Hellraisers Journal: United Mine Workers of America Will Support Mountaineers on Trial at Williamson, West Virginia

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 5, 1921
United Mine Workers of America to Support Matewan Defendants 

From the United Mine Workers Journal of February 1, 1921:

Union Will Support the
Twenty-four Mountaineers

CRTN BF Thugs Law n Order in WV, BDB p1, Sept 29, 1920

WASHINGTON, January 23.-The twenty four mountaineers who go on trial on a charge of first-degree murder Wednesday at Williamson, W. Va., will have the complete support, moral and material, of the United Mine Workers of America, according to an announcement here tonight by William Green, national secretary and treasurer of the organization.

The trial is the result of a sensational gun battle in the main street of Matewan on May 19th last, which resulted in ten deaths, including the mayor of the city and seven Baldwin-Felts guards. The fight is said to have had its origin in the attempts of the guards to arrest Sid Hatfield, chief of police of Matewan. Hatfield, a descendant of the feudists of Hatfield-McCoy fame, is the most prominent in the group of defendants, which includes special police deputies of Matewan and members of the miners’ union.

In his statement here tonight Mr. Green declared:

The United Mine Workers of America are prepared to afford full support, both moral and material, to the twenty-four defendants in the murder trial at Williamson, W. Va., this week. This trial is a direct result of the barbarous warfare waged on members of the United Mine Workers by the coal operators of Mingo county. And, so long as lives of members of our organization are at stake, we intend to put at their disposal every means for establishing their innocence of the charge. The court, of course, will determine their fate. But we will offer the defense every facility in our power.

The United Mine Workers are determined to see justice done the locked-out miners of Mingo county. These men and their families were evicted from their homes for the “crime” of joining the union. The operators employed professional gunmen to hasten the evictions. We are insistent that the use of gunmen in West Virginia mining areas shall cease. It is time that a republican form of government, as ordained by the constitution, should be restored in Mingo county and the arbitrary rule of the coal barons brought to an end.

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

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

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

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

-from page 7:

Pointed Letter Sent
to West Virginia Governor

UMW D17, Mooney Keeney, Lbtr p9, Aug 1920

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

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

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

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

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

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

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