USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume I > Part 97
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While Manager MacNeill consented to receiving any of his employes, or a committee from them, to consider any grievances they might have at any time, he declined to promise, as desired by President Moyer, that he would receive committees from the Mill and Smeltermen's Union.
President Moyer waived the demand for an increase of wages, which was made before the strike began. He waived the demand that, when grievances were to be presented, the company would receive them through a committee from the union. He waived the demand that Manager MacNeill should give a written agreement, and the demand that a guaranty be given that the strikers should be reinstated within a certain time, thirty or sixty days. Manager MacNeill. stated that he expected that the Colorado mill, which had been shut down for some time before the strike began, would begin operations again within a short time, and that in such case he would soon be able to re-employ practically all the strikers. President Moyer accepted Manager MacNeill's assurance that he would re-employ the company's former employes as rapidly as circumstances would permit, and that he would give preference to the union men who had been discharged and to the union men who had struck. He, however, acquiesced in the refusal of the manager to re-employ fourteen men who were specially ob- jectionable to the company.
The strike of employes in the Standard reduction mill at Colorado City, which began February 14, 1903, and the sympathetic strike of miners in the Cripple Creek district, which began March 17, 1903, were settled on the above-mentioned terms March 31st.
THE "EIGHT-HOUR" STRIKES OF 1903
The Colorado General Assembly having failed to enact an eight-hour law in compliance with the constitutional amendment adopted in 1902, the Western Federation of Miners decided to demand that smelting and reduction companies should grant an eight-hour working day, and, in case of a refusal, to enter upon a strike to secure an eight-hour day for all employes in smelting and reduction plants. All of the reduction companies in Colorado except the smelters had eight- hour shifts for men actually engaged in extracting ores.
During the first six months of 1903, the American Smelting and Refining Company (commonly called the "smelter trust"), operated seven smelters in Colorado-the Grant and Globe plants, at Denver; the Pueblo, Eiler and Phila- delphia plants, at Pueblo; and Arkansas Valley plant, at Leadville, and the Du- rango plant, at Durango.
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Besides its smelters in Colorado, this company had smelters in Montana, Utah, New Mexico, New Jersey, and elsewhere, in all, about twenty plants.
The only independent smelters in Colorado were the Boston and Colorado Smelting Company's plant at Argo, a suburb of Denver, and the Ohio and Colo- rado Smelting Company's plant at Salida.
In the spring of 1903 the Western Federation of Miners organized the Den- ver Mill and Smeltermen's Union, No. 93. At Pueblo a mill and smeltermen's union was formed, but only a small proportion of the employes of the American Smelting and Refining Company in its three plants there belong to the union. In the smelters of this company at Leadville and Durango the federation had only a few members.
The Grant and Globe plants, at Denver, handled 35,000 tons of ore a month, while the other five smelters of the American Smelting and Refining Company in Colorado handled 125,000 tons a month.
In two of the smelters of this company, the Pueblo and Durango plants, em- ployes who were actually engaged in extracting metals from the ores worked eight-hour shifts. With these exceptions, the employes of the company worked ten or twelve hours per day. Engineers, firemen, furnace-men, tappers, and roster nien worked twelve hours. All other labor about the smelters and in the sampling works, the shoveling of ore from cars and delivering the same on the smelter beds, and work of like nature, was performed by laborers working ten hours a day.
The request for a reduction of hours having been refused, Mill and Smelter- men's Union, No. 93 held a meeting in Elyria town hall on the night of July 3d and voted to begin a strike at the Grant and Globe smelters of the American Smelting and Refining Company at Denver.
This meeting was attended by Charles H. Moyer, president, and William D. Haywood, secretary-treasurer, of the Western Federation of Miners. The meeting having adjourned shortly before midnight, a crowd of about three hun- dred men entered the Grant smelter, which was not enclosed, and ordered the workmen there to quit. The crowd was composed partly of day-shift men and partly of men who were not employes of the company.
After stopping all work at the Grant smelter the crowd went to the Globe smelter, broke in the gates of the enclosure, and drove away all employes work- ing there, about one hundred and fifty in number. Five or six of the employes of the Globe smelter were beaten and kicked. The engineer especially was mal- treated, scalp wounds being inflicted upon him. The strikers extinguished the fires in the furnaces of both smelters.
On July 7th there were no men working at the Grant smelter and at the Globe smelter only about twenty men were employed in repair work. The smeltermen's union had placed pickets about the two plants. They were in- structed to use only moral suasion to prevent men from going to work in the smelters. The plants were guarded by thirty-one policemen. No disorder was reported, and on July 10th the force of special policemen was reduced to twelve.
An application for a writ of injunction was made by Franklin Guiterman, manager of the American Smelting and Refining Company. The application was signed by the attorneys of the company and the attorneys of the Citizens' Alliance. It was granted July 7th by Judge N. Walter Dixon, of Pueblo, in
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chambers at Denver. It was directed against Mill and Smeltermen's Union, No. 93, of the Western Federation of Miners, the American Labor Union, the West- ern Federation of Miners, the Denver Trade and Labor Assembly, the Colorado State Federation of Labor and against the individual officers of these organiza- tions. The injunction prohibited the defendants from interfering in any way with the business of the complainant, prohibited picketing the premises of the complainant, and prohibited "publishing any order, statements, rules, or direc- tions by the officers of said defendant association," commanding those who wish to continue their work or return to work not to do so.
On August 5th Judge Dixon, upholding his jurisdiction in the premises, sentenced a member of the smeltermen's union to two months in the county jail for contempt of court in disobeying the injunction.
The American Smelting and Refining Company decided not to reopen the Grant smelter, the equipment of which was antiquated. By the middle of August, six weeks after the strike began, the company had enough employes to operate ·successfully the Globe smelter, and after that it continued in operation without interruption. Former employes who went on strike were re-employed only after making a declaration that they had severed their connection with the Western Federation of Miners.
An extra session of the Legislature to enact an "eight-hour" law was called to meet July 20, 1903, but it was in session only six days, the governor finding .that "no agreement on the terms of such a bill could be reached."
On September Ist, 1903, the federation men in San Miguel County struck for an eight-hour day and a new scale of wages. By September 6th, 700 men' had left the camp. The strike closed six mills-the Tom Boy, Liberty Bell, Nellie, Columbia, Menona and one of the Smuggler-Union mills.
Afterward the managers of several mills agreed to reduce the working hours from twelve to eight hours, the mill men to accept a reduction of 50 cents a day -- those receiving $4 to get $3.50 and those receiving $3:50 to get $3.
THE IDAHO SPRINGS STRIKE OF 1903
In the spring of 1903, there was a strike of gold miners at Idaho Springs in Clear Creek County. The minimum wage of miners was $2.75 for a day's work of nine hours. They struck for a working day of eight hours, with no reduction in wages.
The demand being refused, there was a strike on May 1, 1903. The strikers, who numbered about two hundred and fifty, had been employed in the Sun and Moon, Arizona, Teller, Gum Tree, Brighton and Shafter mines, all of which properties were closed by the walk-out.
On May 18th, the Arizona and the Teller mines resumed operations with non- union men, but paying $2.75 for eight hours' work, as had been demanded by the union. On June Ist the Shafter mine resumed operation with non-union men. The managers of the Arizona, Teller and Gum Tree mines, having agreed to pay a minimum of $2.75 for eight hours' work, and not to discriminate against union miners, the union on June 10th, declared off the strike against them. This left only three mines which the union considered unfair, the Sun and Moon, Brighton and Shafter. The Sun and Moon, which had employed about one hundred and
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twenty-five men before the strike, resumed operations, on June 8th, with a small non-union force, and by July Ist had about seventy employes.
Shortly after II o'clock on the night of July 28th there was a terrific explo- sion at the Sun and Moon mine. It was caused by kegs of powder or dynamite, which, being rolled down the hillside, wrecked the transformer house. The night watchman, E. A. Powell, had seen two or three men on the hillside and noticed there a fire like the striking of a match or the lighting of a fuse. When he called to them to know their business a shot was fired in his direction, where- upon he fired two shots at them. Almost instantly two kegs of powder or dyna- mite were rolled down the hill. It was supposed that one of the kegs was in- tended to destroy the compressor house and the other perhaps was intended to wreck the shaft and boiler house, but that the men were frightened by the watchman just as they lighted the fuses, and they suddenly rolled both kegs down- hill striking the nearest building, the transformer house.
As it happened, the only life lost was that of one of the dynamiters, named Philip Fire, an Italian and a union man.
Deputy sheriffs began scouring the hills for the other dynamiter or dynamiters. Meanwhile other deputy sheriffs visited the homes of officers and members of the miners' union, placed them under arrest and confined them in jail. Thirteen were arrested during the night and others the next day.
An indignation meeting to denounce the crime was called by the Citizens' Protective League. This was an association of mine owners and business men, which had been organized since the beginning of the strike at Idaho Springs. It was allied with the Citizens' Alliance, with headquarters in Denver. The ring- ing of the fire-alarm bell on the evening of July 29th was the signal for the meeting, which was held in the Idaho Springs Opera House.
At this gathering deportation of federation men was decided upon, and to the number of 500 the league marched to the jail. The three guards were re- quired to give up the keys and the door was unlocked. Fourteen of the twenty- three men in the jail were ordered out. All of these men were members of the Western Federation of Miners.
With the fourteen union men in advance the crowd moved down the main street to the extreme eastern end of the city, more than a mile away. At that point Lafayette Hanchette told the fourteen men that the citizens of Idaho Springs would not countenance violence; that they were satisfied that at least some of the men had instigated the plot to dynamite the Sun and Moon mine, and also planned to assassinate certain mine managers. He said that the citizens had decided that these men must leave and never return. "Never show your faces in Clear Creek County again," he said, "for if you do we will not be responsible for what may happen to you. A very considerable element here has been for hanging you men, but the conservative citizens have prevailed. They expect you to keep moving until you get out of the state. Don't stop in Denver except long enough to get aid from your federation."
The men were asked whether they had anything to say, but none offered a defense or uttered a protest. Several asked whether they might send for their families or their effects, and they were assured that no objection would be made. and that their families would be supported until they should be sent for. Lafay-
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ette Hanchette and others in the crowd gave some of the men small sums of money to provide for their immediate necessities.
On application of the attorney of the deported men, on August 10, 1903, Judge Frank W. Owers, sitting in the District Court at Georgetown, granted an injunction restraining each and every member of the Citizens' Protective League from interfering with the deported men or preventing their return to their homes and business. Commenting on the complaint of the plaintiffs Judge Owers said :
"The action of the Idaho Springs mob, I take pains to use the accurate term, in running out of town, with threats of violence, the officials of the miners' union was sheer anarchy, an outrageous violation of the rights guaranteed by the Con- stitution to the humblest person."
Eight of the deported men returned to Idaho Springs on August 11th.
Arrests followed on both sides but no conviction was obtained.
After the union miners were deported from Idaho Springs the camp allowed only non-union men to work there.
THE CRIPPLE CREEK STRIKE OF 1903-4
The strike of 1894 in the Cripple Creek district was settled favorably to the miners. For nine years, from 1894 to 1903, the miners maintained a strong or- ganization in the larger gold-mining camps of the state. The federation was strong especially in the Cripple Creek district, which included the towns of Crip- ple Creek, Victor, Goldfield, Independence, Anaconda, and Altman. In electing officers for these towns and for Teller County, in which the towns are situated, the members of the Western Federation of Miners cast the deciding votes, and in many cases the town and county officers were members of the federation.
The strong organization of the Western Federation of Miners enabled it to keep many non-unionists away from the mining camps. They were denounced as "scabs," and in many cases residence in the mining camps was made very dis- agreeable for them. The following notice was posted all over the Cripple Creek district on August 6, 1901 :
"Take notice, that on and after September 15, 1901, anyone working in and around the mines, mills, or power plants of the Cripple Creek district, who can- not show a card of membership in good standing of some local union of the Western Federation of Miners, will be considered a scab and an enemy to us, himself, and the community at large, and will be treated as such. By order of the Cripple Creek Executive Board of the Western Federation of Miners."
By means of the boycott, slugging, and other acts of personal violence, many non-union miners were driven away from the various camps at different times. No large bodies of non-unionists were deported, but in many individual cases they were compelled to leave. However, none of the camps was completely unionized. Some non-union men were permitted to remain, and in many mines unionists and non-unionists worked side by side. This was the case notably in the big Portland mine. James F. Burns, president of the Portland Gold Mining Company, was considered by the union men as one of their best friends, yet he operated the mine on the "open-shop" principle.
On July 27, 1903, five Austrian miners from Butte, Montana, were escorted to the edge of the town and ordered to leave the district.
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On March 31, 1903, when a settlement of strikes at the Portland and Telluride reduction plants at Colorado City was effected, the managers agreed to confer with a committee of the Colorado City Mill and Smeltermen's Union, No. 125, of the Western Federation of Miners, to consider a new scale of wages. The result was an increase of wages at these plants, the minimum wage being in- creased from $1.80 to $2.25 per day of eight working hours. This scale went into effect May Ist, the understanding being that it would be enforced also in com- peting establishments. The Standard mill at Colorado City, owned by the United States Reduction and Refining Company, continued to pay the old scale, the minimum wage being $1.80 per day of eight working hours.
The inequality of wages caused dissatisfaction among the union employes of the Standard mill, and also caused the managers of the Portland and Telluride mills to be dissatisfied. Manager Hugh Fullerton, of the Telluride Reduction Company, posted a notice on July Ist, to the effect that after July 5th wages would be reduced and the minimum would be $2 a day.
At a regular meeting of the Mill and Smeltermen's Union of Colorado City on July 3, 1903, the members voted to strike against the United States Reduction and Refining Company. There were two causes for this strike: First, the re- fusal of Manager C. M. MacNeill to consider the wage scale; second, the failure to reinstate the men who had been engaged in the strike, which began February 14, 1903, and continued until March 31st, according to an agreement made on the latter date.
District Union No. I, at a meeting held at Cripple Creek on the evening of August 8, 1903, ordered all employes in and about the mines in the district to cease work on the morning of Monday, August 10th, except employes who were working on properties shipping ore to the Economic mill at Victor, the Dorcas mill at Florence, and the cyanide mills of the district. These mills which were excepted were independent plants, not connected with the American Smelting and Refining Company, (the "smelter trust") or the United States Reduction and Refining Company.
The reason assigned by members of the district union for making the order to strike so sweeping in character was that, during the strike earlier in the year, when only the known shippers to the Standard mill at Colorado City were shut down, others helped that plant by shipping to other places ores which were then re-shipped to the mill that was under ban.
This sympathetic strike of miners, like their sympathetic strike of five months earlier, was ordered by the district union, which was composed of thirteen repre- sentatives from the eight local unions in the Cripple Creek district and the local union at Colorado City. These local unions had voted to refer the matters at issue to the district union for settlement, giving it full power to call a strike, if necessary. The action of the district union at Cripple Creek was indorsed by the executive board of the Western Federation of Miners at Denver.
On August 11, 1903, the number of men on strike in the district was 3.552.
The sympathetic strike of miners on August 10th, was caused by the refusal of the United States Reduction Company at Colorado City to advance the wages of mill men, and by the discrimination which that company had exercised against its employes who were members of the federation. The strike of the miners had little if any connection with the strike for an eight-hour working day, which
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commenced July 3d, at the two smelters of the American Smelting and Refining Company at Denver. The reduction plants reduced low-grade ores and the smelters finer grades. Most of the ores from the Cripple Creek district are of low grade, hence most of the tonnage from that district goes to the reduction plants instead of the smelters. Only about 10 per cent of the ores treated by the smelters of the American Smelting and Refining Company at Pueblo, Lead- ville, and Durango came from the Cripple Creek district, and practically none of the ores treated by the two smelters of this company at Denver came from there; hence the strike of the miners had but little effect on the plants of this company.
The first break in the ranks of the strikers was at the El Paso mine on August 18th, when work was resumed with about seventy-five men, of whom about twelve were union men. The mine was guarded by seventeen armed men, and a barri- cade, a fence ten feet high, was built around the shaft house. Some of these guards were deputies, appointed by Sheriff H. M. Robertson, and all of them were paid by the mining company.
On August 22d, officers of the federation made a satisfactory settlement with James F. Burns, president of the Portland Gold Mining Company. The former employes, numbering about five hundred, were notified to resume work at the mine on August 26th.
On August 25th the federation ordered a strike against the Telluride Re- duction Company, at Colorado City, which earlier in 1903 had increased wages and granted every other demand of the federation. The federation demanded the discharge of the head precipitator, Walter Keene.
On September 2d, the Standard reduction mill, at Colorado City, closed down on account of lack of ores for treatment, a result of the strike of Cripple Creek miners. About one hundred and fifty men were thrown out of employment, but the management announced that they would be paid one-third of the regular wages for an indefinite period.
On the night of August 29th, the shaft house of the Sunset-Eclipse mine near Cripple Creek was destroyed by fire. The fire was supposed to be of in- cendiary origin and was attributed by some persons to members of the federation.
On September Ist John T. Hawkins, justice of the peace at Anaconda, while walking down the main street of Altman, was suddenly set upon, knocked down, and wounded. On the previous day two guards at the El Paso mine, who were arrested at the instance of the union officials for carrying concealed weapons. were brought before Justice Hawkins for examination. He discharged one of the men on the ground that he had not carried his revolver concealed. The other man pleaded guilty and was fined $25 and costs.
On the night of September 1, 1903, an atrocious assault was committed on Thomas M. Stewart, at Independence. He was about fifty years old, a paper- hanger by trade, and a non-union man. Not having work at his trade he applied for any kind of work at the Golden Cycle mine. He was given a job as carpenter and on the morning of September Ist began building a fence around the mine.
On September 2d, the Cripple Creek Mine Owners and Operators' Associa- tion offered a reward of $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and convic- tion of the person or persons who had set fire to the Sunset-Eclipse shaft house ; a reward of $300 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the
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person who had assaulted Justice Hawkins; a reward of $1,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the persons who had assaulted and shot Thomas M. Stewart. The Golden Cycle Mining Company, in addition, offered $500 for the arrest of Stewart's assailants.
The communications which Governor Peabody received from the Cripple Creek district decided him to appoint a commission to proceed to that place to investigate conditions, and report whether there was need for troops. On Sep- tember 3d, he appointed a commission composed of Brig. Gen. John Chase, Atty. Gen. N. C. Miller, and Lieut. T. M. McClelland, who proceeded at once to Victor.
After receiving the report of the commission the governor ordered out the National Guard.
On September 8, 1903, work was resumed in a number of mines. On Sep- tember 9th, twelve mines were being operated and 376 men were employed. Sev- eral members of the Mine Owners and Operators' Association announced that in the future they would refuse to treat with anyone belonging to the Western Federation of Miners unless he would renounce further connection with the as- sociation.
By September 10, 1903, guards of soldiers were stationed practically all over the district at all large mines where union men were out on strike and on the public highways.
The first arrests by the militia were made on September 10, 1903, when Charles Campbell, H. H. Kinney, and three other men were confined in the old jail at Goldfield. This jail was an old wooden building, with a high stockade about it, and when used as a military prison was known as the "bull pen." The five men were held on the ground of military necessity. No charges were filed against them, but they were alleged to have made threats against the militia and individual citizens. On September 11th, James Lafferty, one of the union lead- ers, was also arrested by the militia.
About I A. M. on September 12th, a squad of seven soldiers visited the home of Sherman Parker, secretary of Free Coinage Miners' Union, No. 19, entered his house, presented their guns, and compelled him to dress and to accompany them to Goldfield, where he was placed in the "bull-pen."
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