Sid Hatfield Assassinated (1921)

Mon Aug 01, 1921

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William “Sid” Hatfield was a police chief of Matewan, West Virginia who was supportive of coal miners’ attempts to unionize, for which he was assassinated on this day in 1921 by anti-labor Baldwin-Felts agents.

As a police officer in Matewan, he had helped coal miners and their families resist the Baldwin-Felts agency, which was an anti-union force who evicted working families from their homes and harassed strikers.

He is most known for his role in “The Battle of Matewan”, a shootout between Hatfield, armed miners, and Baldwin-Felts agents that killed ten people. The shootout occurred when Hatfield and Albert Felts tried to arrest each other, which culminated in Hatfield killing Felts.

Hatfield was later assassinated by Baldwin-Felts agents while standing trial for murder, which increased the tensions between coal miners and company owners. Although Hatfield was unarmed when he was gunned down by the agents, his assassins successfully avoided any conviction for their crime on the basis of self-defense.

  • @[email protected]
    16•1 month ago

    Although Hatfield was unarmed when he was gunned down by the agents, his assassins successfully avoided any conviction for their crime on the basis of self-defense.

    just wow.