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Victor
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The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District;
A Study in Industrial Evolution
by Benjamin McKie Rastall
pages 90-93
THE FIRST PERIOD OF THE STRIKE
Quiet prevailed in the Cripple Creek District during the first three weeks of the strike. Mining operations were almost entirely suspended. The men held frequent meetings, strengthening their organization, and thoroughly picketing the district to prevent any men from going to work. The Standard Mill was compelled to shut down on account of lack of ore September 2nd, but announced that one-third pay would be given its employees for an indefinite period. The Portland Mine was allowed to resume operations on August 22nd. All of its ores were reduced by its own mill at Colorado City, and the management agreed specifically that no ores should be shipped to "unfair" mills. The mine was not unionized but continued on the open shop principle. The merchants of the district having announced that they would allow no further credit during the strike, the unions organized cooperative stores in Cripple Creek, Victor, and Anaconda. Goods were sold to the miners from these stores at cost, for cash, or upon orders from the union. The treasury of the federation was well supplied, and no hardship was experienced.10
Late in August the Colorado City Union called a strike upon the Telluride Mill, which earlier in the year had granted all the demands of the union, including the increased schedule of wages. "Walter Keene, the head precipitator, considered one of the best men in the employ of the company, had remained non-union and refused all invitations to join the organization. He was warned to leave. When he entered the mill on the 25th, he was met by a crowd of men, jostled, threatened, and finally struck on the head with a dinner pail. Thoroughly frightened he went to the office and resigned. Manager Fullerton discharged two of the men for participation in the assault, and stated his position with vigor in a letter to the union.11 The union officials demanded the reinstatement of the discharged men, and upon being refused called a strike at the mill.
The unfairness of the strike at Cripple Creek was felt keenly by the owners of the mines. There were no grievances to adjust, nor any apparent method of settlement unless they were to join hands with the organization that had acted so arbitrarily against them, and eating humble pie, seek to force the Colorado City Mills to share it with them. They determined to exert their strength to the limit to break the strike, and to break it without compromise. On August 13th, they issued a statement which reviewed the satisfactory conditions at the time of the strike, and the unwillingness of the men to participate in it. The strike was characterized as most arbitrary and unjustifiable, and they announced their intention to open their mines and operate them in future in absolute independence of the Western Federation of Miners.12 It was decided to combine upon the opening of single mines, and the El Paso was chosen for the first. The shaft house was surrounded by a stockade, and a board fence ten feet high, and 17 armed guards placed upon the property. The mine was opened August 18th, with about 75 men.
A series of events on Sept. 1st, ended the period of good order and immediately precipitated a crisis. The Golden Cycle Mine was preparing to start up, following the El Paso, and was being surrounded by a board fence. "When the carpenters came to work they were held up with a gun by a union picket, but were later allowed to pass. Ed Minster was arrested for the offence [sic] and lodged in jail. In the afternoon John T. Hawkins, a justice of the peace, was assaulted upon the main street of Altman, knocked down and badly cut upon the head. He had discharged one of the El Paso deputies the day before on the charge of carrying concealed weapons, and fined another one $25.00 and costs. On the same night Thomas M. Stewart, an old man, who had gone to work as a carpenter upon the Golden Cycle, was taken from his home by five masked men, cruelly beaten, shot in the back, and left for dead. He managed to crawl to the electric road, and was taken to the Victor Hospital, where he finally recovered.13
These outrages stirred the district deeply, and the feeling was intensified the following day by the release of Minster. The district attorney had been delayed in filing the information against him. Undersheriff Gaughan,14 a federation member of the most extreme type, had been notified that the information was being prepared, but took advantage of the technicality to set Minster at liberty. The mine owners had already begun to demand troops on account of the assaults of the day before, and they were now able to back their demands with the declaration that the county authorities were not trying to give them protection.
10During the period the Mine Owners' Association was made a formal organization, and elected its first set of officers. The Citizens Alliances of the district were also formed at this time, and began to exert their influence as allies of the Association. For a general history of these organizations see Chapter VI.
11Special Report, Commissioner of Labor, p. 165 :
"Mill and Smelter Men's Union No. 125, Colorado City."
"Gentlemen : When our company informed you that it was not our intention to discriminate against union men, when hiring our force of workmen, we understood that your union was not to discriminate. One of our best men, Mr. Keene, has just resigned from our employment because of actual bodily violence, and because of threats on his life made by a mob of your union in our employment.
"Our company will not stand for any such system of dictation by any union, as to whom we may or may not keep in our employment, and we give you notice that Mr. Keene did not resign with our consent ; that we are well satisfied with him in all respects, and that had he been willing to remain in our employment we should have stood back of him in all events ; and that if any such system of dictation is again attempted by your union our company will discover which of our employes belong to your union, and will at once discharge every union man, for the sole reason that he is a union man, and that thereafter we will conduct our mill as a non-union mill.
"H. W. FULLERTON,
"General Manager."
12"A general strike has been called on the mines of the Cripple Creek district by the executive heads of the Western Federation of Miners. At the time this 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 employers and employed in this district. Wages and hours of labor have been satisfactory and according to union standards, and general labor conditions have been all that could be wished.
"Notwithstanding all this, the heads of the Western Federation have seen fit to compel the cessation of all labor in the district, not because of any grievance of their own against the Cripple Creek operators, but for reasons entirely beyond our control. No more arbitrary and unjustifiable action mars the annals of organized [labor], and we denounce it as an outrage against both the employers and employed.
"The fact that there are no grievances to adjust and no unsatisfactory condition to remedy leaves the operators but one alternative, and that alternative they propose to adopt fearlessly. As fast as new men can be secured, our mining operations will be resumed under former conditions, preference being given to former employees, and all men applying for work will be protected to the last degree."
13On Sept. 2nd the Mine Owners Association offered a reward of $300 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who had assaulted Justice Hawkins and $1,000 for those who had assaulted and shot Thomas M. Stewart. The Golden Cycle Mining Co. offered an additional reward of $500 for the arrest of Stewart's assailants.
14Undersheriff Gaughan was a member of the legislature at the time El Paso County was divided. He was appointed assessor by the governor, but was defeated for nomination in the convention the following fall. He then opened a saloon, where he presided up to the time of his appointment as undersheriff.
NEXT: The governor holds conferences with mine owners — The special commission — Troops called out — Militia arrest union officers — Other arrests — General partisan activity of the troops