Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1917-06-01
MOUNTAIN MEN PLOT
TO RESIST ARMY SERVICE

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Of
Tuesday morning said:
William Velon Mccoy and ]. W.
Phipps are in Jail in Roanoke, and
lwarrants have been issued for score
other persons, rs the result of the
exposure of an alleged plot in which
a declaration of war" had already
ben issued and an "army" recruited
i'll protest against the enforcement of
the selective draft plan for raising
war army. The plan was unearthed
by Special Agent Arthur ]. Devlin,
of the department OF Justice Mt st.
Paul, Va, where the two men men
TONED were arrested Sunday after
nooon, and is said to have included
the forming into military organi-
cation of 300 mountaineers of that
section to defy the government in
regard to the CONSUMPTION as, and
that "the big land owners, the spec
ulators and the revenues shall no
more be KNOWN" and further to blow
up all bridges anu tunnels in that
community, destroy the banks and
public buildings at st. Paul and over
come squads of of the second Vir-
ginia infantry doing guard duty in
the vicinity and take possession of
their arms and ammunition.
After their plans had been set on
foot, the land, money and personal
belongings of their victims was to be
divided among the conspirators and
it was estimated that each would re-
ceive approximately $4,000 in money
land or personal belongings. An oath
had been signed by the members of
the conspiracy in which they pledged |
that they would obey the commands |
of their supporters, even to the sever
ance of their heads from their bodies |
and the men had been commanded to |
"get ready" for the outbreak which |
was expected as soon as CONSUMPTION
was put into actual force.
The department of justice is said |
to have been in possession of informa-
ton that Mccoy, u cousin of the ia
nous McCoys of the Hatfield Mccoy
feud, was fomenting the plot for
more than three weeks. The mountain
Ger, sixty-five years old, is said to
have been active in enlisting men |
for the movement and as a result Of
his efforts more than 300 volunteers
had flocked to his standard. Marv of
these were young men of CONSUMPTION
age.
On investigation was started and is
said to have revealed the fact that
fhipps, foreman in the eXtratc plant
at st. Paul. was McCoy's right hand
man The foreman, it is said, was
supposed to have sad all of the men
employed under him signed up into
the company that was being formed,
and that the men were only awaiting
the call to arms. Several of these men
and men of the mountains of con-
scription age when questioned by in
vestigators as to their attitude on the
draft plan are said to have boasted:
There will he two dead-the man,
that comes after me and myself"
The oath that each of the mountain
GERS who were identified with the
movement had to sign is taken almost
word for word from that used by
Quantrell's band which operated in
Kansas and Missouri during the
Civil War, and to which Frank and
Jesse James belonged. The oath reads
as follows and it has been definitely
established, the authorities claim, that
it is in the handwriting of old man
Mccoy:
"An oath of volunteers:
Go to, We rich men, weep and howl
for the misery that shall come upon
you.
"In the name of God, the great Su-
prcme, here under the black arch of
heavens evading (probably mean to
be avenging rs in Quantrell's oath),
symbol, | pledge and consecrate my
body and limbs, TO devote my life to
obedience to my superiorS that no
peril shall deter me from executing
their orders, that l will submit to ev-
cry possible means OF my power for
the determination of orr enemies and
big free holders, ami before violating
a single clause or implied pledge Of
this obligation, will permit the sew
Grafton of my head and body TO be
dealt out to me when due Amen"
The declaration of war reads:
"DECLARATION OF WAR