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Victor
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The
Cripple Creek
Strike:
a History of
Industrial Wars
in Colorado,
1903-4-5
By Emma Florence Langdon
pages 331 to 345
MARTIAL LAW PROCLAIMED.
Sometime during the night of June 7, armed with a proclamation of martial law, issued by Lieutenant Governor Haggott, who was acting while James H. Peabody was enjoying life at the World's Fair in St. Louis, General Bell arrived in Victor. Bell was instructed to issue the proclamation if he found conditions such as to make it absolutely necessary. I have so often introduced this "tin God on wheels"—Bell—to the reader, and so often spoken of Bell's love of war (on unions), that it is unnecessary for me to state that the general found it necessary and the proclamation went into effect at 2 a. m., June 8. The proclamation follows:
"State of Colorado, Executive Chamber, Denver.—Proclamation.
"Whereas, There exists in Teller County, Colo., a large number of armed persons acting in conjunction with a large number of persons outside of that county, who are fully armed and acting together for unlawful purposes; and,
"Whereas, Open riot and insurrection now exist in said county of Teller and felonies and murders have already been committed by such persons, who are still threatening to commit murder and felonies and are offering violence to the citizens and property of said county, and are resisting the laws of the state of Colorado; and,
"Whereas, At divers and sundry other times various crimes have been committed in said county of Teller by and with the aid and under the direction of said vicious and lawless persons and the security of persons and property are now threatened in said county; and,
"Whereas, Threats, intimidation and violence are threatened and believed will he resorted to by said lawless class of individuals; and,
"Whereas, It is represented to me by the sheriff of said Teller county that the civil authorities within said county are unable to enforce the law and to secure peace and order in said county and that it is necessary to put the military in said county for the purpose of enforcing the law and restoring peace and order;
"Now, therefore, I, Warren A. Haggott, acting governor and commander-in-chief of the military forces of the state of Colorado, by virtue and authority in me vested, do hereby proclaim and declare the said county of Teller in the state of Colorado to be in a state of insurrection and rebellion.
"In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the state to be affixed at Denver, the state capital, this 7th day of June, A. D., 1904.
(Signed) "WARREN A. HAGGOTT,
"Acting Governor. "Attest: JAMES COWIE,
"Secretary of State.
"TIMOTHY O'CONNOR,
"Deputy.
"By command of"WARREN A. HAGGOTT,
"Acting Governor and Commander-in-Chief.
"SHERMAN M. BELL,
"Brigadier General, Adjutant General, State of Colorado."
Bell, in an interview with reporters early in the morning of June 8, said:
"We will not bring any troops here from the outside unless the situation becomes more serious than at present. These fellows (meaning union miners) did not appreciate the treatment given them when the soldiers were here before. No resistance will be tolerated now, and, if necessary, they will be shot down."
THE BATTLE OF DUNNVILLE.
All who read the daily papers during the troubles in Teller county will remember the thrilling, blood-curdling accounts of a battle at the little camp called Dunnville. This little place was about fourteen miles south of Victor, on the F. & C. C. railroad in Fremont county. The population consisted of a few prospectors who lived in tents. The camp was composed almost wholly of miners that had been on strike since the inception of the troubles in the Cripple Creek district who were doing a little mining for themselves.
A few weeks before the explosion at Independence a rich strike had been made and the little camp had been "boomed" by the press. As I have before stated, Sherman Bell has a wonderful imagination and his specialty has always been discovering plots of terrible crimes to be committed and preventing the same from being executed.
On the morning of June 8, Bell claimed that he had received a message that a force of union miners, "armed and provisioned", had entrenched themselves on the mountain side just above the little camp of Dunnville, which lay in the valley below.
The great (?) warrior declared he would raid the camp and take captive the population, which he prepared to do. Calling together a squad of deputies and militia and taking a special train about three o'clock in the afternoon, Bell left Victor to capture what he designated as "the anarchists and dynamiters."
The special train carried Bell, about two hundred non-union deputized miners and two companies of militia. Bell permitted newspaper men to go along and each wore a white ribbon badge to distinguish them from the "army." The obvious intention, undoubtedly, being that after the battle, when the dead and wounded were gathered up, the reporters could be identified. As you can see, General Bell, as becomes a great warrior, (?) never overlooked any details.
After a cautious journey, advance scouts being thrown out, they discovered three men going up the mountain. The train was ordered stopped about seventy-five yards from the tents at Dunnville. Orders were given to hurriedly load, leave the train and line up for battle. The non-union miners, who were acting as deputies being more savage than the rest, pushed ahead and fired into the tents as they hurried on in advance. Upon orders of General Bell, the militia fired upon the three men seen going up a gulch in the mountain side, and for several minutes a storm of shot fell in the direction of the "rebellious army of three."
The press, in reporting the engagement, described a fierce onslaught by the entrenched miners. Sherman Bell said that there was a regular hailstorm of shots fired at him by the miners; that the earth was actually ''ploughed up'' around him or words leaving that impression. The train crew stated that not more than one shot was fired by any one except the crowd that went on the special train. They stated further that the one shot had lost all force by the time it reached the valley.
A press reporter stated that he stood within fifteen feet of Bell and did not hear any bullets flying by or see the ground torn up by bullets. It has been implied that the general, in the excitement of the engagement, used his spur-be-decked feet with such effect, that, like all pugnacious roosters, dirt and gravel flew in all directions and rattled on the general's sword and the windows of the train, giving him the impression that "shot and shell" from the enemy was raining all around him.
A reporter who accompanied the "army" stated that at least 500 shots were fired by deputies and militia. Imagine the surprise of the prospectors to hear such a cannonading in their quiet little camp. They were not offered an explanation or given an opportunity to surrender if they wished. The writer interviewed many in regard to the Dunnville battle and by one it was stated that the miners, when they saw the armed force approaching, fled to the hills, and, if this was true, the reader could not censure, for they were not armed except with dinner pail and prospector's pick and shovel.
I would not blame a man for getting behind a rock if he saw he was about to be shot down in cold blood by an excited man in charge of a Krag rifle.
Bell finally gave the order to cease firing to give the miners a chance to come down from the mountain. The men at once came down with their hands up and even then they were prodded and guards made talk of shooting off fingers from hands that were elevated, and one militiaman fired three shots at a man with his hands up, trying to shoot his thumb off.
John Carley, a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the Miners' union was shot in cold blood. He was one of the three men first seen going up the mountain. His comrades saved their lives by jumping behind a rock.
The result of this grand raid on the little camp was John Carley murdered; the capture of sixteen union miners; one twenty-two calibre target rifle; one old-fashioned shotgun; one forty-five calibre revolver and about thirteen picks and a few jack knives; possibly a miner's shovel or two. Upon the miners being searched, a can of sardines was found on the person of one. This was at once conjectured to be a bomb, but upon cautious investigation by a non-partisan, proved to be sardines, long since dead, and therefore, harmless. I believe it was also said that in some of the tents was found a can of potted ham. This Bell at once declared to be a plot to commit murder (or suicide), for the reader will remember that during the Spanish-American war a number of soldiers lost their lives by eating canned beef or corned can beef.
To show how brave some of the members of the guard are, I might mention that during this "fierce battle" I have described, a lieutenant made an excuse to return to the car for something and never found it, at least, he remained in the coach. Another member of the party was seen hiding behind a tent and when the train was ready to return to Victor, came forth trembling. Other eases of the same kind came to the writer's attention. This led me to wonder what the action of Bell's army at various times would have been were they compelled to face armed men in an actual engagement.
As is usual in war, the victorious general gave orders to destroy the stronghold of the enemy, so the little tents of the miners and their simple contents were rendered useless.
This, dear reader, is a brief but true history of the much spoken of Dunnville battle. History records many brave and valiant deeds performed by military commanders, such as Napoleon crossing the Alps, Sheridan's march to the sea, but according to Bell and his admirers, the general's Dunnville battle far excels all military achievements recorded in history. I have been told, but can not vouch for the truth of same, that upon the return of Bell's triumphant legion to headquarters, the band played, "See the Conquering Hero Comes," and "Hail to the Chief," and that, at the suggestion of Bell, a subscription was taken up in order to present him with a medal in commemoration of his bravery and military genius. That there can be no question of General Bell's high opinion of himself as a military commander and his desire that the public might have an opportunity of sharing in this opinion, he undertook to have a history of himself written, but owing to him and the man he hired to write the history disagreeing, the work has not yet appeared.
He arranged with Willard P. Hatch, a graduate of the University of Colorado, a man of much ability, to write this history, Bell to furnish some of the manuscript. Mr. Hatch and the general had a falling out on account of Bell's failing to keep his agreement as to finances. This caused considerable hard feeling between the two. Bell, as usual, made some sensational statements to the press regarding this matter. Mr. Hatch retaliated by giving a full statement of the transaction to the public. In this statement, Mr. Hatch said that the general had furnished him with manuscript for the history claiming that he (Bell) was the greatest living military commander of the age, and much other similar rot. The author was to say that Bell was the equal of Napoleon, and in fact greatly resembled that famous general.
Mr. Hatch is a man of high standing and would not make this statement unless it was true; in fact, he offered to go before a notary public and take oath as to its truth.
On the same day, the 8th, the militia and deputies were kept busy hunting down union men and their sympathizers placed under the ban by the mine owners. Squads scoured the hills in all directions hunting for those who were attempting to leave the district.
Along about this date five out of six members of the city council of Goldfield were taken to the bull pen and later were forced to resign. Goldfield was left without a legislative body for a while.
Lieutenant Harley Keegan was appointed night marshal of Victor.
Coroner Doran of Victor, was also forced to resign on the 8th, but before he resigned he had impaneled a jury to investigate the Independence horror, which was his last official act in the capacity of coroner. George R. A. Hall was appointed as coroner.
VERDICT OF CORONER'S JURY.
"An inquisition held at Cripple Creek, in Teller county, on the 9th and 10th of June, 1904, before George R. A. Hall, coroner of said city, upon the bodies of Gus Augustine, Arthur Muhlise, Henry Hagg, Ernest McCoy and others there lying in death, by its jurors, whose names are hereto inscribed, said jurors, on their oath, do say that said persons came to their death by an explosion of dynamite or other explosive at the Florence & Cripple Creek depot, at or near the town of Independence, Teller county, Colorado, on the morning of June 6, 1904, about 2:30 a. m.
"We further find that said explosive was exploded by an infernal machine purposely and artfully set and discharged by some persons to jury unknown, for the purpose of wilfully, maliciously and feloniously killing and murdering said persons and others; that said crime is one of similar crimes designed and committed in the Cripple Creek district during the past few months for the purpose of killing and intimidating non-union miners and thereby preventing them from working, and that said crimes are the result of a conspiracy entered into by certain members of the Western Federation of Miners, and known, incited and furthered by certain officers of that organization."
The verdict of the coroner's jury is not surprising when it is known that the jury was composed of men strongly prejudiced against organized labor. The legitimate coroner himself being forced to resign, the following composed the jury as impaneled by George R. A. Hall, coroner, appointed to fill Doran's office: J. E. Pruett, J. D. Kingston, R. L. Davidson, E. C. Newcomb, Walter F. Block and C. D. Hall.
By order of Provost Marshal McClelland, eight members of the Woman's Auxiliary were brought before him to be questioned, and after being asked many questions and warned not to be guilty of "agitation" were allowed to return to their homes.
KANGAROO COURT.
June 8, Adjutant General Bell instituted a so-called military commission, composed of seven civilians of the most bitter and prejudiced enemies organized labor ever had, corrupt politicians every one, real estate sharks, mine managers and their attorneys. This bogus commission, drum head court martial, exercised all the functions of a banditti chieftain, ordering peaceful law-abiding, hard-working citizens and tax payers to appear before them, consigned to jail or deported, as their pleasure dictated, thus making a door mat of the constitution of the state and nation, and over-riding all law.
The men appointed were as follows: F. D. French, Nelson Franklin, J. B. Cunningham and T. J. Daltzell.
The obvious intention of this commission was to supplant the regular instituted courts and to give a semblance of justice to what followed.
After having instituted this commission, in order to perfect the inquisition, General Bell appointed Major Thomas E. McClelland as provost marshal for the district, whose duty it was to arrest and bring before the commission all persons placed under the ban by it.
The board sat the same day of its appointment and recommended the deportation from the district of one hundred men. They continued in session for several weeks during which time they carried things with a high hand, regardless of all law and decency. Much indignation was aroused throughout the state and nation. Many private, personal grudges against citizens of the district other than the strikers were satisfied by means or the military commission. Persons known to be friendly to the Mine Owners' Association or the Citizens' Alliance, who desired vengeance against any person, known to be friendly toward the strikers, had only to send in the names to the commission, when the victim was dragged before that "honorable" body and summarily dealt with by them.
This commission and the acts performed by it will live long in the memory of its victims as one of the most heartless and cruel indignities perpetrated upon an American community.
RECORD PLANT DESTROYED.
June 8, at 10:45 p. m., the Victor Daily Record office, on South Fourth street, was wrecked by unidentified men. Eight heavily armed men did the work. It could not be seen whether they were militiamen or deputy sheriffs, as they had no outward marks of identification. They walked boldly into the composing room in the rear of the office building and with rifles and revolvers drawn ordered Walter Sweet, the foreman; F. W. Langdon, a linotype operator; John Dannenfeld, the pressman; Art Caldwell, an apprentice, and a printer named Gribben, to line up and hold up their hands.
The men obeyed at once and were then driven from the office and ordered to leave the district immediately.
While this proceeding was passing two of the armed men, who carried sledges or double-jacks, proceeded to beat the two linotype machines to pieces.
They wielded the big hammers with a vengeance and soon had the type setting machinery practically ruined. The job presses were then attacked and broken up. The forms on the composing stone were hurled to the floor and thrown about the office, the telephone was smashed, a typewriter was demolished, and as much other damage as was thought necessary to complete the destruction of the office and equipment.
No clew [sic] to the identity of the men who did the work was possible at the hands of the employes who saw it accomplished. None of the employes recognized any of the faces of the armed force, although they were not masked.
Editor and proprietor George Kyner and his reporter, Edward Mannix, were not in the office when the eight men came in.
Kyner and his employe were taking luncheon at the National restaurant and did not know of the destruction of the office until they returned there about half an hour after it happened.
The damage to the plant prevented the same being used for further publication of the Record. The paper, however, did not suspend publication, as through the courtesy of the management of the Cripple Creek Star allowing Editor Kyner the use of their plant, he was enabled to get out a small sheet.
The Star was soon notified that if they persisted in assisting Kyner in publishing the Record, their plant would receive the same treatment as the one just destroyed. By this time, however, Kyner had repaired sufficient machinery to be able to get out a very small paper by hand composition.
A significant fact in connection with the attack and demolition of the Record office is that H. J. Richmond, the Record correspondent located in Cripple Creek, was ordered to leave the district on pain of death, by parties whom he claimed were bitterly opposed to him because he had taken pains to criticize them rather closely in a criminal charge pending in the district court at Cripple Creek.
The day after the printing office was destroyed, F. W. Langdon, linotype operator, met and recognized the leader of the mob who was serving as a deputy, and walked up to him, and said:
"You are the man that led the raid on the Record." The man turned pale but did not answer. Later steps were taken by Langdon to have him arrested, and the military promised to see to it that he was brought to justice. The following day, after the meeting I have described, it was found the man recognized was still at liberty, and the military, upon being asked what they intended to do, stated:
"We have no authority to arrest that man as he is a deputy sheriff." So far as the writer has been able to learn, no effort was made to arrest the perpetrators any more than a great deal of talk and insinuations. The following night, Langdon was given instructions to leave the district inside of forty-eight hours.
Up to the date of the destruction of the Record the paper had been recognized as the official organ of the miners' union and other unions of the county. Through the editorial columns of the paper, Editor Kyner had vigorously denounced the acts of the military, early in the strike, in raiding homes and in many ways over-riding constitutional rights of the citizens. In Part I, the reader will find that on the night of September 29, 1903, the entire force of this paper was taken to military headquarters as prisoners, details of which I chronicled under "Record Force Kidnapped."
The Independence explosion was denounced in the same manner as other lawless acts and the perpetrators spoken of as assassins.
The day chosen to destroy the Record plant was opportune for the effect that undoubtedly was intended by the mine owners and Citizens' Alliance. The last issue of the paper, before the plant was destroyed, run a long editorial headed, "Call the Strike Off," which was a plea that the W. F. M. at once issue an order calling off the strike.
It was generally believed that the instigators expected that the public would at once blame the strikers for the destruction of the plant as a matter of retaliation and the enemies to all organized labor in the district at once seized this opportunity of venting their hatred of a year's standing against the paper that had so many times past denounced the high-handed methods of the Citizens' Alliance.
In expecting that the public would believe the strikers guilty of destroying the Record office, they were disappointed. I will state that at no time did I hear any person say that they believed any of the strikers guilty.
I may here state that a matter that greatly surprised people of the district, especially the union people—Editor Kyner's editorial policy changed from the date of the destruction of the Record plant. He, who had so vigorously denounced the policy of the Citizens' Alliance and Mine Owners' Association, from that date was one of their strongest supporters and gave the support of his paper during the state campaign for the re-election of James H. Peabody.
People wondered at this change of heart, but the mystery was later solved when it was learned that he had received $4,000 from the state fund, charged up to the military indebtedness as damages for the wrecking of the Record plant. As the actual cost of repairing machinery did not exceed $1,000 it is evident that the other $3,000 was indirectly paid him to change the editorial policy of his paper.
PORTLAND MINE CLOSED.
Perhaps the event of the greatest importance in the district after the destruction of the Record plant, was the closing of the Portland mine. The reader is familiar with conditions existing at the Portland mine as I gave the Portland a great deal of space in Part I on account of the conduct of the management in 1894 and up to the strike of 1903. Briefly, since the strike of 1894 Mr. Burns worked the mine on what he considered the "open shop" plan. He did not concern himself as to whether or not the miners applying for work were union or non-union, all he required of his employes was that they be sober, capable miners and they were employed. In Mr. Burns' statement, written for Part I, he says:
"In the present force of union miners I have a force of about seven hundred of the best miners in the Rocky mountains."
However that may be, Mr. Burns did not discriminate against the W. F. M., and refused to join the Mine Owners' Association and if not the entire force, at least, the majority of men employed on the Portland were union miners.
As the Portland owned a mill of its own for the treatment of its own ore, it was not necessary for the Portland to ship to any of the unfair plants placed under the ban by the Federation. At the beginning of the strike matters were easily adjusted between the W. F. M. and Mr. Burns, for the Portland company. The result was that the Portland ran the ten months of the strike previous to the Independence explosion and the stockholders of the company received their dividinds [sic] without intermission. Any friction that arose was not between the Portland management and the union, but between Mr. Burns and other mine operators. They insisted that he discharge the union miners. He replied: "I will not discriminate. So far as the Portland is concerned, I am satisfied with the treatment accorded it by the Federation. I am trustee for the stockholders of the company, and it is my duty to operate the mine to the best advantage, and that I propose to do.''
Thus the Portland ran along until the horrible disaster on June 6. The mine operators determined then to take advantage of the indignation the crime aroused to accomplish the purpose announced when the strike first occurred—to force every Federation miner to either surrender his card in the union or leave the camp.
Mr. Burns, aflame though he was in common with the others of the district over the atrocity of June 6, could not and did not blame any of his men for the crime. He said the union miners employed in the Portland were mostly men with families and were neither "agitators nor criminals," so he refused to discharge them, being unwilling to punish innocent men for a crime committed by others.
In order to accomplish the mine operators' object, General Bell, acting in conjunction with S. D. Crump, issued a proclamation on the 9th, ordering the Portland closed, and the arrest of all men therein who were "dangerous to the community."
Bell's proclamation follows:
MILITARY HEADQUARTERS, Victor, Colo., June 9, 1904.—Proclamation:
Whereas, The governor of the state did, by proclamation issued on the seventh day of June, 1904, declare the county of Teller therein to be in a state of insurrection and rebellion, and the territory comprising the said county is now under the rule of military law, and now being held and occupied by the militia of said state; and
Whereas, A reign of lawlessness, violence and crime has existed in said county for several months last past, inaugurated, encouraged and carried forward by certain evil-disposed persons, resulting in wholesale assassinations of many peaceable and law-abiding citizens; and
Whereas, Said reign of violence and crime still exists in said county so that the peace of the community is threatened, lives and property of the citizens are menaced and mob rule and violence now threaten to override the law; and
Whereas, The Portland mine, situated in said county is, and for a long time has been engaged in employing and harboring large numbers of dangerous, lawless men, who have aided, encouraged and given comfort and assistance to those who have so been guilty of said crimes and outrages, so that said mine has become and now is a menace to the welfare and safety of the good people of said county and a hindrance to the restoration of peace and good order;
Now, by the power conferred on me as commander of the military force in said county and as a military necessity, it is ordered that the said mine be at once closed and all men found therein or thereabouts who are dangerous to the community be arrested and held until further orders.
SHERMAN M. BELL,
Brigadier General, Adjutant General State of Colorado, Commanding Military District, Teller County, Colorado.
Bell carried out the order in the afternoon of the 9th, with the aid of one hundred or more of his soldiers, but strange to say, he did not arrest a single one of the men in the mine. This fact alone is sufficient to show that he did not believe that the miners at work on the Portland were dangerous or lawless, and that the statement was but a necessary pretext upon which to vent his order to close down the mine.
The only dramatic feature of the occasion was that as the military force advanced up the hill an American flag rose to the top of the staff over one of the shaft houses.
The sequel to the foregoing is this: The mine operators do not propose to allow the Portland company to work its mine as the company may prefer.
It isn't possible that the Citizens' Alliance will deny a man's right to work? Some walking delegate of the unions must have called a strike on the Portland mine.
It was at once announced unless he carried a card in the Mine Owners' Association he could not work. They caused the mine to be closed down to force out the union men employed in it, against the will and protest of the owner, and proposed to continue the management of that mine by saying whom its owner should and should not employ to work it. And yet from the very inception of the strike Peabody was ever ready to proclaim: "A man has the right to work for whom, when and where he pleases, etc. "O, consistency, thou art a jewel."
Mr. Burns was very indignant at the arbitrary action in closing down the Portland and about a week later brought suit in the circuit court of the United States in the name of the Portland company against Governor Peabody and others, to be allowed to conduct the mine in his own way for the best interests of the company.
The suit, however, never came to trial, for the reason that influence was brought to bear on the board of directors of the Portland Gold Mining Company. On June 20th, a special meeting of the directors was held at which they compelled President Burns to withdraw the suit. Mr. Burns protested vigorously, but without avail, as the majority of the board was against him.
At this meeting of the board of directors it was decided to start up the Portland with non-union miners, and this was done immediately.