CONTENTS

Preface

PART I — THE STRIKE OF 1894

CHAPTER I — PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS
Introduction

Cripple Creek — Location, geology, settlement — General economic conditions in 1894 — Conditions in Colorado and Cripple Creek in 1894

Indirect Causes Of The Strike

Uncertain business conditions — Irregularities in employment of labor

Events Leading Up To The Strike

CHAPTER II - THE TWO CRISES
The First Crisis

Attempts at a compromise — The lockout Feb. 1st, 1894 — The strike Feb. 7th — John Calderwood — Preparation by the unions — The injunction of March 14th — Capture of the deputies — Sheriff Bowers calls for militia — Beginning of friction between state and county — Conference between the generals and union officers — Recall of the militia — Compromise at the Independence

The Second Crisis

Coming of the rough element — The coup of Wm. Rabedeau — The demands and terms of the owners — Formation of the deputy army — "General" Johnson — Preparation of the miners for resistance — First detachment of deputy army — The blowing up of the Strong mine — The miners attack the deputies — Excitement in Colorado Springs — Rapid increase of deputy army — The governor's proclamation

CHAPTER III — THE FORCING OF THE ISSUE
Attempts At Arbitration

Conservative movement in Colorado Springs — The non-partisan committee — The miners propose terms of peace — Failure of the arbitration committee plan — Exchange of prisoners — The mission of Governor Waite — Miners give governor full power to act — The conference at Colorado College — Attempt to lynch Calderwood — The final conference in Denver — Articles of agreement

Militia vs. Deputies

The deputies march on Bull Hill — Call of the state militia — The question of authority — The clash in Grassey Valley — Military finally in control — Movements of the deputies — Conference in Altman — Withdrawal of deputies

The Restoration Of Order

Turbulent conditions in Cripple Creek — Attempts upon life of sheriff — Plan for vengeance in Colorado Springs — The attack upon General Tarsney — Arrests and trials of the strikers

CHAPTER IV-DISCUSSIONS
Peculiarities Of The Strike

The union allows men to work — Exchange of prisoners — Unusual influence of state authority

Arguments Of The Various Parties

The position of the mine owners — The position of the miners — The position of the governor

The Baleful Influence Of Politics

PART II—THE STRIKE OF 1903—1904

CHAPTER I—THE INTERVENING PERIOD
General Development

Increase in population and wealth — Industrial advance — Removal of frontier conditions — Entire dependence upon mining — The working force

The Background For The Strike

Divisioning of El Paso county — Growth of unions in political power — Western Federation becomes socialistic

The Situation Immediately Preceding The Strike

Unions misuse power — Treatment of non-union men — Minority rule — The strike power delegated

CHAPTER II—THE COLORADO CITY STRIKE
The Colorado City Strike

Formation of union — Opposition of Manager MacNeill — Presentation of grievances — The strike deputies and strikers — Manager MacNeill secures call of state militia

Partial Settlement By Arbitration

The Cripple Creek mines requested to cease shipments to Colorado City — The governor visits Colorado City — Conference at Denver — Settlement with Portland and Telluride Mills — Failure of second conference with Manager MacNeill

The Temporary Strike At Cripple Creek

Ore to be shut off from Standard Mill — The strike called — Advisory board — Its sessions — Further conferences — Settlement by verbal agreement

CHAPTER III — THE CRIPPLE CREEK STRIKE
The Call Of The Strike

Dispute over Colorado City agreement — Appeal of the union — Statements submitted by both sides — Decision of advisory board — Second strike at Colorado City — Strike at Cripple Creek

The First Period Of The Strike

Events of the first three weeks — Disorderly acts on September 1st — Release of Minster — Mine owners demand troops

The Militia In The District

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

Civil, vs. Military Authority

Habeas corpus proceedings — Militia guard court house — Judge Seeds' decision — The militia defy the court — Prisoners released — Rapid opening of the mines — Strike breakers

CHAPTER IV-TELLER COUNTY UNDER MILITARY RULE
Attempted Train Wrecking And Vindicator Explosion

Attempts to wreck F. & C. C. R. R. trains — McKinney and Foster arrested — McKinney makes conflicting confessions — Trial of Davis, Parker, and Foster — Digest of evidence — Release of McKinney — The Vindicator explosion — Evidence in case

A State Of Insurrection And Rebellion

The governor's proclamation — The power conferred as interpreted by militia officers — Local police deposed — Censorship of Victor Record — Registering of arms — Idle men declared vagrants — More general arrests of union officers — Habeas corpus suspended in case Victor Poole — Rowdyism by certain militiamen — Mine owners' statement — Federation flag posters — Withdrawal of troops

CHAPTER V—THE FINAL CRISIS
The Slxth Day Of June

Independence station explosion — Wrath of the community — Sheriff forced to resign — Bodies taken from undertaker — Mass meeting at Victor — The Victor riot — Militia capture miners'' union hall — Wholesale arrests of union men — Riot in Cripple Creek — Meeting of Mine Owners' Association and Citizens Alliance — The federation to be broken up

The Annihilation Of The Unions

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

The Period Immediately Following

Mob deportations — The Interstate Mercantile Company — Second wrecking of the stores — The November elections — The expense of the strike — Summary

CHAPTER VI—DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The Western Federation Of Miners. Its Side Of The Case

History of the federation — Its socialistic tendencies — Sympathetic statement of its position

The Mine Owners' Association. Its Side Of The Case

History of the organization — The card system — Sympathetic view of its position

The Citizens Alliances. Their Side Of The Case

History of the alliances — Sympathetic view of their position

The State Authorities

Statement by Governor Peabody

The Responsibility And Blame — The Western Federation Of Miners

Cause of strike — Crimes of the strike

Mine Owners' Association

Criminal guards — Mob violence

The State Authorities

Use of troops — Perversion of authority

Arraignment Of Each Side By The Other

The "Red Book" — The "Green Book."

Comparison Of The Two Strikes

The first natural, the second artificial — Frontier conditions vs. complete industrial development — Contrasts in the use of state authority — Civil and military authority — Politics — Minority rule

Significance Of The Labor History

Bibliography

The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District;
A Study in Industrial Evolution
by Benjamin McKie Rastall

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pages 52-53

DISCUSSIONS

Peculiarities Of The Strike

In the Cripple Creek strike one finds some marked peculiarities, phenomena in the field of strikes. Part of the union men worked all through the difficulty. Wherever a mine was found that would continue working, or would start to work, on the eight-hour schedule, or wherever a compromise could he reached as in the case of the Isabella, no attempt whatever was made to shut it down; the men continued to work as though nothing whatever had happened. This is in marked distinction from most strikes, where every union man is called out whether he has a grievance or not, and as many other allied occupations as possible affected by sympathetic strikes.

By its action in allowing the men to work the union gained in several ways. It kept a considerable amount of money coming into the pockets of union men, a goodly portion of which went to the support of the strike. It kept constantly before the eyes of the public, the fact that the men were not trying to introduce a new and unheard-of system, but one which was being successfully applied in a number of mines. It was a constant reminder that the men were not making exhorbitant [sic] demands to which it was impossible to accede, since mines of average yield were successfully operating under all the conditions which they asked. It is a question well worthy the careful consideration of organized labor everywhere, whether a similar action would not produce similar beneficial results in many a labor difficulty.

The exchange of prisoners near Bull Hill probably has no parallel in the history of strikes. When the five captured miners were exchanged for the three imprisoned officers with all the formality of war, the Altman union received recognition such as no other union has received before or since. Such recognition of an organization, and of a state of belligerency might have involved some interesting questions had the trouble gone further and Federal authority been invoked.

Another peculiarity of the strike was that state authority was used in such a way as materially to benefit the strikers. In the history of strikes the state has intervened nearly always only after a demand for protection, by the owners or operators, and while perhaps intending no such result, its authority has been so directed as to curtail the activities of the strikers, and to lessen greatly their chances for success. The results of this exception are interesting.

Governor Waite was a Populist, elected to his position on a Populist Labor ticket, and his ambition was to be known as the great friend of the laboring man. The strikers were sure of his hearty support from the first, and the county authorities were hampered by uncertainty as to whether his action would be to aid, or to oppose their efforts. All through the trouble his assertion was constant that no act of his should be hostile to the miners, and when at the very crisis he asserted that the deputy army was illegally assembled and should be disbanded, the effect was very great.1 The miners were wise enough to see their opportunity, and never in the slightest way to resist the state authorities, and hence they reaped the full benefit of the governor's friendship. It is doubtful whether without the moral and active support of state authority, exerted as it was at critical moments, the miners could have won their strike.

1Proclamation of Governor Waite, May 26, 1894

NEXT: The position of the mine owners — The position of the miners — The position of the governor