The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-04-06
By HARRY FERGUSON Copyright, 1882, by the United 1 Pre9sl

Pineville, Ky, April 6-(UP)-A 29 year old youth, with a disarm- ing smile and the soft speech of the south is to-day a dictator in Bell county and actually holds the power of life and death over ev- cry person here.
 He is Walter B. Smith, county attorney of Bell county, whose name famed into the headlines after he elected group of eastern college students seeking to inves- tigate charges of terrorism in the Kentucky coal fields.
 Smith claims-and there Is no evidence that would lead me to- doubt him-that he has an army of 10000 armed citizens at his die in the war against .commun- ism." In addition, he is the head beck and call, ready to fight and of the mountain grapevine" es- pionage system which reports to him on the activities of all strangers.
 This situation Is the outgrowth of the strike of the National, Min ers' Union, called January l. The jobs of miners who went on strike have been filled or have been lett unified because of the slump in the coal business. Some of the Na- tional Miners Union men have, de- serted the organization and have been taken back on their jobs.- The center of the recent developments, therefore, is a group of about 1900 national union men, whose leaders are in jail and who now live in shacks on abandoned mine properties. They have no pros pect of getting work here.
 Meanwhile, they subsist on what they can get, holding occasional secret meetings and are surround ed by armed citizens who prevent them from being reached by com munist Organizers from the out side. This vigilance accounts for the turning back of Theodore Dreiser, Waldo Frank and the col lege students who have tried to visit the outcast miners.
 There is no basis for the charge that some great outside power is opposing the strikers. It cannot be traced back to Wall street or some other invisible source. The mines in Bell and Harlan counties are owned by individuals and small companies which rarely employ more than 200 men at the most.
 Smith is tall. slender and slight Iy stoop-shouldered; his taste in clothing runs to browns and grays and he wears a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity pin on his vest. He is pleasant and genial, shakes hands readily and widely, and calls peo- ple by their first names ten min utes after meeting them. Unmar- mied, he lives in an unpretentious house with his father and his brother, Ed. Friends refer to him as 'walter B." and he describes himself in these words: Hell, I'm just Kentucky mountain boy who may never get out of these hiils.
 AS we sat in his office ana talked about his war against com munism he would lean out the open window occasionally and shout a greeting to friends. Usu- ally he talked in a conversational tone. but occasionally he would lapse into oratory. Example:
 "One drop of pure Kentucky blood is worth more to me and is more sacred than an entire river of communist blood"
 He justifies his election of the eastern students in this way: Why those kids would have been killed if they had gone on into Harlan county. know because before the students arrived some of the folks around town came to me and said walter B., just leave us alone and we'll take care of these reds No sir, I'm convinced I saved those kids lives or at least saved them from walking the plank into a creek over in Harlan county. I'm just like the rest of these folks down here-I've got no more re- gard for a communist than have for a snake"
 Two examples will show how strong a hold Smith has on the mountain people,. CD The door of his office was opened by an eld- erly, gray-haired man. who. 1t de- veloped. was Wylie Robbins a minister. =. v -
 "Walter B." he said, .I ain't going to bother you long. but I just want to tell you if the reds poster you any more, I'll be ready with my shotgun"
 (2) arranged with Charles Nick, a member of the National Miners Union, to take me to Dor toms Branch to inspect some of the homes of the strikers. When