Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-01-26
24ON TRIAL AS
MURDERERSFOR
STRIKE BATTLE
West Virginia Miners
Guard Battle Aired
In Court

y -'-@-% 49, - VI sAtf o1tts ~.
-Twenty-four men from the little
mining town Of Matewan were here
today to answer the charge Of mar
der in the Mingo county court.
They were indicted last July for
the part they are alleged to have
taken in the battle with private de.
tectiyes who had evicted the former
employees Of the Stone Mountain Coal
company from the corporations hous-
es. In the fight seven detectives,
Mayor c, C. Testerman and two oth-
er citizens were killed
Friend and foe rubbed elbows as
miners and Baldwin-Felts guards as
senlbled for the trial cf Sid Hatfield,
chief Of police at Matewan, and 20
Of his fellow citizens charged with
killing seven Baldvins IA a street
battle.
Five Baidwin-Felts detectives en-
gagged in the same battle viii be
tried under change of venue at Lew
isburg, Grcenbrier county, in April.
Tom Fels, chief Of the guards and
man hunter e7stFstoTf tdliiffiaf mary il. here III
Williamson. With him are his most
trusted men. He was al intimate
personal interest in the case, for two
Of the slain Baldwins were his broth
ers.
At Matewan, which is ten miles
from here, the bullet-spattered wall
Of the hardware store still gies evi-
dence Of the terrific battle that day
last July when the Felts brothers
fell at the head of their forces.
The miners call it "the battle Of
Matewan," and regard 1t as a de-
fensive combat that ensued after tho
Baldwin men attempted to evict the
families Of striking miners from
company houses.
Calls Il Massacre.
But Tom Felts calls it the "massa-
ere Of Matewan," in which he says,
his men had no chance for fair
tight, but were slaughtered after be-
ing ambushed.
But the seven guards were not
all Of the dead. Three citizens Of
Matewan were killed in the exchange
of shots.
Among chem was G. c. Testerman,
the mayor OF Masewan and the
towns leading business man.
Witnesses say the guards started
to arrest his chief of police. Sid
Hatfield, on the Ground that he had
attempted to interfere with them in
their discharge Of taeir duties as liz
censed constables.
The mayer, it is said, warned then,
not to take his chief Of police away
from the town. Nobody tells ex-
actly the same story about what hap
pened after that.
A shot was fired and Mayor Tes-
terman fell Then there began the
general shooting.
Other guards who survived, fled,
some swimming across the Tug river
to Kentucky. These have been
summoned as witnesses by the prose-
cution.
Murder Follows Battle.
The murder of Uriah Hatfield,
owner Ct the Urias hotel of Matewan,
may or may not have had something
to do with the affair.
He was sitting, one evening, sev
eral months after the killing Of the
guards, in front of his hotel Sudden
" a rifle cracked and Uriah Hatfield
fell dead with a bullet through his
heart.
The murdered man, who was no
relative of Sid Hatfield, had been 4
witness before. the grand jury thai
had investigated the Matewan affair
and had received threatening note
afterward.
All forces OF the Baldwin Detee
tives, m, have been at work eve
since the day Of The Matewan trag
edy, gathering evidence against sas.
pected persons.
The enclosure in the court room
reserved for judge, jury. and defend
ants will be filled with the numerous
defendants, at the head of whom
sits Sid Hafieid. IN tle saditoriun
gather the friends md foes. .of the
accused men.
In The friendly delegation from
Matewan sits sid Hatfiald's wife.
She was The widow of Mayor TeS
terman, killed in the Gun fight. The
chief qf police married. her q few