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 78-81

Partial Settlement By Arbitration

The Federation countered the militia movement by requesting the mine owners in the Cripple Creek District to cease shipments of ore to the Colorado City Mills. It was understood that the men in the mines would be called out if the request were not complied with. The Mine Owners' Association in a meeting held March 5th, refused.

The citizens of the Cripple Creek District, roused to the danger of the situation, now entered the field. Mass meetings at Cripple Creek and Victor passed resolutions urging that the difficulty be submitted to arbitration. An appeal was submitted by the business men of Victor to the District Council of the Federation, asking "that action of all kinds in the matter of the impending labor difficulties" be deferred for one week to give opportunity for "an amicable settlement of existing conditions." The appeal was granted immediately upon its presentation, and the district and general officers took advantage of the occasion to declare publicly their entire willingness to submit the matters in dispute to arbitration.12

On March 9th the state legislature adopted a joint resolution demanding that the parties in the controversy submit their claims to arbitration. Two days later the governor made a personal investigation. The day was spent in interviews with the officials of Colorado City, the union officers, and in visits to the mills where the governor talked with the men still at work. In the evening a public reception was given in the Antlers Hotel, Colorado Springs. Returning to Denver the governor announced that he did not feel justified in recalling the militia. At the same time he issued invitations to the officers of the Federation, and to the mill managers, to meet with their council in his office, to confer relative to adjusting the matters at issue.

The invitation was accepted, and the conference met at 2 p. m. March 14th. The negotiations did not proceed to suit Manager MacNeill. He was unwilling to join the other managers in making concessions for the settlement of the strike, and declaring that they were violating an agreement among themselves he withdrew with his attorney early in the evening.13 The conference between the other parties continued, and after an all-night session terms of settlement were agreed upon. The agreement with the Portland Mill was as follows:

"First: That eight hours shall constitute a day's work in and around the mills, with the exception of the sampling department, which may extend to ten hours.

"Second: That in the employment of men by this company there shall be no discrimination between union and non-union labor, and that no person shall be discharged by reason of membership in any labor organization.

"Third: That all men now on strike shall be reinstated within twenty (20) days from Monday, the 16th day of March, A. D. 1903, who shall have made application for work .within five days from this date.

"Fourth: That the management of the Portland Gold Mining Company will confer with any committee of the Colorado City Mill and Smeltermen's Union, No. 125, at any time within twenty (20) days, upon a subject of a scale of prices.

"Dated at Denver, Colo., this 14th day of March, A. D. 1903.

"Frank G. Peck, "For the Portland Gold Mining Company.

"Charles Moyer, For Mill and Smeltermen's Union."

The agreement with the Telluride Mill was the same, except that as the mill was undergoing construction and repair work and could not be opened immediately, the management simply bound itself to reinstate its old employees upon the resumption of operations.14

The first clause fixed the hours of labor exactly as they were before the strike. The second clause was merely a formal statement of the open shop principle, which existed previously, in appearance at least. The third clause protected the men from punishment for having been strikers, and the fourth agreed to a further conference on the wage question. The union had gained its recognition, but not the advanced wage scale.15

On the further invitation of the governor, Manager MacNeill met with President Moyer and Secretary Haywood of the Federation for a second conference. He would however make no concessions. He refused to recognize the union, or to confer with a committee in any way relative to a change in wages. No agreement should be made to reinstate the men, nor a single laborer lose his position to give work to a striker. He would only agree not to discriminate against federation men when in the future he should have need of additional workmen.16

As the result of the conferences the strikes were called off at the Portland and Telluride Mills, but continued at the Standard. The governor agreed to the withdrawal of the militia, and the Federation to the withdrawal of the suits that had been entered against the militia officers.

It is greatly to be regretted that Manager MacNeill insisted upon taking such an uncompromising attitude through the negotiations. If the series of events which were taking place at this time could have been stopped at any point the whole unfortunate aftermath at Cripple Creek might have been avoided. The union was acting in a conciliatory spirit, and had shown its willingness to come more than half way; the other managers had come to a satisfactory agreement, and any other attitude than that of laying down his own terms, and standing inflexibly upon them in a take them or leave them spirit, must have resulted in a settlement.

12See interviews of President Moyer and Secretary Hayward in Colorado papers, March 9, 1903.

13Special Report, United States Commissioner or Labor, "Labor Disturbances in the State of Colorado," p. 119.

Mr. MacNeill's attorney (Judge Babbitt of Colorado Springs) has explained that before going to the Denver conference the mill managers came to an agreement upon conditions for which they were to stand absolutely. It was when the other managers began to weaken and to recede from these conditions that Mr. MacNeill left the conference.

14For detailed statement see Ninth Biennial Report, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Colorado, pp. 57 and 58.

15In the later conference the Portland and Telluride Mills agreed to the schedule asked for by the union.

16Special Report, United States Commissioner of Labor, p. 119.

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