The
Pinkerton Labor Spy
by
Morris Friedman

CHAPTER XV.

A REIGN OF TERROR.

The mill and smeltermen of the Telluride district struck for an eight-hour day on September i, 1903, and in a short time the miners also went out, in order to force the mill and smelter operators to accede to the demands of their men, by shutting off the supply of ore. There were several conferences between the operators and committees of the union, but as the operators would concede nothing, all efforts to settle by arbitration were abandoned, and both sides prepared for a long and bitter struggle.

The strike in Telluride is similar, in many of its details, to the memorable events that took place in Cripple Creek. Yet on the whole, the struggle in San Miguel County is replete with stirring incidents and presents a climax which outrivals the dramatic occurrences that convulsed Teller County after the Independence depot explosion.

The State troops were sent to Telluride in November, 1903, though there was absolutely no need for them; and the remorseless campaign conducted by them under the direction of the Mine Owners' Association could perhaps be best described in the language spoken by the Cossacks of the Don, a language in which the word "KNOUT" holds higher rank than does the word "LIBERTY" in the deceptive English spoken by the college-bred mine and smelter magnates of the State of Colorado.

The minute the Cripple Creek veterans arrived in Telluride, they began restoring Law and Order with a gusto and dispatch that spoke eloquently of the practical experience they had gained. Telluride is isolated hundreds of miles from the State capital, and the military here threw off all reserve, and executed with abandon those plans which they had only dared to speak about or threaten in Cripple Creek.

Here, as in Cripple Creek, the desire of the mine owners was to strike terror into the hearts of the striking miners by a display of martial tyranny the like of which had never before been attempted in this country against workingmen.

The military lost no time in inaugurating a reign of persecution, terror and exile.

The union leaders were first arrested and thrown into jail on the meaningful charge of "conspiring to break the law," and were for a long time kept in solitary confinement, without even being accorded the privilege of consulting counsel. Since such treatment is meted out in Colorado to people arrested on the suspicion that they "conspired to break the law," we wonder what punishment should of right be inflicted on those who, like the Colorado State Administration, stand convicted before God and man of having broken for years every law of heaven and earth, of State and land, at the dictate of men of millions?

Soon after the leaders were arrested and jailed on the charge of "conspiring to break the law," many of the rank and file of the Western Federation of Miners were likewise arrested and thrown into jail on the charge of "vagrancy."

These alleged vagrants, all of whom had funds, and were respectable and law-abiding citizens of the community, had a much harder time than their leaders, who were held on an apparently more serious charge. Some of them were fined, while others were given a term in jail. Still others were treated even worse, being compelled under heavy guard, like convicted felons, to clean the streets of Telluride, and do other menial public work; and whenever a miner stopped from his work to rest for a moment, a prick from a bayonet soon reminded him that resting was a serious offence against the laws of Colorado and the Constitution of the United States as understood by Governor Peabody, General Bell, Captain Bulkley Wells, C. C. Hamlin, James McParland, Bishop Matz, Chief Justice Gabbert, and other leading citizens.

This condition of affairs continued in Telluride till the end of the year 1903, without the miners wavering for an instant in their allegiance to what they considered their duty, and without showing the least sign or intention of resuming work, unless the mill and smeltermen in the district were given an eight-hour workday. In view of the iron endurance of the miners, and their apparent indifference to indignity and persecution, the mine owners decided that their only recourse was to drive the Federation from San Miguel County. They sent instructions to the State House at Denver, and the desired result followed quickly.

On January 3rd, 1904, the governor issued a proclamation wherein he declared in so many words that the membership of the Western Federation of Miners in San Miguel County was up in arms against the constituted authorities, and he placed the county under martial law. Immediately the governor's proclamation was formally read in Telluride, the newspapers, telephone and telegraph were placed under military censorship; and so far as the crusade against the miners was concerned, Telluride was cut off from the rest of the world.

For a little over eight weeks, the people of Colorado wondered what was going on at Telluride.

The only way news was obtained from the town during this interval was through the United States Mails, and the little news which filtered through in this manner was far from encouraging. However, when the ban of martial law was finally removed from Telluride, March 11th, 1904, it was found that law and order had been indeed restored in the district. The jails were all empty, the streets were very quiet, and the soldiers were preparing to leave for their homes. The leaders of the union who had "conspired to break the law," the vagrants, the impressed street cleaners, and many other union men, close on to a total of one hundred, had all been forcibly torn from their homes and their families, and driven from San Miguel County at the point of the bayonet.

In considering the wholesale deportations of the Cripple Creek miners by the militia in June, 1904, after the Independence depot explosion, some people might have argued that the expulsion was due to the over-wrought condition of the public mind. But the deportation of the Telluride miners occurred five months before the explosion of the Independence depot, and at a time when the public mind was not wrought up over anything except the flagrant violations of the law by the military. What excuse can be offered for the Telluride deportations? None! A deliberate conspiracy of mine owners to exile unionists is as clear in one case as in the other.

Directly it became known that the militia had left Telluride, the deported miners quietly returned to their homes, so that on the very next day the strike was in exactly the same condition as before martial law had been proclaimed.

The return of the exiles angered and alarmed the mine owners beyond expression. In the first place the magnates resented the impudence of the miners in returning to their homes after having been deported by the militia, and told, in the name of His Excellency the Governor, never to return; surely this was high treason against the State. In the second place, the union miners would undoubtedly re-establish their picket lines and try to persuade the non-union men to quit work and join the Federation; surely this was high treason against the pocketbooks of the mine owners. Horrible! If double treason of this kind does not constitute an insurrection against the constitution (of Russia?) and the established order of things, what does?

The mine owners decided that they would be serving their God and their State but poorly if they permitted such treason to go unchallenged.

Accordingly, on the night of March 14th, just seventy-two hours after the suspension of martial law, the Citizens' Alliance of Telluride, 100 strong, met in secret session, and discussed means to handle the situation. The conclusion arrived at was to re-deport the union miners, as the only possible vindication of the Colorado law. The meeting adjourned, and the members armed themselves to the teeth. It was close on midnight before everything was ready, but the lateness of the hour did not cool the enthusiasm of these champions of American institutions.

Everything was done systematically and with expedition. The Citizens' Alliance force was divided into a number of squads, and these detachments tore the union miners from their beds and hustled them off to a place previously agreed upon. About eighty men were soon rounded up and kept under heavy guard until the next morning. Then they were all packed into an outgoing train, and warned never to return on peril of their lives.

Among the men deported was A. H. Floaten, one of the wealthiest and most prominent business men of Telluride. Mr. Floaten was not a miner, nor was he a member of the Federation. His only crime consisted in the fact that he was an active Socialist.

Since the Citizens' Alliance were not militiamen, nor acting under the orders of the governor, they most decidedly constituted what is commonly styled a mob; and, as they were all armed, they certainly constituted an armed mob. This armed mob which so boldly defied the law of State and land was personally led by Bulkeley Wells, general manager of the Smuggler Union Mine and captain of the State militia, and by John Herron, manager of the Tomboy Mine.

To guard against a second return of the exiles, armed squads of the Citizens' Alliance patrolled the streets of Telluride day and night, and met every incoming train in order to prevent union men from coming into the town.

The action of the armed mob in Telluride created the greatest excitement throughout the State of Colorado, and all the newspapers devoted a great amount of space to the deportations.

The deported citizens of Telluride chose a committee of three men to proceed to Denver, and personally petition the governor for protection. This committee consisted of A. H. Floaten, Stewart Forbes, president of the Telluride union, and Antone Matti. This committee, on their arrival in Denver, immediately went to the State House and asked for an audience with the governor. The governor's private secretary told them His Excellency was not in. The committee called again the next day, and met with the same lack of success. They then requested John H. Murphy, attorney for the Western Federation of Miners, to call the governor up by 'phone. Mr. Murphy did so, but he met with no better success than had befallen the committee. After trying in vain for three days to obtain an interview with the governor, the committee returned to those who had sent them—chagrined, empty-handed.

As soon as the committee left Denver, the governor was again very much in evidence, and the greenest reporter of any newspaper could see and talk to His Excellency for the mere asking. The Denver newspaper men asked the governor what he intended to do at Telluride, and why he had refused an audience to the committee of the deported miners.

Governor Peabody innocently protested that he had no idea of anything out of the way having transpired at Telluride that required his attention; that no committee of any kind had called on him, and that he really did not know anything whatever about the whole Telluride transaction.

The governor was next asked what his attitude would be in case the deported miners attempted to return to Telluride under cover of an injunction against the Citizens' Alliance; and the governor, without hesitation, made this reply:

"The miners of Telluride have a right to go to the courts and seek an injunction. The men forced out of Idaho Springs went back under cover of an injunction, and if an injunction is issued to the Telluride strikers, they can undoubtedly go back under it.

"There is one thing, however, upon which I shall insist most firmly as long as I am governor of this State. That is, that armed men will not be allowed to parade in this State, unless authorized by the proper authorities. The constitution and laws do not permit the mobilizing and marching of armed bodies of men without the sanction of the governor, and I certainly shall exercise all the authority I possess against such procedure. The laws will be maintained in Colorado. [Is all this a warning to the Citizens' Alliance? Not exactly.] The members of the Western Federation of Miners will have to understand that they will not be permitted to arm themselves, mobilize and march on Telluride or any other place in this State."

The deported miners took the governor at his word and laid their case before Judge Stevens of the Seventh Judicial District of Colorado; and this fearless, upright judge, after going into the merits of the case, issued a sweeping injunction on March 22d, 1904, against the Citizens' Alliance and all others in Telluride from in any way molesting or interfering with the exiles on their return to Telluride.

The deported men were jubilant over the decision. They expected to return to their homes the next day. It seemed certain they would be able to return.

What is a court order among capitalists?

Governor Peabody suddenly woke up to the alarming fact that there was an awful state of affairs in Telluride, and on March 23d, the very day after Judge Stevens had rendered justice to the miners, the governor, in order to defeat the ends of justice and keep the union miners in exile, placed San Miguel County again under martial law, and appointed Bulkley Wells, the leader of the Alliance mob, as commander of the military forces in the county.

Chapter XVI. A Reign Of Terror (Continued). Just Military Necessity.