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

book image

pages 81-84

Temporary Strike At Cripple Creek

On March 16th, the week during which a stay of proceedings had been granted was ended, and the Cripple Creek District Union made a formal demand upon the mines furnishing ore to the plants of the Colorado Reduction and Refining Company to cease their shipments. The Victor Business Men's Committee made a last effort to get President Moyer and Manager MacNeill together in a settlement, but were unsuccessful. The mine owners took no action, and on March 17th, a strike was called upon all the mines furnishing ores to plants of the Colorado Reduction and Refining Company at Colorado City and Florence.17 The strike affected the Independence, Vindicator, Ajax, Independence Consolidated, Mary McKinney, Isabella, Strong, Findley, Mountain Beauty, Elkton, Granite, Gold King, Thompson, and Blanche mines, which were operating on the open shop principle and employed about 750 union men. The operators of the Vindicator and Mary McKinney mines agreed not to ship to the Colorado Reduction and Refining Company, and were allowed to continue.

The miners were not generally in favor of the strike. They had no grievance of their own, and could not see the logic of leaving their positions to help a few mill men in Colorado City. If the constitution of the Federation had been fully carried out and the question submitted to referendum vote in each local union there is small likelihood that the men could have been induced to vote the strike.18 Most of the mines concerned were under contract to furnish their ores to the Colorado Reduction and Refining Company.19 They could not accede to the demand of the union without making themselves liable to heavy damage suits, and hence the strike was called against them with their hands tied.

The call of the strike at Cripple Creek did not discourage those who were working for a peaceful settlement of the difficulty, but rather induced them to redouble their efforts. The business men of Cripple Creek and Victor continued their vigorous campaign. Governor Peabody on March 19th, issued a proclamation, and appointed a special advisory board to inquire into the labor difficulties, and to come to some conclusion if possible in the matter. As named by the governor the membership of the board consisted as follows: President Wm. F. Slocum of Colorado College, Colorado Springs; Hon. Chas. D. Hayt20 of Denver; Rev. Thomas A. Uzzell21 of Denver; Hon. Frank W. Frewen22 of Cripple Creek; and Father Joseph P. Carrigan23 of Denver. President Slocum was unable to serve on account of pressure of work, and his place was not filled.

The board convened in Denver March 21st, and held sessions for several days, taking testimony from the federation and mill officials, and others. On the 25th it met in Colorado Springs and had a conference with a committee of the Mine Owners' Association. Next day it held its session in Colorado City, where it examined strikers, and employees of the mills, and officials of Colorado City.

As the result of its investigations the board reached the conclusion that the points at issue were in reality of small import, and that, "a heart to heart talk" should bring about a settlement.24 Accordingly a conference was secured between the officers of the reduction company and of the Federation, and attorneys for both sides, present also officers of the Colorado City, Victor, and District unions, the Mayor of Cripple Creek, and the Victor committee. Little by little the non-essential points were weeded out, but it seemed impossible to get an agreement upon the points that had proved stumbling blocks at the earlier conferences—the recognition of the union, the wage scale, and the immediate employment of the strikers. Manager MacNeill at length agreed to receive and confer with a committee of the mill employees concerning changes in the wage scale, but still declined to meet such a committee from the Federation. President Moyer waived the recognition of the Federation committee and accepted the offer of a conference without the guarantee of any increase in wages.

On the point of reemployment the negotiations were still unsuccessful. Manager MacNeill was emphatic in his refusal to set a time limit within which the strikers should be reinstated, or to make any agreement by which any men employed since the opening of the strike could lose their positions. The Victor committee offered to give employment to the strikers in the Cripple Creek District at $3.00 per day if the strike should be called off without reinstatement, but President Moyer refused. They then offered to give the same work to men who lost their positions at the Standard Mill if the strikers be reinstated, but Manager MacNeill refused. This action, however, broke the ice. Manager MacNeill offered to give preference to the strikers, and take them back as soon as openings could be found at the mills. It was hoped, he said, that the increase in ore shipments would permit the opening of the Colorado Mill shortly, and in that case the men would be rapidly reemployed. This offer was finally accepted by President Moyer. Both sides waived the question of a written agreement,25 but the advisory board was to meet again in May and determine whether the agreement had been faithfully carried out.26

Telegraphic reports of the settlement were received in the Cripple Creek District with the greatest rejoicing. Bells were rung, whistles blown, the papers put out special editions to spread the news. Purses were raised and bands gotten out. Committees and officials coming in from the conference were met at the trains, and placed at the heads of processions which marched streets illuminated by bonfires and colored powders. There was endless cheering, and tooting of horns, and speech-making; and over all the ringing of bells, the droning of whistles, and the crash of giant crackers. A mining strike settled was an event for the most intense rejoicing in the Cripple Creek District.

17The strike at Cripple Creek was called by the District Council upon the formal request of President Moyer. See President's Report in the Convention Proceedings of 1903, p. 28:—"On March 16, after conferring with your Secretary-Treasurer and Member of the Board Copeley, we decided to request District Union No. 1 to notify all men working on properties supplying ore to the Standard Mill in Colorado City to discontinue work." Such a request amounted practically to a demand. (See same, p. 23.) Thus, while the responsibility was technically thrown upon the District Council, the General Executive Board was the real power behind the act. But see also Convention Proceedings, 1903, p. 118. Also, resolution, same, p. 248. "6. We commend the President for his promptness in calling out the miners of the Cripple Creek district to aid the striking millmen at Colorado City."



18It should be said that this conclusion differs from that of Walter B. Palmer, who conducted the investigation for the Labor Department of the United States Government, and also from that of W. H. Montgomery, the Deputy State Commissioner of Labor, in his biennial report for 1903-4. The language in the conclusions of both is identical: "It seems probable that if a referendum vote had been taken of the miners in the district a majority would have voted in favor of the strike." The conclusion of the author rests largely upon his personal knowledge of the conditions. He was in the district twice, in February and March, gathering material for the report on the strike of 1893, and had occasion to talk with a number of the miners. Excepting some of the officers, he did not find a man who favored a walk-out in sympathy with the Colorado City men. There was the strongest feeling that such talk was idle nonsense.

19Biennial Report Commissioner of Labor, 1903-4, p. 60.

20Mr. Hayt is an ex-judge of the supreme court.

21Mr. Uzzell was a popular Denver preacher, and Republican politician. He is now (1905) County Commissioner of Denver County.

22Mr. Frewen was Representative from Cripple Creek. He is now employed in the interests of the Colorado and Southern Railway.

23Father Carrigan has for a long time shown an intelligent interest in labor questions.

24Official statment given to the press, March 29, 1903. See also Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1903-4, p. 62.

"As soon as the members of the Governor's advisory board were sufficiently advised of the real causes of the strike, they concluded that if the parties could be brought together in a heart to heart talk it might result in an amicable adjustment of their differences. This belief was strengthened by the fact that the board was of the opinion that such differences were too slight to be the cause of involving this State in an industrial war."

25This was a serious mistake. The whole latter dispute was made possible only by disagreement as to what had been the exact terms of the compromise.

26Official Statement of Advisory Board, March 31.

"Mr. Moyer has this day agreed to accept the proposition of Manager MacNeill, as given: In tEe communication of March 29, and he has declared the strike off, basing his action to some extent upon the opinion of the board as to the time within which it may be confidently expected that the men will be reinstated. Mr. Moyer has stated that he did this because he wished, so far as possible, to avoid bringing loss upon others, and particularly the miners and mine owners in the Cripple Creek district, for a cause, which, in the opinion of the board, was not serious."


NEXT: 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