The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-06-11
Senate to Learn Truth in West
Virginia.
Military Commander of Zone
First Witness.
ARRESTS WITHOUT WARRANT
Gen. Elliott Claims Civil Courts
Not Supplanted.
Knew Little About ArmOred
''Bul Moose Special"

Charleston, June 11.-Industrial war
in West Virginia was today described
to the senate mine strike investigation
committee by Adjutant General
| Charles D. Elliott, who told of fights
between mine guards and strikers at
! Muckalow and Holly Grove, in the
Paint Creek section. He told of ar
mored trains carrying machine guns
| that swept through the strike district
| and related stories of men ambushed
and shot down. At least a score of
! skirmishes were detailed by him, in
| nearly all of which men were killed
or wounded.
Capture Machine Guns.
General Elliott told of the capture
| by state troops of 10000 rounds of
ammunition and six machine guns ca
pable of $50 shots a minute. He
identified photographs of a sheetiron
fort built by mine guards at Muck
low, and told of the capture of hun
dreds of ''man killing" guns, many of
them hidden out in hollow trees and
mountain caves after the militia took
charge of the strike district. Trains
held up, mine tipples burned, pitched
battles between mine guards and
miners were all detailed by General
Elliott, who said all of these affairs
were reported to him. He detailed a
general engagement at Mucklow, Hol-
Cabin Creek, February 10, when a
mine bOokkeeper and miner named
EStep were killed. This resulted in
a second declaration of martial law
and Elliott said when he went into
the fields with troops on the night of
February 10, dying miner was found
on the railroad tracks ahead of his
troop train.
mine guards and strikers. The militia
had nothing to do with them and L
know of them only through informa-
ton brought to me by both sides.''
CharIestown, w. Va, June 11.-Ad-
jutant General Charles D. Elliott, of
West Virginia, who was in supreme
command of the military in the strike
zone, was the first witness examined
today by the senate subcommittee in
Vestigating the mine troubles in the
Paint and Cabin Creek district Gen.
Elliott presented copies of the request
of the sheriffs of Kanawha, Raleigh
and Fayette counties for military aid,
and the orders of former Governor
Glasscock establishing martial law and
placing the military in full charge of
the strike zone. He then described the
trial of offenders by the military court
after the civil courts had been super
seded.
The documents produced showed 81
men sentenced by the military court |
Private F. L. Long, tried for the muir
der of Ira Ridd, was acquitted. Rob |
ert Hartigan, mine guard, charged |
with doing police duty as a nonresident |
was sentenced twice. Each time to
pay a fine of $500 and to serve six
months in prison. In a similar case
a guard was fined $100 and sentenced
to 60 days. Other sentences shown by
the list were:
For intimidating of workmen, % pris- |
oners, six months each; carrying con-
Id frrrn rNrfc Drao low
five prisoners, six months; one prisoner, |
81 900 fine and one year; one prisoner |
one year; carrying steel knuckleS, one |
prisoner fined $50; unlawful stabbing, |
two prisoners, one year; false state !
ment to officers, one prisoner 80 days; |
conduct, one prisoner three |
larceny, one prisoner $40, fine |
and ten days. Altogether the list ac- |
for all but two cases under |
the martial law last fall, the first mar
tiaI law period. These two cases were |
marked missing from the files
Orders Restoring Martial Law.
General Elliott detailed the orders |
restoring martial law to the strike |
zone in February of this year. These
orders, he said, were modified by an |
order issued by Governor Hatfield on
May 20, annulling that portion of the |
which placed the mill
tary authorities above the civil courts.
Working Under Civil Courts.
The militia, the witness said, were
now working under the civil courts,
in the enforcement of the
processes of the court. Most of the
troops had been Withdrawn, he said,
only about a. dozen men remaining to
aid the civil authorities.
Arrests Without Warrants.
while you were in charge in the
martial law zone you made arrests on
your own responsibility without a writ
0r warrant from any civil court?'
asked Senator BOrah.
Yes, that is right" said General
Elliott
General Elliott said that at one
time he had 1000 men in the field,
the entire militia organiZa-
lion of the state. He could not say
definitely how many armed men he
had to contend with, but he felt there
we're more arms among the strikers
han among the militia.
Courts Refused to Act.
Under cross-examination by Attor-
ney Belcher for the miners, General
Elliott said that Representative S. B.
Davis, former county prosecutor, had
.oId Governor Glasscock he could not
secure action in the courts to subdue
The riotous condition. This, he said,
was one of the reasons the governor
declared martial law. The witness
said that his troops had captured five
Or six machine guns in the affected
district.
.sBuH Moose Special
He told of the operations of an ar
nOred train on which a machine gun
vas mounted and which made four
rips up Paint and Cabin creeks. He
which among the miners was known
as the Bull Moose Special" Attor-
ley BeIcher tried to ascertain what
lilies were carried on a special train