Tag Archives: Simp Thompson

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)

State v. Edgar Combs (1923): Statement of Ed Cook and Others, No. 22

02 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Battle of Blair Mountain, Coal, Logan

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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)

28 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by in Logan

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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, Ira P. Hager, a United States Commissioner in and for said District, Ed Dingess, who after being by me first duly sworn, says that he is thirty-seven years of age, married, resides at Cherry Tree Bottom, Logan County, and works in the ice business during the summer season.

That on November 2nd, 1924, affiant was in the Marshal’s office at Logan, when a man who lived at Cora came in and reported that Lee Belcher had ordered him to leave Cora, where he lived, on account of his having Republican literature on his car and house, stating that the said Lee Belcher, Deputy Sheriff had threatened to do him bodily injury, that affiant along with Henry Sansom was deputized by one of the Deputy Marshals to go to Cora and protect the man, he being afraid to return to his home without protection. That affiant and the said Henry Sansom were in Cora, guarding the man, and Lee Belcher came up and said, “Are you fellows here to guard these men out of here?” And I said, “Yes.” And he said, “The county ought to be filled up with good looking men like us.” And I replied “that it was pretty well full.” He then went away and did not make any trouble for us. On the night of the election I went to the Court House at Logan to ascertain the results of the election, and as I went through the corridors of the Court House I met Lee Belcher, and he said, “What was you doing in Cora, you god-damned son-of-a-bitch, that is my town.” He said, “I am running Cora,” and made at me with his pistol, and John Dingess, who used to be a deputy, pulled his pistol and said, “Give it to him, god-damned son-of-a-bitch,” and repeated it several times. John Dingess kept his pistol drawn on me while Lee Belcher beat me about the face. The scars and bruises are visible on my face where I was struck. I tried to shove off his licks, but he hit me twice, and Simp Thompson ran in and stopped him, and I presume that Thompson saved me.

I bled right much and suffered considerable pain as a result of the blows.

Ed Dingess

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

Ira P. Hager

United States Commissioner as aforesaid.

***

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIRGINIA,

HUNTINGTON DIVISION

Before the undersigned authority this day personally came Thomas Fisher, who after being by me first duly sworn, says:

That he was deputized by Hugh Deskins, at Mud Fork, on election day, after the said Hugh Deskins, Deputy U.S. Marshal, had been assaulted by Don Chafin, Sheriff of Logan County, and that the said Hugh Deskins gave affiant a pistol, and about thirty minutes after affiant was deputized, the said Don Chafin came around and arrested affiant, and took the pistol away from affiant, and turned affiant over to Deputy Sheriff Randolph Dial, who took affiant to jail, where affiant was kept until the next morning. Affiant lost his vote. Affiant asked the said Randolph Dial to let him vote, having told the said Randolph Dial that affiant had not voted, and the said Randolph Dial said, “I haven’t time to fool with you.” So affiant lost his vote.

Affiant saw Don Chafin assault Hugh Deskins, Deputy U.S. Marshal. Hugh Deskins was standing on the election ground and Don Chafin drove up in his car. Hugh was standing with his hands folded and Chafin walked up and hit him on the side of the face under the left ear. Deskins backed off, and Chafin said, “Don’t you like that? If you don’t, I will give you some more.” Chafin drove off in his car and in a little while came back and one of the Mounts boys called to Don and pointed me out and then Don arrested me. When Chafin arrested me I told him that I was deputized by a United States Deputy Marshal and he said, “That don’t go here.”

Thomas Fisher

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

Ira P. Hager

U.S. Commissioner