Hellraisers Journal: Jubilant Citizens of Matewan, West Virginia, Welcome Home Sid Hatfield and Fifteen Co-Defendants

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Quote Sid Hatfield, Matewan Friends, NYT p6, Mar 22, 1921———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 23, 1921
Matewan, West Virginia – Sid Hatfield and Co-Defendants Return Home

From The New York Times of March 22, 1921:

Home Folk Welcome Defendants.

Sid Hatfield, Two Gun, Akron Beacon Jr p1, Mar 21, 1921

MATEWAN, W. Va., March 21.-This little mining village called it a holiday today to greet the sixteen mountaineers, defendants in the Matewan battle trial, who were found not guilty by the jury at Williamson this morning.

Apparently all residents of the town were at the station late in the day when the train, which brought home Sid Hatfield, Chief of Police, and his fifteen companions, arrives.

A special car attached to the train held the hillmen and their bodyguard, Pinoon, six deputies, Captain Brockus and ten State troopers.

As the sixteen men stepped from the train and rushed into the arms of relatives and friends women laughed and cried, alternately, and for an hour the defendants were kept busy shaking the hands of men, women and children.

“It is the happiest day Matewan ever knew,” declared one rugged mountaineer as he grasped the hand of Sid Hatfield. 

“At least for me,” Sid replied.

Chief Hatfield was the centre of the admiring throng, and it was with great difficulty that he made his way to his home through the crowd. It took him more than an hour to traverse the 100 yards from the railroad station to his residence.

Arrived at the door of his home, Hatfield gazed upon his right hand, swollen from the hearty grasps of his neighbors, and remarked: “It’s good to know you have so many friends.”

———-

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Williamson, Mingo County, West Virginia: Sid Hatfield and Fifteen Co-Defendants Found “Not Guilty”

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

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 22, 1921
Williamson, W. V. – Matewan Defendants Found Not Guilty

From The Pittsburg Press of March 21, 1921:

BNR HdLn, Sid Hatfield et al Not Guilty, Ptt Prs p1, Mar 21, 1921

SID HATFIELD AND
15 CO-DEFENDANTS
FREED BY JURY

—–

By S. D. Weyer,
International News Service Staff Correspondent

Sid Hatfield by Robert Minor, Lbtr p11, Aug 1920

Courthouse, Williamson, W. Va., March 21.-Sid Hatfield and his 15 co-defendants in the trigger trial were found not guilty by the jury at 11:21 o’clock this morning.

Three minutes later judge Bailey told the defendants to go back to the county jail, where they will give bond for their appearance in court for the indictments of murdering six other detectives. Bailey arranged to allow the 16 men to go back to Matewan on the noon train.

J. J. Coniff, chief counsel for the defense, made this statement to the International News Service staff correspondent immediately after the verdict was read by the clerk of courts:

I think the result is what the public generally anticipated. It means, in my opinion that the private guard system in West Virginia has been on trial and been condemned, and the legislature now in session should take notice of this fact.

The 16 defendants received the verdict without any show of emotion, except that Sid Hatfield, chief of police of Matewan, smiled his perpetual smile.

After Judge Robert D. Bailey had told them to “go back to jail,” they crowded around Coniff and grasped his hand.

Then, accompanied by two “double gun” deputy sheriffs, they filed out of the court room, where they have sat daily since Jan. 26, and walked through lines of men and women congratulating them, across the court house lawn to the jail.

———-

[Drawing of Sid Hatfield by Robert Minor and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Williamson, West Virginia-Girl Relatives Testify Against Defendants at Matewan Murder Trial

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Quote Sid Hatfield, re Gunthugs n Right to Organize, Altoona Tb Lbr Ns p10, Sept 3, 1920———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 18, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Daughter of Defendant Testifies for State

From the Baltimore Sun of February 13, 1921:

Matewan Trial, Chambers n Chafin Testify, Blt Sun p1, Feb 13, 1921

By John W. Owens.
Staff Correspondent of The Sun.

Williamson, W. Va., Feb. 12.-The taking of testimony for the prosecution in the trial of Sid Hatfield and others for the Matewan killings was started finally today, after weeks of fighting over preliminaries and was sufficiently dramatic to warrant the lurid predictions that have been made since the indictments were returned and to justify what has been written about the feudist spirit of the people of these hills.

AGAINST OWN FATHER.
[And Brother]

When court adjourned, shortly before noon, the daughter of one of the men on trial for murder [and sister of another] was on the stand for the prosecution, smilingly giving testimony which the prosecution hopes to pass as a foundation for its contention that Albert Felts and six other Baldwin-Felts detectives were killed at Matewan on May 19 as the result of deliberate and premeditated murder plans. The girl witness had been preceded by another girl, her cousin, and the niece of the girl’s father, whose testimony was offered to the same end.

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Hellraisers Journal: Williamson, Mingo County, West Virginia: “Sid Hatfield and Tom Felts Size Each Other Up in Court”

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Quote Sid Hatfield, re Gunthugs n Right to Organize, Altoona Tb Lbr Ns p10, Sept 3, 1920————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 8, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Hatfield and Felts Size Each Other Up in Court

From the Baltimore Sun of February 6, 1921:

Sid Hatfield And Tom Felts Size
Each Other Up In Court
———-

Principal In Mingo Trial Engages In Duel Of Eyes With
Head Of Detective Agency, As Process Of Securing
Jury Slowly Drags Along.

———-

(By a Staff Correspondent of The Sun.)

Sid Hatfield, ed Labor News, Altoona Tb PA p10, Sept 3, 1920Williamson, W. Va., Feb. 5.-This has been a day of speculation and rumors and of desperate struggle on the part of everyone, except Sid Hatfield and the 20 others on trial for the Matewan murders, to be reasonably cheerful and comfortable. Court adjourned before noon today without having added to the jury panel and left all of those in attendance upon the case with nothing to do except talk and wander about muddy streets in a dismal rain, with bare, scarred, cut-over hills rising at one’s elbows, it seemed, to press down the gloom.

Out of all that came to the front stories from quarters favorable to the defense that the prosecution is deliberately trying to prevent a jury being selected in this county. The theory is that there is little hope of any Mingo county jury convicting Hatfield and the others, while there may be some hope that a jury from another county will do so, if the West Virginia Legislature passes the bill permitting juries to be drawn in murder cases from other counties. Also the theory is that the desire of the prosecution to get the case before a jury where there would be more chance to convict is based upon more than the usual ardor of the prosecution for success, or even that ardor plus the anxiety of the Williamson coal operators for conviction.

Added to all of that is the blood feud created by the killing of Albert and Lee Felts in the Matewan battle. They were brothers of Tom Felts, manager of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency. Tom Felts, known in these parts as “the man-hunter extraordinary,” a suave gracious-mannered man, and next to John J. Coniff, chief counsel for the defense, the most impressive and distinguished looking man connected with the case, is on the spot, surrounded by a large number of trusted operatives. He is supposed to be paying part of the large force of lawyers assisting Prosecuting Attorney Bronson, and he wants blood for the blood of his brothers.

Melodrama in life is had when he appears in court. Sid Hatfield occupies his consciousness, and he occupies that of Hatfield. After he had directed attention of the court to Hatfield’s possession of guns in court, and thereby led not merely to disarming the mountain fighter, but to the frisking of everyone entering the courtroom, including reporters, who do not know which end of a pistol goes off, the absorption of the two men in each other, when Felts is in court, became more pronounced. Each concentrated upon the other, is moved by an almost boyish craving to emphasize by physical proximity lack of fear.

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Hellraisers Journal: Sid Hatfield, Matewan Police Chief, and 19 Citizens on Trial in Mingo County for Killing of Gunthugs

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

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday January 26, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Trial of Sid Hatfield and 19 Matewan Men Set to Start

From Indiana’s Logansport Pharos-Tribune of January 25, 1921:

TWENTY MEN GOING ON TRIAL FOR THE KILLING
OF MINE GUARDS AT MATEWAN
—–

FRIENDS AND FOES MEET IN WILLIAMSON, W. VA.,
AS POLICE CHIEF AND 19 CITIZENS FACE COURT
—– 

Matewan Trial Sid Hatfield etc, DRWGs, Bismarck Dly Tb p2, Jan 27, 1921

(N. E. A. Staff Special.)

WILLIAMSON, W. Va., Jan. 26.-Friend and foe rub elbows here, as miners and Baldwin-Felt guards assemble for the trial of Sid Hatfield, chief of police at Matewan, and 19 of his fellow citizens charged with killing seven Baldwins in a street battle.

Five Baldwin-Felts detectives engaged in the same battle will be tried under change of venue at Lewisburg, Greenbrier county, in April.

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Hellraisers Journal: Twenty-Four Men Face Trial for Part in Battle of Matewan; Life is Grim in Miners’ Tent Colonies

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

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 15, 1920
Matewan, West Virginia – 24  Charged with Murder of Gunthugs

From The Washington Times of December 12, 1920:

Mingo Co WV, 24 Face Trial, WDC Tx p12, Dec 12, 1920Mingo Co WV, 24 to Trial w Sid Hatfield Part I, WDC Tx p12, Dec 12, 1920[There follows a long account of the Battle of Matewan.]Mingo Co WV, 24 to Trial w Sid Hatfield Part II, WDC Tx p12, Dec 12, 1920

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Twenty-Four Men Face Trial for Part in Battle of Matewan; Life is Grim in Miners’ Tent Colonies”

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts & Doings of Mother Jones for September 1920, Part I: “Famous Woman Leader of Miners” Found in Missouri and Illinois

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 23, 1920
Mother Jones News for September 1920, Part I
“Famous Woman Leader of Miners” Found in Missouri and Illinois

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

Mother Jones IN Dly Tx p1 crpd, July 15, 1920

Labor Day Speakers

Notice of the following assignments of speakers for celebrations of the United Mine Workers of America on Labor Day have been received at the office of the Journal:

Philip Murray, International Vice President, New Kensington, Pa .
William Green, International Secretary Treasurer, Cambridge, Ohio.
Ellis Searles, Editor of the United Mine Workers Journal, Ernest, Pa.
Samuel Pascoe, President of District 30, Novinger, Mo.
Andrew Steele, International Board Member from District 25, South Fork, Pa.
William Turnblazer, International Organizer, Spadra, Ark.
Mother Jones, Kirksville, Mo.
William Feeney, International Organizer, Midland, Ark

[Photograph added.]

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

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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:

Sid Hatfield Bride, Stt Str p14, Sept 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.]

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

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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:

Mingo County UMW, Sid Hatfield n 22 Indicted,   -Bismarck Tb p2, Sept 13, 1920

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

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

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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:

WV Mingo Logan Coal Wars by Robert Minor, Lbtr p7, Aug 1920

IV of IV

Battle of Matewan, WDC Tx p1, May 20, 1920

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.

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