USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume I > Part 98
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On September 14th, Judge Seeds granted writs, directing Adjutant-General Bell and Brigadier-General Chase to produce the four prisoners in court or give reasons why they should not do so.
On September 14th, twenty-two militiamen visited the home of P. J. Lynch, chairman of the board of county commissioners, arrested him and brought him to Camp Goldfield. General Chase charged him with making speeches against the militia and advising the strikers not to return to work.
On the afternoon of September 2Ist, about ninety cavalrymen marched through Cripple Creek, surrounded the courthouse and picketed it, permitting no person to pass through the lines unless he was an officer of the court, a member of the bar, a county official, or a press representative. A company of infantry- men escorted the four habeas corpus petitioners to the courthouse, and fourteen soldiers entered the building and with loaded guns and fixed bayonets guarded the petitioners.
On September 23d, a large number of soldiers, cavalry and infantry, again
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surrounded the courthouse. A Gatling gun was placed in position near the courthouse, and a detail of sharpshooters was stationed on the roof of the National Hotel, commanding streets leading to the courthouse. Thirty-four armed soldiers brought the prisoners into court.
On September 24th, the militia was again stationed about the courthouse and thirty soldiers, under the command of General Chase, entered the building.
The court ordered that Sherman Parker, James Lafferty, H. H. Mckinney, and Charles Campbell, relators, "be discharged from custody, as in their re- spective petitions prayed." General Chase arose and, saluting the court, said: "Acting under the orders of the commander-in-chief, I must at this time decline to obey the order of the court." The court adjourned and the prisoners were taken back to the "bull pen," but later in the day, General Chase, acting on in- structions telegraphed by Governor Peabody, released the four prisoners.
On the night of September 29th, the militia arrested the working force of the Victor Record. The Record was a morning paper and was the local organ of the Western Federation of Miners. It had published the official statements of the federation and had criticized the actions of the militia. The specific charge on which the arrests were made was the statement in the paper that one of the members of one of the military companies was an ex-convict. A detail of twenty-five infantrymen and twenty cavalrymen marched to the printing office · and arrested the editor, George E. Kyner, and four employes.
On October Ist, capiases were issued from the District Court for the arrest of Generals Bell and Chase, upon information filed by the district attorney, Henry Trowbridge, charging them with making unlawful arrests in arresting Sherman Parker and others. A deputy sheriff attempted to serve the capiases, but Gen- eral Bell refused to accept service, and announced that no civil officer would be allowed to serve any civil process from any court in the state upon any officer of the National Guard while on duty under order of the governor. This position in regard to the immunity of military officers from arrest while on military duty was sustained in an opinion given out by the attorney-general of the state, N. C. Miller.
By October 10th, the estimated number of men employed in all departments of the mines in the Cripple Creek district was estimated at twenty-nine hundred. This included about five hundred union men at work at the big Portland mine and about seven hundred men, union, working at other mines that were con- sidered fair.
On October 13th, soldiers to the number of 716, men and officers, were on duty in the Cripple Creek district, 430 having been relieved from duty since the beginning of the strike. On that date Governor Peabody ordered the withdrawal of all in excess of 525. On October 29th, the governor ordered a further reduc- tion, and after that date only about two hundred soldiers remained in the district.
Charles H. McCormick, superintendent of the Vindicator mine, and Melvin Beck, a shift boss, while on the cage descending the shaft of the mine on the morning of November 21, 1903, were almost instantly killed by an explosion at the 600-foot level, where no work was being done. The executive committee of the Mine Owners' Association issued a statement charging the crime against the Western Federation of Miners, and offering a reward of $5,000 for evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator. The executive committee
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of the district union of the Western Federation of Miners issued a statement attributing the explosion to an accident.
After a conference with a number of citizens of Cripple Creek, including S. D. Crump, C. C. Hamlin, A. E. Carlton, and E. J. Campbell, Governor James H. Peabody on December 4, 1903, proclaimed Teller County in a state of insur- rection and rebellion. The proclamation referred to attempts at train wrecking and to the explosion at the Vindicator mine.
The military forces patrolled the streets of Cripple Creek and other cities in the district, taking the places of the local police officers and deputy sheriffs. Gam- bling houses were ordered closed, saloons to be closed at midnight. The militia continued to arrest people keeping them in the "bull pen" varying lengths of time, without filing charges against them. On December 8th, the military offi- cers in Cripple Creek had registered about eight hundred arms of different kinds. The owners of all except about fifteen revolvers and shotguns were allowed to retain their arms.
On January 26, 1904, as the night-shift miners on Stratton's Independence mine at Victor were leaving the mine, the cage containing sixteen men was vio- lently drawn into the sheave wheel at the top of the shaft. The cage then dropped, and all but one of these men were instantly killed, their bodies being dashed down into the sump, 1,500 feet below. The Independence had become a non-union mine.
On February 17th, Governor Peabody visited Victor and was given a recep- tion at the headquarters of Company L, a local military company. Replying to an address from C. C. Hamlin, secretary of the Mine Owners' Association, the governor said:
"I think I have done my duty in bringing about law and order in the Cripple Creek district, and now it is up to you gentlemen. I will take the burden from my shoulders and place it on yours, and I think that you will be able to carry it. But in doing this I would suggest that the olive branch, the hand of friend- ship, should be extended to the striking miners, and that harmony between the employer and employe should be brought about."
On April IIth, an order was issued withdrawing the troops from Teller County. This action was taken by Governor Peabody in compliance with a re- quest signed by civil officers and many citizens and mine owners of the county, declaring that peaceable conditions prevailed and that troops were no longer necessary. The troops left the district on the next day.
The members of the Mine Owners' Association having decided, as announced in their notice of September 17, 1903, and their statement of March 10, 1904, to blacklist all members of the Western Federation of Miners, employes and all applicants for work were required to answer questions on a blank form.
If the answers of the applicant were satisfactory, the secretary of the Mine Owners' Association issued a card authorizing his employment by members of the association. He kept this card while seeking employment but on obtaining employment he surrendered the card to his employer, who returned it to the secretary of the association, and the secretary filed it, all cards being numbered consecutively. When the man was again out of employment he was again given his card, so that he could seek new employment ; but, if he was considered an agitator, if he had been found to be a union sympathizer, or if his services had
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been unsatisfactory, the card would not be reissued to him. This card system continues in the Cripple Creek district.
The mine owners at Telluride, Idaho Springs, and other places adopted methods similar to those enforced by the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Associa- tion, with the object of preventing any member of the Western Federation of Miners from obtaining employment in the mining camps. On October 1, 1904. the mine owners in the Leadville district introduced the card system.
On September 30, 1904, after the Leadville District Mining Association had issued recommendation cards to nearly two thousand employes, Judge Frank W. Owers, of the State District Court, issued an injunction.
Charles H. Moyer, president of the Western Federation of Miners, was ar- rested at Ouray on March 26, 1904, by Sheriff Maurice Corbett, of Ouray County, upon instructions from Sheriff J. C. Rutan, of San Miguel County. The charge against him was desecration of the American flag, by having copies of the flag printed with inscriptions on them. Copies of the flag printed in proper colors, with the inscriptions in black ink on the stripes had been widely distrib- uted through the State of Colorado and elsewhere.
While President Moyer was arrested on the charge of flag desecration it was commonly known that his arrest was ordered largely for other reasons. On the day of his arrest at Ouray, President Moyer was taken to Telluride. His bail was fixed at $500 by Justice of the Peace P. A. Lilley, but security for bail was not then offered. He was confined to the city jail.
On March 31st, District Judge Theron Stevens granted a writ for the release of President Moyer, making it returnable on April IIth. On the latter date Adjutant-General Bell and Captain Wells failed to produce Moyer in court at Ouray, as the judge had ordered. The respondents were not present and re- fused by their legal representatives to produce Moyer, giving as reasons that he was in custody of Governor Peabody as commanding officer of the State Militia.
On April 15th, the State Supreme Court issued a writ of habeas corpus directed against General Bell and Captain Wells ordering them to produce the body of Charles H. Moyer in the Supreme Court at Denver on April 21st. As- sistant Attorney-General Hersey stated to the court that the state and military authorities had no objection to the issuance of the writ.
On June 6, 1904, the Supreme Court handed down its decision. Associate Justice Robert W. Steele dissenting. The court did not pass specifically upon the questions relating to the right of the governor to declare martial law or to suspend the writ of habeas corpus. The point mainly considered by the court was: Were the arrest and detention of the petitioner, under the facts recited il- legal? The decision being in the negative, its practical effect was that Mr. Moyer should remain as the military prisoner at Telluride until Governor Peabody should abolish military rule there.
On June 15th when Moyer's attorney went into the Federal Court for relief the governor issued an order ending martial law in the Telluride district.
This brought about the release of all military prisoners, including Moyer, who, however, was at once rearrested on the charge of insurrection and con- spiracy, based on the fatal explosion in the shaft of the Vindicator mine in November.
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At Independence station on June 6, 1904, about twenty-five of the night-shift men from the Findley mine and two from the Deadwood property, all non-union men, having quit work about 2 A. M., went to the station of the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad, on the south slope of Bull Hill, to take a suburban train due at 2:15 A. M., to convey them to their homes. Most of them were in the waiting room or on the platform of the station when the whistle of the engine of the approaching train was heard. Immediately following there was a tremendous explosion beneath the depot. The building was badly wrecked, though not entirely demolished. Thirteen men were killed. In some cases the bodies were so badly mutilated that it was difficult to identify them. Arms, legs, and other portions of bodies were thrown several hundred feet. In addi- tion, six men were badly wounded. The explosion was caused by probably one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds of dynamite, which had been placed beneath the platform of the station. This explosion was undoubtedly set off by some person at the end of a wire about one hundred yards from the depot. About seventy-five yards of wire were found, and the end farthest from the depot was wound aroung the rung of a chair, which the dynamiter doubtless used for a purchase in pulling the wire to set off the infernal machine. Near the depot was found a portion of a revolver. It is believed that the wire was attached to the trigger of the revolver, and that when it was pulled a bullet was discharged which struck the dynamite and exploded it. No other clues have ever been found.
The news of the dynamite outrage at Independence early on the morning of June 6, 1904, caused great indignation when it became known throughout the Cripple Creek district. The managers of the mines and samplers ordered them closed. All of the larger mines closed, except the Portland. The idle miners, many of them bearing arms, congregated in the streets of Victor, or visited the scene of the explosion at Independence. Sheriff Robertson ordered that all saloons in Cripple Creek, Victor, and Goldfield be closed. Shortly after I P. M. a meeting of mine managers was held at the Military Club in the Armory Build- ing at Victor, and drastic measures were decided on. A committee of mine owners left the club rooms, found Sheriff Robertson, and informed him that the mine owners desired to have a meeting with him. Robertson accompanied them, and when he was inside the club rooms his resignation was demanded. He re- fused to tender it, whereupon guns were produced, a coiled rope was dangled before him, and on the outside several shots were fired. He was told that un- less he resigned the mob outside would be admitted, and he would be taken out and hanged. He then signed a written resignation which had been prepared by the committee. On the demand of this committee of mine owners the three .county commissioners, after some demur, appointed as sheriff, Edward Bell, the first assessor of the county, and a member of the Mine Owners' Association. Under-Sheriff J. Knox Burton reported to Sheriff Bell, who informed him that he had no use for his services and relieved him of his star. The newly appointed sheriff appointed his own under-sheriff and about one hundred deputies. The new under-sheriff was L. F. Parsons, who was secretary of the Citizens' Alliance and continued to be after his appointment, which was made on June 9th.
A crowd of several thousand persons, including some women and children, assembled at the corner of Fourth and Victor avenues. C. C. Hamlin, secretary of the Mine Owners' Association, attended by Sheriff Bell and S. D. Crump,
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attorney of the Mine Owners' Association, went to that place. Mr. Hamlin climbed upon a wagon and began making a speech. Among other things he said : "The badge of the Western Federation of Miners is a badge of murder, and everyone who is responsible for the outrage at Independence should be driven from this district."
At this juncture, Alfred Miller, a union miner, armed with a rifle, inter- rupted Mr. Hamlin and asked him to whom he referred. A brother of the union man, Christopher Miller, who had been a deputy sheriff under Robertson was standing near, and, fearing trouble, seized Alfred Miller's gun and tried to wrest it from him. This act was misinterpreted by the crowd, and instantly a riot started. Twenty or more shots were fired, and the crowd scattered, seeking places of safety. When the firing ceased it was found that seven men had been shot, two of them fatally.
Squads of soldiers, deputy sheriffs, and armed citizens scattered over the district and arrested union members. About one hundred and seventy-five were captured and taken to "bull pens" at Victor, Independence and Goldfield. Among them was Michael O'Connell, the deposed city marshal, and the managers and clerks of the union stores at Victor, Cripple Creek, Goldfield, and Anaconda. All of these stores were closed and many of the goods in the stores at Victor and Cripple Creek and all goods in the smaller stores at Goldfield and Anaconda were taken or destroyed. The office of the Victor Record was visited and the whole force, including the editor, George E. Kyner, was arrested, but later released. The banks kept their doors closed, and business generally was suspended in Victor. Even in Cripple Creek the proprietors of many stores closed them, fearing further rioting, while, by order of Sheriff Bell, all saloons in the whole district were kept closed until the morning of June 13th, one week after the explosion.
Adjt .- Gen. Sherman M. Bell and his escort arrived at Victor at midnight, June 7th. He immediately ordered the two local companies of the Second In- fantry, Colorado National Guard, Company L of Victor, and Company H. of Cripple Creek, to report to him for duty. From that time the military authori- ties were in complete control of the Cripple Creek district. Sheriff Edward Bell acted under the direction of Adjt. Gen. Sherman M. Bell. The number of mili- tary companies in the district was soon increased.
At 5 P. M., June 7th, twenty-eight union men were deported from Cripple Creek on a train which reached Denver about midnight. Seven deputy sheriffs accompanied them to Denver, where they were set at liberty. One of the de- ported men was T. H. Parfet, manager of the union store at Cripple Creek. No criminal charge had been brought against any of these men. Most of them had been informed that they might remain in the district if they would take out cards from the Mine Owners' Association, but this they refused to do.
A new mining camp had been opened at Dunnville, fourteen miles south of Victor. It is in Fremont County, just across the line from Teller. A number of the miners from the Cripple Creek district had gone there and begun work. On June 8th, a force of thirty soldiers and a hundred deputies, led by Adjutant- General Bell, went there to arrest union miners. General Bell claimed that, under a general order, he was authorized to make arrests, not only in Teller County but in territory "adjacent thereto." About sixty-five miners were stationed on
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the hillsides at Dunnville when the deputies and soldiers entered a gulch below. A shot from above was answered by a dozen from below, and then there was active firing for about seven minutes. One man, a union miner, was killed and fourteen others were made prisoners. These men had been armed with two rifles, a single-barreled shotgun, two double-barreled shotguns, and five revolvers. It may be mentioned here that John H. Carley, the victim in this battle, was the only man killed by the soldiers in Colorado during any of the military cam- paigns in 1903, or 1904.
On June 8th, the Victor Record published an editorial asking the Western Federation of Miners to call off the strike.
About II o'clock that night eight men entered the printing office of the Record and, with rifles and drawn revolvers, ordered the printers and pressmen, five in all, to hold up their hands. Then two men by turns, using sledge hammers, smashed the machinery in the office, doing much damage to two linotype ma- chines, a power press, a job press, a folding machine, and a paper cutter. The forms also were pied. The proprietor and editor of the Record, George B. Kyner, made efforts to continue publication. W. Robert Carr, proprietor of the Cripple Creek Star, tendered him the use of the Star plant. He accepted this offer, but it was withdrawn later by Mr. Carr, because a committee of citizens had waited upon him and warned him that the Star would be boycotted if its plant should be used for issuing the Record. Editor Kyner then interviewed Adjutant-Gen- eral Bell, who promised him military protection if he should issue his paper at the Star plant. One sheet issues of the Record were printed for about ten days, regular editions then being resumed.
Seven men were authorized to act as a commission to decide who should be deported from the Cripple Creek district. This commission, established June 8th, was composed of Mayor F. D. French, of Victor; former Mayor Nelson Franklin, of Victor ; Postmaster F. M. Reardon, of Victor; Judge H. McGarry, J. B. Cunningham, G. E. Copeland, and T. J. Dalzell. They held sessions and examined witnesses in the rear room of the mine owners' headquarters in Victor. Soldiers guarded the door and all proceedings were secret. On June 10th, Adju- tant-General Bell issued the following deportation order :
Headquarters, Teller Co. Military District, National Guard of Colorado, Victor, Colorado, June 10, 1904.
To Colonel Leo W. Kennedy: You will proceed by Colorado Springs, and Cripple Creek District Railway to Colorado Springs, thence via the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway to the east line of the State of Colorado, taking with you the parties on list herewith attached, and there deposit them without the State of Colorado, returning at once to these headquarters and make due report to me.
By command of
SHERMAN BELL,
Brig .- Gen., Comdg. Teller County Military District
The attached list contained seventy-three names. General Bell being inter- viewed and asked why these men were ordered deported, replied: "It is a military necessity. They are men against whom crimes cannot be specified, but their presence is regarded as dangerous to law and order."
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A special train bearing seventy-nine men, selected for deportation, left Victor about 2 P. M., June 10th. Many of these men had families in the Cripple Creek district. A crowd of two thousand people witnessed their departure from the Victor station. The deported men were guarded on the train by soldiers in charge of Col. L. W. Kennedy and deputies in charge of Deputy Sheriff H. D. Benton. About five o'clock on the morning of June 11th, the train reached a point on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fé Railway half a mile west of the Kansas-Colorado state line, and there stopped. For a few minutes it seemed that there would be a riot between the militia and the train crew. The militia insisted that in ac- cordance with Adjutant-General Bell's order the train should cross the state line, so that the miners might be deposited in Kansas, but the train conductor declared they should leave the train where it had stopped in Colorado, and this course was finally adopted. The miners were ordered by the military officers to move east- ward and never to return to the Cripple Creek district, on pain of being re- arrested and severely handled. The militia fired a volley over their heads to accelerate their movements.
About six of the miners were allowed to cross the line, but the remainder who attempted to do so were prevented by Sheriff John Brady, of Hamilton County, Kansas, and his posse. The region was sparsely settled, and the de- ported men were without means or food. They walked back to Holly, Colorado, about four miles west of the state line. They informed the city marshal how they had been deported, and promised that they would create no trouble in Holly, and would leave as soon as possible. The citizens of Holly gave them food; and at a meeting, held on the streets in the afternoon, the exiles tendered to the citizens a vote of thanks.
Telegrams were sent to the headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners at Denver, and the federation officials telegraphed funds for the de- ported men. Sheriff John Brady telegraphed Governor W. J. Bailey at Topeka concerning what had happened at the state line on the morning of June 10th, the attorney-general advising that no further aggressive action be taken against the Colorado miners so long as they conducted themselves properly.
With funds telegraphed by federation officials at Denver, about thirty-five of the deported men left for Denver, Colorado Springs, or Pueblo, on the night of June 11th. The others, being provided with federation funds, remained at Holly a day or two. Some then took trains for various points in Colorado, and some sought work in the harvest fields of Kansas.
On June 14th, thirty-three men were deported to the New Mexico line.
A special train bearing thirty-nine men selected for deportation, with a strong military guard, left Victor at 6:30 P. M., June 28th, and arrived at Colo- rado Springs at 9:20 the same evening. The chief of police of Colorado Springs refused to permit the men to be unloaded there. Captain Moore communicated by telephone with General Bell at Cripple Creek, and the latter ordered that the men be unloaded at Palmer Lake, several miles north of Colorado Springs, which was done.
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