E. F. Morgan testimony
(transcriber may have made spelling and punctuation changes)
Witness - Mr. E. F. Morgan.
DIRECT EXAMINATION.
Questions by Mr. Belcher.
Q: What is your name?
A: E. F. Morgan.
Q: What office do you hold at the present time?
A: Governor.
Q: When did you first assume the duties of Governor?
A: March 4th, 1921.
Q: Governor I will ask you whether you on the 27th day of June, 1921, issued a proclamation proclaiming martial law in Mingo County, West Virginia?
A: Well I am not certain about the date Mr. Belcher, but a proclamation was issued along about that time.
Q: I had you a paper, and will ask you if that is a copy of the proclamation so proclaimed by you proclaiming martial law.
Mr. Houston. - Is that not a matter the court would take judicial notice of?
The Court. - I would presume so, yes sir, but it may be safer to prove it.
A: From a cursory examination I would say that is a copy.
Mr. Belcher - We here now offer this proclamation in evidence in this case, properly certified. (Marked Exhibit 1.) Same read to the jury.
Q: Governor have you the proclamation referred to in the proclamation just read, of May 19th, 1921?
A: I don't think I have. It may be at the hotel, but I don't think I brought it.
Q: I have you a paper which purports to be a copy of the proclamation made by you on May 19th, 1921, and will ask if that is the first proclamation by you proclaiming martial law in Mingo County?
A: It is.
Mr. Belcher - We now desire to offer this proclamation in evidence.
Objection.
Overruled.
Proclamation filed marked Exhibit 2, and same read to the jury.
Q: Governor were the conditions existing in Mingo County on the 19th day of May, 1921, such as are represented in your proclamation of that date?
Objection.
Sustained.
Q: How long did martial law exist in Mingo County under your proclamations that have been introduced in evidence in this case?
A: It has existed since the date of the first proclamation, and is still existing.
Q: Was Mingo County during the month of August, 1921, and until the 3rd day of September, 1921, occupied by the military forces of the state?
A: It was and still is.
Q: In other words, there has been military occupation of Mingo County since the date of the second proclamation by you?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Governor what, if anything, do you know concerning the state of war or insurrection in Kanawha, Boone and Logan Counties of this state in the months of August and September, 1921?
Objection.
Sustained.
Q: I will ask this question. What, if anything, do you know about the assemblying of a large number of men at or near Marmet in August, 1921?
A: I was not at Marmet - did not see any of these men there, and the only thing I know in relation to that is the reports that I received from the official of Kanawha County, the state officials and other individuals.
Q: From these reports, what action did you take in reference thereto?
Objection.
Overruled.
A: I made application to the Federal authorities for Federal troops.
Q: When did you first make that application?
A: Along about the 24th of August.
Q: How did you make the application?
A: I made it direct by telegrams to Secretary of War Weeks, President Harding, and General Reed who was in command of the 5th Army Corps at Indianapolis.
Q: Have you a copy of those telegrams?
A: They were all three similar, and I have a copy of them.
Q: Will you let us look at one please?
A: Copy of the telegram offered on evidence.
Objection to the introducing of same.
Objection sustained.
Q: What was done in response to your telegram to the President for troops?
A: Federal officers were sent within thirty-six hours to West Va. in response to that first telegram.
Q: Prior to sending this first telegram were you in communication with the authorities of Kanawha County?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Were you also in communication with the authorities of Logan and Boone Counties?
A: Yes, sir with Logan County particularly, I am not certain about Boone County.
Q: I will ask you whether or not the authorities of Logan, Boone and Kanawha Counties were unable to cope with the situation then existing at the time you sent the telegrams?
Objection.
Sustained.
Q: Prior to the sending of these telegrams I will ask you if you had ascertained if the peace officers of Logan, Kanawha and Boone Counties were unable to cope with the situation then existing?
A: I had ascertained that they are not able to cope with the situation.
Q: After these military officers, Federal army, came in response to your telegram then was done?
A: I had a meeting at the office with General [Band]holtz and Major Thompson, I believe they were the two officers, about three-thirty on the morning of August 25th or 26th, and after I had concluded the meeting with them they had a meeting with the officials Mr. Keeney, I believe and Mr. Mooney and Mr. Houston. That meeting I did not attend. As a result of that meeting Mr. Keeney, I don't know who accompanied him, proceeded the next day to Madison, in Boone County, to endeavor to have the armed marchers return to their homes, and desist from going further toward Logan and Mingo County. General Ban[d]holtz reported to me that he had investigated shortly after that and that the marchers were returning to their homes, and he returned to Washington, and Major Thompson returned to Indianapolis.
Q: The what occurred after that in reference to this situation?
A: I had information immediately that all of the marchers did not return to their homes, but that several hundred were proceeding to Logan, and the following evening, I think it was the following evening, Capt. Brockus with several of the members of the public safety department proceeded to Sharples to serve warrants on some individuals there who had a short time prior thereto held up and robbed one, two or three state policemen and driven some four, five or six from Sharples.
Objection.
Sustained.
Q: After you ascertained that these armed men were continuing into Logan County what, if anything, did you do in reference to calling again upon the President of the United States for Federal troops?
A: After I had received the information that there was trouble I had General Sharnick [Charnock], who had then been appointed Adjutant General of the State, go with representatives of the mine workers to Sharples, and requested Major Sharnick to command them to disperse. He left Charleston for that destination, and came back and reported to me. After this report I again requested Federal troops, and in support of that request I sent a committee to Washington, in fact I sent the committee before making the second request. On General Sharnick's report I realized the situation and it seemed impossible to get Federal troops from Washington and I had a committee of five or six of the business citizens of Charleston go to Washington and personal interview the President and the Secretary of War in regard to it, and then again renewed my request by telegrams and telephone, and shortly thereafter the troops were sent.
Q: What other than troops were sent into West Va. at your request by the Federal Government?
Objection.
Overruled.
A: I then proceeded to try to raise troops, volunteers, from any place that I could get them to protect the citizens of Logan County until the Federal troops could arrive. There were several went from the City of Charleston, some from Huntington, some from Bluefield, several hundred from McDowell and several from Mingo. I do not know the exact number.
Q: Who was then in charge of the military forces of the state in Logan County?
A: I commissioned Mr. Eubanks of McDowell County to take charge of the forces, and he was in charge of the forces in Logan County.
Q: How many Federal troops were sent into the state at your request?
A: I am not certain, Mr. Belcher, but I think ten or twelve hundred.
Q: What other equipment, if any, was sent in?
A: Squads or bunches of aeroplanes, four or six Martin Bombing planes. I think there all told eighteen or twenty aeroplanes.
Q: What did you do in your endeavor to equip the military forces acting under Colonel Eubanks in the way of arms and ammunition?
A: We supplied them with everything we had in the state. I borrowed forty thousand rounds of ammunition from the Governor of Kentucky forty thousand rounds of ammunition from the Governor of Kentucky four hundred rifles and either four or two machine guns.
Q: Where was that sent?
A: To Logan County.
Q: Governor, do you know anything about the meeting or assembling of about fifteen hundred men, miners, in Charleston on or about August 7th, 1921?
A: I don't know how large the crowd was, but there were several hundred I very distinctly recollect them assembling in the capitol grounds across from the Governor's mansion.
Q: How far is the Governor's mansion from the state house?
A: Right across the street.
Q: Governor, were any of the efforts you made in trying to disperse, through your official, or those under you, this army of men, of any avail, before you brought in the Federal troops?
A: They were not.
Q: What action, if any, did the President of the United States take in regard to the situation there?
Exception.
Question withdrawn.
Q: What was the result of sending these troops in by the Federal Government?
A: It resulted in a cessation of the warfare.
Q: Did the fighting cease before the Federal troops reached Logan County?
A: I understand it did not.
CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. HOUSTON
Q: Governor, you have been asked in your examination in chief about a mass meeting held in Charleston - was that not held on Sunday, Aug. 7th?
A: I think it was.
Q: You were present in the city of Charleston at the time?
A: Yes, I was present part of the time, not all the time.
Q: How many people do you think composed that assembly?
A: I don't know. I would not think more than five or six hundred. There might have been more, or there might have been fewer than that number. There was a good bunch of them.
Q: This meeting was held on the Capitol lawn, was it not, opposite the Executive Mansion?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you notice whether any of the persons in that meeting had weapons on them?
A: No, I did not.
Q: To all appearances this was simply a peaceful assemblage of citizens of the State was it not?
A: Well, if it had been any other day except Sunday it would have looked more peaceable. There was considerable noise, but any acts of violence, or anything of that kind I did not see. I did not hear the speeches, but I heard from them. I could hear them talking over at the house, but I could not distinguish what was being said.
Q: If this meeting was held on a week day, there was nothing to distinguish it from a gather of that size that was public and peaceful, was there?
A: Not except the report concerning the remarks made at the meeting.
Q: I will ask you to state whether or not that meeting did not pass resolutions and present them to you?
A: Yes.
Q: They presented them to you at the Capitol, I believe?
A: Yes, at the Capitol, and I had a very pleasant meeting with the committee that presented these resolutions.
Q: These resolutions were presented to you in writing?
A: Yes.
Q: By a committee from the meeting?
A: Yes.
Q: And about ten days later you sent a letter to the Committee in reply to these resolutions, did you not?
A: Yes, I replied to the resolutions.
Q: Did not the committee, and the members of that Committee meeting, among other things, make a complaint to you as Governor of West Virginia, about the existence of what is known as the "private guard system" in Logan, Mingo and McDowell counties?
Exception.
Exception overruled.
A: They did.
Q: I would like to ask you whether or not these resolutions presented to you at that time did not contain this clause - "Should either party refuse to accede to the request of the Governor, made in the name of the people of West Virginia, he be requested to call a special session of the Legislature to immediately carry out the emphatic promise made in the Republican Platform of 1920, upon which he was elected, and to which he do vigorously referred in his Inaugural Address. The particular promise to which reference is here made, being as follows --
"In a Republic the enforcement of laws made by the people should be and always will be in the hands of the public servants Elected By The People. We deplore the abuses that have grown up under the so-called private guard or DETECTIVE SYSTEM in this state, and we pledge a REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE to enact laws that will correct those abuses, and at the same time maintain and protect all lawful property and personal rights."
A: There was something of that character. I would not want to commit myself to that clause without seeing the resolutions, and my reply, but I do remember having made that character of statement in my inaugural address.
Q: Did not these resolutions contain the further provision:
"And whereas, it is known of all men that the enforcement of laws is not now in the hands of the Elective Officers of the people in said mining districts, and that the following declaration contained in the Bill of Rights are subverted:
"The rights of citizens to be secure in their houses against unreasonable searches and seizures. No warrant shall be issued except under probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation. No law abridging the freedom of speech or press, or assembly shall be passed, and no persons shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law, and the judgment of his peers." Do you recall whether this clause was in the resolutions that were presented to you?
A: I would not want from memory to state that that was in there, but I will be glad to send a copy of the resolutions and my answer to you, if you so desire, when I get home.
Q: I want to ask you whether or not you recollect that these resolutions presented to you by the Committee from this assembly did not contain the following:
"And Whereas, Since a Legislature overwhelmingly Republican in its majority refused to carry out the platform pledge as solemnly made, the mine guards and "detectives" have become more bold, lawless and officious, perpetrating outrage upon outrage, culminating in the cold-blooded murder of two native born citizens of West Virginia, on the Court House steps at Welch, McDowell County, Monday, August 1, when one of them was a prisoner of the State of West Virginia and a hostage of the Sheriff of McDowell County. When the assassin's bullet rang out, there were detectives, deputy sheriffs, state police, all of them cloaked as officers of the law, to the right, to the left, in front and in the rear, yet not a hand was raised in defense of the defenseless, and the bullets which pierced their bodies, forever stained the escutcheon of our State."
I present to you three leaves of paper, attached, marked Exhibit III by the Court reporter, and will ask you to state what that first one is?
A: That is a letter from myself to Mr. C. F. Keeney, President of the United Miner Workers of America.
Q: Do you recognize that as the original letter with your signature?
A: Yes, that is my signature.
Q: I present to you another paper, marked Exhibit IV, containing five sheets, which has to it the signature of E. F. Morgan, Governor, and ask whether that is your signature?
A: Yes, that is my signature.
Q: Referring to Exhibit III, I will ask you to state whether Exhibit IV accompanied the letter to Mr. Keeney?
A: Yes.
Q: I am now handling you a paper that has been re-marked "Exhibit III - A", and will ask you to look at that and state if you can, whether that is a copy of the resolutions presented to you by the meeting held in Charleston, on August 7th, 1921, and to which your testimony relates.
A: I presume that is a correct copy, except that there are no signatures attached.
Exhibits III, III-A and IV are now offered in evidence by the defense.
To the filing of which counsel for the prosecution excepts.
Exception overruled by the Court.
Re-Direct Examination. By Mr. Belcher.
Q: Governor, this petition purports to come from the people of West Va. do you know of any persons in West Va. that were interested in this petition except the miners and their representatives?
A: I do not.
Q: Have the people from any other section of the state or belonging to any other society filed with you a like petition?
A: They have not.
Q: Have you any information that Anderson Fauver is an active member of the United Mine Workers of America?
A: Except that I think that was one of the names signed to the petition or resolutions.
Q: Have you any information that Savery Holt is an active member of the United Mine Workers of America?
A: I have none.
Q: Have you any information that June France is an active member of the United Mine Workers of America?
A: I have not.
Q: Have you any information that J. E. Miller is an active member of the United Mine Workers of America?
A: I have none except that his name is on the resolutions.
Q: Did you understand at the time this petition was presented to you that it was presented in the interests of the United Mine Workers of America?
A: I did.
Q: And since that time has any information come to you that it was presented otherwise?
A: There has not.
Dismissed.