Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-02-18
SWEARS HATFIELD
SAID He KILLED ?
| Former Justice Of Peace Gives
Direct Evidence
Against Sid
BIG SENSATION IN COURT

Williamson. W. Va. Feb. 1S.-Sid
Hatfield, Matewan chief Of police, told
Harry station. former justice of the
peace. that he had killed three Of the
Baldwin -Felts men in the pistol and
ride fight Of May 10. Mr.. station testi-
fed 10 this in Circuit Court here today
at the trial Of nineteen men, including
Hatfield, charged with being implicated
in the fght.
Asked who the men were, station said
they were Albert Felts, Lee Fclts and
g. II. Cunningham. The testimony
created a sensation in the court.
station, who was magistrate in
Sprigg, a mining town nearby, was
questioned closely. for every one in the
room seemed TO realize that the prose
cutlon was ut last bringing its heavy
guns into play.
station heard of the fight late in the
afternoon. and heard that Sheriff Blan.
kenship wanted him TO go to Matewan.
and % Ego armed" lie hurriedly left
Sprigg, and walked to Matewan. lie
also understood, he testified, that the
mayor of the town and fifty or sixty
of the citizens had been killed"
When he reached Matewan. Station
said, he met Sid Hatfield, who shook
hands with him. and then made the re.
mark, he testified, that he Hatfeld)
had killed three.
Station was excused and brief recess
Of court was ordered while attorneys for
the state held a consultation.
Girl Saw Hatfield Kici, Body
Before Station was called, Miss Bessie
Hamilton. a clerk in the Norfolk and
Western Railroad station. testified that
! the fight was 'one roar" She saw
three bodies lying in the street, two Of
which she said Sid Hatfield searched.
Later she saw him kick the PROSTATE
form of man lying near the bank
building.
Miss Josephine Hamilton. her sister,
testified she saw armed men after the
fight. but not before Among them she
recognized Reese Chambers. carrying a
rife, and Halle Chambers with pearl
handled pistol. she added.
| As the men passed the spot wherc
she was standing, diagonally across from
the bank building. where the body OF
4. =. Booher, one Of the slain Baldwin
Felts men lay, she said, one OF the
two men she had recognized remarked:
"Ain't that good bait for fishing"
! Miss Hamilton testified she saw Hat
field and Ed Chambers search the body
Of the detective she believed was
Booher and another body lying near the
! bank.
Anthony Star testified he heard the
first shot Of the fight. ''muffled re-
port" and the firing which followed
hut he did not see the fighting. as he
| l.. analrnn,p nnfil aftn,
was over.
He then made his way along the rail
road tracks out of Matewan. he said
and saw William Bowman. ono of thu
defendants, aim his rife at man nenl
a barn back Of the hotel.
II told him not to shoot continued
the witness. 'and Bowman lowered hi.
gun
Declare Detective Killed in Chair
Mrs. Mary Duty. who said she live,
some distance from the scene OF th'
fight in the village. testified she hear,
firing, and soon aftcrwnrd wounde,
man WAS assisted to chair on th'
porch of her house by two others. Th'
man told her he had not fred Il shot
Mrs. Duty said she did not know him
; but Inter learned he vas J. W. Fer
guson, one of the Baldwin Fclts men.
"The man sat down in a chair OF
the porch and went into the dining
room. and later left the house" Mrs
Duty snid.
At this point the state showed Al
ordinary reed chair TO the jury. an,
Captain Avis, pointing to hole il
the back of 1t, said he intended to prov
, that the wounded man had been sho
again and killed after he was taken T.
the Duty house.
, Mrs. Duty, resuming her testimony
said that when she left the house tn
man on the porch was alive. but n littl
, later she saw his body lying in th
alley nearby. His clothing had bee
? torn. she said, there being q rent il
the waistcoat she had not noticed be
fore.
! She then identified the chair as tina
/ IN which he sat at her house, and sal
! that when she again went on the pore
, she saw blood on the chair, and washe
It. OFF