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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 26, 1921
Williamson, West Virginia – Hatfield Arrives Alone to Post Bond
From The Washington Herald of May 25, 1921:
HATFIELD AVOIDS DEPUTIES AND
GOES TO SHERIFF ALONE
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Baldwin-Felts Detectives Acquitted of
Slaying Mingo Mayor.
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WILLIAMSON. W. Va., May 24.-“Sid” Hatfield, of Matewan, reputed champion “two-gun bad man” of Mingo county, came to town today. The sheriff had sent a deputy or two to bring him on a warrant charging him with an assault with a rifle on P. J. Smith, superintendent of the Stone Mountain mine, but Hatfield took the train alone. Half the town was down to the station to see him arrive, and the “white way” was all lit up in expectation that something might happen, but Hatfield walked up to the court house, hung around until the sheriff got back from feeding the bloodhounds, then gave bonds and went home on No. 16. The town sagged back into dullness. At the sheriff’s office, Hatfield exposed his gold bridgework in a smile and remarked
When I aim to go anywhere I aim to go alone. They’ve got in the habit of blaming me for everything that happens at Matewan.
Hatfield, who is accounted the most dangerous man in the mountains is a queer mixture. He is as strong against liquor as is Bryan and as for gambling, only last week he chased a Kentucky native out of Matewan in a rage for suggesting that he be permitted to open a poker game. But gun shooting is something different. For months residents of these parts have been giving Matewan a wide berth, and one finds automobiles in this town sticking inside the city limits, unless it is something urgent.
This morning the mine of Lynn Coal and Coke company, just above Matewan, was burned. This mine was abandoned after the strike was called. The operators say that last winter strikers were allowed to take up quarters in company houses at Lynn on agreement they would vacate May 1. When moving day arrived some refused and evictions followed. Mine owners attribute the fire to strikers and term it another instance of sabotage. At Leesburg a Greenbriar county jury today acquitted the six Baldwin-Felts detectives who were on trial for killing Mayor Testerman and Tots Tinsley in the battle of Matewan May 19, 1920, when 10 were killed.
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[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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