Walter Blunt
(transcriber may have made spelling and punctuation changes)
WALTER BLUNT, a witness of lawful age, being first duly sworn, deposes and says: Questions by Mr. BELCHER
Q: What is your name?
A: Walter Blunt
Q: Have you been sworn?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Where do you live?
A: Coal Fork on Cambell's Creek.
Q: How far is it to the city of Charleston?
A: About 6 1/2 to 7 miles.
Q: Were you living there during the latter part of August 1921?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Were you a member of the United Mine Workers at that time?
A: Yes sir.
Q: What local did you belong to?
A: Belonged to the Big Bottom. I don't know what the number of the Local is.
Q: That is on Campbell's creek?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Were you in the march of the miners in the latter part of August?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Where were you when you first heard that this assembly was going to gather at Marmet?
A: Coalfork.
Q: Who gave you the information?
A: Sam Marlowe.
Q: Who is Sam Marlowe?
A: He is just a man I got acquainted with.
Q: Was he a member of the United Mine Workers?
A: I suppose he was, he was working at Dry Branch.
Q: Do you have a local union at Dry Branch?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Do you know E. C. Lee?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Who were the officers, if you know, at the Dry Branch Local at that time?
A: I couldn't tell you.
Q: What did Sam Marlowe tell you - did he later join that march?
A: Yes sir. He come up there and stated he had orders from—
Objection.
Overruled.
Exception.
Q: What did Sam Marlowe tell you on that occasion?
A: Said he had orders from District 17 for all men to go to join this march at Marmet, and either go to Mingo or Logan county, either one. I forget which.
Q: After you had gotten that information, what did you do?
A: I went around and gathered up the guns, we put them in the car and struck out.
Q: Who went with you to gather up these guns?
A: Sam Marlowe, John Shannon and some other fellow there, I don't remember his name.
Q: How many guns did you get, tell us where you got them and the kind.
A: All that we got at Coalfork?
Q: All you got on that occasion, during that march.
A: We got a 30-30 from Clifford Harrington. We got 30-30 from Ed Perry, 25-20 from Scott Cotrell. 38 Winchester from Bid Morse. 38-56 from Ralph Wright. That is about all I know that we got right around Coalfork. I got a 22 high power from Alonzo Perry.
Q: What kind of gun did you have, if any?
A: I had a 22 high powered rifle.
Q: Do you know Walter Allen?
A: Yes sir.
Q: Was he a member of the United Mine Workers at that time?
A: I suppose he was.
Q: Where was he living at that time?
A: That is where I got acquainted with him. He said Dry Branch. That was the first time I had ever seen him.
Q: After you had gathered up these guns, what did you and the men do then?
A: We taken these down to Dry Branch and left them at Sam Marlowe's house. We went around Dry Branch and got some more.
Q: Who did you get these guns from at Dry Branch?
A: Got one from Benny Taylor. Got one from a preacher. I don't know his name, at Dry Branch.
Q: Then after you got these guns, did you get all you could find in that community?
A: Yes sir.
Q: After you had gotten these guns, what did you do? After you had gathered them up.
A: We stayed there and came on to Racine the next morning.
Q: Who went with you to Racine from the camp?
A: Sam Marlow, D. Munsey, Ed Simpson, D. Munsey's wife, and Frank Ailes and his wife, and John Shannon, and some others.
Q: How did you travel?
A: In an automobile.
Q: Which way did you go?
A: We crossed the bridge there at Kanawha, and up the C & O railroad side of Lens Creek, and over the hill into Racine.
Q: When you got to Lens Creek, what did you find?
A: I found a bunch of men.
Q: How many men were there when you went in?
A: I expect 250 or 300.
Q: Who had charge of the crowd you were in?
A: I suppose Sam Marlow had. He came and gathered up all the guns he could get and said for us to come.
Q: How far did he go with you?
A: Through to Racine.
Q: What did you do at Racine?
A: We stayed there about two nights and probably two and a half days.
Q: Then what did you do?
A: When the train came in they said for us to come on back home, and we got on the train and came back home. That was on Saturday, and we stayed around home until Monday.
Q: You say you met Walter Allen at Dry Branch?
A: Yes.
Q: What was he doing there?
A: The first time I saw him I was talking to him at his boarding house. I never asked him his occupation.
Q: What, if anything, did he have to do with the armed gathering of men at that time?
A: He did not seem to have anything to do with them.
Q: You came back home on Saturday?
A: Yes.
Q: Then did you go out on the second march?
A: Yes.
Q: Who went with you?
A: Myself, De Munsey, Bob Shepherd, Sam Marlow, Jimmy Jones. I can't remember the others, but I think there were about thirty of us.
Q: How did you go at that time?
A: In a taxicab to St. Albans.
Q: Who provided the taxi?
A: Someone went and called up Charleston and had three taxis come out and we got in them and went to St. Albans.
Q: Who paid for the taxis from Dry Branch to St. Albans?
A: De Munsey.
Q: When you got to St. Albans, what did you do?
A: We got on the Coal River train and went up the river.
Q: Did you purchase tickets? Before you got on the train?
A: Yes.
Q: Who purchased them?
A: De Munsey did.
Q: Where did you go after you got on the train at St. Albans?
A: I think we got off at a place called Jeffries on Coal River.
Q: When you got off at Jeffries, what did you find there?
A: We found a bunch of men there.
Q: Were they armed?
A: Yes.
Q: What did you do when you got off at Jeffries? What were you told to do?
A: We walked around for a while, and then some fellow lead us with a lot of others up the hollow for two or three miles to a school house where we got supper.
Q: What was this school house used for at that time?
A: It was the place where they had provisions for the miners to eat.
Q: When you stopped at this school house, was that as far as the others went that you met at the town of Jeffries?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you see any persons meeting the trains at Jeffries?
A: No.
Q: After you got to the school house, what instructions were give you?
A: We went up on the side of the hill and laid around there for a while, and then we went back in the mountain to the right of the school house and stayed there until six or seven o'clock in the evening, then we came back to the school house. Then we crossed the back of the school house on the other side of the hill and stayed there the rest of the night.
Q: Why did you go on the hill after you reached the school house?
A: Some fellow called a bunch of us and told us to go up there.
Q: Was this someone who seemed to be in charge that told you to go up on the hill?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you visit the firing line?
A: I think we got into Blair Thursday evening probably about three or four o'clock.
Q: Was this branch that you went on to the school house known as Hewitt's creek?
A: I don't know the name of it.
Q: How did you reach Blair from the point where you were at the school house?
A: We went up back of the school house and cross the hill there on what I think they call Beech creek. The laid over at Beech creek that night and the next day we caught the train and went to Blair.
Q: What did you do when you got to Blair?
A: We went up on the mountain and laid there for about four hours.
Q: Who were you fighting?
A: Someone said we were fighting the Baldwin-Felts thugs.
Q: That was told you on the grounds that night?
A: Yes.
Q: Did you learn later that was not true?
A: Yes, some of it.
Q: You say you were up there on the hill, on the battle line, for about four hours?
A: It seemed to me to be about four hours.
Q: Did you see anyone killed or wounded?
A: I saw one man killed.
Q: Who was it?
A: I think his name was Bobby Robinson.
Q: About what age man was he?
A: I could not say.
Q: How far was he from you when he was killed?
A: Probably about 150 yards.
Q: What did they do with his body?
A: Carried it off the hill and sent it away.
Q: Did you wear anything around your neck at that time, when you were up on the hill?
A: No, I did not wear anything around my neck.
Q: Were you given anything by the men who directed you to wear for the purpose of distinguishing you from the other side?
A: Not at Blair, we were not.
Q: Were you given anything to wear for identification anywhere else?
A: We were at Beech creek.
Q: What was it?
A: It was a red handkerchief and then they had us put a strip of yellow cloth around our arms.
Q: Just how many men did you see there during the time you were there in that section?
A: I could not tell you that.
Q: Can you not give the jury some idea of the number?
A: I believe there were about 2,000 that I saw from the time we started until we got there.
Q: What did you understand from this man, Sam Marlow, and from their talk, that their purpose was during that fight?
A: When they first came they said they had orders from District 17 for all able bodied men to come out, that they were going over to organize Logan and Mingo counties.
Q: Did you hear anything said about Mingo county being under martial law?
A: No.
Q: How long did you remain over there before you came back home?
A: Do you mean from the time we started?
Q: Yes.
A: About eight or nine days.
Q: When did you come back with reference to the time the soldiers came?
A: We came back the day they came in.
Q: Did the fighting continue until the soldiers went in?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you know what was done with their guns that the miners had?
A: The soldiers took them.
Q: Did they take them all?
A: They took all they could find.
Q: Were any of the guns hidden?
A: I could not say for sure whether they were or not.
Q: Did you have any kind of password to get through the lines?
A: Yes.
Q: What was it?
A: "I come creeping."
Q: Was that the pass word used in all the places you were?
A: Yes.
Q: About how far was it from the point where you first went into the firing line to Blair?
A: It seemed like 3/4 or a mile. We went up the hollow and around the hill.
Q: Did you see any airplanes while there?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you know whether they dropped any proclamations?
A: They dropped something they said was gas.
Q: I am not talking about bombs. I am talking about papers - did they drop any papers?
A: I did not see any of them.
Q: I think the thing you are talking about was no more effective than the President's proclamation, was it?
A: I don't suppose it was.
Q: Do you know anything about a negro being killed up there?
A: I heard of it, but I did not see it.
Q: Did you hear who the body of the negro was turned over to? Did you hear of it at the time you were marching in there going over to Racine?
A: No.
Q: When did you hear about it?
A: I heard about it before we left Dry Branch.
Q: Who told you?
A: Walter Morrison.
Q: Was he one of the men who left Campbell creek with you?
A: Yes.
Q: Was he on the march?
A: Yes.
Q: What did he tell you about it?
Objection.
Objection sustained.
Q: During the second march, did you see Walter Allen?
A: I met him at Jeffries.
Q: What was he doing there at Jeffries?
A: He went in ahead of us. I think he went in on Sunday and we did not get in until Monday
Q: Was he with the fighting miners in the section where you were?
A: He went through to Blair with us.
Q: Was he armed?
A: Yes.
Q: Can you give us the names of any of the other persons you were fighting with?
A: Do you mean the fellows with us?
Q: Yes, or any men that you may have found over there and gotten acquainted with.
A: There was a man by the name of Estep, but I don't know his first name.
Q: What was Estep doing?
A: He was the leader of the gang.
Q: Do you recall anyone calling him Alba Estep?
A: No, I heard them call him Cap.
Q: Was he a captain?
A: He was leading a bunch up on the hill.
Q: From what point was he leading these men?
A: From the school house to the rear of the firing line.
Q: Did the men obey his order and commands?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you know of any drilling being done in that vicinity at that time?
A: No, not that I know of.
CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. HOUSTON.
Q: What was the day you first left Campbell Creek?
A: I cannot recollect the date.
Q: Do you know the day of the week it was the first time?
A: It was on Friday.
Q: Then you went to Racine?
A: Yes.
Q: How long were you at Racine?
A: One night.
Q: That was the latter part of August, was it not?
A: About then.
Q: If the last Friday in August was the 26th, that must have been the day you went to Racine, must it not?
A: Yes, it must have been.
Q: You stayed all night at Racine. What did you do on Saturday?
A: Stayed there until the special train came in and then I went back home.
Q: Why did you come back home?
A: They said they had orders for the men to come back.
Q: Whose orders were they?
A: I could not tell you that. I was with a bunch and this man came and said he had orders for everyone to go home.
Q: Do you know where the orders came from?
A: No.
Q: Do you know how he got them?
A: No.
Q: Do you know who delivered the orders to you?
A: No, it was a fellow over by the railroad and he hollered them across to us.
Q: Then did you go on home?
A: We came over to the store and waited until the train came and then we went home.
Q: You went back to Campbell's creek?
A: Yes.
Q: What time did you get home?
A: On Saturday.
Q: Then you got home the same day?
A: Yes.
Q: What time did you get home?
A: I could not tell you when the train got in.
Q: You stayed at home on Sunday?
A: No.
Q: When did you start home from home on the second trip?
A: I did not stay at home on Sunday. I went to Charleston in the evening.
Q: When did you leave for Logan county?
A: On Monday.
Q: What time did you go?
A: They called a taxi to come to Dry Branch from Charleston and I guess we started from about 10:30 or 11 o'clock.
Q: Then from Saturday until ten o'clock on Monday, you were in Campbell Creek or in Charleston?
A: Yes.
Q: This time you say you went by way of St. Albans?
A: Yes.
Q: What time did you get to St. Albans that day?
A: I think about one o'clock.
Q: Then you got an afternoon train out? A: Yes.
Q: What time did you get to Jeffries?
A: I don't know what time the train is due there.
Q: And after you go to Jeffries, you went from there to Stuarts Creek and up the hollow to the schoolhouse?
A: Yes.
EXAMINATION.
REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. BELCHER.
Q: Do you know what company furnished those taxis in which you say you went to St. Albans?
A: I think it was the Jordan Taxi Co.
Q: Do you know whether or not the local union put up any money for the expense of the march - I mean the Dry Branch local?
A: I do not know for sure.
Q: Do you know whether or not the local furnished any money at all for this purpose?
A: I don't know.
Q: Do you know of any money used on that occasion by these men or any of them?
Objection.
Objection sustained.
Q: Do you know of any money being turned over to the men of your crowd?
A: I know Ed Falen gave Walter Allen $100.
Q: Who is Ed Falen?
A: He is a coal man at Putney.
Q: Is he connected with the Putney local?
A: I think so.
Q: Do you know of any other money that was turned over to anyone of your party or to Walter Allen?
A: No.
Q: You say you got on the special train at Boone County when returning from the first march. Who provided that train?
A: I don't know.
Q: Was it your understanding, and the understanding of the men who were associated with you, that what you were doing there with reference to this invasion, was done under the direction
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CROSS EXAMINATION BY MR. TOWNSEND.
Q. You don't know where that hundred dollars came from that Ed Falen gave Allen, do you?
A: Yes.
Q: Where did it come from?
A: From Ed Falen himself. It was his own personal money.
A motion is made by the counsel for defendant that the portion of the testimony of this witness relating to the giving of money to Walter Allen by Ed Fallen by stricken out of the record.
Motion sustained by the Court.
Part of part 393.
[Note: FOLLOWING HAND-NUMBERED PAGE 393 PICKS UP MID-QUESTION FROM BOTTOM OF HAND-NUMBERED PAGE 392.]
and under the order of the official of District No. 17?
Objection.
Objection sustained.
Q: What was your understanding as to who was directing the movement of the men on both of these occasions?
A: Sam Marlow came and said he had orders from headquarters of District 17 to go into these counties and organize them.
Q: Did I understand you to say that Walter Allen was on this trip with you and went with you all the way up to St. Albans? And on up the river?
A: I never said that.
Q: You found him at Jeffries?
A: Yes.
Witness dismissed.