Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1922-02-21
THE TREASON TRIALS" AT
CHARLES TOWN.

The Cincinnati Post published an
article on the Treason Trials at
Charles Town, from which we take
the following extracts:
Charles Town is the place where
John Brown was tried and hanged
for treason during the Civil War.
And just as "his soul went marching
on" labor leaders say, so the fight of
organized labor against wage
slavery" will march on to victory.
The six men are accused of having
been leaders in the march of 1900
armed miners against Logan and
Mingo counties last August.
Six hundred other men are under
indictment in connection with that
march.
The accused men have spent as
many as 116 days in Jail. They are
out on bond now.
They not only deny having had
any part in the march, but declare
they did all in their power to pre-
vent it as hurtful to organized labor.
They charge mine operators aided
and abetted in he march in an effort
to make organized labor odious to
the people, and that the indictments
merely are attempts to "get" lead
ers of the trade union movement in
the organized effort to crush the
movement and establish the 'open
shop" by which, of course, is meant
non-union conditions.
The march, the accused men say,
was not directed against government,
but against entrenched business
interests, after petitions to the gov
ernor for redress of grievances had
failed.
The state maintains, however, the
object of the marchers was to ter
roriZe and intimidate government
officials into compliance with miners
demands.
AS a result of the ancient struggle
between capital and labor, some
parts of the state are under martial
law and some look like devastated
regions of France where people live
in tents in cold winter under condi-
tions of semi-starvation. Each side
accuses the other of being the ag-
gressor.
Sitting many conflicting state
ments, after thoro investigation, /
consider the following the substan-
tial truth of the situation:
Mine operators are determined to
prevent as many fields as possible
from being organized.
For that purpose they have hired
private guards and detectives to pre-
vent such organizations.
Many guards and detectives have
been guilty of attempting by strong
arm methods to intimidate miners
from joining unions.
They have disregarded law and
Constitution in carrying out their
purpose by suppressing free speech,
preventing, breaking up, or interfer-
ing with the union meetings, by beat
ing men who attended meetings, by
railroading union organizers out of
the territory; by provoking clashes in
which lives were lost and property
destroyed.
Operators have the advantage be-
cause the miners, for the most part,
must live on company property and
IN company houses; they must buy
from company stores; they are gov
erned, in some parts of the state, by
deputy sheriffs deputized by authori-
ties, but paid by mine operators. If
miners go contrary to company
wishes they are fired.
1t also is true, however, that
miners have retaliated. 1t is not in
human nature to remain passive and
gentle in the face of such provaca-
ton.
The state officials protest they are
interested only in law and order and
that miners as well as operators are
accorded equal rights.
These facts remain, however:
The state police are hostile to
miners, whom they regard as ex-
tremists aiming to Sovietize the
state.
The miners regard state police as
little better than private guards, tho
they welcome federal troops.
Martial law has been in force in
Mingo Co., for almost a year, during
which practically all constitutional
guarantees have been suspended and
men kept In Jail at the will of the