"Many of the men carried guns and it was said that others had pistols..."

5000 OR 6000 MEN
MARCH ON MINGO

Unorganized Body Declares
Protest Against "Mine
Guard System"

MANY CARRY FIREARMS

By the Associated Press

   Racine. V. Va., Aug. 25.--A crowd of men, estimated at between 5000 and 6OOO, reached here this morning from Marmet, where they had been in camp. Many of them openly said they were marching to Mingo County, where martial law, declared several month ago by Governor Morgan, is still in force. They were apparently without leaders and straggled into town, although a compact body held to the main high[w]ay.

   While it was declared by some of the men who talked with citizens here that the majority of the men were miners determined to carry out their protest against what they termed the "mine guard system," they admitted that others were included in their ranks. One marcher said that a lot of "service men" were with them, miners who had been in the World War.

   Many of the men carried guns and it was said that others had pistols, although numbers of them said that they were without firearms of any kind.

   Upon reaching Racine they spread themselves over the town and in adjacent fields where they breakfasted. A number of wagons accompanied them in which they carried provisions.

   Just whom this food was for was not determined, as scores of the marchers patronized stores and restaurants here for their breakfast. The were cheerful, and those who talked with towns-people were almost a unit in saying that they proposed to see their plan through and that the march would end at the Tug River on the Kentucky border.

   Details of the march from Marmet were withheld. It was said by some of the marchers, however, that they had been on their way the most of the night.

   Inquiry failed to reveal just how long they expected to stay in Racine, but at 10:30 A.M. the column had not reformed and there was nn indication that the were in haste to resume the journey.

   Racine is on a State highway which lends from Marmet thr[o]ugh Boone and Logan Counties into Mingo.

   If the marchers had heard of the preparation being made to receive them at the Logan County line this morning, they said nothing about it,

   Logan, W. Va., Aug. 25.--(By A.P.)--About 500 Logan County citizens were under arms here at daybreak prepared to hurry to the Boone County border, where, according to advices received at the office of Sheriff Don Chafin, a party of men marching from Marmet to Mingo County, as a protest against martial law there, were about to cross the boundary.

   There was no direct information as to the number of the "invaders." as they were called, but the Sheriff and other county authorities said they would take no chances of letting the men through. Neither was it known just where the marchers were. They were said to be the more radical element of the men who for almost a week had been in camp at Marmet, near Charleston, with the announced intention of moving on Mingo as soon as their plans were perfected.

[Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, Thursday, August 25, 1921. Vol. VII.--No. 295 Night Extra, Pg. 2]