One Dead, Many Injured” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the United Mine Workers Journal: Coal Operators of Logan County Fail to Convict William Blizzard

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
Share

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 17, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – William Blizzard Found Not Guilty of Treason

From the United Mine Workers Journal of June 15, 1922:

After a trial that lasted five weeks, a jury at Charles Town, West Virginia, returned a verdict of not guilty in the case against William Blizzard, who was charged by the Logan county coal operators with treason against the state of West Virginia. The jury reported its verdict at 9:30 Saturday night, May 27. The court room was crowded at the time, and when the verdict was read and it was learned that Blizzard was free the crowd broke out with cheers that shook the building. There was a wild demonstration. Friends lifted Blizzard from the floor and carried him on their shoulders, while hundreds of people shouted and cheered. The demonstration continued for fully an hour. Charles Town people joined with the miners who were present for the trial in marching up and down the streets of the town in celebration of the failure of the Logan county coal operators to carry out their purpose to send Blizzard and many other members of the United Mine Workers of America to the penitentiary.

Attorneys for the coal operators announced later that they would next try Rev. J. [E.] Wilburn on a charge of murder in connection with the march in August of last year, and his trial was set for Monday, June 12. They also said they would try President C. F. Keeney and Secretary-Treasurer Fred Mooney, also, on treason charge, but no date was fixed for their trials.

The coal operators failed miserably in their attempt to convict Blizzard, who is president of Sub-District 2, of District 17. They placed about 150 witnesses on the stand, but even with all of that array of help they were unable to convince the jury of level-headed and fair- minded citizens of Jefferson county that Blizzard was guilty of the high crime of treason. The fact is that as the trial progressed it was not so much Blizzard who was on trial as the coal operators themselves and their Logan county methods. The defense succeeded in bringing out before the jury a large amount of evidence showing how the coal operators run Logan county with the aid of their hired gunmen and thugs.

One of the bits of testimony that caused much resentment among those who heard it was given by an aviator. He was not connected with the army nor with any other military force, but was a private flyer. He testified that he flew his airplane over the miners’ camps in Logan county and that he dropped bombs on them. Some of these bombs were explosive and were filled with scraps of iron. Others were gas bombs. This aviator testified that he worked at this job four days and that the Logan county coal operators paid him $100 a day. Another witness testified that one of the gas bombs landed near his house, and that the gas sickened his wife and children, killed two pigs in his lot and withered the vegetation.

Attorneys for the coal operators decided to try Blizzard first because they believed they had a stronger case against him than any of the other defendants. If that was true, they have little chance to convict any one else.

It was evident that the coal operators failed to make much of a hit with the jury or with the people of Charles Town by permitting their witnesses to testify in regard to the activities of the armed guards and gunmen and the methods employed by Sheriff Don Chafin and his deputies in their handling of the mining situation in Logan county. Chafin was a witness for the prosecution, but even his evidence failed to convict Blizzard.

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the United Mine Workers Journal: Coal Operators of Logan County Fail to Convict William Blizzard” →

Hellraisers Journal: Rev. John E. Wilburn Will be Witness for Defense at Trial of Miners at Charles Town, West Virginia

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
Share

Quote Re Wilburn, Miner n Preacher, WVgn p11, Apr 28, 1922—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 29, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Rev. John E. Wilburn to be Witness at Trial of Miners

From The West Virginian of April 28, 1922:

PASTOR ACCUSED OF TREASON
MAIN MINERS’ WITNESS
———-
Kept in Solitary Confinement More Than
a Month and Then Handcuffed.
———-

By C. C. LYON

 

WV Rev John Wilburn, WVgn p11, Apr 28, 1922

CHARLES TOWN, W. Va., April 27.-Counsel for the hunreds of West Virginia miners on trial here for alleged treason and murder in connection with their armed March to Logan county last August are only waiting a chance to put the Rev. John E. Wilburn, for five years pastor of the Baptist church at Blair, Logan county, on the stand as their star witness.

Rev. Wilburn himself has been held without bail, he was brought in handcuffs to Charles Town from Logan. He is now in jail here.

In court he is the center of all eyes.

Reign of Terror

On the witness stand the Reverend Mr. Wilburn will tell a story of the reign of terror in the Logan and Mingo county coal fields of the “‘battle of Blair Mountain” where men died on both sides, of the alleged mistreatment of miners and their families by the deputies said to have been hired by the coal operators, and of his own mistreatment in the Logan county jail following his arrest.

A round-shouldered, tired little man, with kindly blue eyes, a soft voice and an almost saintly manner-that’s Mr. Wilburn.

Not a word of complaint against anybody has passed his lips.

His Experiences

Mr. Wilburn told me his story here in the Charles Town jail.

 [He said:]

I am 45 years old and was born in the mountains of Tennessee. I received a common school education and at 16 I was converted to Christ and joined the Baptist Church.

The ambition of my life was to become a minister, but we were very poor, so I went to work in the coal mines to earn a living while I studied. 

I was miner and student for nine years before I was ordained a minister. That was 22 years ago.

I saw that my field of usefulness lay with my own people in the mining camps. But they were too poor to maintain their churches so I went on working in the mines to support my family while I preached.

Family Prayer Daily

I am the father of five sons and three daughters and never has there passed a day at our home that we haven’t had our family prayers.

Five years ago I became pastor of the Baptist Church at Blair, Logan county. At the same time got a job as track-layer in a union mine. My three sons also worked in this mine.

I was put in solitary confinement [because of?] all the trouble there.

In September I went back to my old home in Tennessee to conduct a series of revival services and it was not until January that I learned that the Logan County grand jury had indicted me for alleged participation in the “battle of Blair Mountain.”

I immediately wrote Sheriff Don Chafin that I would come back if he wanted me, but, not hearing from him, I continued my revival meetings. When I returned to Logan County in March I was dumbfounded to learn that I was under indictment for murder and treason.

I was jailed at Logan. My two sons, John 18, and Frank 16, had been in jail without bond since December 31. A third son, Isaac, had been in jail but was admitted to bond. 

The authorities offered me many inducements to turn state’s evidence and testify against the miners but I spurned their offers.

I was put in solitary confinement in the Logan jail on March 14 and remained in solitary confinement until Saturday, April 22, when I was handcuffed to another miner and brought to Charles Town.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Rev. John E. Wilburn Will be Witness for Defense at Trial of Miners at Charles Town, West Virginia” →

Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Miners Resent Treason Charge; Declare They Are as Patriotic Citizens as Anybody

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
Share

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

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 26, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Miners Resent Treason Charge

From the Baltimore Sun of April 25, 1922:

(From a Staff Correspondent.)

Charles Town, W. Va., April 24.-Attacking directly the indictment charging treason, attorneys for the defense in the big industrial trials which opened here this morning began their fight to clear more than 100 men, mostly members of the United Mine Workers of America, of charges growing out of the armed march from Marmet, Kanawha county, to Logan county last August and September.

Entering a demurrer to the treason indictment, which covers 23 defendants, had been expected, and from the legal point of view is regarded as purely a routine move. From the moral point of view, however, and particularly , considering the effect it may have on public pinion, the outcome of the maneuver is regarded by the defense as of paramount importance.

Treason Charge Resented.

Indictments for murder and conspiracy were more or less expected in the circumstances by the United Mine Workers, but the indictment for treason always rankled. It is their contention that they are as patriotic citizens as anybody, and that they never for an instant contemplated war on the constituted authorities of the United States or West Virginia.

The arguments today, therefore, were followed with more interest than was usual at such a stage  an ordinary trial, and many of those accused betrayed not a little tenseness as the attorneys held forth.

The arguments on which the demurrer was based were largely technical, fault being found in one instance with the language of the indictment, and in another with the alleged general character of the offenses charged. The tediousness of the arguments, however, never for an instant acted to break attention with which the case was followed by the crowd in the courtroom.

Judge J. M. Woods, of Martinsburg, who is presiding, reserved his decision on the demurrer until the morning, and court adjourned about 3.30 this afternoon.

Crowd Has Holiday Air.

The crowd in front of the Courthouse this morning, far from presenting the grim aspect you might expect from men about to go on trial for their lives, were rather a holiday air. The defendants had been provided with ribbons reading “U. M. W. A. – Defendant,” which made them look more like a lot of delegates to a fraternal order convention than men accused of the most serious crimes on the statute books.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Miners Resent Treason Charge; Declare They Are as Patriotic Citizens as Anybody” →

Hellraisers Journal: Charles Town, West Virginia, Stage Set for Trial of Miners; Nine Miners Marched Through Town in Chains

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
Share

Quote Wm C Blizzard, Nine Miners in Chains Charles Town WV Apr 23, 1922, When Miners March p294—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 25, 1922
Charles Town, West Virginia – Stage Set for Trial of Miners

From the Baltimore Sun of April 24, 1922:

HdLn Charles Town WV Stage Set for Trial of Miners, Blt Sun p1, Apr 24, 1922

(From a Staff Correspondent.)

Charles Town, W. Va., April 23.-Excited, nervous, confident here, depressed there, a small army of defendants, witnesses, attorneys and newspaper men has taken possession of Charles Town on the eve of the trials of more than 200 men on charges including treason, murder and conspiracy, growing out of the “armed march” from Marmet on Logan county last summer.

It is estimated that fully 1,000 persons are in the little county seat of Jefferson county in connection with the trials.

Trials Are Sole Topic.

All over town, in the lobbies of the hotels, on street corners, gathered in knots here and there, they are discussing one thing-the trials. They have been arriving since Friday. A grim incident this morning was the arrival of nine men in handcuffs from Logan county. They were those who are unable to get bail after being indicted in Logan last year. They were escorted to the Charles Town jail.

Central figures in the whole West Virginia industrial controversy already are in town and others are expected tomorrow and on succeeding days. There is C. Frank Keeney, president of District No. 17, United Mine Workers, and the man, who, it is believed, will be the target for the heaviest artillery of the prosecution. He faces a charge of treason and is alleged to have instigated and aided the alleged insurrection. With him are Mrs. Keeney and their son. He is at one of the hotels, smiling and high-spirited as usual.

There is Fred Mooney, secretary of District No. 17, also charged with treason. He is a bit more self-contained than Keeney, yet you would scarcely know he was to be tried on a charge that might bring his neck into a noose.

Scores Of Notables Present.

There is H. W. Houston, chief counsel for the defense, often called the “brains of the United Mine Workers in West Virginia.” There is William Blizzard, accused of being the “generalissimo of the insurrection.” There are a half-dozen special lawyers engaged by the prosecution, famous in the annals of West Virginia criminal procedure. There are scores of others of lesser prominence, though all are well enough known in their localities.

Before the week is out, Gov. E. F. Morgan will be here, having been subpoenaed by both sides. William M. Wiley, of Sharples, picturesque figure among the operators, around whose mines the fighting raged last summer, will be called. John L. Lewis, international president of the United Mine Workers, will be here Tuesday.

One big, outstanding figure, however, from all that can be learned, will not be here. He is not here tonight and it is reported he will not come. That is Don Chafin, Sheriff of Logan county. Chafin has been for years the bete noir of the United Mine Workers. He has worked against them, resisted two armed marches, and in general earned for himself the undying hatred of many connected with the big mine union…..

—————

[Emphasis added.]

From the Baltimore Sun of April 23, 1922:

Keeney, Mooney to Charles Town WV for Trial, Blt Sun p9, Apr 23, 1922

In the center is C. Frank Keeney, president of District 17, United Mine Workers of America, and active leader of the union forces of Southern West Virginia. Mr. Keeney has been indicted in Logan county for treason and conspiracy. He has also been indicted in Kanawha county for alleged conspiracy and in Mingo county on charges of murder. At the left is Fred Mooney, secretary-treasurer of District 17, United Mine Workers, with headquarters at Charleston. Within 10 miles of the capital the armed march on Logan county started last fall. Mr. Mooney faces charges of treason and conspiracy. At the right is William M. Wiley. He lives in Sharples, W. Va., on the Boon-Logan county line, where the battle raged over a front of 25 miles in the wilderness. He is vice-president of the Kanawha Coal Operators’ Association and vice-president of the Boone County Coal Corporation, with five large operations on the organized edge of Logan county. He employs 1,500 union miners. He will be a principal witness in the trials at Charles Town. He gave sensational testimony before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor in Washington recently, which investigated the armed march, and of which committee former Senator Kenyon was chairman.

[Emphasis added.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Charles Town, West Virginia, Stage Set for Trial of Miners; Nine Miners Marched Through Town in Chains” →