Tag: UMW District 17

Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for May 1902: Found Organizing Coal Miners for the UMWA in West Virginia, Part III

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote John Mitchell to Mother Jones re WV Fairmont Field, May 10, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 9, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for May 1902, Part III
Found Organizing Coal Miners of West Virginia, Date Set for Strike

From The Indianapolis Journal of May 24, 1902:

West Virginia Miners May Strike.

Mother Jones, Ipl Ns p11, Jan 21, 1902

HUNTINGTON, W. Va.. May 23.-Fifty or more organizers of the United Mine Workers of America are in session here to-day. Secretary-treasurer [William B.] Wilson, of the national organization. Mother Jones and others are present. It is believed the session forebodes a strike in the West Virginia fields. Secretary Wilson refuses to be interviewed on the subject.

The most important question considered was that of a suspension of work by the miners of West Virginia, the discussion lasting until after midnight. When a vote was taken unanimous sentiment in favor of suspension was shown. The time for suspension was set for Saturday, June 7. Resolutions were adopted asking the operators for better treatment of miners and a higher scale of wages, no reference whatever being made for a recognition of the union. If the demands of the resolution are acceded to by the operators the strike will be called off.

—————

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Miners’ Tent Colony at Mingo County, West Virginia, Saved, for Now, from Coal Operators’ Injunction Judge

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 30, 1922
Mingo County, West Virginia – Miners’ Tent Colony Saved, for Now

From the Duluth Labor World of April 29, 1922:

TENT-SMASHING JUDGE CHECKED
BY HIGH COURT
———-
Circuit Court Stays Order to Drive Miners
and Families From Tented Homes.
———-

RICHMOND, Va., April 27.—Federal Judge McClintic’s injunction to smash the Mingo tent colony has been ordered held up by Hon. Martin A. Knapp, judge of the federal court of appeals, fourth circuit.

Mingo County WV Tent Colony, Rock Is IN Argus p14, Apr 17, 1922

Judge Knapp’s decision stays this order until it can be heard by the court of appeals. McClintic is also ordered to scrap his injunction machine until the court of appeals reviews his acts.

Several years ago this federal court of appeals set aside the notorious “yellow dog” decision by Federal Judge Dayton, since deceased. This decision legalized the individual contract whereby each worker ac­cepting employment agreed not to join a trade union. The reasoning of the court of appeals was rejected by the United States supreme court, which upheld the “yellow dog.”

—————-

CHARLESTON, W. Va., April 27. —In holding up Federal Judge Mc­Clintic’s injunction to destroy the Mingo tent colony and stop union organizing, the federal court of ap­peals at Richmond has temporarily clipped the wings of a judge who is openly charged with receiving his present position as a reward for sub­serviency to coal owners while he was a member of the West Virginia state senate.

McClintic is recognized as the au­thor of the West Virginia jury law which permits the prosecution to take a man charged with crime out of his county into another county for trial.

Under this law, which is now in effect, the trial of a striking miner can be transferred to a county like Logan, which is under the complete domination of Baldwin-Feltz gun­men.

When McClintic was appointed last year the A. F. of L. made strong objection because of his bias in fav­or of coal owners. The latest exhi­bition of this bias was shown by his issuance of an injunction that would oust hundreds of miners and their families from the only homes they have and which are located on land leased by the union.

The trade, unionists, made no pro­gress in blocking McClintic’s in­dorsement by the senate because he was supported by the two West Vir­ginia senators-Messrs. Sutherland and Elkins.

—————

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

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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
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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.

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

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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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.

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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
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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.

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for March 1902, Part II: Found Speaking in Huntington, West Virginia, and Terre Haute, Indiana

Janet RayeEugene Victor Debs
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Quote Mother Jones Mine Supe Bulldog of Capitalism—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 8, 1902
Mother Jones News Round-Up for March 1902, Part II
Found in Huntington, West Virginia, and Terre Haute, Indiana

From the Baltimore Sun of March 20, 1902:

MINE WORKERS ARE STRONG
———-
Half The Miners In The Virginias
Said To Belong To Union.

(Special Dispatch to the Baltimore Sun.)

Mother Jones, Ipl Ns p11, Jan 21, 1902

HUNTINGTON, W. Va., March 19.-Reports today made to the United Mine Workers of Virginia and West Virginia, in session here, showed a membership of more than 14,000. This is said to be more than half the number employed in the two States.

The election of officers this evening resulted as follows:

President, John Richards, of Loup Creek; vice-president, L. H. Jackson, of Norwood; secretary, Clark Johnson, of Montgomery; member of national executive committee, J. W. Carroll, of Glen Jean.

Headed by the famous Temperance Brass Band, of Sewell, W. Va., the miners, together with all organized labor of the city, gave a street parade, after which a big labor mass-meeting was held. “Mother” Mary Jones, of national fame, was chief speechmaker.

The sessions of the convention will probably close tomorrow.

—————

[Photograph added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: West Virginia Miners and Families Are Destitute and Suffering; Committee Seeks Aid in New York

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote EVD, Starve Quietly, Phl GS Speech IA, Mar 19, 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 13, 1922
West Virginia Miners and Their Families Are Destitute and Suffering

From The New York Times of February 12, 1922:

ASK AID FOR 35,000 STRIKING MINERS.
———-
West Virginia Labor Committee Here Seeks Food,
Clothes and Medicines for Idle Men.
———-

WV Battle by Shields, UE by M Becker, Lbtr p16, Oct 1921

Thirty-five thousand striking miners and their families are destitute and suffering in West Virginia, according to a statement yesterday by a committee of West Virginia labor officials who came to New York seeking food, clothing and medical aid for the unemployed workers and their dependents.

The committee said it also would appeal to the national Red Cross organization at Washington and to the convention of the United Mine Workers at Indianapolis next Tuesday for emergency help. The committee consisted of William T. Harris, President of the West Virginia State Federation of Labor; Fred Mooney, Secretary-Treasurer, District 17, United Mine Workers, and Frank W. Snyder, editor of The West Virginia Federationist.

The committee said a survey of conditions showed that more than 70,000 West Virginia miners were out of work, many of them since the signing of the armistice.

WV Battle by Shields, RR demand by M Becker, Lbtr p17, Oct 1921

High wages had nothing to do with the unemployment, the committee said, pointing out that coal was being sold in the unionized Kanawha fields at lower prices than in the non-union Guyan region. Kanawha coal, they said, was selling at $2.15 a ton f. o. b. mines last week, and in Guyan at $2.35.

In the face of the unemployment, the commutes said, the operators were attempting wholesale evictions. Many miners and their families had been forced out of their homes, but these evictions had been checked by the intervention of the Department of Labor at Washington.

“In the mining fields,” said Mr. Mooney, “there are 35,000 destitute families. They are without food and clothing. The bread winners in some of these families have not worked more than three months since the armistice. The families have been living from hand to mouth on charity furnished by their neighbors and friends.”

The committee arranged with the American Civil Liberties Union here to raise a relief fund here in New York.

[Emphasis and drawings by Maurice Becker added.]

—————

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Hellraisers Journal: Senator Kenyon, as Head of Investigation, Makes Individual Report on Conflict in Mingo County

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones, WDC Tx p15, Aug 26, 1921—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 28, 1922
Senator Kenyon Advocates Tribunal and Coal Code to Settle West Virginia Troubles

From the Washington Evening Star of January 27, 1922:

KENYON ADVOCATES TRIBUNAL AND
CODE FOR COAL INDUSTRY
———-

Senator, as Head of Inquiry,
Makes Individual Report
on Mingo Conflict.

WV Battle by Shields, Same Old Line Up by B Robinson, Lbtr p19, Oct 1921

A government tribunal for regulation of the coal Industry under a statutory code of industrial law enforced only by power of public opinion was recommended in a report presented to the Senate today by Chairman Kenyon of the labor committee, which recently investigated disorders in the West Virginia-Kentucky coal fields.

The report held that both the coal operators and miners were responsible for the recent fatal conflicts and property destruction in West Virginia, and said mutual concessions by the coal operators and United Mine Workers would have to be made to end the conflict.

“The issue is perfectly plain,” said Senator Kenyon’s report. “The operators in this particular section of West Virginia…openly announce…that they will not employ men belonging to the unions,…and further, that they have the right and will exercise it, if they desire, to discharge a man if he belongs to the union. …On the other hand, the United Mine Workers are determined to unionize these fields, which are practically the only large and important coal fields in the United States not unionized.”

His Personal Suggestion.

The proposal for a federal coal tribunal and code of laws applying both to operators and miners was his personal suggestion, Senator Kenyon said. Other members of the investigating committee did not sign the report, and are at liberty to submit individual reports.

[…..]

Battle of Blair Mt, WV Today by Bushnell, Guards, Gunthugs, Spies, UMWJ p5, Sept 15, 1921

[Photographs and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for August 1921: Found Advocating for Workers of Mexico and Standing with West Virginia Miners

Janet RayeBattle of Blair Mountain of 1921
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Quote Mother Jones PAFL Congress, p72, Jan 13, 1921————————-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 24, 1922
Mother Jones News Round-Up for August 1921
Found Advocating for Mexican Workers and Standing with West Virginia Miners

From the Salina Kansas Leader of August 4, 1921
-from The New Majority (Chicago Federation of Labor):

U. S. LABOR ASKED TO ASSIST MEXICO
———-
Mother Jones Brings Request for Alliance in
Fight for New Civilization

The Republican administration under President Harding is beating the tom-toms to arouse the country to stand for a war against Mexico to bind and gag that country while the oil profiteers continue to pick its pockets. Excuse has been made of a strike of oil workers to send United States gunboats to Mexican waters in an effort to cow the Mexican workers back to work for their “American” employers.

Only the labor movement of the United States can prevent war with Mexico. The Denver convention of the A. F. of L., adopted a policy of resisting such a war. The time seems to be at hand for the American unions to start their protest, if it is to become effective.

Mother Jones has just returned from her second trip to Mexico within the year. She was in Chicago last week and brought with her a message from the Mexican organized workers. Just before she left, she attended a meeting of the presidents and secretaries of the unions affiliated with the Mexican Federation of Labor. They asked her to bear this greeting to organized labor of the United States : 

We send greetings to our brother workers in America and we want you, Mother Jones, to carry the message to them that the world is in the birth throes of a new civilization and that we in Mexico are coming to her aid to relieve her pain. We also wish you would ask our brothers in the United States to join us and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with them to usher in the new day and the civilization.

Now is Time to Help

If the workers of the United States are to stand shoulder to shoulder with the workers of Mexico, the job has got to begin with making impossible a war by our oil kings against the Mexican people.

Mother Jones reports that labor is making great strides in Mexico. She says that the newspaper reports that President Obregon is giving in to American demands that article 27 of the Mexican constitution be repealed are false. Article 27 vests ownership of the underground wealth of Mexico in the Mexican people.

She says that recently the Mexican government provided 300 striking miners with agricultural implements and placed them on farm lands so they could support themselves during their struggle and that in another case when the workers of a factory were locked out, the employer was compelled to reinstate them and pay their back wages.

[Said Mother Jones:]

Mothers who are employed are now retired on full pay for three months before childbirth and three months thereafter. Then for another three they bring their babies to work and have them cared for during working hours in nurseries provided by the employers. Whereas Mexican workers heretofore never knew when starvation and death would overtake them, their condition has improved so that now their children are going to school and are assured of their breakfast every morning before they go.

-New Majority.

[Photograph added.]

From North Carolina’s Wilson Times of August 5, 1921:

UNION MINERS GO TO COAL
FIELDS N MINGO COUNTY
———-

MOTHER JONES IS GOING
———-
Union Official Sates if the Organizers Were Arrested
He Would Send More Until the Jails Were Full.
Coal Fields in Mingo County Are Under Martial Law
———-

Charleston, W. V., July 29.-100 members of the United Mine workers of America from Cabin Creek and Paint Creek fields will start for Mingo county according to C. F. Keeney, president of district No. 17.

Mother Jones, organizer, is expected to arrive here tonight and also will go to the coal fields.

The decision to send the union men into the district which is under martial law was made the miners president said after C. F. Workman an organizer was reported arrested. Keeney claimed Workman had permission from the state authorities to return to the fields to wind up his personal business.

Keeney stated if organizers were arrested he would send more until every jail was filled, and if they were not arrested it would prove “organizers can go into a strike zone unmolested.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1921: Found Attending Senate Hearings on Conditions in the Coal Fields of West Virginia

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Doomed, Wmsn WV, June 20, 1920, Speeches Steel, p213—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 22, 1921
Mother Jones News Round-Up for July 1921
Found in Washington, D. C., at Senate Hearings on Conditions in W. V. Coal Fields

From The Cincinnati Enquirer of July 15, 1921:

Unionization Back of Strife,
Senate Mingo Inquiry Shows
—————

Mother Jones, ed WDC Tx p2, Aug 29, 1920

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER.

Washington, July 14.-In the opening hour of its investigation to-day the select Senate committee investigating conditions in the West Virginia coal fields, elicited from spokesmen for operators and for the miners the admission that the virtual warfare there centers about unionization of the fields.

At the prompting of Senator William S. Kenyon, of Iowa, the committee Chairman, both agreed that unionization is “the issue.” 

[…..]

A distinctly West Virginia atmosphere permeated the committee room.

Attorneys for both factions were powerful man, husky voiced and tanned. Others present were: Sid Hatfield, former Chief of Police of Matewan, who participated in the gun battle there; Frank Keeney, President of the district organization; Samuel B. Montgomery, state labor leader; Sheriff Jim Kirkpatrick and Mother Jones, silvery haired matriarch of labor welfare.

Secretary Mooney described general conditions in the mining region and paralleled them with the situation there in 1913 when a Senate Committee investigated.

[…..]

—————

[Photograph added.]

From The Scranton Times of July 16, 1921:

Sid Hatfield Describes Pistol Battle In Mingo
—————

Takes Stand In Senate Committee’s Probe of Strike Trouble
-Denies He Took Credit For Killing Detectives.

Washington, July 16.-“Sid” Hatfield, ex-chief of police of Matewan, W. Va., today took the stand in the senate labor committee’s investigation of the Mingo mine war.

Word that the member of the famous West Virginia family was testifying spread through the capitol and the room soon was soon crowded.

“Mother” Jones pitched her chair closer to the witness table to catch what the man who is under indictment on charge of shooting Baldwin Felts detectives would say.

Without the slightest sign of nervousness the lanky, blonde mountain youth described the pistol battle in which he was the central figure. His suit was neatly pressed and a Masonic charm dangle from his watch chain. His quick gray eyes watched the members of the committee intently and he frequently gave a sneering laugh at questions from counsel for the operators…..

—————

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