Sid Hatfield
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Sid Hatfield (1893–1921) was Police Chief of Matewan, West Virginia during the Battle of Matewan, a shootout that followed a series of evictions carried out by detectives from the Baldwin-Felts agency. Accounts indicate Hatfield bragged of killing three men that day.
Hatfield was acquitted on murder charges stemming from the shootout but was later indicted on conspiracy charges and was set to stand trial in Welch, West Virginia. Several Baldwin-Felts men shot and killed him on the McDowell County Courthouse steps. None of the Baldwin-Felts detectives were ever charged in Hatfield's assassination.
Director John Sayles' Academy Award-nominated 1987 film Matewan starred David Strathairn in the role of Hatfield.
[edit] Sources
- Battle of Matewan
- Gunfire in Matewan
- The Hatfields and the Baldwin-Felts
- {http://www.imdb.com Internet Movie Database]
