Double Murder in Welch

Around 10:30 on the morning of August 1, 1921, shots rang through the city of Welch louder than the courthouse clock. Two bodies laid on the steps murdered in cold blood. The first to fall was Ed Chambers, of Matewan, Mingo County. The second was the Coalminer’s Hero – none other than “Smilin’ Sid” Hatfield.

These murders were retaliation to the events that occurred in Matewan on May 19, 1920. On that day, ten people met their Maker after a brutal gun fight in the middle of town. Of those ten, seven were Baldwin-Felts detectives of Bluefield, West Virginia. Of the dead was Al and Lee Felts, brothers of Thomas Felts who had not accompanied them to Matewan. Thomas Felts along with William Baldwin owned the Baldwin-Felts Agency.

However, Hatfield and Chambers were not in Welch for what happened in Matewan. The duo were charged with conspiring to shoot up Mohawk, McDowell County, in an effort to unionize the miners.

At the time of the shooting, Hatfield’s attorney, CJ Van Fleet was in a meeting with McDowell County Prosecuting Attorney GL Counts. Van Fleet had requested a change in venue to Greenbrier County which was granted.

More than one hundred people that day witnessed the heartless murders of the two as they were slain with their wives by their sides. Of those witnesses were LH Ellis, a West Virginia State Trooper and Walter Mitchell, Welch Chief of Police.

The Baldwin-Felts detectives who brazenly stood at the top of the courthouse steps with barrels blazing were CE Lively, Buster Pence, and Bill Salter. Their ruthless actions were typical of the agency detectives who had been hired by coal company owners and operators to evict miners and their families when they would strike against the companies in an effort to unionize. They executed their tasks with cruelty and absolution.

Hatfield and Chambers were unarmed that fateful day in Welch. Ed Chambers had been the first shot, but was not the first to die. As he lay there on the courthouse steps, one of the agents walked down to where he lay and fired a fatal shot into his head as his wife was by his side. The detectives mentioned were indicted for murder; however, they were acquitted as they claimed their actions were self-defense.

The names of Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers are almost synonymous with the Mine Wars of West Virginia. They stood with the United Mine Workers of America and Mother Jones to fight for the people of the southern coalfields. Their legacy lives on in books, “Matewan” the movie, and “Terror of the Tug” a play written by Jean Battlo, a lifelong McDowell County resident.

As Hatfield’s and Chamber’s bullet ridden bodies laid on the courthouse steps of Welch, McDowell County, West Virginia, the courthouse clock struck eleven.

For more information, please visit the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum and PBS American Experience The Mine Wars.