I have no defence to make.
Whatever I have done in West Virginia, I have done it all over the United States,
and when I get out, I will do it again.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday January 10, 1915
Atlanta, Georgia - West Virginia Judge Brags About "Convicting" Mother Jones
Mother Jones, A Dangerous Figure
It seems that, for a certain West Virginia judge, being the judge who convicted Mother Jones and sent her to the bullpen is something to brag about. Now, this judge never did, in fact, convict Mother Jones, and cannot, in any way, claim credit for her stay in the military bullpen of his state, and yet, we find him, in the pages of today's
Atlantic Constitution, stating that "she..can tear down with the fury of a mad man" and bragging about having passed sentence upon her during the Paint and Cabin Creek of two years ago:
Famous Judge Who First Convicted Noted "Mother Jones"
Pays Short Visit to Atlanta
Mother Jones, Hellraiser
En route to Albany, Ga., where he goes to pay several thousands in taxes on property possessed by his invalid wife, Judge Sam D. Littlepage, of Charleston, W. Va., the first justice who convicted the noted "Mother" Jones, stopped over in Atlanta at the Ansley hotel last night, merely to view a city he "had heard so much about, but hadn't seen in years."
Judge Littlepage is one of the most conspicuous state justices in the union. He is particularly famed for his handling of the case of "Mother" Jones a year or more ago, when, it was alleged, she incited the miners of Kanawaha county, West Virginia, into a riot that resulted in the slaying of thirty men by the state militia.
He is one of two judges in West Virginia to have been elected in the last several years on a democratic platform. One of his first cases upon going into office was that of "Mother" "Jones, who he sent to the "bullpen" for six weeks without privilege of fine.
Sitting in the lobby of the Ansley, he gave some interesting sidelights into the character of this noted women.
Trial of "Mother" Jones.
"Mother" Jones had invaded the coal fields of West Virginia only a short time after Judge Littlepage had gone into office. Her speeches on the public square of Charleston had incited the riot-determined miners even attempts to demolish the state capitol. Of a sudden, the strike broke forth in fury, and the entire section was forced into martial rule. More than thirty men, all told, were slain.
"Mother" Jones was arraigned before Judge Littlepage, against the protest of hundreds of rioters. In order to break the trouble she was sentenced to six weeks in the "bullpen"-an improvised prison erected especially for the striking element-in which she served the entire time. It was said to have been this subjugation of the terrorist woman that broke the West Virginia coal field troubles.
Since that time "Mother" Jones has been arraigned before numerous courts of the land. She was a vital element in the recent Colorado strike that cost so many lives and threatened a labor revolution in the country. Editorial and magazine pages have been devoted to her wild career, and she stands today one of the country's most striking female figures.
A Dangerous Figure.
[Said Judge Littlepage:]
Mother" Jones is eighty years if a day....She is clever and cunning, but not wise. She knows how to get herself and her following into the very depths of trouble, but hasn't the slightest idea how to get out. Some of her tirades are anarchistic gems, but she couldn't deliver a jury speech to save her life. She is the militant sort that can tear down with the fury of a madman in a second what it would take her a thousand years to rebuild.
Judge Littlepage married a Georgian, Miss Mollie B. Kemp, of Albany. He will spend most of his month's vacation in Georgia. Last night was the first time he had been in Atlanta for years. He spent most of the morning and afternoon on a sightseeing trip through the residential and industrial sections of the city.
[photograph added]
The truth of the matter is that the credit for imprisoning Mother Jones in the Military Bastile of West Virginia goes to Governor Glasscock. The credit for continuing her stay there goes to Glasscock's successor, Governor Hatfield. Furthermore, this was done despite the objections of Judge Littlepage who opposed the use of the military court while the civil courts were open and operating. He, therefore, can claim no credit for her stay there.
Nor was she kept in the military bullpen as stated in the article above. Although she would have much preferred the same accommodations as her boys, Mother Jones was kept imprisoned, throughout the court-martial, in a boarding house, commandeered for that purpose. As to whether or not she was convicted, Governor Hatfield has kept the verdict of that court-martial a closely guarded secret to this very day.
From the Appeal to Reason of June 21, 1913:
The article below is offered to better explain what actually happened regarding the Military Court-Martial of Mother Jones and her associates during the Paint and Cabin Strike of 1913.
Judas Hatfield Unmasked
BY JOHN KENNETH TURNER
Mother Jones in the Military Bastile of West Virginia
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Hatfield is playing a Judas game. His record proves it. And Judas at this moment seems to be succeeding. The cross and the iron spikes await the miners' movement for freedom. In the hope of preventing the crucifixion I hereby present the record of Henry D. Hatfield.
It is said in defense of Governor Hatfield that he inherited the conditions of martial outlawry from a previous administration, and it is sought to lay the blame upon ex-Governor Glasscock. But the fact that Hatfield accepted and continued the conditions that were handed down to him makes him equally guilty with Glasscock; while the fact that he went to even greater extremes with military rule renders his offense even more serious than that of Glasscock.
Hatfield, coming to the governor's chair on March 4th [1913], found a state of martial law, which he knew to be in violation of the constitution of West Virginia. He had the power to abolish it and employ the militia, if needed, in a legal way-that is, in subservience to the civil courts. Then why did he not do it?
The new governor found scores of men and women in military bullpens, among them Mother Jones, Boswell, Paulsen and Batley, who had been kidnapped outside of the martial zone and carried forcibly into the martial zone. He knew that even were martial law legal, this act was in violation of the constitution. Then why did he not release Mother Jones, Boswell, Paulsen and Batley, or turn them over to the civil courts?
Hatfield found a military commission which had been ordered to try and condemn miners,without regard to the statutes, to such punishment as it saw fit to mete out. He knew that, even were martial law legal, the military commission could have not such powers. Then why did he not abolish the commission and rescind the order for the trials? Hatfield found a miner, Dan Chain, in the penitentiary, condemned by a previous military commission, to five years' hard labor for an offense which, if proved in a legal court, carried a maximum punishment of six months in the county jail. Why did he not release Dan Chain?
Hatfield found in the martial zone from one to two hundred private guards, known as mine watchmen, who were officered by former militia officers and paid by coal barons. He knew that these men were fraternizing with his militia, that the militiamen were working hand-in-glove with them, that these "mine watchmen" were heavily armed, in violation of the statues as well as written military orders, that, under the very noses of the soldiers, they were abusing such strikers as remained in the district. In his campaign speeches Hatfield had denounced the coal operators' private army and declared that it must go. Then why did he not take some action against it?
As president of the military commission, Hatfield found Colonel Joliffe, who, before his appointment had publicly denounced Mother Jones and declared that she "ought to be muzzled and drummed out of the state." In the interests of decency, even if the military commission had been a legal institution, Hatfield ought to have removed Joliffe from the position. Why did he not do it?
Hatfield came into office knowing of the deliberate and premeditated night assault upon the Holly Grove miners by the Bull Moose train. He knew who commanded the expedition, as well as the names of all who were a part of it. He knew that a miner had ben killed [Francis Estep] in cold blood and a woman shot through the feet. Hatfield has made no effort to bring the Holly Grove murders to justice. Why?
Under Hatfield not a coal baron has been arrested or a mine guard thrown into a bullpen to this day. Why? Why?
Can there be any possible reply except that Hatfield is unreservedly in the service of the operators?
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HAVING indicated how the present governor failed to give relief to the miners when he came into power, in any particular, how he injured them negatively, I shall now go to the positive side of the story.
The new commission, presided over by Joliffe, had been named by Glasscock on the eve of Hatfield's accession to the military throne. One of the first things Hatfield did was to make two changes in it, not in the interests of justice, but to further injustice. Captain S. L. Walker, who had headed the commission which, in fighting for a chance to place Mother Jones and the miners on trial, had sworn to a belief in their guilt, was put back upon it. The other change was in favor of Captain Boughmer, who, of all the militia officers with whom I talked while in West Virginia, showed the deepest prejudice against the miners.
Immediately following the coming to power of Hatfield the military commission made preparations for the trials of Mother Jones and about two hundred others. March 7th Judge Samuel Littlepage of the circuit court of Kanawha county issued a temporary writ of prohibition against the trials, ordering the military commission to come into court and show cause why the prisoners should not be turned over to the civil tribunals. If Hatfield had had the slightest respect for law, as he pretends, he would have waited for the action of the court. But the trials went on in defiance of the court order. March 8th the Kanawha Daily citizen said:
When Bonner Hill, sheriff of Kanawha county, bearing the processes from the circuit court against the military commission appointed to try Mother Jones and others, stepped from the train No. 14 at Pratt Friday morning, he was met by a military guard which conducted him at once to provost Marshal John Bond, who admonished Sheriff Hill to make no effort to serve the processes he had brought from the circuit court, and as a result he spent a fruitless day in the military zone.
Would Bond have dared to do this without the express orders of Hatfield?
In the Kanawha Citizen Judge Littlepage was quoted as follows:
Just now I am busy trying one of the most important cases on the docket, but as soon as I can I will learn why the orders of this court are not upheld.....I believe the military commission to be unlawful and unconstitutional, and I did all in my power to see that the defendants should have a trial elsewhere
The judge had set the hearing for March 10th, but there was no reply at that time, or until March 12th, and in the interim the trials went on. In his reply which he finally deigned to make, Hatfield wielded a big stick over the court, threatening to abolish martial law and lay the responsibility for what would follow on the shoulders of the circuit court. Judge Littlepage replied with an offer to adjourn his court and adjust the troubles, provided the governor and the coal barons would agree. But this the governor would not entertain. In the end Littlepage decided against the miners, saying that, were it not for the outrageous decision of the state supreme court in the Nance and Mays case, by which he was tied hand and foot, he "could decide in two minutes" in favor of the miners.
The military trials were finished. A great many were convicted and these convictions Hatfield used as a club to break the strike. The vast majority of those convicted were immediately paroled the statement that if they took any more activity in the strike they would be rearrested and the sentences carried out.
About twenty were held, some of them being sent to the county jail. The sentences of twelve others, those of Mother Jones, Boswell, Brown and nine other Socialists, were kept secret, but it was pretty well understood that they were to go to the penitentiary unless the strikers surrendered. Thus did Hatfield use his military commission to serve the coal barons.
That the governor new that the proceedings of the commission were outrageously unfair, that the findings were grossly unjust, and yet that he was entirely in accord with such work, is evidenced by the fact that he put the records under lock and key and refused to permit them to be seen by anybody.
To those who may entertain the idea, from his smooth words, that Hatfield has experienced a sudden and radical change of heart, it may be pointed out that, from the first, he was making the same pretenses and promises of impartiality as he is making now. For example, March 18th he wired as follows to the New York Times:
No injustice will be done to any citizen in this military zone. Every person charged with crime in the military district and tried by the military commission will get a fair trial, and the same safeguards will be thrown about them as if they were being tried by a jury of twelve of their peers in a civil court. I believe the whole country will be satisfied with my conclusions as being equitable and fair, and that the accused received every advantage.-Henry D. Hatfield, governor.
Were these promises carried out?
At about this time [Captain Edward B.] Carskadon and [Captain Charles R.] Morgan, the two officers who were told off to defend the prisoners, were relieved from duty. They had done their best, had made numerous protests against the unfair methods of conducting the trials, and it is supposed that it was for this reason that they were sent back to civil life and their fat salaries paid to others....
[photograph and bold emphasis added]
SOURCES
The Atlanta Constitution
(Atlanta, Georgia)
-Jan 10, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-June 21, 1913
http://www.newspapers.com/...
The Court-Martial of Mother Jones
Edited by Edward M Steel, Jr
U Press of Kentucky, 1995
See also:
"ACM: The West Virginia Court-Martial of Mother Jones" by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/...
IMAGES
Mother Jones with Strikers Children
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/...
Mother Jones, Raising Hell
http://www.laborheritage.org/...
Mother Jones in West Virginia Military Bastile
http://www.wvculture.org/...
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The Death of Mother Jones-Gene Autry
O'er the hills and through the valley
In ev'ry mining town;
Mother Jones was ready to help them,
She never turned them down.
On front with the striking miners
She always could be found;
And received a hearty welcome
In ev'ry mining town.
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