Tag Archives: John T. Gore

Don Chafin’s Deputies (1912-1917)

28 Thursday Apr 2022

Posted by in Logan

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The following list of Don Chafin’s deputies prior to the Battle of Blair Mountain is based on Record of Bonds C and Record of Bonds D in the Logan County Clerk’s Office in Logan, WV:

Don Chafin was elected sheriff on November 5, 1912 and appeared on December 28, 1912 with his bondsman U.B. Buskirk for $40,000 (Book C, p. 215)

Name, Date of Appointment, Surety, Surety Amount, Book, Page

Garland A. Adams…28 January 1913…J.W. Chambers…$5000…C…236

Joe Adams…14 October 1913…G.F. Gore, A. Dingess, David C. Dingess, Anthony Adams, Sol Adams, Sr., and Sol Adams, Jr….$5000…C…297

John Barker…5 February 1913…F.P. Hurst…$5000…C…241

J.E. Barlow…26 April 1913…S.B. Lawson…$5000…C…268

J.L. Bess…22 July 1916…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$5000…D…22

Joe Blair…28 December 1912…J.W. Chambers and Allen Mounts…$5000…C…224

John D. Browning…1 July 1914…Fidelity and Deposit Company…$5000…C…345

Bert Bush…6 January 1913…Monroe Bush…$5000…C…230

John L. Butcher…28 December 1912…Lewis Butcher, J.W. Chambers, Albert Gore…$5000…C…221

George Chafin…12 July 1915…James Toney…$5000…C…402

George Chafin…3 January 1917…J.B. Toney…$5000…D…74

J.A. Chafin…20 June 1913…J.W. Chambers and A.A. Vance…$5000…C…275

John Chafins…31 January 1913…H.H. Farley and A.J. Browning…$5000…C…240

Art Chambers…25 July 1914…Cush Avis, J.L. Chambers…$5000…C…349

Charley Conley…18 June 1914…George Butcher, Ed Chapman, William White…$5000…C…342

Nim Conley…18 July 1913…Ed Chapman and W.W. Conley…$5000…C…281

R.J. Conley…25 March 1913…Albert Gore…$5000…C…252

A.J. Dalton…26 December 1913…Fidelity and Deposit Company of MD…$5000…C…315

Riley Damron…5 July 1913…Millard Elkins and J.E. McCoy…$5000…C…278

David Dingess…3 April 1913…J.W. Chambers and George Justice…$5000…C…254

Everett Dingess…10 November 1913…John F. Dingess and Burl Adams…$5000…C…304

Vincent Dingess…7 July 1913…Georgia Dingess, William Gore, and Albert Gore…C…$5000…279

Ed Eggers…21 April 1913…Paul Hardy…$5000…C…264

Green Ellis…1 January 1917…Don Chafin…$5000…D…78

Joseph A. Ellis…30 January 1913…O.M. Conley…$5000…C…239

R.H. Ellis…undated…Elizabeth Ellis…$5000…C…233

H.H. Farley…29 January 1913…L.E. Steele…$5000…C…237

W.F. Farley…28 December 1912…Robert Bland…$5000…C…223

William Farley…13 January 1914…Wash Farley, A. Dingess, Lewis Farley, G.B. Farley…$5000…C…319

J.H. Ford…16 May 1914…P.J. Riley…$5000…C…336

Harry S. Gay, Jr….15 October 1913…S.B. Lawson…$5000…C…299

Albert Gore…28 December 1912…J.W. Chambers, G.F. Gore, Millard Elkins…$5000…C…222

C.W. Gore…2 January 1917…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$5000…D…76

John T. Gore…11 July 1916…G.F. Gore and Lewis Farley…$5000…D…18

Pete Gore…5 December 1916…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$5000…D…63

William Gore…31 December 1914…W.E. White, James Ellis…$5000…C…377

Joe Hall…23 April 1913…C.P. Donovan, Paul Hardy…$5000…C…267

A.A. Hamilton…14 June 1913…A.A. Hamilton…$5000…C…273

Paul Hardy…20 February 1913…W.F. Farley…$5000…C…244

John Harrison…19 April 1913…J.S. Miller, M. Elkins, W.E. White, and James Ellis…$5000…C…262

E.R. Hatfield…6 January 1914…$5000…H.H. Farley…C…316

Tennis Hatfield…14 June 1915…James Ellis and Lewis Chafin…$5000…C…396

William Hatfield…28 December 1912…J.S. Miller and George Justice…$5000…C…229

J.O. Hill…17 April 1913…Katie Mounts…$5000…C…261

B.J. Hiner…23 April 1913…C.P. Donovan and Paul Hardy…$5000…C…266

W.L. Honaker…8 August 1916…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$5000…D…23

Mat Jackson…13 October 1913…Albert Gore, Van Mullins, G.F. Gore, and David C. Dingess…$5000…C…296

Frank Justice…8 July 1914…America Justice…$5000…C…346

S.B. Lawson…12 April 1913…J.W. Chambers…$5000…C…256

G.W. Lax…21 April 1913…Paul Hardy…$5000…C…263

Harrison Lowe…5 March 1914…no surety [blank]…$5000…C…326

F. Middleburg…16 May 1914…D.V. Wickline…$5000…C…337

Charles H. Miller…25 November 1914…Don Chafin, W.E. White…C…368

J.M. Moore…14 May 1915…American Surety Company of NY…$5000…C…391

Allen Mounts…226

Cecil Mounts…11 June 1913…Allen Mounts…$5000…C…272

Cecil Mounts…2 January 1917…Lillie Mounts…$5000…D…79

K.F. Mounts…28 December 1912…Allen Mounts…$5000…C…225

K.F. Mounts…6 January 1917…Katie Mounts…$5000…D…72

Adrian Murphy…6 February 1917…W.H. Bias and W.E. White…$5000…D…77

John D. Neece…21 March 1914…W.E. White, R.H. Ellis, and J.S. Miller…$5000…C…330

George Robinett…17 July 1913…George Justice…$5000…C…284

Joe Scaggs…231

F.A. Sharp…28 December 1912…W.F. Farley and L.G. Burns…$5000…C…217

Clark Smith…22 December 1913…Mary Chafin…$5000…C…313

L.E. Steele…29 January 1913…H.H. Farley…$5000…C…238

Noah Steele…6 September 1913…L.E. Steele, Jr….$5000…C…290

Charley Stollings…21 July 1913…Matilda Stollings, Tom Butcher, Bettie Stollings, W.I. Campbell, and Milton Stowers…$5000…C…283

T.B. Stowe…13 January 1913…Martha J. Stowe…$5000…C…234

Elias Thompson…16 April 1913…W.I. Campbell and K.F. Mounts…$5000…C…258

George E. Thompson…17 April 1913…A.F. Gore and Willis Gore…$5000…C…260

Simp Thompson…3 October 1916…Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland…$5000…D…36

C.A. Vickers…12 January 1914…L.D. Perry and F.D. Stollings…$5000…C…318

Taylor Walsh…28 July 1914…W.E. White, Albert Gore…$5000…C…350

Moses Williamson…29 April 1913…L.H. Thompson…$5000…C…270

Clay Workman…28 December 1912…S.B. Lawson…$5000…C…228

Frank P. Hurst was elected sheriff on November 7, 1916 and appeared on November 28, 1916 with his bondsmen J. Cary Alderson, S.B. Robertson, and R.L. Shrewsbury for $100,000 (Book D, p. 54); deputies appointed after November 1916 may be Hurst–and not Chafin–deputies (a few names are duplicated for this reason, I think)

Trial of Don Chafin, the “Fighting Sheriff of Logan County” (1924)

05 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in African American History, Huntington, Logan

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From the Logan Banner of Logan, WV, comes this bit of history about the trial of Sheriff Don Chafin, dated September 26, 1924:

Trial of Don Chafin Set For Monday, October 6

Logan’s Sheriff Will Answer to Charges of Alleged Violation of Volstead Act.

Trial of Don Chafin, fighting sheriff of Logan county and a figure of national prominence, indicted by the grand jury in federal court on two counts, one charging conspiracy to violate the Volstead act and the other engaging unlawfully in the retail liquor business, will come up before Judge George W. McClintic, in United States Court at Huntington Monday October 6.

The same day was fixed by the court for the trial of John T. Gore, a deputy sheriff, and H.S. Walker, who were indicted jointly for alleged conspiracy to secure the arrest and conviction of one Frank Lewis, a negro, on a pistol toting charge because he had been a witness against another negro charged with violating the prohibition law.

Sheriff Don Chafin and Gore were given their release under bond of $5,000 each, but the court declined to admit Walker to bail, and he was remanded to the county jail, and held without bail until Wednesday at which time he was released under [error here in layout] mitted to jail Friday afternoon, after bond of $5,000. The last named was arrested and committed to jail last Friday afternoon, after he was alleged to have administered a severe whipping to William Avis, a witness before the grand jury. The alleged assault was said to have occurred when Avis returned to Logan from Huntington Tuesday.

The court at the same time continued the cases of five other Logan county officials indicted along with Sheriff Chafin, Gore, and Walker to the March term in Huntington [error in layout] in each of these cases the defendant obtained release under $3,000. They were: Emmett Scaggs, now county superintendent of schools in Logan, and the democratic nominee for sheriff, indicted for alleged illicit possession of liquor; Simp Thompson, a deputy sheriff under Chafin, indicted on a charge of alleging that for a $200 consideration he released Walter Wright, in whose possession a still and quantity of moonshine had been found; John Chafin, a relative of the sheriff and a deputy under him, indicted on a charge of having had liquor at the polls at Mallory, Logan county during the conduct of a national election; William Dingess, a deputy sheriff, indicted on a charge of selling liquor; and John Browning, a deputy sheriff, indicted for alleged possession of whisky in the basement of the court house at Logan.

Indicted jointly with Dingess on a charge of selling moonshine was Garfield Maynard. He did not appear for arraignment with the rest of the accused and the court ordered a capias issued for him.

Appearing in court with the famed fighting sheriff of Logan and the rest of the indicted persons were Colonel John S. Marcum and Judge F.C. Leftwich, engaged as defense counsel for the entire group. The formalities were brief and required but a comparatively short time of transaction. After furnishing their bonds the accused, with their bondsmen, who included W.F. Farley and A.S. Christian, left the court chamber in a body, accompanied by their counsel.

The indictments against the Logan officials were returned by the federal grand jury Friday morning, coming as the outgrowth of an exhaustive investigation of affairs in Logan county which  the government, it was said, has been conducting here for the past six months or more. According to reports, as many as 20 agents of the department of justice were at work in Logan at one time.

Tennis Hatfield, Republican nominee for the office of sheriff of Logan county, who served a jail term of eleven months and paid a fine of $1,000 for violating the prohibition law, was understood to have been the principal witness against Sheriff Don Chafin before the grand jury.

According to statements emanating from the office of United States District Attorney Elliott Northcott, Hatfield offered testimony to the effect that Chafin was his partner in the ownership and promotion of the notorious speakeasy once conducted at Barnabus in Logan county. This establishment, known as the Blue Goose, flourished from 1914 to late in 1922, when federal men closed up the place.

Source: Logan (WV) Banner, 26 September 1924

Democratic Party Intimidation in Logan County, WV (1924)

18 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in Coal

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Political history for Logan County, West Virginia, during the 1920s was particularly eventful; it included the latter years of Sheriff Don Chafin’s rule, the Mine Wars (“armed march”), Republican Party ascendancy, and the rise of Republican sheriffs Tennis and Joe Hatfield. What follows are selected primary source documents relating to this period:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA,

HUNTINGTON DIVISION

Before the undersigned authority this day personally came Orville Hall, who after being by me first duly sworn, deposes and says that he is sixteen years of age, resides at Switzer, Logan County, and is employed by the Switzer Collier Company, at Switzer.

That on the 5th day of November, 1924, after affiant had voted for the Republican Party in the election held November 4th, 1924, affiant was coming up the road, having come out of the mines, and I was walking. John Cooley was riding a mule, which mule we had been using in the mines. After we had gone some distance, Jack Meadows, Deputy Sheriff came along in a car and commenced shooting at the lower end of the camp of the Switzer Collier Company. He was shooting toward the ground. Buck Adams, Deputy Sheriff, was in the car with Jack Meadows, and another man or two that we did not know. They first shot at a point about the middle of the camp, having fired several shots. I got back out of the road, as far as I could, to let them pass in the car, and they shot right below me, and Jack Meadows took some shells out of his gun and threw them out in front of me and laughed, and he went on up the road, with the pistol in his hand, the car still running. They shot within about two feet of the mule. Two men shooting at the same time. Buck Adams and Jack Meadows were both shooting. The mule became frightened and John held on and was not thrown off; it was about four o’clock when this happened.

Orville Hall

Taken, subscribed and sworn to before this the 8th day of November, 1924.

Ira P. Hager

United States Commissioner as aforesaid.

***

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA,

HUNTINGTON DIVISION

BEFORE THE UNDERSIGNED authority, Ira P. Hager, a United States Commissioner in and for said District, personally appeared this day Wilburn Adams, who after being first duly sworn says that he run his car on election day, and hauled Republican voters to the election; that he was approached by John T. Gore, a Deputy Sheriff, while on the election ground, and the said Gore said to this affiant, “You did not go into the election to win, but you went into the election for contrariness, and we are going to set on you.”

I am informed by my son, Burl Farley, Wash Farley and Roy Adams that the said Deputy John T. Gore is threatening to do me bodily injury, or “beat me to death.” I being sick at the time he made these threats, which threats have been made since the election.

Wilburn Adams

Taken, subscribed and sworn to before me this the 8th day of November, 1924.

Ira P. Hager

United States Commissioner as aforesaid.

NOTE: Wilburn Adams and Deputy Sheriff Anthony “Buck” Adams were brothers. Wilburn married a sister to my great-great-grandmother.

Democratic Party Intimidation in Logan County, WV (1924)

16 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by in Coal, Logan, Man

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Political history for Logan County, West Virginia, during the 1920s was particularly eventful; it included the latter years of Sheriff Don Chafin’s rule, the Mine Wars (“armed march”), Republican Party ascendancy, and the rise of Republican sheriffs Tennis and Joe Hatfield. What follows are selected primary source documents relating to this period:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA,

HUNTINGTON DIVISION

Before the undersigned authority this day personally came FRANK BELL, who after being by me first duly sworn, deposes and says that he resides at Taplin, Logan County, in said District; that he is a contractor in the mines at Cora, Logan County. That Lee Belcher, Deputy sheriff came to affiant’s employees yesterday and told affiant’s employees that affiant was a Republican and that he “was going to get him.” That on last night they fired several shots all around affiant’s house and some shots into affiant’s house, some of them kept parading and firing pistols around the walls of the house all night, and affiant did not sleep any, but kept his clothes on all night.

That affiant looked out and saw some of the men and knew one of them to be Tom Chafin, Deputy Sheriff.

Frank Bell

Taken, subscribed and sworn to before me this the 6th day of November, 1924.

Ira P. Hager

United States Commissioner as aforesaid.

***

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA,

HUNTINGTON DIVISION

Before the undersigned authority, Ira P. Hager, a United States Commissioner in and for said District, personally appeared this day Annie Meade who after being by me first duly sworn, says: That on election day, November 4th, 1924, she voted a Republican Ticket at Cherry Tree Bottom, and that after affiant voted W.E. White, Jailor of Logan County, and John T. Gore, a Deputy Sheriff of Logan County, and John Harris, Constable of Logan District, and John Parmer, whose business is unknown to affiant, followed affiant down the street to the home of Charley Stollings, where affiant stopped, and they ordered affiant to get off the public highway. I was then standing in front of Charley Stollings’s house on the hard road. They then said, “If you open your mouth we will take you and put you in jail on your head.” I answered Squire White by telling him that he would not do it. Deputy John T. Gore then said, “You will see if I do not do it.” They then abused me for voting the Republican ticket.

Affiant is forty-four years of age.

Anna Meade

Taken, subscribed and sworn to before me this the 7th day of November, 1924.

Ira P. Hager

United States Commissioner as aforesaid.