to the president, according to pre-war procedures, unless the danger was so immediate as to warrant emergency intervention. Meanwhile, Baker instructed Read on December 1 to begin immediate withdrawals of the Nineteenth Infantry from riot duty in the state.16

Governor Cornwell feared renewed trouble in January, when Sid Hatfield and other participants in the Matewan Massacre were to stand trial for the murder of the Felts brothers and other Baldwin-Felts detectives. He requested Secretary Baker to delay withdrawals at least until the legislature could reconstitute the state's National Guard units. Assured by Cornwell of West Virginia's intent to assume responsibility for maintaining law and order, Baker agreed to withdrawal of one company each on January 15, 17, and 19, 1921, to Camp Sherman, Ohio. The last company and theregimental headquarters, however, were to remain in Mingo County until February 16, 1921.17

Three months later economic recession and the results of two elections disturbed the shaky calm that had existed since Colonel Hall's final withdrawal. Making cheap labor more readily available, the recession of 1921 enhanced the position of the mine operators. In addition, Ephraim F. Morgan, the candidate favored by coal operators for governor, took office on March 4. Nationally, the newly-elected Republican President Warren G. Harding, who ran on the slogan of a "Return to Normalcy," showed no indication of sympathy for the plight of the miners. Expecting no help from the state or federal governments to overcome resistance to unionization in Mingo and Logan counties, the UMW opted once again for the tactics of confrontation.