The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-05-23
sSl06 1000. PAID BY
OPERATORS FOR
DEPUTY SHERIFFS
.
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final. Thurmond told the Judge
the operators association had con i
tributed to the prosecution but did
not know the amount. r He finally
estimated it at perhaps $4,000
of which $1,000 was for attorneys
assisting in the prosecution The
rest, he said, was mainly for the
expenses of the state witnesses, and
C. W. Osenton, one Of the attor-
news associated with the. prosecu-
ton. brought out that receipts for
these moneys were kept and were
to be presented as claim against
the state.
Before the trials began. it had
been announced by the state audi
tor that the annual appropriation
for witness and jury fees and e4-
penses in felony cases had been ex-
hausted and no more would be
available until the next fiscal year.
When this testimony had been
completed Judge Woods sustained
the objection to allowing the jury
to hear it and the witness was ex-
cused.
Lawyers again did most of the
talking while A. D. Lavender was
on the witness stand, and eVentu-
ally what little testimony he gave
was stricken from the record on
motion of the prosecution.
Witness Excused.
Lavender, mine union orsan1-
ger, who is among those indicted
on the treason charge. had SAID
he was in the Mingo County jail
70 nNfo
which included the time of the
armed march. He was at liberty
from October II until he was ar
rested April s. he said, but at this
stage Judge Woods ruled all this
testimony was irrelevant to Biz
yards guilt or innocence and the
witness was excused.
Toney Adds to Alibi
r. P. Toney, next defense wit
ness, added his testimony to the
Blizzard alibi that forms the!
major part of his case. Toney is
secretary of the union sub-district
of which Blizzard is president and
declared he saw his chief in
miners headquarters at Charles
ton on many of the days when the
march was on. He also told of
three trips he made into the Coal
River district while the fighting
was in progress. The first OF these
was made with Major G. T..
Thompson on August 81, when the
army officer read to men at jeff
rey, Sharples and Blair presld en-
tia1 proclamation calling upon
them to disperse. At all these
places, Toney said the men agreed
to lay down their arms only after
federal troops had come in to give
them protection from deputies on
the Logan side of the border. On
the following day he went to-
Sharples with Philip Murray and
Jacobs.
Conferred With Commander
With Blizzard and other union
officials, Toney said they went tot
Jeffries on September 2 to urge
the men to go home.
That night, according to Toney's
story. they returned to Madison
where they held a conference with
Captain Wilson in command of the
first federal troops to enter the
disturbed area. The witness de-
MED any statement was made by
Blizzard at this conference that he
had '.been on all the fighting
fronts that day. After the con-
ference, he said, they went up the
river again on Captain Wilson's
suggestion to notify the armed
men that federal troops would
reach their positions the next day.
transportation offered.
Haywood Edwards of Blair
said he first saw Blizzard there
on the afternoon of September 2,
and heard him make a speech
from the schoolhouse steps, adj
vising the armed men to go
home, and stating the federal
troops were on the way to relieve
them. The next day Blizzard
visited Blair and told the men the
federal soldiers were at Sharples.
advised them to turn their guns
over to the soldiers and said any
who wished could so home on. the
train which brought the soldiers
there.
Gas Bomb Used.
Edwards also testified as to his
observations at Sharples, August
2S;r when he was sent by Blair
residents to verify reports that
miners had been killed by state
police the previous night, and
said fighting on the mountain
above Blair did not begin until
after the Sharples affair.
His small son, the witness testi-
fed, still bore marks on his face.
which the physician told Edwards
were caused by gas from a bomb
or bottle, dropped in the yard just
outside an open window at which
the child was standing