Putnam Herald May 4, 1933
The forbidding hills around Wilder echoed a weird chant from the lips of
striking union miners to four men they "hoped would pay" Tuesday when they
buried their chief, Byron "Barney" Graham, 40, slain Sunday night by Jack
"Shorty" Green, mine guard.
Monday night a non-union guard at the mines at the Fentress Coal and Coke
Company received this message, "We've tried to have no bloodshed. You
killed first. This is the beginning".
While miners went to work under heavy guard, and women and children stayed
at home, the little mining village in Fentress county was a hotbed of
seething hate, as the strikers, whose cause Graham led, planned revenge in a
series of overnight meetings.
It was believed here that troops of the Cookeville cavalry unit would not be
called out for further duty at present.
Graham was killed between the commissary and post office at Wilder at 8 p.m.
Sunday while a majority of the town's inhabitants were at a church meeting.
Green was alleged to have emptied a .38 calibre automatic into Graham's
body. Seven shots took effect. Graham's head was also beaten and his skull
fractured.
Green submitted to arrest at Jamestown Monday morning and was released under
$2000 bond. The Fentress County Grand Jury is making an investigation of
the slaying.
Funeral services for the slain chief were conducted Tuesday afternoon amid a
tense air of conflicting emotions; the union wants revenge and the non-union
feels it has achieved a victory.
Graham had agitated the strikes which began last summer, and had defended
the miners in all their fights. His popularity with the men and his
persistence in carrying the fight for the union miners had placed him in a
position where his advice carried great weight with them.
president of the local coal miners union in 1932 and 1933,
was shot by Jack Green.
married to Daisy Nickens, 1896-1982, who died in
Xenia, Ohio.
The forbidding hills around Wilder echoed a weird chant from the lips of
striking union miners to four men they "hoped would pay" Tuesday when they
buried their chief, Byron "Barney" Graham, 40, slain Sunday night by Jack
"Shorty" Green, mine guard.
Monday night a non-union guard at the mines at the Fentress Coal and Coke
Company received this message, "We've tried to have no bloodshed. You
killed first. This is the beginning".
While miners went to work under heavy guard, and women and children stayed
at home, the little mining village in Fentress county was a hotbed of
seething hate, as the strikers, whose cause Graham led, planned revenge in a
series of overnight meetings.
It was believed here that troops of the Cookeville cavalry unit would not be
called out for further duty at present.
Graham was killed between the commissary and post office at Wilder at 8 p.m.
Sunday while a majority of the town's inhabitants were at a church meeting.
Green was alleged to have emptied a .38 calibre automatic into Graham's
body. Seven shots took effect. Graham's head was also beaten and his skull
fractured.
Green submitted to arrest at Jamestown Monday morning and was released under
$2000 bond. The Fentress County Grand Jury is making an investigation of
the slaying.
Funeral services for the slain chief were conducted Tuesday afternoon amid a
tense air of conflicting emotions; the union wants revenge and the non-union
feels it has achieved a victory.
Graham had agitated the strikes which began last summer, and had defended
the miners in all their fights. His popularity with the men and his
persistence in carrying the fight for the union miners had placed him in a
position where his advice carried great weight with them.
president of the local coal miners union in 1932 and 1933,
was shot by Jack Green.
married to Daisy Nickens, 1896-1982, who died in
Xenia, Ohio.
Putnam Herald May 4, 1933
The forbidding hills around Wilder echoed a weird chant from the lips of
striking union miners to four men they "hoped would pay" Tuesday when they
buried their chief, Byron "Barney" Graham, 40, slain Sunday night by Jack
"Shorty" Green, mine guard.
Monday night a non-union guard at the mines at the Fentress Coal and Coke
Company received this message, "We've tried to have no bloodshed. You
killed first. This is the beginning".
While miners went to work under heavy guard, and women and children stayed
at home, the little mining village in Fentress county was a hotbed of
seething hate, as the strikers, whose cause Graham led, planned revenge in a
series of overnight meetings.
It was believed here that troops of the Cookeville cavalry unit would not be
called out for further duty at present.
Graham was killed between the commissary and post office at Wilder at 8 p.m.
Sunday while a majority of the town's inhabitants were at a church meeting.
Green was alleged to have emptied a .38 calibre automatic into Graham's
body. Seven shots took effect. Graham's head was also beaten and his skull
fractured.
Green submitted to arrest at Jamestown Monday morning and was released under
$2000 bond. The Fentress County Grand Jury is making an investigation of
the slaying.
Funeral services for the slain chief were conducted Tuesday afternoon amid a
tense air of conflicting emotions; the union wants revenge and the non-union
feels it has achieved a victory.
Graham had agitated the strikes which began last summer, and had defended
the miners in all their fights. His popularity with the men and his
persistence in carrying the fight for the union miners had placed him in a
position where his advice carried great weight with them.
president of the local coal miners union in 1932 and 1933,
was shot by Jack Green.
married to Daisy Nickens, 1896-1982, who died in
Xenia, Ohio.
The forbidding hills around Wilder echoed a weird chant from the lips of
striking union miners to four men they "hoped would pay" Tuesday when they
buried their chief, Byron "Barney" Graham, 40, slain Sunday night by Jack
"Shorty" Green, mine guard.
Monday night a non-union guard at the mines at the Fentress Coal and Coke
Company received this message, "We've tried to have no bloodshed. You
killed first. This is the beginning".
While miners went to work under heavy guard, and women and children stayed
at home, the little mining village in Fentress county was a hotbed of
seething hate, as the strikers, whose cause Graham led, planned revenge in a
series of overnight meetings.
It was believed here that troops of the Cookeville cavalry unit would not be
called out for further duty at present.
Graham was killed between the commissary and post office at Wilder at 8 p.m.
Sunday while a majority of the town's inhabitants were at a church meeting.
Green was alleged to have emptied a .38 calibre automatic into Graham's
body. Seven shots took effect. Graham's head was also beaten and his skull
fractured.
Green submitted to arrest at Jamestown Monday morning and was released under
$2000 bond. The Fentress County Grand Jury is making an investigation of
the slaying.
Funeral services for the slain chief were conducted Tuesday afternoon amid a
tense air of conflicting emotions; the union wants revenge and the non-union
feels it has achieved a victory.
Graham had agitated the strikes which began last summer, and had defended
the miners in all their fights. His popularity with the men and his
persistence in carrying the fight for the union miners had placed him in a
position where his advice carried great weight with them.
president of the local coal miners union in 1932 and 1933,
was shot by Jack Green.
married to Daisy Nickens, 1896-1982, who died in
Xenia, Ohio.
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