Josiah Keeley
(transcriber may have made spelling and punctuation changes)
JOSIAH KEELEY,
Direct Examination By Mr. Ossenton
Q: Have you been sworn as a witness in this case?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Tell the jury your name?
A: Joshia [sic] Keely.
Q: What is your age, Mr. Keely?
A: 48
Q: Where do you reside?
A: Cayford.
Q: In what county and state?
A: Kanawha County, W. Va.
Q: What business are you engaged in?
A: Managing coal mines.
Q: Are you also interested in mines otherwise?
A: No, sir.
Q: What was your business prior to your engagement in coal mining?
A: I was a school teacher.
Q: Where were you living in August and September of last year?
A: At Cayford.
Q: About how many men do you employ in and about the mines where you work?
A: We have 22 mines and I think probably a thousand men on the payroll.
Q: Where are those mine located, all at Cayford?
A: No, there is about seven in that group.
Q: Where are the others?
A: Acme, Red Warren, Cherokee, Holly, Quarrier, Dakota, and Wewako
Q: With reference to Cabin Creek where are those mines?
A: At the head of the creek
Q: Are they union mines, do the united mine workers have local there?
A: They have.
Q: Did they have them at that time?
A: Yes, sir
Q: Do you recall the assembling of men on Lens Creek near Marmet in Kanawha County in the latter part of August and the early part of September?
A: Yes, sir
Q: When did you first learn that the men were assembling at Marmet, to the best of your knowledge?
A: There was talk that there was to be a march of some kind for several days, but the first I knew of it I went to Charleston on Saturday about the 20th.
Q: In going to Charleston how did you travel?
A: On the train to Cabin Creek junction and from there on the streetcars.
Q: Did you see ant armed men on the train?
A: Not many.
Q: Did you see any?
A: Some, yes
Q: In passing Marmet did you see any of the men?
A: Yes, sir
Q: Where did you see them?
A: Around the station and also walking up Lens Creek.
Q: Were they armed or not?
A: Some of them were
Q: About how many men did you see at the station and around Lens Creek?
A: At that time there was not over 50 or 75
Q: When did you return from Charleston?
A: The same day.
Q: Did you notice any men as you came back?
A: There was still some around the station at Marmet.
Q: Where did you go when you left Charleston that same day?
A: Back to Cayford.
Q: Did you observe any armed men after that passing your place?
A: They did not begin to gather until after I went back.
Q: Well, after you went back home did you notice any, if so how many?
A: Saturday night, I cannot say I recall any men with guns
Q: After that did you notice any armed men coming to Cabin Creek?
A: Yes, sir, some
Q: Were they assembling down there after you returned home?
A: My home is 16 miles up Cabin Creek. I saw the men as the street car passed Marmet
Q: I mean after you returned home did you at any time observe men going down the creek?
A: Thousands of them in the next two or three days.
Q: How did they travel?
A: In automobiles and trains.
Q: What were they carrying?
A: Guns, and pistols and packages.
Q: What character of guns, describe them to the jury.
A: I think every make of gun probably that we are familiar with, 30-30s, Springfields and shot guns
Q: Did you hear any of the armed men that passed your place say anything about their purpose or where they were going?
A: Well, in gathering for the trains they seemed to have a - I don't know whether it was a password or a gathering word, but it was, "On to Mingo."
Q: Did you hear any statements made by any of the men that you say passed your place armed, besides that?
A: Well, I don't recall about the men, but I remember the children saying, "No more law."
Motion to strike out.
The Court: Were those the children of the men?
A: No, the children gathered around the crowd of men.
Overruled.
Q: I will ask you if you heard any other statements made by the armed men passing your place?
A: I probably did.
Q: Can you tell the jury what it was you heard?
A: No, the thing that stuck in my mind was what the children said.
Q: Tell the jury what happened from then on in your neighborhood.
A: Well, for those 2 or 3 days I rode up and down the creek on the train just to see what was happening. It was mysterious to us and we wanted to know what was going on. As I say the men did not seem to want to go from our mine and did not go in numbers, and that went on up until the night of the 23rd, Tuesday night, then a good many rumors came down that night about a crowd going to take the men out and rumors came to me over the 'phone -
Objection.
Sustained.
Q: I want you to tell us what you did.
A: I would prefer you to ask the questions.
Q: What happened if anything on the night of the 23rd?
A: I was called from my bed about 10 o'clock and I came down in my bath robe and bare-footed. There were 5 men there, three masked and three without masks. One of the men without mask was Ed. Sherer.
Q: What did they have
A: The men that were masked had pistols. Mr. Sherer told me that he understood we had a great many arms and ammunitions and machine guns stored in our store and office. I told him That it was a mistake, that we did not [and] that there were a few guns probably kept by the boys who roomed above the store. After talking, he seemed satisfied and said he would go back and report. I did not go in the house, but sat on the porch, and my neighbor, A. J. Baker, came over and sat down beside me. As we were sitting there there in an electric light in front of the house, there was the point of a gun moved along the platform of the station and drawn on us. We did not know whether we were to be shot or not. As the gun was held on us, a crowd of 15 or 20 fellows with guns and pistols levelled advanced to the porch and demanded the keys of the store. I said I was not going to turn the story over to them but would go with them. So they marched me in front of them to the store. A number of men had not gone to bed and were gathered in the rooms above the store and part of the crowd covered them with guns while the rest of the crowd went through the store. They had us open the vault and they made a thorough search of the building for guns and ammunition, taking perhaps half a dozen guns and pistols.
Q: What kind of guns were they?
A: I think four of them were 30-30s and the other was a 55 or a 45 that I knew was jammed and could not be used, they also took a box of 30-30 cartridges, probably a thousand rounds and the pistols of some of the boys, one watch was taken, automobile tires, flash light and probably some overalls and other things, not a great many others. When they left or as they were leaving I talked with Mr. Sherer and he told me he did not have the men well in hand, that they were drinking, but that they would certainly send back or we would be paid for what they were getting, that he was working under orders from the united mine workers. I don't know whether you want my conversation with him or not.
Q: Yes, go ahead and tell it.
A: I said how is it that you operators here that have been doing business with you men ***
Objection
The Court: Was this man a member of the united mine workers?
A: He said he was.
Q: And this was at the time of the march?
A: Yes, sir.
Objection overruled.
A: (continued) I said how is it that you are treating the operators here that have been doing business with you, keeping our contracts etc. with you worse than you are the non-union people and he said orders were orders and he was sorry of it and asked what was the value of the stuff that had been taken and I think I said $200. And then they got in their automobiles and drove off.
Q: In what direction did they go when they drove away?
A: Toward Cabin Creek.
Q: That is toward Cabin Creek Junction?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Were you ever paid by any one for the rifles, cartridges etc.
A: No.
Q: Did they ever return the rifles or any part of the things they got that night?
A: No, sir.
Q: How long have you known Mr. Sherer?
A: I have known him for some time, he used to work at Oley
Q: That is a mine, is it?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: After that do you recall being up at Cabin Creek a few days?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Tell us about that.
A: As I say in riding the trains and watching the situation and knowing the men had refused to go out and were not going on the march I knew the miners at Republic at the head of the left hand fork of Cabin Creek had so far held out that morning they all got on the trains, or a great many of them, I believe there were more colored people than white people right at the last. I stayed on the train and went back up the creek and as they for off the train a white man that I didn't know gathered them around him and distributed bills.
Q: What kind of bills?
A: They looked like $1.00 and $2.00 bills. I saw some one dollar and two dollars bills.
Q: Were any of these men armed at the time?
A: Yes, quite a number of them were armed. One negro particularly I remember had on an army sweater and seemed to have a good deal of trouble fixing himself satisfactory; he would go before the mirror and fix his hat one way and fix his side arms and then fix it another way and look at himself.
Q: Do you know of any of the stores of your other companies being broken into?
A: Yes, sir, reports were made to me every day.
Q: How many of them were there?
A: Acme, Holly and Quarrier.
Q: Do you know how much the actual amount was that your company lost int at way?
A: We have it itemized, but I haven't it with me, it was something over a thousand dollars.
CROSS EXAMINATION
By Mr. Townsend.
Q: Where were these negroes to whom this white man was handing out dollar bills?
A: At Cabin Creek junction.
Q: It wasn't election day, was it?
A: No, sir.
Motion made to strike out the testimony of this witness.
Over ruled.
Q: Mr. Keeley, these men that you saw were in your store, you don't know of your own personal knowledge where they went the last time you saw them.
A: When they left in an automobile?
Q: Yes, sir.
A: I didn't follow them.
Q: You don't know whether they reached Marmet or whether they did not?
A: No.
Q: You don't know whether those guns and other things they took were for use in this armed march do you?
A: No, only the credibility of the men who took them.
Q: You don't know of your own personal knowledge where these things went or who used them, or in what connection they were used, do you?
A: No, sir.
Q: You don't know why this man handed out $1.00 bills to the negroes, do you?
A: No.
Q: You didn't see any of them reach Marmet, did you?
A: No.
Q: You don't know whether what happened then had any connection with the armed march or not, do you?
A: No.
Q: You don't know whether any of the merchandise taken was taken by people who joined that march or not, do you?
A: It depends on what you call the march.
Q: I mean from the time they left Marmet.
A: They had them when they left Cabin creek.
Q: I am talking about Lens Creek?
A: No.
Q: You don't know where they went from Cabin creek, do you?
A: No.
Q: What is this fellow Sherer's name that you refer to, how do you spell it?
A: I think it is spelled S-h-e-r-e-r.
Q: His first name was Ed. you say?
A: Yes, sir, we had a mine foreman who has the same name and I could get the spelling of it.
Q: That Mr. Sherer was indicted in Kanawha County for that offense, was he not?
Objection.
Sustained.
A: He was standing at the junction when I came up.
Q: Do you mean Shenandoah Junction?
A: Cabin Creek.
Q: How far is it from your residence where you were sitting on the porch that night to the station porch?
A: About 40 feet or 50, there is a 500 candle power light there.
Q: 500?
A: Yes, sir
Q: You say the gun was playing along the station porch trained on you and Mr. Baker?
A: Yes, sir, the platform is like that railing there, I was sitting in about the same relative position. The top of the gun moved along there until it came to the corner, and when it came to the corner it was levelled and pointed at me.
Q: You did not move?
A: Not a step.
RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION
By Mr. Ossenton.
Q: At the time of this march were your mines operating?
A: Some were and some were not.
Q: Which mines ceased to work?
A: Davis mine at Oley runs pretty much all the time. The mine at Cayford we shut down in the middle of the day.
Q: Do you remember what day it was?
A: No, we could show it from our mine records, it was running close up to this time. When the men would not go out there a committee came to me and told me ***
Q: Who was that committee composed of?
A: United Mine Workers and they told me they had passed a resolution that those who would not go on the march must work and they decided to work.
Q: Later did they go?
A: Yes, sir they finally went.
Q: How long were your men gone?
A: Our contract carries with it a fine of $1.00 a day and I remember in making up that fine it run from 2 to 10 days so some of the mines must have been closed down 10 days.
RE-CROSS EXAMINATION
By Mr. Townsend.
Q: What was that date the committee came to you?
A: I would have to look at the mine records and tell you that.
Q: Was it before or after August 24?
A: It must have been getting along after that.
Q: Mr. Keely were you ever asked by anyone to send a list of the names of the people who were absent from your mines during that month?
A: I think so.
Q: Who asked you to do that?
A: I think a circular came from the Kanawha Coal Operators Association.
Q: Who signed that circular?
A: D. C. Kennedy, I think.
Q: And you sent this list?
A: Yes, sir, it was to get up their fines, they wanted it in connection with the contract about the fines.
Q: That was the purpose of the list?
A: I understood it was, yes sir.
RE-DIRECT EXAMINATION By Mr. Ossenton.
Q: Who is Mr. D. C. Kennedy?
A: He is secretary of the Kanawha Coal Operators Asso.
Q: Is this a part of his duty?
A: Yes, sir.