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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 119-126
CHAPTER V
The Final Crisis
The Sixth Day Of June. Independence Explosion And Riots
The town of Independence lies in a deep valley, some half a mile from Victor and just below Altman. The station of the Florence and Cripple Creek Railroad stands high up on the hillside in the area where many of the finest mines of the district are located, and where mining operations have for all the district been most concentrated. The mountain roughness is more than usually evidenced here in steep hillsides and broken contours. Dumps from the mines form an enormous disorder through which the railroads tunnel, over which they run, and against the encroachments of which they scarcely protect by constant "riff raffing." Poorly lighted, gloomy, full of pitfalls, abounding in chances for secret work and concealment,—it is a spot peculiarly suited to the perpetration of crime and deeds of darkness. It is in a sense at the heart of the mining industry.
INDEPENDENCE DEPOT, WHERE FIFTEEN MEN LOST THEIR LIVES
Many of the mines change shifts at two o'clock in the morning. It is the "grave yard" shift that goes on at this midnight hour, and the railroads furnish special cars to take the early night shift men to their homes. The F. & C. C. R. R. train is due at Independence station at two fifteen. On the morning of June 6th it whistled for the station; the platform crowded with men from the Findley Mine; then there came a fearful explosion, and the air was filled with flying earth, and timbers, and the dismembered bodies of men. Where the platform had stood was a yawning hole in the ground, and the station was "wrecked and broken, its floors blown up, its walls smashed in, great holes torn through the heavy roof. Men were blown 150 feet straight up the hillside and mutilated beyond recognition.
Thirteen men out of twenty-seven were killed outright, and the smashing upward blow made six amputations necessary. At noon the next day men were still picking up bits of flesh and bone in tin pails. The men from the Shurtloff mine escaped by being a minute late. They were running for the station when the explosion took place.
Word was at once sent to James S. Murphy, the manager of the Findley Mine, to A. E. Carlton, its principal stock holder, and to Sheriff Robertson. At 3 o'clock a special train left Cripple Creek bearing the above named men, deputy sheriffs, doctors, and nurses. The space around the depot was roped off and search begun immediately for clues. The broken pieces of a revolver were found nearby, and about 200 feet of wire running to one of the nearby dumps, where its end was attached to a chair rung. A telegram was sent to Canon City asking for bloodhounds.1 The bodies of the men were removed to the coroner's office at Victor. The Cripple Creek District military companies were ordered to collect at once at the armory at Victor, where Major Naylor took charge.
The news of the explosion spread rapidly in the early morning and created the most intense excitement. Most of the mines shut down, few of the men even reported for work, business was generally suspended, and excited groups held discussions everywhere. By common consent the explosion was attributed to the Western Federation, and the most ugly rumors were in the air—the officers of the unions were to be burned at the stake—every union man was to be driven from the district. Union men and non-union men alike armed themselves to the teeth, and prepared for whatever should happen. The situation seemed of its own accord to center around Victor. General reports went out of a mass meeting to be held there, trouble was expected, and groups of men went constantly in that direction.2
At about 9 o'clock, Manager Murphy of the Findley Mine and Major Naylor, of the militia, called at Coroner Doran's office, and forced him to allow the removal of the bodies to the undertaking parlors of J. H. Hunt. The reason given was that Coroner Doran was understood to have spoken of the explosion as "an accident." Later in the morning the county commissioners held a special meeting at Victor. It was decided that Sheriff Robertson was too weak a man to handle such a serious situation, and that he ought to leave the county and let stronger hands be in control. Accordingly when the sheriff came over from Independence he was met by the commissioners, who insisted that he should leave. He consented and started for the train. But members of the Mine Owners' Association and Citizens Alliance had held a meeting meanwhile and decided upon drastic measures. Their committee met the sheriff and took him to the armory. Here a written resignation was presented for his signature, and upon his refusal a noosed rope was shown him, several shots were fired outside, and he was told that he would be turned over with the rope to a mob that was forming. Then the sheriff signed the paper giving up his office.3 Marshall O'Connell of the city, attempting to interfere and disarm the mine owners, was kicked out with no great gentleness.
The county commissioners immediately appointed Edward Bell sheriff. He had been Robertson's opponent for nomination on the Democratic ticket at the previous convention, and was considered a strong man for the position.4 Bell immediately discharged under-sheriff Burton, and appointed in his place L. P. Parsons, the secretary of the Citizens Alliance. A large number of deputies of the mine owners' choosing were also appointed.
It became more and more apparent that the situation was exceedingly serious, and that a false step might precipitate a reign of terror at any minute. The county commissioners felt strongly that a mass meeting while feeling ran so high could not but result in trouble, and they requested the mine owners to give up their intention of holding the afternoon meeting at Victor. This the mine owners committee agreed to do, but failed to keep its word.
At the corner of Fourth and Victor Avenues, almost at the center of the business portion of the city of Victor, there is a large vacant lot. A hillside has been excavated to allow it to run well back, and buildings of considerable size complete the boundry [sic] of its two interior sides. It thus forms a natural amphitheatre. Across the street on one side in the summer of 1904, was the union store, and across the street on the other, the miner's union hall. It was for this place that the mass meeting was reported, and people began to gather there early in the afternoon. Marshall O'Connell of Victor hastily appointed about 100 union men as deputy policemen, armed them, furnished them with badges, and lined them up on three sides of the square. The purpose was apparently to prevent or break up the mass meeting. Mayor French sent for O'Connell, and after a heated interview removed him from office, and revoked the commissions of his deputies. Major Naylor was immediately appointed Marshal. The deputies removed their badges and dispersed.
The crowd at the corner of Victor and Fourth Avenues continued to grow, and groups of armed and angry union and nonunion men added to the number constantly. About 3 o'clock Sheriff Bell, C. C. Hamlin, Secretary of the Mine Owners' Association, and S. D. Crump, the Attorney for the Association, eame to the square.5 Secretary Hamlin mounted an empty wagon, and began a speech which from the first became violent, unrestrained, with judgment and caution thrown to the winds, of a kind that could not but arouse to frenzy men whose passions were already deeply stirred. He had just denounced the union miners as a gang of cutthroats, membership in whose order was a badge of murder and arson, and declared that if the civil authorities could not reach them the people should take the law into their own hands, when a man in the crowd shouted out an angry question. Immediately someone struck him in the face, and a fist fight started. One man drew a revolver and struck another over the head with it. A single shot was fired. Then there came a fusilade [sic] of shots; a bedlam of cries and oaths; and everywhere the confusion of people falling and rushing to places of safety. When the firing ceased five men lay on the ground, two of them fatally wounded.6
The wonder is that twenty men were not killed instead of two. The square was packed with people, and such was the height of passion that men were seen to draw their revolvers and fire simply at random into the crowd. The square was promptly cleared, many of the union men retiring to their hall.7
The militia hurried up from the armory immediately after the shooting. A line of men was stationed around the union hall, and squads of men placed upon adjacent buildings which commanded the windows of the hall. Sheriff Bell, accompanied by Postmaster Sullivan of Cripple Creek, entered the hall and demanded that the men disperse, but this they refused to do, saying that the hall was their home. Postmaster Sullivan had witnessed the shooting of Davis, and recognized in the hall the man who had fired the shot. The militia demanded that the miners surrender. The miners refused. The militia then commenced firing upon the hall, pouring volley after volley into the building, smashing glass and brick, and tearing up the interior.8 Finally, with four men wounded, the miners surrendered and were placed under arrest.9 No sooner were they gone than a mob rushed in and completed the wrecking of the interior, smashing the furniture, and tearing up the volumes of the union library.
Bodies of soldiers, deputies, and armed citizens, scattered throughout the district, arresting union men wherever they were to be found. By night about 200 men had been arrested and placed in hastily located "bull pens."10
The excitement at Cripple Creek grew more intense as night approached. The report from Independence in the early morning stunned the community for the moment. But as the mines closed, and the men came into the city to be idle for the day, a great wave of feeling went forth, which grew and grew with each fresh report and rumor, until the late afternoon bringing distorted news of the Victor riots found a situation that was fast reaching the limit of control. Darkness saw thousands of people collected on the main streets of the city, and excited groups of men rapidly collecting into a mob. The police were powerless. Prominent Citizens Alliance men took the lead. The union hall was entered and utterly wrecked, its furniture and ornaments smashed up, its books destroyed and its walls defaced and smashed in. The union store was broken into, and its stock thrown into the street, oil poured among the provisions, and part of them carried away. The other cities of the district saw similar scenes of violence. By midnight not a union hall or store in the whole county but had been more or less completely wrecked.
Next morning the intense excitement of the day before had gone, but in its place was a grim determination. The Western Federation of Miners was held responsible for the disasters, and it must go. A meeting of prominent mine owners and members of the Citizens Alliance discussed the situation, and determined that the undesirable members of the community should be driven away or expelled. No half way measures were to be taken. Eefusal to renounce membership in the Federation and take out a mine owner's card was to be absolute evidence of undesirability. A commission of seven was appointed to examine and pass upon prisoners brought before it.11 At five o'clock in the afternoon 25 union men, under the guard of deputy sheriffs, were put aboard a train and sent out of the district.12 No charges were made against them, and many of them had been told that they could remain if they would give up their allegiance to the Federation.
1There have been various accounts of what the bloodhounds did when put upon the trail, but they succeeded in accomplishing nothing.
2The annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners, being in session at Denver at the time, passed the following resolution.
"No. 87. Whereas, A crime has been committed in the blowing up of the Golden Circle depot in the Cripple Creek District, we, the delegates of the twelfth annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners, deplore the act as a most dastardly crime and condemn the perpetrators thereof as enemies of the Western Federation of Miners and organized labor in general, and an outlaw at large; and,
"Whereas, The Secretary of the Mine Owners' Association has sought to use the sentiment created by this disaster to drive all union men out of the district, and in consideration of the above statement, be it
"Resolved, That we, the delegates of the twelfth annual convention, assembled, hereby offer a reward in the sum of $5,000, to be paid on the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators of the crime.
"Denver, Colorado, June 7, 1904."
3On July 1st. Mr. Robertson wrote a letter to the board of county commissioners demanding that they recognize him as sheriff. Later he made written demand upon Sheriff Bell for the surrender of the office, saying that he had been forced to sign a resignation, and that the board had been forced to accept it, and that he was still legally in office. These letters receiving no recognition he returned to the district and made some personal efforts to secure the office, but without success.
4Edward Bell and General Sherman Bell are not related. Edward Bell was appointed assessor by the Democratic Governor when Teller County was created, and was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination to some office in every succeeding convention. He had become prominent in the Citizens Alliance. After the strike he Joined the Republican party, and was elected to office by that party in November, 1904.
5The narrative of the riot Is taken from the accounts of several non-partisan eye witnesses. One of them, a Cripple Creek business man, stood upon the high bank just behind the wagon, where he could observe every detail. McGee was standing beside him when shot down, and he is of the opinion that the bullet was meant for Secretary Hamlin.
6Roscoe McGee and John Davis killed. The men killed and wounded were all non-union miners. Peter Christman shot through the mouth, Fred Studewass, shot through the lungs, J. J. Hasner shot through the back.
7The reports from the coroner's inquests upon the Independence explosion and Victor riots should be read with due regard to the extreme partisan nature of the juries. The juries appointed by Coroner Doran were discharged alter he was forced to resign, and new ones impanelled [sic] from among mining men and members of the Citizens Alliance. The verdict upon the Independence explosion was as follows: "We further find . . . that said crime Is one of similar crimes designed and executed in the Cripple Creek District during the past few months and perpetrated for the purpose of killing and intimidating non-union men and thereby preventing them from working; 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." However strong the inference may have been against the federation it could have been only an inference, for no evidence was found to even bring to trial any individual for the commission of the crime.
The report on the Victor riots reviews the events of the day, and declares that a body of 90 armed union men were collected in the afternoon "to commit acts of violence, to override the law, and to take human life." Being dispersed by the sheriff "about 50 in number secreted themelves in and upon a building in said city used and occupied for the miners Union Hall. That certain other members of said mob stationed themselves at different points on the streets and other places in said city, including the stores operated In the Interests of said Western Federation of Miners. That the riot was started by a member of the said mob . . . when he attempted to shoot and kill C. C. Hamlin that thereupon many shots were fired, principally by the members of said mob, both from the front windows and roof of said union hall and from the front part of said union store and different points in the street, and that certain of such shots took effect as herein above stated, causing the death of said Roscoe McGee and John Davis.
That it was the evident Intention of the leaders and members of said mob, as shown by the testimony and their own declaration, to shoot down and take the lives of citizens, called by them the mine owners.
We further find from the evidence that the officials of said Western Federation of Miners are primarily responsible for the crimes committed as aforesaid."
The jury examined a large number of witnesses concerning shooting from the union hall. Several testified that they had seen men with guns in the windows of the hall, but that none of them were seen to aim or Are. George Scott, an Insurance man, testified to having see a man with a Winchester fire two shots from a window of the hall. The physicians who attended McGee and Davis all swore that the course of the bullets had been slightly upward, so these shots could not have come from above.
(From typewritten copy of testimony before coroner's jury.)
8From the account of the Adjutant General (Biennial Report Adjutant General 1903-4, p. 224). This account adds that a second messenger, sent to warn the miners that firing would be commenced upon them if they did not immediately surrender, was fired upon. "A few shots were returned from the hall * * * probably in all there were 200 or 250 shots fired."
9The four wounded men were: Thomas McManus, Arthur Parker, Ed McKelney, Peter Calderwood.
10Most of the men were imprisoned in the Victor Armory. About 150 men were under guard there. See Adjutant General's Report, p. 224.
11"Judge" H. McGarry, Chairman.
N. Franklin, Former Mayor of Victor.
F. M. Reardon, Post Master Victor.
Mayor F. D. French of Victor. J. B. Cunningham.
G. E. Copeland.
T. J. Dalzell.
12For a complete list of the names see Biennial Report of Adjutant General 1903-4, p. 225.
NEXT: Teller County again under military rule — Plant of Victor Record wrecked — Forced resignation of large number of county and municipal officials — The military commission — Deportations — Militia close the Portland mine — Aid to families forbidden — District entirely non-union — Withdrawal of troops