Hellraisers Journal: Senators Resume Investigation of West Virginia Coal Fields; Gunthugs Joining State Militia

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Quote West Virginia Miner re Gunthugs, LW p1, Sept 24, 1921—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 25, 1921
Mingo County, West Virginia – Senate Probe Resumes; Gunthugs Infest State Militia

From The Labor World of September 24, 1921:

Mingo Probe by Sen Com Continues, LW p1, Sept 24, 1921

Reports from the West Virginia mining region all tell of a peaceful situation. Those miners who had jobs have returned to work, the private gunmen are sleeping on their arms and the remaining 1,200 Federal troops are bivouaced amid the shady valleys and hillslopes of Boone and Kanawha counties. No further casualties have been reported General Bandholtz has been recalled to Washington by Secretary of War Weeks and the command of United States troops has been turned over to Col. Carl A. Martin, senior officer of the 19th Infantry.

A delegation of operators called on President Harding and Secretary Weeks with a request that the troops bet kept in the war zone until Governor Ephriam A. Morgan has organized two or three regiments of State militia authorized by the last session of the legislature. Miners claim that the State militia is being built up of men in the employ of the coal operators and deputy sheriffs who served under Don Chafin of Logan county during the “invasion.”

[Said one of the miners:]

I cannot see that it will improve the situation here by putting a militiaman’s uniform on a gunman. It does not change his nature or make him any less a gunman. The constables and Baldwin-Felts detectives will simply change their coats and be in one way or another the paid employes of the companies that they now are. Nothing will be better until the might of armed guards is supplanted by civil rights guaranteed to American citizens under the Constitution.

The Senate committee is now at West Virginia and will continue its investigation of the mining trouble. Senator Kenyon of Iowa is believed that if the public is made acquainted with the facts that such a storm protest will be aroused that the West Virginia officials will be forced to correct the evils complained of. Very little help can be expected in the way of national legislation.

Taking of testimony in the trial of cases growing out of the killing of ten men, seven of them Baldwin-Felts detectives, at Matewan last May, was postponed for a few days owing to illness in the family of Judge R. D. Baily.

—————

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Senators Visit Lick Creek Tent Colony, Mingo County, West Virginia, Hear Miners’ Side of Story

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

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 21, 1921
Lick Creek Tent Colony, Mingo County – Senators Hear Miner’ Side of Conflict

From the Baltimore Sun of September 19, 1921:

Mingo, HdLn Sens Visit Lick Creek Echols, Blt Sun p1, Sept 19, 1921

Williamson, W. Va., Sept. 18.-Senator Kenyon’s investigating committee, boiled down finally to himself and Senator Shortridge, of California, went among the people in the Lick Creek tent colony today to get the miners’ side of the underlying cause of industrial troubles in the Mingo region.

There was no comment from the committee after 50 or more men and women had been questioned. Tomorrow the operators will be heard and then Senator Kenyon and his associate will determine how far to proceed and where under the Senate resolution directing the inquiry.

The tent colony is populated by miners who have been on strike 14 months. The first of the group whose testimony was obtained was George Echols, a negro preacher, 75 years old, who showed the ragged gaps in his tent, put there, he testified, by “State constabulary or private guards.” Inside, the old man picked up his month-old baby, born in a home with only the earth as flooring, and proudly displayed it to Senator Shortridge as an evidence of healthy living outdoors in the Mingo Mountains.

Women Eager To Talk.

Wide slashes and bullet holes in other tents also were pointed out as alleged evidence of some of the colony’s hardships. News that the Senatorial party was on the way brought out a big attendance, the women being the most eager to talk. From individual groups the Senators tried to find out how the trouble might be settled. Most of the miners declared they had not been amply paid for their work; that while they might make $8 a day, expenses for tools, dynamite and other things cut the net to $3. Other alleged grievances were against the so-called “mine-guard” system, and the claim of the men that once they joined the union they were instantly fired.

The witnesses also complained that many men from the colony had been put in jail and not told of the charges against them. Howard Hanvers, one of the spokesmen, said they objected to enforcement of law by private guards.

“Have any mine guards been shot by miners?” Senator Kenyon asked, and the witnesses agreed that while they had heard such reports they had no direct knowledge.

Told Of Breedlove Murder.

The story of Alexander Breedlove, who was shot to death last June near the camp, when a 13-year-old boy, alone with him in a thicket begged that he be not deserted, was told in detail by half a dozen witnesses. The men said after Breedlove was captured he was given one minute to pray and fell dead with a prayer on his lips. Senator Kenyon found that the boy, Willie Hodges, lives in Huntington, and efforts will be made to get his testimony.

Just after his arrival Senator Kenyon was presented with a memorial from local counsel of the United Mine Workers, setting forth their side of the case along with a series of charges against the operators. The memorial covered broadly the same ground touched on by the union heretofore.

—————

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Nation: “Marching Through West Virginia”-Redneck Miners’ Army Mingo Bound

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 15, 1921
“Marching Through West Virginia” by Heber Blankenhorn

From The Nation of September 14, 1921:

Marching Through West Virginia

By HEBER BLANKENHORN

I

IF—as the war correspondents used to begin—you will place your left hand on the map of West Virginia, with the edge of the palm along the Kanawha River at Charleston, the down-pointing thumb will lie along the road southwest into Logan and Mingo counties, and the outstretched fingers will represent the valleys whence the miners collected for the march along the thumb-line. That region has filled the country’s newspapers with communiques, dealing with contending “armies,” “lines” held along Spruce Fork Ridge, intrenchments, machine-gun nests, bombing planes, so many dead for the day, so many wounded.

Miners March Map Marmet to Mingo, NY Dly Ns p8, Aug 27, 1921

Marmet is ten miles from the State capital at the mouth of Lens Creek Valley. On the afternoon of August 22 a cordon of 100 armed men is stretched across the dirt road, the mine railroad, and the creek, barring out officers of the law, reporters, all inquirers. Inside lies the “trouble.” The miners have been mobilizing for four days. A snooping airplane has just been driven off with hundreds of shots. Accident and a chance acquaintance let me in.

The men, a glance shows, are mountaineers, in blue overalls or parts of khaki uniform, carrying rifles as casually as picks or sticks. They are typical. The whole village seems to be out, except the children, women, and old men. They show the usual mining-town mixture of cordiality and suspicion to strangers. But the mining-camp air of loneliness and lethargy is gone. Lens Creek Valley is electric and bustling. They mention the towns they come from, dozens of names, in the New River region, in Fayette County, in counties far to the north. All are union men, some railroaders. After a mile we reach camp. Hundreds are moving out of it—toward Logan. Over half are youths, a quarter are Negroes, another quarter seem to be heads of families, sober looking, sober speaking. Camp is being broken to a point four miles further on. Trucks of provisions, meat, groceries, canned goods move up past us.

This time we’re sure going through to Mingo,” the boys say.

Them Baldwin-Feltses [company detectives] has got to go. They gotta stop shooting miners down there. Keeney turned us back the last time, him and that last Governor. Maybe Keeney was right that time. This new Governor got elected on a promise to take these Baldwin-Feltses out. If nobody else can budge them thugs, we’re the boys that can. This time we go through with it.

“What started you?”

This thing’s been brewing a long while. Then two of our people gets shot down on the courthouse steps—you heard of Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers? The Governor gives them a safe conduct; they leave their guns behind and get killed in front of their wives. It was a trap.

“But that was several weeks ago.”

Well, it takes a while for word to get ’round. Then they let his murderer, that Baldwin-Felts, Lively, out on bond-free-with a hundred miners in jail in Mingo on no charges at all—just martial law. Well, we heard from up the river that everybody was coming here. We knew what for. When we found lots had no guns we sent back to get them.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Nation: “Marching Through West Virginia”-Redneck Miners’ Army Mingo Bound”

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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