Evening star., 1921-09-13
GOV. MORGAN EXPLAINS NEED
OFU.S.IROOPS IN COAL FIELD
West Virginia Executive Says AttemPt Was
Made to Shoot Unionism
Into Districts

in various parts of the state. My option
was to ask for federal troops or ask for
citizen volunteers to repel the invasion.
fee ea9ee to ask the
"Instsad of sending troops. the
Secretary of War dispatched federal
officers to Charleston. who advised
Messrs. -@Keeney, Mooney and other
that leadership carried responsible
ity and firmly requested that they
proceed forthwith to the vicinity Of
Madison and edisperse the marching
miners. With the exception of ap-
proximately 1900 men gathered in
the armed insurgents dispersed to
their homes and Gen H. H. Band
holtz returned to Washington.
Three Men Killed.
'On the night of August 81 Capt.
j. r. Brockus and squad of state
police. which had arrived in Logan
county that day, sta rted down
fsrSa Beech ,Sn~t creek toward sharples to
had been given the police by the
sheriff of Logan county. Proceeding
down Beech creek, the police force
encountered armed men patrolling
the roads. The first patrol surren-
swered the command of Capt. Brockus
to surrender with a volley of bullets
The fire was returned and three
men were killed. The police then
re tired to Logan county and at my
request did not renew their efforts
to serve the warrants
when they received reports of
this encounter the miners, who had
returned to their homes. started an
other march toward Logan couhty.
mandeered by the armed miners and.
with truckloads of ammunition. they
again started for the Logan border.
After I had sent the adjutant gen.
eral of West Virginia to Sharples
and. at his command, the men had
refused to disperse, on August 20 l
renewed my request for federal
troops and. after a second investi-
cation by federal officers who visited
| the scene Of conflict, my recon-
! mendations were approved by Gen.
Bandholtz and the troops came.
Why U. 8. Troops Were Asked.
'The state has been criticised by
persons unfamiliar with the gravity
of the situation because federal
troops were requested. West Virginia
Is not the only state that has re-
Quested federal troops. There are
| states. and they were sent to other
states, an dthey were sent without
the measure of criticism that has
been directed against this state. Why
was the request made for federal
| troops? Because 5000 deluded men
| were in insurrection against the con-
stituted authorities of a sovereign
state in defiance of law at time
when the state was without Ma
tional Guard and her quota of 200
points in the enforcement of law.
What were the basic causes of this
revolution, this insurrection against
the state, and then the federal gov
nA
lied as protest against the enforce
ment OF martial 1awsi In Mfngo county.
where crime had been reduced 80
per cent, and to remove what Samuel
Gompers of the American Federation
Of Labor and John l. Lewis and
president of the United Mine Work.
ers, and the district officers Of the
! latter organization termed the Bald
win-Feltz mine guards.
Regardless OF the assertions OF
Gompers, Lewis and Murray. there
were no Baldwin-Feltz or other mine
guards in Mingo county when this
insurrection occurred. I take 1t that
agents in ascribing the motive for
the insurrection to be the removal
of Baldwin-Feltz mine guards were
seeking to defend those who had
West Virginia. The Baldwin-Feltz
detective agency. which operates in
the two virginias. is not a popular
organization. But when Gompers.
Lewis and Murray assert the cause
Of the revolt in West Virginia was
to remove the mine guards Of any
description from Mingo county they
are seeking to camouflage an insur-
rectfon that was directed against the
constituted authorities of state by
making it appear that it was directed
against something which did not
exist.
MANY crimes are charged by the
leaders of the United Mine Workers
against the so-called mine guard
system that they have charged exists
in Mingo and Logan counties. and
doubtless many assaults have been
made upon agitators and organizers
AMI for which the transgressors
even if it were true that innumerable
SPECIAL NOTICES.