Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-05-17
Coal Field Battle
Is Under Control

WILLIAMSON w. Va, May 10
Peace hopes in bloody Mingo coun-
ty mine war were strengthened at
sunrise today when the snipers' po-
sltions in the West Virginia hills
were quiet.
Authorities. however, feared new
attacks on the half dozen little min.
ing towns in the Tug river valley
might be opened at any time.
The industrial war between strik.
ing coal miners and company em-
ployes was quieter yesterday than
at any time since the engagement
began last Thursday morning.
Stray shots were fired along the
tWelVe-mile line occasionally Sun
day and a thirty-minute skirmish
was staged near Merrimac, but there
was relative peace.
The casualty list of six dead and
an indefinite number wounded was
not changed by early reports here
| today, although unconfirmed rumors
of additional victims were circulated.
Arrival in Pike county, Kentucky,
of two companies of guardsmen
soothed the snipers. The troops zr-
rived Sunday morning. DetachmentS
were sent to Auburn and McCarr,
where heavy fighting was in progress
Saturday afternoon. Another com.
pany was stationed near Merrimac.
Truce in the Auburn, Blackberry
City and McCarr sections was com
pleted Saturday midnight. Sheriff
Alonzo Pinson and Captain j. f,
| Of h.
kept a rendezvous with DR.. William
Dotson, of the Kentucky fighters.
The meeting place was in the KEN
lucky mountains. The West Vir-
GINA negotiators reached the. spot
| by dash on railroad engine
through the firing line to. Freeburn,
Ky, then returning through the hills.
Other sections of the trouble zone
are not affected by the agreement, al
| though except for last nights brief
outbreak at Merrimac, peace has been
observed along the line.
Proclamations were signed by
President Harding late Saturday de-
claring a state of martial law in
Mingo county. West Virginia. and
Pike county, Kentucky, along the
| interstate border. the area acected by
the coal strike riots. The proclama-
| lions were turned over to Secretary
of War Weeks to be issued should
reports from the troubled region
make such action necessary,
At the war department orders were
prepared Immediately after the sign
| ing of the proclamation, informing
| Major General George w. Read, COM
handing the Fifth corps area, and
| Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, of
| the presidents action and ordering
| him to hold a sufficient number of
| troops in readiness to move to make
| martial law effective in the area
comprehended by the presidents
| proclamations.
When President Harding decided
conferences with Secretary Weeks
and Senator Sutherland, of West Vir-
ginia, it was contended that the
| proclamations should be issued inn
| mediately. A few moments after
| they were signed, however, a tele-
gram was received at the White
! House from Governor Morrow, Of
Kentucky, announcing that the situ-
alton looked better and that the state
| troops had been ordered to patrol the
Kentucky side of the border.
Situation Described
=. 1t was this information that
| caused the postponement Of the is
suance of the proclamations.
President, Harding was influenced
in his decision, it was understood,
by his conversation with Senator
Sutherland. The senator took to the
White House a number of appeals
from citizens of West Virginia de-
claring. that the situation was be-
thorities and that federal aid was
necessary. One telegram from C.
r. Wilson, at Huntington, said that
the people of Matewan, w. Va, were
being shot down like rats"
Earlier in the day Secretary Weeks
had transmitted to the president tele-
grams from the governors of Ken
lucky and West Virginia describing
in detail the situation and asserting
the need for federal troops. One
gan, of West Virginia, forwarded a
protest from w. j. jerks, general
manager of the Norfolk and Western
railroad, declaring that passengers
and employees travelling on the roads
trains We're in danger from flying
bullets, that telegraph ard telephone
wires were being shot Town and
could not be repaired, owing to the
constant fusillade. and that passen-
gers were compelled to take refuge
State Troops Mobrized
Governor Morrow's telegram. con.
veying information that the situa-
ton looked more hopeful, which I
caused the Withholding of the mar
tial law proclamations, explained
that Kentucky state troops not pre-
viously available had been modified
and were being sent to the Mingo.
Pike county border on the Tug river.
1t was said at the war department
that the presence of these troops
along the Kentucky bank of the riv-
err would go far toward quieting the
situation. For the past few days,
army officers said, rioters on the
West Virginia side, when pressed too
closely by state police and special
deputy sheriffs, had been slipping
across the river to the Kentucky
side, where there were not enough