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Vol. VI )
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THE LABOR WAR IN CfiLOMDO.

:BY BEN HANFORD.

There have been many so-called "investigations" of the pres-
ent labor troubles in Colorado. Those coming under my observa-
tion have without exception presented what the writers wero
pleased to call "both sides." This has included a summing up
of various acts which the different writers have assumed to be
for or against each, and on these premises basing a verdict to
the effect that "both sides are to blame." I went to Colorado to
investigate the present trouble there to a considerable degree
under the influence of the idea that there were wrongs as well
as rights on both sides.

My researches, however, have entirely eliminated any such
impression. As between the strikers and their former employers
in the present warfare in Colorado, one side is entirely in tbe
right and the other side is wholly in the wrong. There are two
sides to the question only in the sense that there are two sides
to the question as to whether a thief shall have the "right" to
rob an honest man, or whether the perpetrators of deliberate
murder for financial gain are entitled to consideration from such
survivors as they only failed to make their victims through lack
of power. The present struggle in Colorado is not a war between
capital and labor. It is a war by capitalists against laborers.

Only One Right Side.

In these present Colorado troubles ALL the facts are on the
side of the men. The strikers have been peaceable, law-abiding
and orderly. Opposed to them have been gentlemen, barbarians,
Ravages and traitors, and the private police, deputy sheriffs, mili-
tary, thugs, bad men and all the other agencies which can be
evoked to accomplish the robbery and bring about the enslave-
ment of free men through the use of all the powers of govern-
ment by persons and corporations who look up,Qn..the forces of
the State as their private property and use them for their per-
sonal gains.

There is only one possible criticism which can be made againat |5»
the strikers. It will remain for posterity to judge whether It !>»•
justified. The strikers have constantly pursued a ponVy of nun- J I
resistance by physical force. SomeNof ''t/ftejn^aye^ been ^xunl»»ri%il.
their houses have been searched with^oit/warnv'iA.tlii*, nghr ut'
free speech and free assemblage have bee*n

•-•-•-'••< O

« ' i t c- * * i. • • _

• « ° • •• • o e • * •

1 .

upon,* fheir 'famrlies'h{ftq been insulted, their leaders have been
<is<sacul4:e/J,«_ jailed;, writ of rlsabeas corpus and right of trial by
ijui'j .has'j^etf. de'iTied,; t'qtVv Imve been hounded from their homes
- and deported from the "State without form, semblance or process
of law— and for what? What heinous crime had they committed?

Their Only Crime.

They had refused to work on terms which to them seemed dis-
honorable. In short. THEY REFUSED TO BECOME SCABS.

Under all these outrages it has been only short of miraculous
that these men have been so absolutely self-restrained that they
have not once taken the initiative in an appeal to force, and it
has been the universal rule for them to bear with dignity and
resignation the burdens and contumely heaped upon them. This
lias not been through any lack on their part of courage to dare
or power to perform. What, then, was the force AArhich kept
^lese men so self-contained through all this fearful stress?

It was their loyalty to the working class of the nation and the
world. They suffered unspeakable wrongs without resistance
in order that you workingmen, you union workiugmen, of tlu3
North, South, East and West might catch up with them. They
knew that their fellow workers in other parts of the country
were not informed as to the merits of the controversy, they knew
that their fellow nnion men were informed only of such things
as their employers through control of the press saw fit for them
to know, and they knew that, no matter what victories they
might win by force, they would be regarded by their brethren as
having taken up arms against their country and its flag. These
men of the Rockies understood the Beast Capitalism, and they
suffered their awful wrongs without physical resistance in order-
that their fellow men might catch up with them, might become
wise in time, and because of their sufferings might take such
steps as to save themselves from like sufferings.

That, too, my fellow vrorkingmen and fellow union men, is
the purpose of this pamphlet. It is not written to record the
praises of the union men of Cripple Creek and Trinidad and Tellu
ride. Their deeds are their monument, and their sufferings their
song of praise. But you workingmen outside of Colorado should
see to it that their sufferings shall not have been iu vain.

Bull Pens on Boston Common.

If you nnion men would not have bull pens in Boston Common,
if you would not have your houses searched without warrant in
New York, if you would not be deported from your homes in
Philadelphia and Chicago, if you would not live in fear of assas-

• >

situation for no other cause than that you arc a member of a lain r
organization; if the workingmeu of Oregon ami Texas, of Mnii, •
and Wisconsin, and every other State and Territory <>i tin- I'nioii
would not lose the right. to organize; if the men whose labor feeds
find clothes and warms and shelters the peoples of the earth
would not lose the right to live, it would be wise for them [••>
study carefully and well the history of the Labor War in Colo-
rado'.

After years of effort by trade unionists, an eight-hour law.
applicable to persons employed in and about mines, was passed
by the Colorado Legislature in 1890. The corporations fought
it in the courts, and the Supreme Court of the State declared it u>
be unconstitutional, although similar laws had been held to be
valid in various other states, and the Supreme Court of the
United States approved such a law for Utah.

When this law was set aside by the Supreme Court the. union
men who had worked so hard and so long for its enaetnit nt did
not appeal to force of arms or advocate violence.

Colorado's Eight-Hour Law.

The law having been declared unconstitutional, they went to
work by peaceful, legal and orderly processes to change ihe Stale
Constitution, and at the election in 1902 an amendment to that
instrument was submitted to the people of the State providing
that the Legislature "SHALL ENACT" an eight-hour law Id-
all persons working in :iiid about the mines of Colorado.

Every political party in the state favored that amendment.
Every one of the thirty-five members of the Senate and ev«
one of the sixty-five members of the House was elected on a
platform declaring that such a law would be enacted if the con-
stitutional amendment was carried. The amendment received
a majority of the vote east in every county of the State ex-
cept five, and in the State it was carried by a majority of 4t'>,7H
votes.

After the election the Legislature met, transacted its business
and adjourned- AND PASSED NO EIUHT-HOru LAW.

Why? The world knows why. Because its members had b
bribed, jockeyed and bulldozed by the corporation interests intl; •
State who did not want an eight-hour law.

The Western Federation of Miners in particular ami labor or-
ganizations in general have been denounced as lawless bodies.
By whom? By the very persons who violated the law of the
State at its fountain head, by the persons who corrupted its law
making body, and set aside an amendment to ihe Constitution
of the State because it interfered wnu their "business int. .

The men who officer the labor organizations of Colorado have
been called anarchists. Those who wish to find the real
anarchists in Colorado should go to the State Capitol at Denver,
and there they will be found in the person of the Republican and
Democratic members of the Legislature, and if they would find
anarchists and traitors, they should place their hands on the
Governor of the State of Colorado and his Adjutant-General and
the men who own them.

Anarchy and Treason in the State House.

Treason and anarchy in the State House at Denver is the first
and greatest cause of the present labor troubles in Colorado.

The second cause was the constant and persistent discrimina-
tion by the corporations against the employment of union men.

These two things — the failure to pass the eight-hour law and
the discharge of men from their work because they saw fit to
exercise their legal right to join a labor organization — comprise
tne substantial causes of the present difficulties. All other mat-
ters, wages, ventilation of mines, and the scrip system of pay
ment (in the Trinidad coal field), could have been adjusted with-
out difficulty.

The strikes were first to enforce the underlying law, the Con-
stitution of the State calling for an eight-hour law. They were
second an effort on the part of the men to maintain their legal
right to become members of a labor organization.

In their efforts the strikers have constantly pursued the arts
of argument, persuasion and peace.

The employers from the first have resorted to force, fraud and
treason.

COLORADO CITY.

Employers Discriminate Against Union Men.

For a long time the Western Federation of Miners had endeav-
ored to organize the mill and smeltermen into unions. The work
had been difficult on account of the discrimination of the em-
ployers against union men. Of course, the managers were in fa-
vor of "free labor/' insisted that their men did not want to join
a union, and in order to save them from the tyranny of labor
organizations, they employed corps of spies to report to them
every man who became a member, and such men were immedi-
ately tired. NotAvithstanding this, the men were effectively or-
ganized, and on Feb. 14, 1903, Mill and Smeltermen's Union, No.
125, at Colorado City, went on strike to redress a number of
grievances, not the least of which was the discrimination against
union men, and to secure an eight-hour day. This should be

particularly noted, for in all the present strikes in Colorado the
two questions, that of discrimination against union men and
the eight-hour day, have been the real, points at issue.

The Militia Ordered Out.

March 3, seventeen days after the strike, Governor Peabody
ordered the troops to Colorado City. Why? On what informa-
tion?

Manager MacNeill, of the Mine Owners' Association, went to
the sheriff of El Paso County (in which Colorado City is situated)
with letters from himself and other mill managers asking the
Sheriff to call upon the Governor for troops. The Sheriff then
wrote a letter to the Governor to the effect that he (the sheriff)
had received communications from the mill and mine managers
requesting that troops be sent to Colorado City, and Manager
MacNeill carried the sheriff's letter to the Governor. The Gov-
ernor conferred with MacNeill and other managers— and sent
the troops.

Were they needed? For what purpose were they sent?

The sheriff asked for them obediently to the wishes of the
mill owners. But Colorado City's Mayor, Chief of Police, City
Attorney, Councilmen, and hundreds of citizens passed resolu-
tions and signed petitions protesting against the militia bein^
r.sed, and insisting that there was no disorder.

Why should the Governor send troops to the strike field at the
request of a sheriff, who professed no other information than
that received from one side to the controversy, the mine o\vu-
ers? Why should the Governor ignore not only the statements
of the strikers to the effect that there had been and was not
likely to be any disorder, but the protests of citizens, city attor-
ney, chief of police, mayor and city councilmen to the same
effect?

The Militia "Keep Order."

As soon as the troops arrived, however, "things were doing.'
Then violence began. Pickets of the strikers, peaceable and un-
armed men, wrere arrested— by the military. Property of the
union was confiscated— by the military. Men were denied the
use of th« public highway— by the military. Vile, profane, in-
pulting language was used to the officers of the union in their
own headquarters— by the military, Col. Brown, spokesman.
From the time the troops arrived in the strike lield they and their
officers used every possible measure to cause the strikers to re-
sort to violent and disorderly methods—without avail.

Public sentiment became so strong against the Governor that

he was compelled to visit Colorado City in person to investigate
conditions, which ho did on March 11, but went only to the mine
oAvners and the feAV strike-breakers employed in the mills, entirely
ignoring the strikers.

From the first the union had offered to submit all matters in
controversy to impartial arbitration, and after the Governor's
visit to Colorado City public sentiment was so strong in favor of
the justice of the strikers' demands and the fair and orderly
manner in Avhich they sought to enforce them that the Governor
was forced to request the mill managers and the representa-
tives of the union to meet in his office to discuss their differences.
As the result of a conference lasting from 2 p. m. till 3 a. m. an
agreement Avas reached betAveen the union and the Telluride and
Portland mills. Had the managers of these companies met the
officers of the unions to discuss their differences when the men
had asked for a conference there need have been no strike.

But Manager MacNeill, of the Standard mill of the United
States Reduction & Refining Co., Avould make no agreement
Avith the men at that time. Later a committee of business men
and mine owners practically A'ouched for the good faith of Mac-
Neill (who would sign no agreement) in the reinstatement of
strikers and men discharged for membership in the union, and at
the beginning of April this strike passed into history.

A Traitor Governor Dickers.

Governor Peabody withdrew the troops, but only ON CONDI
TION THAT THE' UNION OFFICIALS WITHDRAW ALL
DAMAGE SUITS WHICH THEY HAD BROUGHT AGAINST
THE MILITARY AUTHORITIES. As the price of peace the
men were forced to Avaive their civil rights in the courts of the
State by a Governor Avho had sworn to uphold the law.

On July 3, 1903, the employees of the American Smelting and
Refining Co. in its Denver mills went on strike for an eigllt-
honr day, and on August 10 the miners of the Cripple Creek dis-
trict employed in mines shipping ore to MacNeill's mills went on
strike. The men were forced to take this step because MacNeill
had in no particular lived up to the promises Avhich had been
made in his behalf, and also to put a stop to discrimination against
union nier.

In view of the reiterated assertions of Peabodv, Bell, mine
OAvners, mill managers, members of the Citizens' Alliance and
others of recent date, to the effect that the Western Federation
of Miners Is and has ahvays been a laAvless body of riotous incen-
diaries, the following paragraph from the public statement of
the Mine Owners' Association of the Cripple Creek district should

be noted. It was issued on August 12, 1903, two days after the
strike was called:

"At the time the strike was called and, in fact, ever since
the settlement of the labor difficulties of 1894, the most entire
harmony and good will has prevailed between the mine
owners and employes in the district. Wages and hours of
labor have been satisfactory and according to union stand-
ards, and general labor conditions have been all that could
be wished."

The strike was an orderly and peaceful one. It consisted in
nothing more than in refraining from work on the part of the
union men and those who agreed with them. There was no dis-
order, lawlessness or violence.

The Brigadier-General Orders Himself to the Front.

Notwithstanding this, the mine owners called upon the Gov-
ernor for the militia. The Governor said he would cause an in-
vestigation to be made. By whom? By Brig-Gen. John Chas?.
and Lieutenant T. E. McClelland. These eminent military
gentlemen went to the Cripple Creek district to look things over.
They arrived in Victor at 9.30 p. in., spent an hour there in con-
sultation with a committee of the Mine Owners' Association,
arrived at Cripple Creek at 11:40 p. in., went to the headquarters
of the Mine Owners' Association there, and remained in confer-
once with the owners for two hours, then sent for Sheriff Robert-
son and spent two hours in consultation with him. Sheriff Rob-
ertson strenuously protested against the use of the militia. What
was the verdict of the Governer's Commission? They left Crip-
ple Creek on a special train at 4:10 a. in., after being in the dis-
trict less than seven hours, and reported to the Governor that
troops Avere needed. In other words, they ordered themseh-es
to the scene, and on the 5th of September the troops Avent to
Cripple Creek.

The Mayor, a tool of the Mine OAvners, the Postmaster, and
a banker A\*ere the only ones except the mine OAvners and man-
agers Avho wanted troops sent to Cripple Creek.

The Sheriff protested against it.

The Board of County Commissioners unanimously protested
against it.

The City Council of Victor protested against it.

Mass meetings protested against it.

Five days after the strike Avas called President .Mover ad-
dressed the folloAving Avords to a meeting of the strikers of Crip-
ple Creek.

"I sincerely trust and advise that nothing be done durini:

this trouble that will be in violation of the law. If men feel
it their duty to take a position against yon who are striving
to procure your rights, you will do nothing but harm your
position by resorting to violation of the laws."

A Public Army for Private Profit.

But the mine owners wanted troops, and the Governor sent
them. If any one thinks the troops were sent to uphold the law
and to do impartial police duty, he has only to know that before
they were sent the mine owners agreed with the Governor that
THEY WOULD FAY FOR THE TROOPS. Pour per cent.
State certificates of indebtedness were issued, these the mine
owners cashed. They paid the charges and they got the goods.

After five days in the district the military began on Sept. 10 a
rule of mob law by bayonet. Men were arrested without war-
rant, charges or process of law. City and county officials, strik-
ers and citizens who dared to say or were suspected of daring to
think that a trade union had any virtues were haled to military
headquarters to give an account of themselves. Not only was
it a sin to belreve in trade unions— it was a crime not to be-
lieve in the Mine Owners' Association. Any one pointed out by
them was immediately arrested and placed in the bull pen, some
of them not being allowed to see a friend or an attorney. Judgo
Seeds issued writs of habeas corpus, and when the imprisoned
men were brought into his court, Generals Bell and Chase
surrounded the court" with troops, planted a gatling gun in front,
placed sharpshooters on the roofs of adjacent houses, and filled
the court rooms with militiamen. The attorneys for the men
protested against the presence of the soldiers in the court, but
the officers of the guard refused to withdraw their men, and the
attorneys withdrew from the case rather than serve in a court
overawed and intimidated by armed men not responsible to the
judge.

But the judge held court and issued an order that the prisoners
bo surrendered to the civil authorities. The generals of the
Mine Owners Militia refused to comply with the order of the
court, and the prisoners were marched back to the bull pen. They
were later released by the Governor's order, but others were
arrested, some of them several times, and held for long periods.

•

Printers in the Bull Pen.

On the night of Sept. 20, '03, the State militia under command
of Gen. Chase, forcibly entered the office of the Victor Record,
arrested the whole force of the paper and marched them to the
bull pen, where they were held for 24 hours before they were

delivered to the civil authorities on writs of habeas corpus. The
Victor Record had committed the crime of being on the side of
the men, and had protested against the outrages of the military.
While the office force was in the bull pen Mrs. Kmina F. Lang-
don. wife of one of the linotype operators, went to the office and
got out the paper, "somewhat disfigured, but still in the ring."
and it did not miss an issue.

About the middle of last November, things were getting quiet
in Cripple Creek. This would never do. Unless there was
"something doing," the deputies, detectives, militia and the
hangers-on of the armed camp would be out of jobs.

The Loosened Rail.

So, on the night of Nov. 16, '03, the spikes were withdrawn
from a rail at a curve on the Florence <& Cripple Creek Railroad.
At 3 a. m. a train known as the suburban, carrying about forty
union and non-union miners came along. But the engineer, Wil-
liam Rush, had received a "tip" that all was not right, and for
that reason he stopped his train when he reached the curve, and
investigated. He found the spikes withdrawn from the rail,
as he had been told that he would.

The matter was reported to the military, and they at once be-
gan to make arrests, of course charging the union men with re-
sponsibility for the act.

Every Union Man Acquitted.

Sherman Parker, W. F. Davis and Thomas Foster and other
union men were arrested by the military and held for the
crime. The trial of the three named began before Judge Lewii
on Feb. 19, '04. With what result? They were all acquitted.

What else?

It transpired on the trial that the spikes were pulled by one
Charles McKinney, aided by a man going under the name of
Charles Beckman, who on the stand declared that he was in the
« niploy of the corporations, that he was working for a detective
agency, that he was a paid spy and bad joined the union for
the purpose of spying upon these men. that he had been instru-
mental in getting McKinney to do the work, that he had pre-
arranged with other detectives in the employ of the corporations
that they might watch the work done, and after all this the mine
owners and the military authorities arrested union men for the
crime, tried their best to fasten the infamous act upon the West-
ern Federation of Miners— and failed. The testimony of the
detectives Convicted themselves of the crime they sought to plao
upon the union.

The testimony of many unimpeachable witnesses proved an
absolute alibi for the union men. The testimony of the engi-
neer of the train which had. been in danger of wreck showed that
a detective had inquired of him if loosening the rails at a cer-
tain place would wreck the train, and it was at that point that
the spikes had been withdrawn.

The mine owners have persistently denounced the Western
Federation of Miners as a lawless organization. In order to
make their lies look like truth they have had crime committed
on more than one occasion, hoping to blast the good name of the
union. This case was only one of many.

Jockeying with the Courts.

Regarding the trial of men for the perpetration of these crimes,
Attorney-General Miller declared:

"The Governor and his attorneys will try to prevent
an immediate hearing of the cases, as they say, to per-
mit the people to become composed. Their hope lies in
the fact that Judge Seeds will leave the district Jan. 1,
giving up his seat temporarily to Judge Lewis."
Judge Lewis tried the derailment cases. EVERY UNION
MAN WAS ACQUITTED.

This case bears a strong resemblance to another. During the
strike at Idaho Springs there was an explosion at the Sun and
Moon mine, and one man (a union miner) was killed. Immedi-
ately the mine owners and members of the Citizens' Alliance
charged the crime upon the strikers, many of them were arrested
and a number deported. The authorities declared that the union
strikers arrested and charged with this crime should not be
tried by Judge Owens, as they feared he favored the union.
They wanted the cases tried by Judge De France. The cases
were tried by Judge De France. The prosecution spent weeks
introducing testimony to convict the fourteen union men on trial
of a conspiracy to blow up the Sun and Moon mine. After tbe
prosecution rested, the defense went to the jury WITHOUT
CALLING A SINGLE WITNESS. The jury was composed
largely of impartial ranchmen, and they brought in a verdict of
NOT GUILTY! Then the same authorities who had strained
every nerve to oonvlct union men of a crime of which they
were not guilty got up in Judge De France's court and nolle
pressed the members of the Citizens' Alliance who Avere under
indictment for driving strikers out of town, and of whose guilt
there was no shadow of doubt.

Two days after the pulling of the spikes on the Florence &
Cripple Creek Railroad, an explosioa occurred in the Vindicator

mine by which two men lost /,!> u lives. Like e\erythiii^, else
which occurred in the district, it was laid to the union men. and
many of them were again placed in the bull pen. but at the con
elusion of the trial of the derailment cases, the charges again-i
the union men arrested in connection with the Vindicator mine
(xplosion were nolle prossod in Judge Lewis' court. There •"•<•
many reasons ind much evidence to h-ad to the belief thai if
the truth of the matter is ever known the instigators of the crime,
will be proven to be members of the Mine Owners' Association
or of the Citizens' Alliance.

"Organizations Controlled by Desperate Men."

Before these trials Governor Peabody declared martial law in
the Cripple Creek district. In his proclamation he speaks of
the presence in Teller County of

"one or more organizations controlled by desperate men.
who a)-e intimidating the civil authorities, and who art-
setting at detiance the Constitution and laws of the
State of Colorado, and that the citizens of said County
of Teller by reason of the threats, intimidations and
crimes committed by said lawless persons in said county
of Teller are unable to enjoy their civil rights."

The Governor was right. There were "one or more organiza-
tions controlled by desperate men,'' who were "intimidating the
civil authorities." The very worst of these organizations was
the militia, and the most desperate man in control of it was the-
Governor of the State of Colorado. There were other lawless
bodies— the Mine Owners' Association and the Citizens' Alliaii'
but the Governor himself and his agents have been engaged in
"setting at detiance the Constitution and laws of the State or
Colorado." and he 'has never yet proceeded against the real law-
breakers for the reason that he is himself the greatest law-
breaker.

The Western Federation of Miners, through its Secretary and
Executive Hoard, appealed to the President of the rnite.t
States for help, but it needless to record that they received no
assistance from that able exponent of the "open shop." Hut tue
President sent Major-General John C. Hates to Colorado to inves-
tigate. While in Colorado the Major-General was the guest of
the Mine Owners' Association. Knou^h said of him and his re
port.

"To hell with the constitution: we are going by the Governor'-
orders!" said Major McClelland, acting judge advocate and coun-
sel for the mil'larv authorities.

C. G. Kennison was arrested and bull-penned time and ag:uu on

(me occasion tho military, headed by a notorious ex-convict, in-
terrupting the funeral services over a dead union miner to take
Kennison away.

After the funeral of a union miner the military went to tho
house of his widow and threatened to take from her her two
children, of 7 and 10 years.

Five boys from 9 to 14 years of age were arrested by the mili-
tary and taken to Camp Goldfield.

The safe of Miners' Union, No. 32, was unlocked and robbed,
11 nd other than the secretary the only man who had the com-
bination was an officer of the National Guard of Colorado.

Sherman Parker and other union men were arrested and re-
arrested too many times to keep count.

Women Under the Ban.

The military protectors of "law and order" dragged a woman
from her house, tore portions of her clothing from her body, and
with brute force, oaths and villiiication forced her to walk the
roads between towns because she had incurred their displeasure
by resenting their intrusion into the sanctuary of her home.

The men back of the Mine Owners' Association, the various
Citizens' Alliances, the Governor of Colorado, and the rich and
great and powerful are always talking whenever a strike takes
place about the safety of life and limb. And yet every day, in
the regular course of industry, they constantly jeopardize the
lives of their employes, in order to save the money required for
safety appliances, and refuse to abide by the law of the land
whenever profits are involved, not only in the netalliferous mining
industry, but in coal mining as well.

The military was after the "agitators" and the press. The
right to speak and print was interfered with from the day the
troops arrived in the district.

Section 10 of Article 2 of Colorado's Constitution says: "No
law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech"; that every
person shall be free to speak, write or publish whatever he will
on "any subject."

Regarding the suspension of the press the following temperate
(under the circumstances) statement by the Executive Committee
of the Miners' District Union should commend itself to all rea
soning and fair-minded men:

"Did it ever occur to the military gentlemen that they
took oath to support the constitution of the State, and
that when they issue such orders as the one on Saturday
they are violating their oaths? The fact, is that the
American people pay too little attention to such matters.

No man who has so little regard for his oath of office
should be permitted to hold office for u single day.
Contempt for all law follows a deliberate disregard for
law on the part of those charged with its execution.
It is our humble opinion that the greatest disregard and
violation of the law shown in Teller Co. is that due to
the militia. They have trampled upon the liberties of
the people. They have been guilty of unreasonable
searches and siezures. They have interfered with free-
dom of speech. They have arrested persons without
warrant of law, and imprisoned they without bail."
Dec. 22 Major H. A. Naylor, in command of the Cripple Creek
district during the absence of Col. Verdeckberg, made a state-
ment that, owing to the large number of idle men throughout
the district, an order would be made that all those having no
employment or visible means of support would be given
the alternative of one of three things — either to go to work, leave
the district, or go to the bull pen for an indefinite term.

Intoxicated soldiers created rough house in a hotel because a
bartender refused to give them drinks on account of the military
regulations prohibiting the sale of drinks to soldiers.

Scab or Be Shot.

In the early period of the strike numbers of strike-breakers
were brought to Cripple Creek who had been secured in Michi-
gan and other states east of Colorado on a pretense by the agent
of the operators that there was no trouble. In some cases en-
tire squads of them refused to work on learning the true condi-
tion of affairs. In some cases these men had to escape from
the mines as from a prison, and in one case a man who broke
from a group that was being escorted to the mines by a militia
company was shot at by the officer in command, but made good
his escape.

Perhaps no statement has been issued which in general terms
so temperately and yet so correctly and adequately describes the
situation in Colorado as the following resolutions adopted at the
largest public meeting ever held in Denver in the early part of
January of this year. They follow in part:

"Prudence indeed will dictate that government long estal*
lished shall not be changed for light and transient causes, ami
accordingly all experience has shown that mankind are more
disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right them-
seives by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to

throw off such a g-overiiment and to provide new guards for
their future security.

"Such has been the patient sufferance of the people of this
state, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to
denounce the tyranny and usurpations of the officials now con-
trolling the machinery of their government, and using it for pur-
poses of private gain and to promote certain business interests
at the expense of our liberties.

"The history of the present governor of Colorado is a history
of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct obect
ihe establishment of an absolute tyranny throughout this state
of certain classes over others. To prove this, let facts be sub
niitted to a candid world.

"He has refused to call together the Legislature of the state,
that it might have the opportunity to pass laws calculated to re-
store peace and quiet to the state, and to settle the various con-
troversies now going on between large bodies of our citizens,
banded together in different organizations, unions, alliances and
associations, and has exposed the state to all the dangers which
may arise from the warrings of conflicting industrial interests
and the convulsions caused by them.

"He has constantly and almost daily violated the constitution
of the state of Colorado and of the United States, although hav-
ing taken the oath to support them.

"He has, in time of peace, and without justification in law
or fact, or appeal for help from the civil authorities of the coun-
ties affected, ordered the militia of the state to invade certain
counties, and has there set aside the duly constituted civil author-
ities by force of arms, and has done this at a time when the
courts were open and their process was unresisted.

"He has obstructed the administration of justice and defied
our courts by ordering the militia of the state to disobey the
writs of the courts of the state.

"He has pretended to suspend the writ of habeas corpus.

"He has kept armies among us in times of peace, without the
consent of our Legislature.

"He has affected to render the military independent of and
superior to the civil power.

"He has combined with others in furtherance of the spirit of
greed, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution
and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his aid and support
and using the power of the state to aid certain people combined
under the form of unions or alliances, to obtain advantage over
others combined in like manner, and in so doing

"He has imposed taxes upon us without our consent.

"He has deprived us in many cases of the trial by jury.

"He has taken away our charters, abolished our most valuable
laws, and altered fundamentally the forms of our government.

"He has, in defiance of Article XIII. of the amendments to
the constitution of the United States, which says:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the United States,"
compelled the militia to force men at the point of the bayonet to
work in the mines at pumps and elsewhere, without their con-
sent.

"He has further, in defiance of his oath and of Article I. of the
amendments to the constitution of the United States, which pro-
vides that

"Congress shall make no laws abridging the freedom of
speech or of the press, or the right of the people to peace-
fully assemble, and to petition the government,"
attempted to muzzle the press of the state, and to establish a
censorship over the same.

"He has, in defiance of Article IV. of the amendments to the
constitution of the United States, which says:

That "The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated, and that no warrant shall
issue, but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirma-
tion, and particularly describing the places to be searched,
and the person and thing to be seized,"

allowed the militia, under his orders, to violate the liberty of
persons, to search houses and to seize papers and effects, without
warrant and in direct violation of all law.

"That he has. in defiance of Article II. of the amendments to
the constitution of the United States, which says:

"That the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall
not be infringed/'

allowed the militia, acting under his orders, to search for and
take arms from their rightful owners, and to confiscate the same
wherever found, and has permitted the militia, in violation of
said article, to issue proclamations demanding the surrender of
all arms and their registration, and has further allowed said
militia, while enforcing his orders, to invade the private premises
of citizens, and notably, those of one John M. Glover, for refusal
to comply with illegal proclamations, and for asserting his con-
stitutional and legal rights.

"That each and all of these acts are calculated to excite do-
mestic insurrection among us. and to bring on a conflict among
people engaged in divers industrial affairs.

"A governor whose character is thus marked by every act

which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free peo-
ple.

"We have warned him from time to time of his attempts to
extend an unwarranted jurisdiction over us. We have appealed
to any sense of .justice and magnanimity he may be supposed to
possess, and we have begged him by the ties of our common
kindred to discontinue these usurpations which will inevitably
lead to further discord and must continue disastrously to dis-
turb the peace of the state. These appeals he has treated with
contempt.

"It is, therefore, resolved, that the time having arrived when,
in consequence of the usurpations and tyrannies above set forth,
the courts of the state are rendered powerless by an organized
mob, pretending to act as the militia of the state, to redress our
grievances, it is now the duty of every citizen to exercise the
right of self-defense in protection of the rights guaranteed him
under our constitution and laws, and at any and all cost, to pro-
tect himself and his property from arrest, seizure or search by
any persons not armed and authorized by warrant issued by
civil authority.

"It is further resolved, that for repeated violation of his official
oath, as governor of this state, and for the many usurpations antf
tyrannies above set forth, we demand the impeachment of James
II. Peabody.

"It is further resolved, that we demand that the district at-
torney of Teller county at once institute criminal proceedings
against said Peabody and the mob acting under his orders, for
assault with attempt to kill John M. Glover on the 28th day of
December, 1903, nnd that the proper authorities also institute
criminal proceedings against said Peabody and others responsi-
ble for the numerous crimes of false imprisonment, larceny,
riot, etc., recently committed by organized mobs in Teller, San
Miguel snd other counties, to the end that the offenders may be
punished, when law and order once more prevails, and the courts
and civil authorities are no longer prevented by mobs from the
exercise of their functions.

"Be it further resolved, that the surrender by the militia of
Victor Poole to the civil authorities of Teller county, at the time
when the right of the militia to hold him and to defy the writ of
habeas corpus was pending before the Supreme Court, is and
was an acknowledgment by the governor of the state that he
and the militia under his orders had wilfully and knowingly vio-
lated the constitution and laws *of the state in arresting said
Poole and imprisoning him without charge or warrant.

"We further regard the release of said Poole and his sur-
render to the civil authorities as a pitiful and cowardly attempt

on the part of the governor to evade the consequences of his
crime, and to prevent being branded by the highest court of the
state as a law breaker.

"Be it further resolved, that we demand that the illegal ex-
pense incurred by reason of the acts of the governor in defying
the courts and civil authorities, shall be borne by those who, as
the beneficiaries of those acts, have advanced the money and
profited by its expenditure.

"Resolved further, that we insist upon the rigid maintenance
of our constitutional safe guards, and point out that to break
them down by force under any pretext, is treason of the highest
kind which leads to anarchy and the sure rule of that force whose
first victims will be those Pharisees now crying for that law and
order of which they are the sole violators."

•
Explosion at Independence Station.

At 2:1"» Monday morning, June (>, the depot at Independence in
the Cripple Creek district was blown up by an explosion of giant
powder. The explosion took place at a time when the station
contained a large number of miners, mostly non-union, just from
the hill to take the train to their homes.

Fourteen were killed and a number injured.

Instantly the entire district was in the greatest excitement.

Members of the Mine Owners' Association and of the Citizens'
Alliance immediately took charge of everything. The military
were at once called for.

One of the first things done was to shut down all of the non-
union mines, and to order the men to come into town, bringing
with them their arms.

Rope's-End Resignations.

Sheriff Robertson, who had been duly elected to his office by
a majority of votes, was taken before the joint committee of the
Citizens' Alliance and the Mine Owners' Association, and ask^d
to resign.

He refused.

Surrounded by armed men, his resignation was thrust in
front of him, a coil of rope with a hangman's noose in the end
was thrown at his feet, and again he was asked to resign.

He complied.

The resignation of Coroner Doran was brought about in the
same way. The conspirators did well to remove the Coroner. I It-
would have found out the persons who were guilty of the crime,
and that would have been a life aud death matter for some of

the employees or members of the Mine Owners' Association and
the Citizens' Alliance.

In addition to the resignations of the Coroner and Sheriff, the
military, mine owners and Citizens' Alliance also forced the
resignation from their offices of Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
Cole, City Marshal Graham (of Cripple Creek), City Marshal
O'Connell (of Victor), and in Goldfield Marshal Brother, Night
Marshal McCarthy and Justice of the Peace Reilly were deposed
from their offices, together with all the aldermen in Indepen-
dence, and a fire chief and a county commissioner.

Meetings of excited citizens were held, and at one of these in
the open air C. C. Hamlin, secretary of the Mine Owners' Asso-
ciation did his best to make his remarks as inflammatory as
possible, and declared that the explosion was caused by mem-
bers of the Western Federation of Miners, At one point in his
'address he said he would like to know what the "boys from the
bills" thought of the matter, and a union miner spoke up and
said "let me talk."

No sooner had he spoken than shooting began, and two men
were killed and several injured. All the firing was attributed
to the union men, but Hamlin kept on talking and was unin-
jured.

A raid was at once started on the hall of the union miners.
Many shots were fired at them. Several were wounded. The
papers declared that the miners were armed and made a desper-
ate resistance, but not a man in the attacking party received a
scratch.

The men in the hall were taken to the bull pen. The hall was
searched. The records of the union were appropriated.

Deportations of union men were at once begun. Each day
saw the departure of tens and scores.

Some were taken to Denver, some to Kansas, some to New
Mexico,

General Bell and the Constitution.

General Bell, sworn to obey the Constitution of the State of
Colorado and of the United States, publicly declared:

"These men were deported to the Kansas-Colorado line, and
more will follow to-morrow, to which no apologies are made to
any one. Should they return, they will be immediately placed
in a military prison, and there remain indefinitely."

To be a union man was crime. It was no protection to be a
husband or a father. Men were taken from their families, hus-
bands torn from Avives who were critically ill, and from chil-
dren who had no other protector, at the instance of civil and

military authorities, acting at the institution of men who had
no other charge to prefer against them than their suspicion
that they should be suspected.

Nearly every man arrested was subjected to awful "sweating"
by the detectives of the Mine Owners' Association, and such weiv.
the means employed that several of them lost their reason, and
others were confined to hospitals on account of their injuries. A
favorite method was to hang them up by the thumbs until their
Censes left them.

The Western Federation of Miners had four cooperative stores
in the Cripple Creek district. All were sacked and closed and
contents destroyed or stolen.

To understand the animosity of the Citizens' Alliance one has
only to know that the four co-operative stores which were
sacked and gutted by the mob of "respectable gentlemen" com-
prising that body were a thorn in their side. The Western
Federation was practically forced to start these stores to supply
its members with the necessaries of life. They sold goods at
close to cost price, did a large trade, and every member of the
Citizens' Alliance felt that every dollar spent in a co-operative
store was a dollar taken out of his own pocket. Whenever there
was so much as a rumor of a settlement between any of the
mine owners and the strikers, something was sure to happen in
the district. The Citizens' Alliance would brook no settlement of
the troubles between the strikers and any minemanagers that
did not have for its basis an agreement on the part of the West-
ern Federation of Miners to discontinue its co-operative supply
stores. When a settlement was being considered between sev-
eral of the operators and the strikers last November the Vindi-
cator explosion took place, and on Friday, June 3. of this year
a committee from the national convention of the Federation con-
ferred with several mine managers regarding the differences
hotween them and their former employees, and on the following
Monday the Independence explosion took place.

The military authorities confiscated the horses and wagons be-
longing to the miners' co-operative stores and used them as
police patrol wagons to haul members of the union to the bull
pen and the sweat box.

In many instances members of the Citizens' Alliance refused
to sell the necessaries of life to the families of deported men. and
the military authorities ordered the agent of the Western Fed-
eration of Miners who had been distributing relief to the wives,
mothers and children of the exiles to discontinue his work, re-
quiring all supplies to pass through military channels.

John Carley Killed.

On the 8th of June General Bell took a military force to Dunne-
ville, 17 miles south of Victor, and in another, county where
martial law had not been proclaimed, and attacked a body of
union miners engaged near there in working a new mine.

The union men were unarmed, but the troops fired some hun-
dreds of shots, one of which struck and killed John Carley.

When shot down he was running from one rock to another
tor shelter, trying to make his escape. He was a union man.

Again a battle, and again not a soldier got a scratch, though
the papers were full of reports to the effect that the union men
had made a desperate and formidable resistance.

Office of the Victor Record Wrecked.

The office of the Victor Record, which had been friendly to
the strikers, was visited by eight men and its plant and ma-
chinery totally wrecked. The force of this same office had been
in the bull pen on a previous occasion.

Throughout the present strike troubles in Colorado the
Great Portland mine had continued in operation. Its force of
men was part union and part non-union.

When the military had taken charge of affairs after the ex-
plosion of the Independence station one of General Bell's first
sicts was to force Mr. Burns, the manager of the Portland, to
close down his mine, for no other reason than that he employed,
some union men. The employers declare that they want the
•'open shop." Mr. Burns was running an "open shop." The
Mine Owners' Association insisted that he should not run an
"open shop," that he must run a shop closed to union men, or
not run at all, and they enforced their edict backed by the
bayonets of the State, under the orders of a man whose master
has repeatedly declared that he was using the troops to main-
tain the right of every man to work. Mr. Burns brought suit
against the Governor of Colorado for damages for the illegal
action of the militia in closing the Great Portland, but the direc-
tors of the company, preferring treason to patriotism, ordered its
discontinuance.

Members of the Mine Owners' Association and of the Citizens'
Alliance sent committees to the owners of all stores, shops and
works and demanded that they sign an agreement to refuse em-
ployment to all members of the Western Federation of Miners
and the American Labor Union. They at first included members
of the American Federation of Labor in those who came under
the ban, but later made an exception of men belonging to that
body.

TRINIDAD.

The Strike in the Coal Field.

While the events narrated in preceding chapters were trans-
piring in the metalliferous mining industry in Colorado City.
Cripple Creek, and other gold fields of the State, similar crinn s
for similar causes were being committed by the armed agents of
the corporations and the armed authorities of the State in tne
coal fields of Southern Colorado in and around Trinidad.

The trouble with the Coal miners of District 15, United M.u •
Workers of America (which covers New Mexico, Utah and Colo-
rado) dates from August, 1900, at which time the workers of that
vicinity began their efforts to organize. In Southern Colorado
where the Coal Companies had practiced oppressions beyond the
power of pen to describe, the first local was organized on Aug.
nth. 1900, at Pictou, Colo. National Organizer Jas. Kennedy
went to Pryor, Colo., to organize a local, and he was holding ;;
meeting of about 40 men when the Sheriff of Huerfano County
and two deputies came upon the ground, lined up the crowd and
arrested Kennedy and two of the men and threw them into the
county jail. They were released later, but the authorities made
no effort to prosecute the sheriff for his unlawful act.

John L. Gehr, then District President, organized locals
throughout the southern part of the state to the number of about
fifteen during the spring, but the companies discriminated
against union men, and, that failing to break up the organiza-
tion, closed their mines.

Organizing Unions Dangerous Work.

In the Spring of 1902 Ralph Prukop, then District President,
was run out of Hastings, by D. M. Simpson, general manager
for the Victor Fuel Company, aided by mine guards. Several
attempts were made by Fmkop and John Simpson, secretary of
District 15. U. M. W. of A., to organize Hastings, but they were
always met by the deputies of the coal company, and many of
the men were fired out of camp for no other reason than that
they attended open-air meetings held for the purpose of explain-
ing to the men the purposes of organization.

In the Summer of 1903 Italian National Organizer Chas. 1 >e
Molli was run out of Primero. Colo., for organizing the men.

In August of the same year John Simpson. Jas. Kennedy and R.
M. Smith marched through Rouse with a body of men. 200 in
number, and held an open meeting at Pryor. Seventy-rive depu-
ties had been gathered there by the Companies to break up the

meeting, but failed in their object. Next morning, however,
seventy men who had attended the meeting were discharged
by the company.

From Aug. 1st, 1900, to Nov. 9th, 1903, over 9.000 men had been
enrolled in the United Mine Workers of America in Las Animas
and Huerfano Counties, Colo., but on Nov. 9th less than 2,000 re-
mained in the organization. Over 7,000 had been discharged
and put on the black list.

Join the Union, Lose Your Job.

The companies have always declared that their men did not
want to join the union, but thousands were deprived of their em-
ployment during the summer of 1903 merely on the suspicion of
being union men. After standing this torment for three years
every effort was put forth by the men to settle their troubles
with the coal companies by agreement. On August 14, 1903, the
men issued a statement of their grievances, which was sent to
the coal companies, to the public and the Governor of the state,
setting forth the many causes of dissatisfaction, and asking
tor a conference with the corporations to avert a strike.

In September, 1903, the miners held a convention in Pueblo,
at which a scale of prices for work in the southern coal field of
Colorado was drawn .up, together with a statement of wrongs
for which they demanded redress, and a copy of the same was
sent to the employers.

The mesi asked for an increase of wages, that wages be paid
semi-monthly, and in money instead of script on the company
store, honest weight of coal mined, the eight-hour day as pro-
vided for by the Constitution of the State, and the ventilation
of the mines in accordance with the existing laws of Colorado.

The union repeatedly asked for a conference with the corpora-
tions, but were at all times ignored by them.

The National Organization interested itself in the situation in
the district, and when all efforts to meet the employers for a
discussion of affairs had failed the call was issued for the men
to strike on Nov. 9th, 1903. More than 13,000 men responded
to the call, which was over ninety-six per cent of all the em-
ployees under the strike jurisdiction.

The operators had used every resource, resorted to every
means, fair and foul, to prevent the organization of the men.
Yet when the strike was called, seven unorganized men re-
sponded for every man who was a member of the union. They
had been afraid to jeopardize their employment by joining the
union, but when the strike was called they manfully stood ov.t

with the union men in the hope of wresting some relief from
conditions which had bec-onie unbearable.

Before the strike was called the district had been swarmed
with deputies and thugs for the purpose of intimidating the
miners. Every possible means was used to break the strike by
the companies. Men were offered as high as $7 a day, steady
work, and $100 bonus to go to work and break the strike, but
they refused to leave the ranks of the union. They steadily
declined to accept anything from the company except terms that
would be honorable, and looking to such an adjustment of their
difficulties as would further the interests of the entire body of
strikers.

Failing to break the strike, the operators started the breaking-
up system, called '"kangarooing," by their hired thugs. Law was
cast aside, and the rule of main force was established by the
corporations.

Evicted from Their Own Houses.

In many of the mining camps every foot of ground except the
public highway was the property of the coal company. Some
men lived in company houses, which they had secured by leases
containing clauses allowing the company th^ right to evict its
tenants within live days after they ceased work in the mine.
Others, not being able to get houses from the company, had
rented ground on which they had erected their own dwellings,
but the company had in such cases inserted in the lease of
the ground the same clause, giving them power to evict a man
from the house he owned and had himself erected on live day*'
notice. The company owned the land, and as soon as the strike
was ordered they gave their tenants the five days' notice to
vacate, and at once drove the men from their homes, and in
order to make sure that they should not return tore down their
houses.

But in particular cases which were taken to the courts, and
where the tenants were sustained, the corporations, with their
armed forces of thugs and deputies, proceeded with their work
of destruction and eviction regardless of judicial decisions.

In consequence of these wholesale evictions, the union supplied
the strikers with tents, and many of them, together with their
wives and children, spent the entire winter in camps. But after
martial law was declared the military kept them on the move,
and at intervals they were required to break up and pitch their
tented homes in new places.

Nov. 18th, 1903, National Organizers Win. Wardjon. Jas. Ken-
nedy, Joe, Poggiuni ami Will. Campbell were arrested on the pub-

lie highway at Hastings, Colo., and thrown into jail, and later
escorted out of camp. The tlnion at once asked the courts for
an injunction, but after a lengthy trial Judge Northcutt refused
to grant it, saying that the civil courts were open for the prose-
cution of such cases.

Draw Blood on a Mule.

Dec. 7, 1903, a party of non-union men in charge of William
Jennings on the highway near Berwind, declared that they had
been shot at by would-be murderers, though no one was in-
jured save their team of mules.

Two Strikers Killed, Two Injured.

Drawing blood from a rnule, however, was sufficient excuse
for the corporations. They had no evidence whatever that
union men were implicated in the matter, but they at once de-
clared that union men were guilty, and on that night sheriff's
deputies in the pay of the companies attacked a party of strikers,
killing two and wounding two.

On Dec. 17, at New Castle, Colo., five houses, owned by John
Lawson, Evan Davis, Win. Isaacs, Wm. Doyle and Thos. Doyle,
were wrecked by dynamite. The men were union committee-
men, and there is every reason to believe that the company's
deputies were responsible for the deed.

Jan. 24, Wm. Maher and Henry Mitchell, local organizers of
the union, were beaten up at Engleville, Colo., by the mine
guards. Maher was injured so seriously that he was confined
to the hospital.

Jas. Doneky a local union man, was next pounded up by
Deputy Sheriff McPherson at the corner of Main and Commercial
Streets, in Trinidad. Doneky's leg was broken and he sustained
other injuries.

The first week in Feb., 1904, Wm. Wardjon, National Organ-
izer, was attacked by the deputies or detectives at the same place
in Trinidad. He was dragged off to the jail, but no charge was
made, and the sheriff after an investigation released him.

February 14, 1904, Wm. Fairley and Jas. Mooney, national
organizers of the union, were caught by seven men, believed to
be detectives, about a mile from Trinidad and beaten until they
could not walk. They were disabled for several weeks, and
Mooney was disfigured for life.

Feb. 24th a union miner was killed in Dawson, New Mex., by
Bud Phalmer, deputy sheriff, who claimed he committed the act
in self defence.

On the same day Chris Evans was attacked on a railroad

train as it was pulling out of Trinidad by three men believed to
be deputy sheriffs, and pounded into unconsciousness. He is
financial agent in the strike field of the U. M. W. of A.

March 1st District Organizer Julian Gomez was beaten up by
a deputy sheriff in Trinidad. He was laid up as a result of
his injuries.

March 14th an Italian striker was killed in Pryor, Colo., by
deputy sheriffs. He was driven from his own house, and killed
while running away in the effort to save his life.

March 23rd, 1904, the soldiers came to Trinidad, Colo., and
martial law was proclaimed in Las Animas County. Later the
houses of strikers in Las Animas County were repeatedly
searched for fire-arms by the soldiers* In Segundo, Colo., sev-
eral houses were visited by the soldiers at midnight, women
and children were dragged from their beds and taken out on the
prairie by the militia in their efforts to force them to tell where
guns were bidden. Men were taken from their beds at night and
threats made that they would be shot if they did not tell
the location of firearms which did not exist.

Mar. 2r>th, A. Bartoli. an Italian printer employed by District
15, was arrested by the militia. No charge.

March 2(Hh the II Lavoratore Italiano was confiscated by
militia and publication stopped while martial law continued in
Trinidad.

Mother Jones Deported.

On the same date National Organizers Mother Jones, Win.
Wardjon. Joe. Poggiani and A. Bartoli. the printer, were deported
by the militia. Mother Jones was given five minutes to pack
her belongings and get ready, after which time she was escorts t
to the Santa Fe train, and deported with instructions not to re-
turn to Las Anituas while martial law was in force.

March 30 John Faletti, district organizer, was beaten up at
Glenwood Springs, Colo., by men believed to be Reno detec-
tives. He was laid up for several weeks from cuts on the head.

April 1st, more midnight searches were made at Segundo, Colo.
Women were again the victims.

April 2nd Chas. Demolli was arrested at Helper, Utah, by the
deputy sheriffs for "agitating" among the miners. Demolli is a
national organizer. He was held for several days, but was
acquitted by the courts.

April 8th, 1004, Jas. D. Ritchie and Robert Beveridg<> were
arrested at Brodhead, Colo. The next day they and several men
from Sopris. Colo., were deported to New Mexico with instruc-
tions not to return.

April 9th Chas. Demolli, national organizer, was pounded up
at Pueblo by men believed to be part of the Reno gang. He was
in a critical condition for several days.

April 19th more striking miners were arrested and deported.
Jules Ragnier, A. Ferns, A. Anderson of Brodhead, Colo., were
among the number. All were reputable citizens.

Involuntary Servitude for Freemen.

April llth Pavio Romero and John Simpson, the latter dis-
trict secretary, visited Segundo, Colo. They were detained by
the militia and later sent back to Trinidad. On the same date
Gian Bernardi, a striking miner, was bayonetted in the leg by
militia, and forced to work cleaning the streets of the town.
About 300 strikers were from time to time compelled to work by
the militia, though they had neither been charged with nor con-
victed of crime.

April 15th Rugby, Hastings, Majestic, Bowen and the Trinidad
camps of miners on strike were ordered moved by the militia.

April 27, 1904, fifteen strikers were deported by the soldiers.
All were officers of local unions, or were serving on their vari-
ous committees.

On the same date Jas. D. Ritchie was rearrested for having
returned to Trinidad to see his family without a permit from the
military headquarters.

April 30th National Organizer Wm. Wardjon was beaten up at
Sargent, Colo., by men believed to be detectives in the employ of
the coal company. He was taken to the hospital at Salida and
was not expected to live for several days, though* he finally re-
covered.

May 2nd eleven strikers were arrested by the military authori-
ties, and the same night thirty men were deported from Trinidad
to New Mexico, with instructions not to return. Several business
men were among the number.

Unspeakable Brutality.

May 7th Joe Raiz a striker at Sunlight, Colo., was caught in
the hills just back of camp by three masked men, tied to a tree
and castrated. He was an old man, nearly 70, and died three
days later from his awful injuries.

This outrage was so horrible that there was a pretense at In-
vestigation, and the authorities reported that in their opinion the
old man was not in his right mind and had inflicted his injuries
upon himself.

On the 10th of May James D. Ritchie was taken out of prison,
where he had been held for 14 days without a charge against

him, and deported for the second time, being told to never com
back. I shall have more to say of him later.

On May 17 the military authorities ordered each of the strik-
ers in camp near Hastings to give his name, age, nativity, occu-
pation, and proceeded to take the height, weight and descrip-
tion of the men. Seventy-nine of the men refused to give their
names, believing the information was being secured for the pur-
pose of making a blacklist, which without a doubt was the fact.

Driven Like Droves of Cattle.

The men who declined to give the information desired by the
military forces were then inarched nineteen miles in the hot sun,
driven by a force of cavalry as if they were a drove of cattle,
given no food either during or after the march, and lined up at
the military headquarters in Trinidad, where they were photo-
graphed, registered and released, with the exception of three,
who were put in the military jail.

The alleged cause of this outrage? Some time previous a
repair shop at Hastings caught fire and burned down. It was,
of course, laid to the strikers. Everything was laid to the strik-
ers by the civil and military authorities. All the authorities
were owned by the coal companies, and all were directly or in-
directly in the pay of the coal companies.

Did the strikers set fire to the repair shop? Not a particle
of evidence to that effect was brought out. There is any amount
of circumstantial evidence to the contrary.

Punished for the Crimes of Their Accusers.

For one thing, the repair shop was closely guarded by depu-
ties; deputy sheriffs swarmed in all the country round, and a
striker could go nowhere without observation by them. It is
hardly conceivable that a striker could have gotten into the shop
without discovery by deputy sheriffs, and if a striker did suc-
ceed in entering the place he would have no opportunity of mak-
ing his escape after setting it afire.

By any sane man, by any impartial agent of the law, the very
last men on whom suspicion could rest of responsibility for the
fire in the machine and repair shops would be the strikers.

If the fire was an incendiary one. who was guilty?

Who should be guilty? Who would have an interest in having
such a thing occur? Who had an opportunity to bring about its
occurrence?

Who but the deputy sheriffs?

Why?

Why? Because there was "nothing doing" in the strike field.
Because when there was "nothing doing" they were in danger
of losing their jobs. And many of them are just the characters
to undertake any kind of dirty work, and no kind of honest
work.

At the time of this fire deputy sheriffs were being laid off, los-
ing their jobs, daily. And if only something could happen, they
would have a new lease on their manly occupation of swaggering
around with a' six-shooter on their hip and beating up unarmed

strikers.

Knowing the general character of these men, is it at all un-
fair to at least suspect them before others?

1 have gone into this case in detail for the reason that it is
typical of many.

May 28th Julian Gomez, District Organizer of the union, was
released after being held thirty days without any charge against
him. He was instructed to leave the county, not to return under
penalty of being thrown into the jail again until it should become
the pleasure of the military authorities to let him out.

This is in no sense a complete list of outrages. It contains
nothing more than samples. An index of all the crimes com-
mitted by the civil and military authorities of the State and
county and a list of the persons whose lawful rights were tram-
pled in the dust by them Avould more than fill a book the size of
this and leave no space for comment.

Persons were arrested by the military authorities and kept in
confinement under no other charge than "military necessity."
"Military necessity," was the excuse for any foul or evil deed
that the coal companies desired to have perpetrated.

Other than those friendly to the corporations, it was sometimes
impossible to get even so much as the names of persons arrested
and deported. Friends and relations of the prisoners were
rarely allowed to visit them.

Midnight Law and Order.

Men were arrested at midnight, men were deported at midnight,
houses were searched for arms at midnight, and homes of the
strikers were torn down at midnight.

Not only were strikers arrested, but any one who was suspected
of sympathyzing with them was in constant danger, and among
the arrested and deported men are to be found ex-soldiers, busi-
ness men and men with bank accounts of no small size.

Nearly every union official who went into the Trinidad dis-
trict, with the exception of John Mitchell, was beaten into in-
sensibility one or more times by the agents of the coal operators,

•

and many of them have received letters threatening their lives,
notifying them to leave the State or be put away, on«- by <>u«-.
The following is from a letter bearing the signature of a well-
known detective, which was no doubt lost by him. The original
is in a safe place. It clearly shows the methods pursued by the
secret agents of law and order in their warfare against the utfhm.

"Pass Him Through the 'Kangaroo'!"

"Mr. W. H. Reno., Denver, Colo.

"Trinidad, Col., Feb. 10, 1904.

"Dear Sir— After I left you in Trinidad on the night of the 7th
I went back to the hotel and there received a telephone messag.-
from Jim Peretti, President of the Union at Hastings, to the
effect that a meeting would be held in Tobasco, and that -Mother
Jones and Poggini would talk to the Italians from the camps of
Rerwind, Hastings and Tobasco, I went to see Mother Jones and
she told me that her intentions were to go to Hastings also after
the meeting was over at Tobasco but Poggini told her not to go
there because it was very dangerous on account of the guards
there.

"Mother Jones spoke at Tobasco about two hours and the lan-
guage she used was something frightful. She tried to impress
the Italians with the idea that Mr. Chapell, President of the Vic-
tor Fuel Co., had been stealing the bread from their mouths ever
since the Company was organized. She told that one time she
met Mr. Chapell on the train and that her first Impression was
that he was a nice man but, after she spoke to him for a few
moments she concluded that he was an hypocrite. And then she
went to work and told of a certain Italian that she knew in To-
basco that had a dog, and he did not know what to name it and
some one suggested that they call it "Abraham Lincoln" but he
said that it would disgrace the name of Lincoln, and then some
one else suggested that they call it "Chapell" and he said that
the name would disgrace the dog. While she was telling these
Italians what a thief Chapell was, an Italian by the name of
Joe Madonna spoke and said that he had been working for Mr.
Chapell for eleven years and had never had any trouble until
he joined the Union and for the last year and a half he had
b«'on in 'hot water' all the time; he said that he would be will-
ing to go to work but he did not like to go first.

"As a matter of fact, I think that the majority of the Italians
in and around Hastings are all willing to go to work but it *eems
that a few of them are drawing a certain amount of money from
the Union every moiitli and as long as these fellows are paid

wages they will not toll these miners to go to work. They are
very much discouraged at the out-look of the situation. Sixty-
i'our families arrived in Hastings on the 8th just the time when
the strikers had gone to Tobasco to listen to Mother Jones'

speech.

* '

"Joe Mosco I drove out of town, also Rosario Dolce and his
family, Nic Odo refused to vacate and there was no way for
me to get him out so I told Thompson to arrest him on the charge
of vagrancy at about 12 o'clock at noon; That night he was
taken before the justice of the peace and the case nolle prossed:
that was about 8 o'clock. I had Gordon, Barret, Smith and
King wait for him down by the bridge and they "Kangaroocd
him" and the last I heard of him he was in the hospital, and
he will not attempt to come back to Hastings.

"It seems that the only way to get these agitators out of the
camps is to ''Kangaroo" them, and when they are all gone I am
satisfied that the boys will go to work.

•'In regard to Jim Poggini, President of the Union, I will say
that he seems to be a \ery smart man. I tried to get him at his
house on the 9th but lie slipped away from me and is camping
somewhere below the Companies property. I left word before
I left to arrest him on sight and pass him through the "Kan-
garoo" and I will guarantee you that it will be a cold day when
he gets back to camp.

"I have been reporting daily to Mr. Simpson and also to Mr.
Bartlett, Vice President of the Victor Fuel Co.

"The boys arrived from Washington, also the check. I^do not
know what plans these leaders have at present but it seems that
they have not very much hopes of winning the strike. Most of
the Italians at Hastings are moving below the camp's ground
on a ranch owned by a fellow named Peter Orlando; they have
tents and their provisions come from Trinidad. Their idea is to
Keep their guards on the ranch and prevent anybody from going
in or going out of Hastings. Don't worry about this matter as
I will attend to it.

"I left word with Gordon when I left, not to show any fa verities
and if anyone tresspnssed to send them to the undertaker, a los-
son or two like that will teach them something and stop all the
trouble I think. Yours truly,

(Signed) Chief secret service for the

State of Colo."

That letter shows the methods of the "law and order" legions
in the coal fields of Colorado,

TELLURIDE.
Mob Rule Maintained by the Military.

Practically the same causes that led to the strike in the Crippl"
("reek District brought about the strike in Telluride. First the
mill and smeltemeu went out for the eight-hour day which the
Constitution of the State guaranteed to them. Then, aggravated
by the discrimination against union men, the miners joined in
the strike. These strikes have been declared by the mine own-
ers to be sympathetic strikes — something which they regard as
infamous. I know of nothing which to me seems to be nobler
than a sympathetic strike— a case where men who are not directly
interested lay down their tools and voluntarily undergo the
:; \vful and racking hardships of a strike in order to right the
wrongs of their fellow workers. But in neither Telluride nor
Cripple Creek can the present strike be said to be sympathetic
in the tme sense. The miners and the mill and smeltermen were
members of the same general body, the Western Federation of
Miners, .and the strikes were those of federated trades.

The Telluride strike began with the cessation of work by the
mill men 011 September 1, '03. The strike grew in extent until
on October 21 the men on the Tom Boy quit, practically tying up
all the big mines in the district.

From the time the strike was really on. deputy sheriffs in the
employ of the mine owners and managers resorted to every
species of insult and assault for the avowed purpose of provok-
ing the strikers to deeds of violence which might be used as an
excuse to shoot them down like dogs.

Fnarmed pickets of the strikers were arrested, charged with
trespass— for walking on the public highway,

Scab, Leave Town, or Be Shot.

*
Deputies and Citizens' Alliance men stood on the principal

street corners armed with rifles and shot guns, and Bulkeley
Wells went to the office of the Telluride Journal and secured
a stack of rifles which he distributed to the mob of business men
and bad men.

They hoped that some of the strikers, on being arrested with-
out warrant and for no crime, would make resistance, in which
case the union men were to be drowned in their own blood.

Such was the discipline and order of the men. however. that
they stood even this outrage without resistance, and later the
arrested men were released on bail.

From the time the strike was on the old cry went up for the
militia. Needless TO say the Governor listened and responded.
As in the other cases where he had sent the armed forces of the
State, Governor Peabody made no effort to learn anything of the
strikers' side of the case. The fact that the owners wanted sol-
diers was sufficient.

No sooner had the militia arrived than the strikers and those
who sympathized with them were arrested, on every conceiv-
able charge, and on no charge.

Not an official or committeeman of the union escaped. Some
of them were arrested many times.

Day after day men were arrested, many of them on the charge
of "vagrancy." One of the men arrested on this charge had
$140 in his pocket at the time, but was not allowed to give bail.

The usual procedure was to arrest a group of men, take them
before the justice, and then inform them that they must leave
toAvn, pay a fine of $25 for vagrancy or GO TO WORK.

These men were miners, and going to work meant SCABBING
IN THE MINES.

Henry Macki, Lion-H carted.

Many of these men, all of whom had means of support, and
some of whom had considerable property, were fined, and when
they refused to pay they were put to work on the streets. One
man, protesting that he had committed no crime, declined to be
worked as s convict, and for this Henry Macki was handcuffed to
a telegraph pole in the public highway. His spirit was un-
broken, and he was taken to the jail, and starved for 36 hours,
but nothing could break his lion heart.

Some of the men arrested for vagrancy wished to give bail,
but the time was evening and the justice was "too sleepy."

Strikers' Attorneys Assaulted by Deputy Sheriff.

The Western Federation sent attorneys from Denver to go
into court on behalf of these men, and those for whom attorneys
appeared on that occasion were released. On the evening of
the day that the cases were tried, Mr. Richardson, their attor-
ney, was assaulted by a deputy sheriff, together with Mr.
Floaten, a citizen and business man of Telluride, who was with
him at the time.

Yet after all these infamous acts, after assaults, outrages and
illegal arrests without number, the strike was unbroken. The
men declined to go to work. They still had friends, and good
ones.

Something must be done!

What?

Homes of Strikers Searched for Arms.

On March 8 the military made a thorough search for firearms.
Armed soldiers entered the houses of the citizens and ransacked
every room. The military declared that they had nn-eived re-
ports that a large number of guns had been secreted in certain
portions of the town.

Then what?

Martial Law Declared Off.

March 11 the Governor of the State declared martial law in
Telluride at an end.
Then what?

The Armed Mob with Free Rein.

On the night of March 14 members of the Telluride Citizens'
Alliance and others held a meeting, armed themselves (in many
cases with rifles and revolvers owned by the State) and they
scoured the town and took into custody 79 union men and sympa-
thizers. In many cases doors to dwelling houses were broken
open. The victims were gathered by ones and twos, first in a
vacant lot, then held in a vacant store until all that were de-
sired had been secured, when they were inarched to the depot
and loaded into two railroad coaches and taken to Ridgeway,
where they were left and told never to return to Telluride.

Others than strikers and union men were deported. Any one
who was suspected of a friendly feeling for the men was taken
with the rest. The mob was also an instrument of private veng-
eance. Any member of the Citizens' Alliance who wanted an
enemy to leave town had only to name him. Among others who
were assaulted and deported was A. H. Floaten. manager of the
People's Supply Company, the largest department store in Tellu-
ride.

Wonderful mob, that.

Courageous!

The Conspiracy.

March 8 the men disarmed by militia.

March 11 the Governor suspends martial law.

Maxell 1-1 the mob armed with State gnus drove the disarmed
union men from their homes.

Was it a conspiracy? Was the Governor in it? Can any one
doubt it?

"Gentlemen of the Mob."

A wonderful combination, that Telluride mob of March 14.
Acting in the interest of "tree labor'' — free to be shot or leave
town. Look at the persons composing it. Solid business man,
sordid micer, sodden drunkard, "companions in arms." Pimp,
profligate and pillar of the church, there in the interests of home
and country. Bunco, short-card and cold-deck man, there look-
ing for a chance to shoot the decalogue into some one who needs
it. Banker and bank clerk, grocer who owes bank money,
grocer who wants to owe bank money — there to protect "our
business interests." Two mine managers, two mine superin-
tendents, one superintendent of electric light company— they're
there to bring about business "prosperity." A newspaper pro-
prietor, a printer and a .reporter, there in the interests of a free
and enlightened press — or is it the hope of ads. and sinews from
a mine owner? A Prohibitionist and a wholesale beer dealer,
shoulder to shoulder. Three lawyers there, a Democrat, a Re-
publican and a mugwump, surely there in the interest of lav/
and justice— or cases from mine owners? There's one grocer,
solid Democrat and trustee in a church, turning to with all hi;s
heart in company with a Republican politician who keeps a
bawdy house. There's another grocer, Republican, ex-post-
master, "smearkase statesman," with his clerk, who sell supplies
to a boarding house run by the mine owners, together with a
Democratic grocer who can see no good reason why he should
not furnish all the supplies required by the company boarding
house. Most Christian dry goods merchant, trudging along with
his competitor, a Jewish dry goods merchant, in harmony for
the first time in their lives. A butcher, a barber, an ex-convict-
there, for what? And Captain Bulkley Wells, suave, handsome,
a collegiate, polished gentleman, millionaire, mine owner, mine
manager, military commandant of the district — he's there, with
a dozen militiamen Cnot in uniform), half a dozen deputy sheriffs,
detectives, gin mill keepers, proprietors of gambling houses and
bad men— there in the interest of free labor? peace? harmony?
law? order? morality? Well, Captain AVells knows what he's
there for— as mine owner.

The Governor and the Courts.

San Miguel County was again placed under martial law.
Why?

Because Judge Stevens had issued an injunction restraining
rhe Telluride Citizens' Alliance, the Mine Owners' Association

and all others from in any way interfering with the return of
the deported men to their homes.

The courageous gentlemen who had made up the mob th.it
drove honest men from their homes did not like to come in close
contact with the District Court, so they again appealed to their
great and good friend Governor Peabody and he again established
martial law in the Telluride district for the express purpose of
placing himself above the authority of the courts.

Martial Law to Uphold the Lawless.

Governor Peabody said:

"If they will CALL OFF THE STRIKE and disperse peace-
ably to their homes, that is all 1 want. I will say that law
and order will be preserved in this State so long as I live and
have a militia to accomplish such purpose."

The men had been dispersed from their homes by molts armed
with the rifles of the State, but the Governor would do nothing
to protect them.

Stewart Forbes, Antone Matti and A. H. Floaten, three of the
deported men, went to Denver and made repeated efforts to see
Governor Peabody, but could not succeed. It takes a mine
owner to get an audience with the Governor of Colorado.

From time to time deported men returned to Telluride. Some-
times they were told on alighting from the train to take the next
train out of the town. Sometimes they were immediately
arrested by the military authorities, kept over night in jail, and
placed on the morning train with a warning not to return. On
one occasion sixty-four came back in a body, all unarmed. The
next morning fifty-eight of them were again deported by the
militia.

This was kept up for months. Hardly a day went by that
some man was not told by Bulkeley Wells or Herron (both mine
managers i to leave town within one. two or three days.

On the day I arrived in the city a man who had been working
in the mines was deported on the charge of being a spy for the
union, working there for the purpose of getting information as to
the output of the mines, etc. Another man. one of the strikers,
was warned to leaA*e town while 1 was in the citv. and the day
I left a man worth twenty thousand dollars was ordered to leave
at once. Hi« crime was his belief in the justice of the union's
cause.

'President Moyer Arrested.

Charles Moyer. President of the Western Federation of Min-
ers, was arrested at Ouray on the '2t»th of March. From thai

time till June 14 he was constantly in charge of the military
authorities.

The charge against him was "desecrating the flag." The Fed-
eration had printed in red, white and blue colors a representa-
tion of the United States flag, and on each of the thirteen stripes
was printed one of the following lines:

"Martial law declared in Colorado. ,

"Habeas corpus suspended in Colorado.

"Free press throttled in Colorado.

"Bull pens for union men in Colorado.

"Free speech denied in Colorado.

"Soldiers defy the courts in Colorado.

"Wholesale arrests without warrant in Colorado.

"Union men exiled from homes and families hi Colorado.

"Constitutional right to bear arms questioned in Colorado.

"Corporations corrupt and control administration in Colorado.

"Right of fair, impartial and speedy trial abolished in Colorado.

"Citizens' alliance resorts to mob law and violence in Colorado.

"Militia hired to corporations to break the strike in Colorado."

Peabody Flouts the Judiciary.

Every one of those statements is true. Governor Peabody
knows it. General Bell knows it. Every honest man who is
familiar with the facts knows it. A reduced copy of this flag
appears on the cover of this pamphlet.

On March 31 Judge Stevens issued a writ of habeas corpus
directing Adjutant-General Sherman Bell and Captain Bulkeley
Wells to bring President Moyer into his court. Expecting such
a writ to be issued, Peabody had ordered Bell to ignore it before
it was signed by the Judge.

When the military authorities failed to produce President
Moyer in his court Judge Stevens ordered his release, and ordered
the incarceration of Gen, Bell and Capt. Wells in the county jai!
at Ouray without bail, and fining Bell and Wells $500 each.
At the same time the Judge said:

"The Governor in Insurrection and Rebellion."

"A very grave question is presented as to whether it is the
striking miners or the Governor of Colorado and the National
Guard that are engaged in insurrection and rebellion against
the laws of the State.'*

No attention was paid to the verdict of Judge Stevens. The
attorneys of President Moyer appealed to the Supreme Court of •
Colorado. That court issued a writ of habeas corpus, which the
Governor obeyed out of "courtesy to the court,"

The court refused to release Mr. Moyer, but took the matter
under advisement, after hearing argument of counsel, and on
June (J rendered a decision, two judges concurring, one dissent-
ing, that the Governor of the State had the right to suspend the
•writ of habeas corpus in cases of insurrection and rebellion,
and that he (the Governor) was the sole judge of what consti-
tuted insurrection and rebellion.

As the Supreme Court of Colorado has ruled, the Governor has
the right to declare the State or any portion thereof to be in in-
surrection and rebellion at any time, and he is the sole judge of
the fact. Having declared a state of insurrection and rebellion
to be in existence, he can then use the military power of the
State for any purpose whatsoever, including the killing and im-
prisonment or deportation of any and all citizens, limited only
by his own interest, desire and caprice. This makes him an
absolute autocrat. By the use of this power he can not only
imprison workingmen on strike, if he likes he can imprison any
one who has the temerity to contest an election with him, or de-
port any one who might be suspected of voting against him. This
is ihe import of the Supreme Court decision, and one may well
believe that the members of that court have joined Peabody in
his treasonable effort to overthrow all constitutional govern-
ment.

Mr. Meyer's attorneys then appealed to the United States
Courts, and on June 14 a Federal judge issued an order requir-
ing Governor Peabody to produce Mr. Moyer in his court at St.
Louis.

Immediately this order was issued Governor Peabody, with
characteristic cowardice, delivered Mr. Moyer to the sheriff of
San Miguel County, that he (the Governor) might answer the
writ of the United States court by declaring that the prisoner
was not in his custody.

The Starry Flag Floats Over the Jail.

President Moyer had been kept a prisoner by the military
authorities for more than two months on the charge of "desecrat-
ing the Hag," and in all that time they had not been able to get
sufficient evidence against him to take him into court and ask
for his detention and trial.

When the Federal court came into the case, however, then the
charge was made against him of "abetting murder."

From the first day of the first strike in Colorado President
Moyer had counseled the strikers to be peaceable and orderly.
They had followed his advice to the letter. When I met him in
the military prison at Tellwride, with the stars and stripes,

boisted by men in the pay of traitors to their country, floating-
over his cell, President Moyer was still counseling peace, and
expressed the hope and desire that the men would continue to
be orderly and law .abiding, notwithstanding the outrages wrhich
were being heaped upon them.

One of Governor Peabody's Anarchists.

Governor Peabody unsolicited informed me that he was not
opposed to trade unions, that he was not opposed to socialism;
that no one had been arrested or deported by the military au-
thorities except anarchists and aliens— men who were fugitive;-:
from justice in their" native country and had no right to be in
Colorado or the United States.

The day before I left Trinidad I walked some miles over the
mountains where a man named Jim Ritchie was in hiding with
his wrife and three children.

Jim Ritchie had been deported once and returned without per-
mission. He had then been arrested, placed in the military jail,
kept for fourteen days, and again deported, with a warning
"never to come back." He was charged with being an "agi-
tator."

Who was Jim Ritchie? Nobody much. When the war with
Spain broke out Jim Ritchie enlisted in Troop G. First Volunteer
Cavalry (the famous Rough Riders), and served all through the
campaign in Cuba with Roosevelt. When Roosevelt was mus-
tered out lie went to Albany to become Governor of New York.
When Jim Ritchie was mustered out he re-enlisted in an infantry
regiment for duty in the Phillipines.

Roosevelt served two years as Governor of New York. Jiin
Ritchie served one year, nine months and eleven days in the
United States Army in the Philippines, and was honorably dig-
charged.

The Hero's Reward.

About the time that Roosevelt became President Jim Ritchie
became a coal miner.

About the time Roosevelt began to lay the wires to get a nom-
ination from the Republican party Jim Ritchie went on strike.
And about the time that Roosevelt was declaring for the "open
shop" his old companion in arms, Jim Ritchie, was being de-
ported from his home because he could no more be a scab in
peace than a traitor in war.

So much for the anarchists that Governor Peabody is fighting.

In the Trinidad coal field the employers would at no time con-

fer with the officers of the union. As usual, they said they wen*
at all times ready to listen to anything their employees had to
say to them as INDIVIDUALS. But they absolutely refused
to recognize the union. Individual employes repeatedly went
to them and asked that ills be remedied. With what result?
With the result that so far from any of their grievances being
remedied, the individuals who had the temerity to mention them
were either discharged from their employment or placed in such
unfavorable places in the mine that they were worse off than be-
fore.

"Contented Employes."

The coal companies redressed the grievances of the men by the
instant discharge of any man who had a grievance. Their
method of securing contented employees was to discharge every
employee who was discontented.

The managers of the coal companies could not recognize the
union. They could recognize the militia, they could recognize
the deputy sheriffs, they could recognize thugs and bad men, ,
all in their employ and all paid for out of their pockets— but they
could not recognize the union. The men who owned the coal
mines could recognize anything and anybody on earth exccut
the coal miner.

Some of the houses furnished the men by the companies were
the worst of shacks. In some places the companies did not have
sufficient houses, and leased the men ground on which they built
dwellings of their own— the lease, however, requiring that they
be vacated on five days' notice. But in one or two camps, nota-
bly that of Primero, the company had erected a group of houses
that were really fit dwelling places for human beings.

The demands of the men, as I have said, were for increased
wages, the eight-hour day, honest weight, wages to be paid in
lawful money, and ventilation of the mines.

"See the Houses at Primero !"

So far as the employers through their flunkies and factotums
made any answer to the demands of the men, it was one con-
tinued anthem in praise of the "houses at Primero."

"Increase our wages," said the men. "Look at those houses
at Primero!" replied the bourgeois editor of the organ of the coal
companies.

"Give us the eight-hour day," said the miners. "What non-
sense," said the agents of the companies. "You men don't
want the eight-hour day. Look at those beautiful houses at
Primero!"

"Give us a check weighman," said the men, "so that we shall
not be required to mine 3,500 pounds of coal in order to get credit
for 2,000 pounds."

"Hogs!" responded the members of the Citizens' Alliance,
every last man of them on the side of the coal barons. "You
poor miserable children of darkness! It is not a check weigh-
inan that you want. A ton is a ton, isn't it? whether it weighs
3,500 or 2,000 pounds? What can common people like you know
about honest weight, anyhow? Look at those beautiful brick
houses at Primero!"

"Pay us our wages in money, instead of scrip on the company
store," said the men.

"Money! Money?" yelled the chorus of little business men in
the Citizens' Alliance, who felt themselves honored and flattered
when a mine manager spoke to them. "Money? For coal min-
ers? You're a lot of miserable foreigners! It's not money you
want. Look at the houses of those miners at Primero! Some
of them are painted! Besides, we want all the money our-
selves!"

. "Ventilate the mines as the law requires," said the men.
"We must have air or we can't work."

"Anarchists!" yelled the bourgoise chorus. "You are a lot of
Dagoes and Mexicans. You want air? Look at those houses
at Primero. Some of them have windows!"

No matter what these thirteen thousand men asked for, suffi-
cient answer unto all to point to the little group of cottages, and
say "Look at those houses at Primero!"

President Roosevelt Appealed To.

On the 18th of last November Governor Peabody asked Presi-
dent Roosevelt for help. He declined.

Officers of the Western Federation have asked him for help.
Ho declined.

Private, individuals have asked him for help. No response or
a declination.

Suppose the union miners had been deporting mine owners.
Suppose the union miners had imprisoned the mine managers in
a bull pen. Suppose the union miners had placed ropes around
the necks of such officers of the law as displeased them and forced
them to resign. Suppose the union miners had wrecked the
plant of such newspapers as had opposed them, and placed the
editors in a bull pen. Suppose the union miners had given every
member of the Mine Owners' Association and of the Citizens'
Alliance the choice of tearing up his card of membership or be-
ing deported from the State,

When the President Would Interfere*

Under such circumstances, would the President of the United
States have interfered? Does anyone doubt it? Mr. Roosevelt
cannot interfere so long: as the mine owners have everything
their own way. If they should meet with a set back of any
kind, we shall see the President act as promptly as his sainted
predecessor in the Coaur d'Alenes and as the Bonded Prophet
did at Pullman.

Maj.-Gen. John C. Bates reported to the President that the
mails were not interfered with. If the Major-General had been
able to escape from the Mine Owners' Association, for a brief
interval during his "investigations" in Colorado he might have
found that persons were not allowed to use the public highway
in Hastings to go to the Post Office for their mail, and that they
were stopped and turned back— by strikers? Oh, no! The
Major-General would not have overlooked such a fact. They
were stopped and turned back by deputy sheriffs in the pay of
the coal companies.

Gentlemen, Every One of Them.

The personnel of some of the leading men on the capitalist
side may be interesting. Captain Bulkeley Wells, a gentleman
and a savage; Major Hill, a gentleman and a barbarian; General
Bell, a gentleman and a fool; Governor Peabody, a gentleman
and a traitor— all gentlemen.

On the other side — men, workingmen.

History might have been different in Colorado had Captain
Wells been a man instead of a gentleman. He would have made
a good union man, had he studied life a little more and Harvard
text books less. There are things not to be learned from Har-
\ard professors.

Major Hill, a gentleman of the old school, a humane man with
an inhuman occupation.

General Bell — just a common fool, with an uncommon oppor-
tunity for folly.

Gov. Peabody, traitor. It is charged that he has been a shy-
iock, note-shaver and dance hall proprietor, I know not how
truly. But there can be nothing in his past to add discredit to
his infamous present.

All of them would deserve hanging except for two reasons—
perhaps they do not know that they deserve it, and society can-
not afford to make hangmen. Still, we may utilize their own
hangmen, if they make them, as I fear they will.

Some day the people will wake up, and when they do these
people will find they are but lice in the lion's mane,

Spirit of the Men.

Can the man be licked?

I met an Italian striker who had been twice deported because
he would not go to work in the mines, because he would not
scab. He had a Avife and five children. Said he to me:

"I taka da wife and da five baba, and walka da million mile,
and eata da rock, but no scaba da mine!"

The same spirit pervaded all the strikers, from the officers
doAvn to the humblest man in the ranks. In all my life I never
have, I never shall, meet better, nobler, truer men.

Can such men be licked? "The old guard dies, but never sur-
renders."

And suppose they die. Their cause still lives. Not better,
but stronger hands and larger numbers take it up, and it goes on
to ultimate victory. Bells and Peabodys will not accomplish a
task that foiled a Bismarck.

Truth on the scaffold betrays the hangman and destroys the
tyrant.

Who Backs the Fight?

Who has been back of this great tight? We know that there
has been some larger power than the little men seen in the fore-
ground.

Who is it in the United States that reaches into every home
and takes sugar from the boAvl, coffee from the urn, coal from the
cellar and oil from the lamp?

AVho is it in the United States that, through his control of
poAverful banks, makes money plenty when he wants to bull the
market and sell stocks and bonds, and makes money scarce when
he Avants to bear the market and buy stocks and bonds?

Who is it in America that issues his orders to the United States
Senate, and House of Representatives, dictates to Governors and
State Legislatures, buys aldermen and corrupts judges?

AVho is it in the United States that is greater than any or all of
thorn — for a time?

AVho is it that has been under indictment by grand juries in
State after State in the American Union, and never yet beeu
brought to trial in any of them, though his guilt is known and
proven ?

AVho is it that controls our steel industry, our raihvay industry,
our coal industry, our very life?

AVho is it that teaches business in his Bible class?

Who is it that has left a trail of incendiarism and bloodshed
and crime in every industry that ho has acquired?

Who is it that arms his hired thugs to beat union men in Trini-
dad and buys lawyers, legislators and governor to beat the Con
stitution of Colorado in the Capitol at Denver?

Who is it?

John D. Rockefeller, Most Christian Criminal.

Who could it be but John D. Rockefeller, J, Pierpont Morgan,
Meyer Guggenheim, George Gould and the little band of pirates
in business and freebooters in commerce who are rapidly becom-
ing by illegal methods the legal owners of everything in America,
including its government.

WHO COULD IT BE BUT KING CAPITAL?

The Colorado Fuel & Iron Co., the Victor Fuel Co., the Ameri-
can Smelting & Refining Co. and the United States Reduction
& Refining Co. are all members of the Manufacturers' Associa-
tion of the United States of America. Back of all the puny indi-
viduals who appear in the foreground are the great financiers,
the great captains of industry, the men who OWN THE UNITED
STATES. ,

An Army Wanted.

But the members of the Manufacturers' Association were not
sufficient in numbers to carry out their infamous purpose of de-
stroying the union. They owned the Governor of the State and
its military forces, but they were insufficient for the purpose.
They could supply offices and generals to guide, but they had no
army to do things. What should be done? Where was an army
to be found?

An Army Found.

The small business men! THEY must supply the army. So
the work of organizing Citizens' Alliances was pushed. Emis-
saries were sent about to stir up in the little business man r«
hatred of the union. These emissaries said nothing about the
wrongs suffered by the small merchant at the hands of the
trusts and corporations. They magnified every little difficulty
of the merchant class with the trade union. They pointed to
the boycott, the eight-hour day, the early-closing movement, and
used fact and fiction to make the little business man think that
all his troubles were due to labor organizations.

The arts of sophistry and persuasion succeeded . with many.
With others coercion was necessary. This was supplied by the
large capitalists at first. Many a man was forced into the Citi
zens' Alliance by his banker. The latter had merely to deiiianu

payment of loans already made or refuse to make. loans that wero
the only salvation from bankruptcy. In other cases it was the
matter of various supplies required by the larger corporations.
Ihe members of the Manufacturers' Association wanted the
middle class to organize to help them tight labor organizations,
and they did not scruple to use coercion of the foulest kind.

The Citizens' Alliance has supplied the army to do the dirty
work in this war in Colorado.

The eventual outcome should rather excite pity than hate.

Think of a little business man who has not sense enough to
know that a workingman receiving high wages can and will buy
more of his goods than he could if his wages were reduced.

But that is to be the least of his troubles. The little business
men of Colorado have been doing their best to assist the great
captains of industry to destroy the trade unions. If they suc-
ceed, where will they be then? Do they think that their fight
for life will be easier when they come face to face with the trust
because the trade unions have been destroyed?

The Citizens' Alliance doing the dirty work of the mine own-
ers to enable them to beat the Western Federation of Miners,
destroyed the co-operative store of the union, but do the mem-
bers of the Citizens' Alliance think they will be able to destroy
the department store when it comes to Cripple Creek?

The members of the Citizens' Alliance could perform no act
which would hasten their own bankruptcy more than the over-
throw of the union, and when they cease business by being
forced out of business— what then?

Then these \ery same men will become wage-earners, and if
they are not fools as wage-earners they will find that they can
further their interests by organizing into unions— and they are
striving to destroy the only thing that can be their future refuge.

•^

Digging Their Own Graves.

So far as the members of the Citizens' Alliance succeed in
their purpose to overthrow the trade unions, they but dig their
own grave, and aid the trusts to pile dirt on the coffin.

All but the Government.

The men on strike in Colorado had the law on their side. They
had the Constitution on their side. They had justice and hu-
manity on their side. They had everything on their side except
tho Government. The Government was on the side of the mine
owners. Now as aforetime the capitalists had taken the pre
caution Lo capture the government in order to defy the law. They

used the sworn officers of the law to accomplish the law's over-
thrown. They defiled the Legislature and defied the Constitu-
tion and debauched the courts. They bought or bent the highest
executive officer of the State to do their will, and obedient to
their commands he has violated all the rights of a free people
and violated his oath of office that he might poison the sacra-
ments of human liberty. From the first day of the first strike
the Governor of the State could have ended the trouble by en-
forcing the law and Constitution of Colorado in the spirit of
American freedom. He preferred to make himself the Czar of
Colorado and to make the Centennial State an American Siberia
under the Stars and Stripes. There were other things in tho
Colorado Labor War besides the eight-hour day and the dis-
crimination against union men, but they were trifles. If at any
one time during the struggle the Governor had enforced the
eight-hour law and the legal right of the men to join a labor
union had been maintained, everything would have been settled
on three days' notice.

The mine owners said they wanted free labor; they lied. They
wanted cheap labor, not only cheap labor, but slave labor. They
wanted dogs to do men's work. But it is not to be. Shameful
as they may think it, slaves cannot do the freeman's task!

The mine owners declared that men should not be forced into
the union. The men struck thq,t their members should not be
forced out of the union.

Manifesto by the Western Federation.

Is it any wonder that these conditions inspired the officers of
The union to say:

"The Executive Board of the Western Federation of Miners,
in executive session assembled, with one voice proclaim that the
infamy and barbarism of military rule in Colorado beggars the
vocabulary of the English language for words to give expression
to our denunciation of the official anarchy that has blackened
and disgraced the history of the state. In all the annals of the
history of nations, where tyrants have wielded the iron rod of
persecution and oppression, and crimsoned history with chap-
ters of cold-blooded brutality, Colorado rises like an unrivalled
monarch of them all, and with a governor that is lost to shame
and every principle of justice, makes the dark ages look like a
painting of Paradise.

"We have borne with patience the repeated wrongs of corpor-
ate and commercial vengeance, administered by a debauched
chief executive. We have admonished the members of the West-
ern Federation of Miners, during all the stormy days, weeks and

months of the conflict in Colorado, to remain cool and calm, and
bear with fortitude the unholy and impious imputations that
nave been hurled against them from the slanderous lips of hate,
hatched and incubated in the womb of dehumanized greed. We
have counselled respect and reverence for the law, when our
members were made martyrs of persecution, and though our
mental vision could behold them incarcerated in military peni-
tentiaries, arrested without charge or warrant, though we could
behold them torn from their wives and families and their homes
desecrated by uniformed outlaws, though we could see them de-
ported and exiled, and hear the wails of agony that burst from
the bleeding and despairing hearts of frenzied and distracted
women and children, yet amid all the unparalleled and unprece-
dented outrages that appeal to the manhood of American citizen-
ship for justice, we have proclaimed peace, peace, peace, until
the very words seem to mock the spirit of liberty that dwells in
the human heart, until the very word 'peace' seems to become
but another name for cowardice. We have been patient and ad-
monished peace, while courts were defied and the constitution of
state and nation trampled under foot. We have been patient
and admonished peace, while our members were goaded by the
exultant jeers of bayonet-equipped mobs, and their mothers,
wives, sisters and daughters insulted by the foul and brazen con-
duct of a libertine soldiery, recruited from the vagrants of the
slums."

What is back of all these outrages?

THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM OF PRODUCTION.

The Same Old Fight.

The PRIVATE OWNERSHIP of mine, mill, factory and work-
shop. It is a fight of MINERS against MINE-OWNERS. Work-
ingmen on one side, capitalists and their agents on the otLer
side.

It is the same old fight between laborers and capitalists which
will never be settled until the WORKERS become the OWNERS
of the tools with which and the land on which they labor.

The Only Remedy.

HOW shall we workingmen ever become such owners? By
making our fight a political as well as an economic one. The
men who own the mines and mills to-day get their title through
ti>e law. Tne law comes out of the ballot box. We working-
men put the law into the ballot box. Just as in the past we
have put laws into the ballot box which have allowed the Rocke-

fellers and Morgans to make private property of mine and mill.
so in the future we can put that law in the ballot box which will
make those things SOCIAL property, owned by all. Then there
will be no strikes, no lockouts, no bull pens, no deportations.

Colorado is a great State, her mountains are filled with gold,
silver and other metals and coal, her soil is prolific, its products
\ aried, her climate is balm to the afflicted. But Colorado's
Capitol at Denver is lousy with vermin in the fold of the Stars
and Stripes. This year Colorado spends $50,000 on an exhibit
at the World's Fair in the hope of inducing people to come to
the Centennial State, and in the same time the traitor in the
Governor's chair spends $700,000 in deporting the skilled labor
from the State.

There would have been a different Story of the Flag and Colo-
rado if the Avorkingmen of that State had captured the Govern-
ment before going on strike. There'll be a different story yet to
tell if in the future they vote against Republican Deportation
Peabody and against Democratic Bull-pen Steunenberg; against
Republican Coeur d'Ale.nes McKinley and against Democratic
Pullman Cleveland, no matter in what form or under what name
they may appear on the ballot. ONLY IN SOCIALISM SHALL
WE FIND PEACE.

Your Fight, Reader. You May Be Next.

If we workingmen of the North, South. East and West would
not be deported, if we would not be bull-penned, if we would not
be shot, we had best arouse ourselves. We union men should
see to it that our brethren do not want for money. Long and
painfully these Colorado heroes have struggled. They have
been fighting the battles of the whole labor movement as well
as their own. They have suffered, we have read of their suffer-
ings; they have been shot down like dogs, driven from their
homes like criminals, imprisoned in bull pens like cattle — we Inn e.
only read of their imprisonment, their deportation, and their
slaughter.

But it will soon be up to us. Whaf is done in Colorado to-day
may be done in Illinois to-morrow, in NewT York a day later and
next day in Massachusetts.

If you would help your brother union men in Colorado, strike
for freedom in your own home. Whether it be in Now York or
New Orleans, in Maine or Minnesota, every blow struck for the
freedom of the working class will be felt in Colorado and
around the world. Free yourseves, and you will free them. And

there is no way in which you can strike more effectively than by
a Socialist ballot.

Choose Ye Now!

If you would rather your union would be destroyed than go
into politics, don't do it.

If you would rather be shot than join the Socialist party, don't
do it.

If you would rather be a slave than vote the Socialist ticket,
don't do it.

Your choice is between capitalism, slavery and death on the
one side, and Socialism, liberty and life on the other.

Which shall it be? Choose ye now.

o ^

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THE SOCIALIST PARTY

NATIONAL
TICKET

For President : Eugene V. Debs

For Vice President:
Benjamin Hanford

FOR

Information abont the Socialist Party apply to
NATIONAL SECRETARY

WILLIAM MAILLY

No. 269 DEARBORN ST.
— i^— — — CHICAGO, ILL. — ^— -^^

In the States of New York and Wisconsin this Party
on the ballot under the name of ''Social Democratic
Party.' In New York its official emblem is the Arm and
Torch. In the State of Minnesota the capitalist courts have
d us the right to use our chosen name, so our ticket
appear on the ballot this year under the name of
olic Ownership Party."

Hew VorKcr Uol^zcitung

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g)ffice 184 'g&ffiam §fr., 'glen ^orfc

€rf(beint taslid>, r.cbft Sonntags- und UJodKttblatt

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(Sontttag§ 5 Sent§
3lbamt£mcnl#-$>r0ir£ iitcl* ^Jail^atrto :

SBocfienblatt $1.00 per Sctfjr
itnb @onntag§blatt jufammen $8.00 per

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©nt^filt 64 (Spatten be§ intereffanteften SefeftoffcS unb tft ber*
moge jeiner 3^etd£)^aIttgMt tnie fein anbere^ 33Iatt geeignet,
iiber bie ^organge auf ber SSeltenbii^ne unb befonber§ iiber
5Zeue auf bem ©ebtet ber Slrbetterbemegitng §11 nnterrtc^ten

Jfbonnement i.oo per 3abr Had) €uropa $2,00 per Uabr r

"THE WORKER"

A WEEKLY PAPER.

Published in the Interest of the WorKing Class and Advocating the
Principles of the Socialist Party

(Known in N. Y. State as the SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY)
Subscription Price, One year, 5O cents, Six months, 25 cents

Single copy, 2 cents

THE; WORKER prints the News of Labor and of the Socialist

movement at home and abroad
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