The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-15
Declares Sheriff Oakley of Blocton. |; - NO VIOLENCE WAS USED
 IN QUESTIONING SLAVS
  VIII Not Have a Preliminary
 Hearing.
 -~- Uaion Leaders Declare Deputy sherins At Bottom of TroabIe--Dis- natisfactlon wih Conmis-
 ssry Arrangement.
BY BRUCE KENNEDY.

RlOClous Aug. 4a-kGpSClail-W Wo have the confessions of seven union miners who took part in shooting into Ithe train bearing soldiers. Tho con- Sessions were secured without threats or violence We have thirty-one union miners In jail at Centrevi1ie."--james G. Oakley, Sheriff of Bibb County.
 .The deputy shertffs shot up the train near Blocton last Sunday morn fegs Our men did not take part in the terrible ffair- The fo-ealled con- fessions were secured by cruelty whip did it will be prosecuted. w. M. Lewis. Vice President of Biocton Lo- cal. United Mine Workers.
 These two statements reflect the dff- Ference in views at Blocton over the responsibility for the outrage which ktirred the mineral district as 1t has hever been stirred before, and aroused Governor Conner to action. There are two distinct factions at Blocton. Near Iy all of the citizens of Biocton sym bathize with the miners. On the other Pide are the officers and employees of the Tennessee Company. which is oper- hting three mines here. the soldiers en- famped here, and the thirty-one dep- hty sheriffs stationed here, who repre- tent the county officials.
 An expression of surprise at the view Iaken by the people of Blocton re- Feaied the fact that there are twenty merchants in BIocton. substantial bus iness men. who were formerly coal diggers and members of the union. Nearly every man who retires from the fnines here. and 10 able to do so. enc Eages in some buginess or profession in Blocton. sxt is a 4nining town distinct ly. Bankers. merchants. brokers. doa- fors and lawyers. depend upon the miners for all of Biocton's commercial a4r4k AaHA f. ion that their sympathies were with he miners, but admitted that there 10 herit on both sides of this labor con- reversy.
 Sheriff Oakley, fearless young man, nkIso has been on the scene every snInr ute since the train was shot into gave me with authority to publish it the details of how the confessions wera secured, There have been several ''re- ports" but this Is the first of7cial statement of the confessions
 How ConfehAtone Were Secured
 When we had secured good evid- enee duplicating the union miners. we went out and arrested fourteen of them" said the sheriff. Most of them wsre foreig iers. who do not speak English. We brouaht them up here to the office cf the Tennessee Company We got Jchn Rollsk. an intelligent young Hungarian miner to talk with
 
 ness of their condition. and reported to me that he said substantially this:
 Saturday afternoon Robert Hayes, President of Blocton Local of the Unit ed Mine Workers. went to Dagotown. where the foreiEners who are on strike are staying. and told them that the Tennessee Company would bring a number of. men down that night from Birmingham to take their places, and that they must not permit those men to come to Blocton. Without much ex- citement the foreigners and negroes planned the attack. After dark about forty of them marched out from Dago- town and around the mountain. They went north to a paint about two miles from Biocton. Here they rolled cross ties on the track and waited. When the train came along them began to shoot. Then they left the place hurs riedly and went back to Dagotown
 Hollek secured substantially the confession from seven of them. He could have interviewed more of them as he said others were willing to talk but I told him that seven would be enough. According to Rollek their statements did not vary except that one man said Hayes went along with the party and directed the attack, and that he fired the signal shot.
 T do not doubt that Rollek repeated
 
 curately. If any doubt Is to be cast on the confessions. 1t is merely on the veracitv of Rollek. We will. of course, have other interpreters when the grand jury meets. and at the trials"
 Was any sort of violence used or was there intimidation of these men?" Sheriff oakley was asked.
 "Positively the only time force was used with these men," he replied, "was at the time they were arrested. One big foreigner grabbed the gun in the hands of my brother, Deputy Sheriff c. l.. Oakley, and showed fight. At this Deputy Sheriff Henry Cole struck the foreigners a heavy blow. Not one of them has been whipped, and no harsh language has been used to them"
 There are th!rty-one of these men in Jail at centreville. These include Rob- ert Hayes, the leader, five negroes and twenty-five foreigners They are Ital- fans, Slavs, Huns and Frenchmen. As the grand jury of Bibb County will meet August 24 they will not have pre- liminary hearings. All of the men will be represented by Capt Frank s. White of Birmingham. who will be as- sisted in some of the cases by T. S. Dark a lawyer of Blocton.
 Tn the interest of fairness I sought Mir. Lewis, the strike leader at Bloc ton as soon as I had secured the statement from SheriR Oakley. Mir. v Perry County, who has been a miner seventeen years. He Is serious-minded and sincere. He talked direct and in 6 straightforward manner. No one can doubt that he has been brought to believe that the union miners are in- nocent of these heinous crimes.
 Strike Leader Interviewed.
 Mir. Lewis was preparing 10 go co Birmingham to confer with John P. White, the national leader. when I saw him.
 These terrible crimes were commit ted by deputy sheriffs." he said un- hesitatingly. ''Their motive is easily seen. They are employed by the mine company, through Sheriff oakley. Bloc ton had been the most quiet place since the strike began. Our people are law. abiding and peaceful. Sheriff Oakley had notified about twenty of them that the following week he would dismiss them, as there was no further use for