W. E. Snido
(transcriber may have made spelling and punctuation changes)
W. E. SNIDO
Direct Examination by Mr. Belcher
Q: What is your name?
A: W. E. Snido.
Q: You have been sworn, have you?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Where do you live, Mr. Snido?
A: Putney, Kanawha County.
Q: What is your business?
A: Store manager.
Q: For what company?
A: Campbell Creek Coal Co.
Q: How long have you been employed by that company?
A: Almost 16 years.
Q: Then you were there during the months of August and September, 1921?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Do you recall the time of the armed assembly of miners at Marmet?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Did you - how far is Putney, W. Va. from the town of Marmet?
A: Well, I do not know exactly, between 20 and 30 miles I would say.
Q: Is Putney in Kanawha County?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: How do you reach Marmet from Putney?
A: Well you come out the mouth of Campbell Creek and go up the river.
Q: Is it necessary to cross the river from Campbell Creek side to get to Marmet?
A: I think so, yes, sir.
Q: Did you see any armed men at Putney while these men were assembling at Marmet, about that time?
A: Yes.
Q: Tell the jury under what circumstances you encountered these armed men?
A: On the morning of the 26th of August there was a bunch of armed men came to my house and called me by name. I got up and walked down stairs and out on the porch in my night clothes, I did not see any one and I called; a man answered me behind my house and asked if I was the store manager. I told him I was. He said they would like to talk to me a few minutes if I would allow them to come up on the porch. I said certainly they could come up on the porch and they began coming single file up the steps, one behind another with rifles on their shoulders. I was not expecting anything of that kind as we were out of the trouble zone, and I asked, "What in the world is arong [sic]?" The leader stopped and said, "We are on a hike through here and have not had anything to eat for some time and want something to eat." I judge there was about 10 or 12 on the porch by that time. I said, "Well, I will try to find you something to eat, how many of you are there?" He said 250 in our bunch. I told him I could not feed 250 of you. He said, "We don't want you to feed us at all, we want in store." I talked and argued with them for a while and told them it was impossible; it was between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning, we have no lights there at that time and it was impossible to get the stuff out of the store at that time in the morning. One man said he had come after something to eat and he was going to have it. I told them if that was the way they looked at it I would go and put on my clothes and see what could be done, so I put on my clothes and went down where the boys were at the railroad. I asked them a good many questions which they of course did not answer, only told me they were headed for Paint Creek, they did not mention any special place. I asked them were they came from and they said everywhere. The leader of the gang seemed to [be] an army man, he told me he had been over the top once and was going over again. I argued with them some time and told them it was impossible for me to turn them in the store or to get enough stuff out to feed 250 men at that time of night. One man threatened he would break in and take it. I told him if he wanted to do that there was the store, but I advised him at the same time that the first man that tried that business would get hurt. I made them a proposition if they would get the president of the local in our place and bring him down there, I would go and get some of my clerks and take the president of the local and 2 of their men and get them something out of the store. They finally agreed to that and pretended to start two men after the president and told me to get some of my clerks. I walked from the upper end to the lower end of the store which is 100 feet and a man stepped out and threw a gun in my face and called me to halt. I asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted the password. I told him, "I don't know anything about your password. I am trying to make arrangements to get you boys something to eat." He said, "You will have to go back and get it from the Captain, so he marched me back to the Captain and the Captain told him to let me by. I walked about 30 feet on from the place where I had been stopped the first time and another man walked up and called to me to halt. I asked what he wanted, he said he wanted the password. I said, "Didn't you just hear the other man told to let me by?" He rammed his gun in my ribs and told me he did not mean any Damn foolishness, I said you will have to go back and get the password like the other man did." He marched me back to the Captain the second time, the Captain decided he would go with me to the president and get the men up. I went down to where one of my clerks was sleeping and called him. I then called for a young man I had sleeping in the store and when I called him, they seemed to get uneasy, seemed to be afraid something was wrong and the lined up and marched off.
Q: Do you know anything about in that company at that time, whether they were United Mine Workers?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: They had a local union?
A: Yes.
Q: All the men that worked there were union men?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: You say when this man called you, he called you by name?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Do you know anything about any guns being gathered up by any miners down there at Putney?
A: Not personally I don't, I know there were a good many gathered up, but I don't know any case personally.
Q: Do you know a man by the name of John Whitely?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Did you see him there during this trouble?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Where does John Whitely live?
A: I am not positive, but on Kelly Creek somewhere.
Q: What was Whitely doing there?
A: Gathering up guns and ammunition.
Q: After the day you saw this man Whitely gathering up guns and ammunition did you see any other men armed there?
A: A good many of them. Whitely was the only one I knew.
Q: Where were these men going who were with Whitely?
A: I could not answer that question, I do not know.
Q: What - was this man Whitely armed at the time you saw him?
A: Very well armed.
Q: Tell the jury what he had on him?
A: I could not state the number, but I would say not less than 6 or 8 pistols - in fact he had on overalls and had two or three sticking out of every pocket.
Q: What, if anything, do you know about cutting of the telephone lines?
A: Our telephone line was cut on the morning of the 26th after that crowd had been in there, about one mile below our store operation.
Q: Can you communicate from Putney to the points in Charleston and other places over this telephone?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: What is the number of the Putney local union?
A: 2347, I think.
Q: About what was its membership at this time?
A: I don't know about that. At that time, we were working about 500 men and I suppose they all belonged to that local.
Q: Do you know whether that local union expended any sums of money in that march?
A: No, sir, I do not.
CROSS EXAMINATION by Mr. Townsend.
Q: Mr. Snido, you say there were 10 or 12 men came to your house?
A: About that many came on the porch.
Q: And these 10 or 12 said there were 250 of them?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: How many did you see?
A: I would say about 50.
Q: You did not see the other 200?
A: No, sir.
Q: Did you know any of them?
A: No, sir.
Q: You do not know whether they were United Mine Workers or whether they were not?
A: They claimed to be United Mine Workers.
Q: Did anyone tell you that?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Who said that?
A: Their leader.
Q: How did he happen to make that statement?
A: I asked the question.
Q: What did you ask him?
A: I asked him if they were members of the United Mine Workers when they asked me to get in the store.
Q: Why did you ask that?
A: When I sent him for the president of our local.
Q: And they marched away?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: And did not harm anything?
A: Nothing only we, they harmed a couple of my ribs pretty bad when they punched me with a gun, they were sore several days.
Q: They did not break into your store?
A: No, sir.
Q: Did not take any of your property?
A: No, sir.
Q: And the next morning when your telephone line was cut, you do not know who cut it?
A: No, sir.
Q: Do you know what became of the men?
A: No, sir.
Q: They said they were going to Paint Creek, is that right?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: They said they were mine workers; you don't know whether they were organized or not do you?
A: No, sir.
Q: All you know is what they said?
A: Yes, I would not know the man if I seen him. He had a red handkerchief around his face and head this way (indicating) and I could not see anything but the front of his face - the man I was close to, don't know if they were all that way.
Dismissed