On this day, 1 August 1921, Sid Hatfield, the pro-union chief of police of Matewan, West Virginia, was assassinated alongside his friend, deputy Ed Chambers, by Baldwin-Felts private detectives in Welch, WV.
Born in 1891 into the Hatfield family, of the legendary Hatfield-McCoy feud, Sid Hatfield worked as a miner, blacksmith, and eventually chief of police. But he was a unique character in US labour history, especially for the time, since he was a vigourous supporter of the United Mine Workers of America union.
At the time, mine bosses in West Virginia were waging a vicious war against workers, attempting to prevent them unionising in the state and winning better pay and safer conditions. In most places, police helped mine bosses arrest, beat and kill striking workers. But in Matewan, Hatfield defended miners.
In the Battle of Matewan in 1920, hired thugs from the Baldwin-Felts detective agency arrived in the town to evict striking miners from their homes, and arrest Hatfield with a phony warrant. Hatfield, a crack shot known for holding two pistols, told them the only way the detectives would take him out of the town was “dead”. Shooting then broke out, which left 10 people dead: two miners, the mayor, and seven Baldwin-Felts agents.
Sid Hatfield and 22 others, mostly miners, were put on trial for the killings of the agents, but none were convicted by any local juries. So instead, Baldwin-Felts agents plotted to murder Hatfield. When Hatfield and Chambers attended McDowell County courthouse on August 1, 1921, agents shot them to death. Despite the victims being unarmed, the agents were acquitted of murder on the basis of “self defence”.
We have produced t-shirts and other items commemorating Hatfield and his unique status in US history as a police officer who supported the working class: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/west-virginia-mine-wars https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2047875998730873/?type=3
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