The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District;
A Study in Industrial Evolution

by Benjamin McKie Rastall

pages 104-108

CHAPTER IV

Teller County Under Military Rule

Attempted Train "wrecking And Vindicator Explosion

An apparent attempt was made to wreck a Florence and Cripple Creek passenger train on the night of Nov. 14th. Spikes and fish plate bolts were removed from the rails, but the track not entirely separated, and the train passed the point in safety. Two nights later a second attempt was made at a point near Victor. The track makes a sharp curve around a projecting hillside at this place, and a train leaving the rails would roll 300 feet down a precipitious slope to the bottom of a ravine. The destruction of life in a crowded accommodation train of light coaches could not but be terrible. But the train was warned and passed in safety.¹

Next morning detectives Scott and Sterling² came to the office of Judge Seeds and stated that they had received information of the intended attempt at wrecking the night before, and had watched, viewing the operation and identifying the men. They were ready they said to make informations, but were afraid the sheriff's office would in some way allow the men to escape, and asked for the issue of bench warrants which they could serve direct. Later in the day H. H. McKinney and Thomas Foster were arrested by a squad of militia, and charged with the offence [sic]. They were afterward turned over to the civil authorities.

While in jail McKinney made a written confession to detectives Scott and Sterling, in which he implicated Thomas Foster as participant, and Sherman Parker and W. F. Davis as accessories.³ Later he made another written confession to Frank J. Hangs, the Cripple Creek attorney for the Federation, in which he denied the statements in the first confession, saying that it had been brought to him already prepared and signed under promise of $1000.00, and immunity from punishment, and transportation for himself and wife to any part of the world, and that he believed Scott and Sterling had secured the confession from him to clear their own skirts. He also wrote a letter to his wife which contained the same statements as those in the second confession.

Parker, Davis, and Foster were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, and came to trial in the District Court in February 1904.⁴ The prosecution rested its case largely upon the testimony of McKinney. He now swung round again; declared his first confession to be true and the second one false, and gave a detailed story of his participation in two train wrecking attempts. Parker, he said, had first broached the matter, and finally offered $500.00 for the job. Foster had assisted him in the first attempt, and he had secured Charles Beckman to help Mm the second time. His testimony remained unshaken through a most searching cross examination.

Mrs. McKinney corroborated the testimony of her husband in some points. Charles Beckman testified that he had become a member of the Federation as a spy for the Mine Owners' Association, and while apparently aiding McKinney had been keeping Detective Sterling posted as to the course of events. Detectives Scott and Sterling swore that they received tips from Beckman, and had watched the men make the attempt, and that when they came up close to recognize McKinney the men had run away.

The defense attempted to show that Scott and Sterling, being in the employ of the mine owners, had themselves made a bogus attempt at train wrecking, and bribed and frightened McKinney into a perjured confession which should convict union officers and throw the union into disrepute.⁵ McKinney on cross examination admitted making the confession to Attorney Hangs, but declared that it was a false one. He also admitted writing the letter to his wife which contained the same statements, but said he had lied. The defense showed that McKinney had been given unusual privileges at the jail, being sent out to his meals and allowed to spend some time with his wife away from the jail, and that both himself and wife had been furnished with new outfits of clothing. McKinney said he did not know who paid for the clothes and meals, but that it might have been Sterling. He denied that the detectives had promised him money or immunity from punishment, and said that they had merely promised to use their influence to secure leniency for him.

Victor W. Mather, a butcher employed in the union store at Victor, swore to having been walking along the P. & C. C. tracts upon the night of Nov. 16th going to his home, and to have come upon two men tampering with the rails. They ran away, but he got close enough to have a good look at them, and identified them upon the stand as Scott and Sterling. Engineer Bush of the F. & C. C. Ry. testified that Detective Scott had asked him where the best place would be to wreck a train, and that he had told him of the place where the attempt was made. J. C. Moore, section foreman for the F. & C. C. Ry. testified that on the morning after the attempt he Went to the place where the rails had been tampered with, and found in the fresh snow the tracks of two men coming down to the railroad. There were tracks going down from the road, but the men had been running and slipping and he could not tell anything about the footprints. He measured one of the tracks above the railroad carefully, and said Scott told him it was his. There were the tracks of two men only on the hill at this point. A number of witnesses testified that Beckman had tried to persuade them to commit various acts of violence to win the strike. Others testified to prove an alibi for Foster. It was shown that a number of union men were on the train that would have been wrecked had the attempt been successful.⁶

District Judge Lewis of Colorado Springs presided at the trial, and the jury was selected from a special venire of 80 chosen from points of the county outside the mining area. Most of the jurors were ranchmen or timbermen, and none were miners or union men.⁷ The jury, in about half an hour, brought in a verdict of not guilty. McKinney on the witness stand had testified as follows: "Q. Mr. McKinney, as I understand you, you agreed to wreck a railroad train for $500, is that correct? A. I believe so, yes. Q. And you were going to share that with your partners in crime, is that correct? A. I suppose so. Q. So that for $250 you were willing to plunge the souls of men into eternity in that way by wrecking the train; you were willing to kill men for $250, is that correct? A. Looks that way. Q. You undertook the job of killing them for $250? A. Yes, sir. Q. Now are you in that same frame of mind now that you would kill men for $250? A. I might under the same circumstances." He was either a criminal of the worst type according to his own confession, or a man who had endeavored to perjure other men to their death. Judge Lewis after the trial refused to admit him to bail. Several weeks later his case was nolled on the ground of his having turned state's evidence and his companions in the crime having been set free.⁸ He was then arrested charged with perjury,⁹ but released on bond furnished by S. D. Crump, the attorney for the Mine Owners' Association, and W. M. Bainbridge, superintendent of the El Paso Mine.

On Nov. 21st, while Chas. H. McCormick, Superintendent, and Melvin Beck, shift boss, of the Vindicator Mine, were descending the shaft, an explosion occurred which wrecked the cage and killed both men instantly. The explosion took place at the 600 foot level where no work was being done, and as a shattered pistol and pieces of copper wire were found it was generally supposed to have been the result of deliberate intent. The Mine Owners' Association accused the Western Federation of Miners with causing the explosion, and offered a reward of $5,000 for evidence leading to the conviction of the perpetrator, but no such evidence was found.

The mine was under military guard at the time, and no union man was allowed to enter it. The 600 foot level was connected with other unused surface openings and might have been entered through one of these, but careful search failed to reveal any evidence of such action. Sheriff Robertson, Deputy District Attorney Cole, and employees of the mine, made a careful search of the property immediately after the explosion, and came to the conclusion that the person who took the explosives into the mine did so through the working shaft.¹⁰

---

¹General Manager Jesse Waters of the F. & C. C. R. R., In a signed Interview Nov. 18th, said two men In the attempt were known and would he arrested. Referring to a report that the attempts had been made by union men, he said: "We have too much respect for Union Men to think for a moment that any of them would resort to such methods. * * * * "There were Union men aboard the train."—Cripple Creek Times, Nor. 18th, 1903.

²D. C Scott was the detective for the Midland Terminal. K. C Sterlingwas a special detective In the employ of the Mine Owners' Association.

³The three were prominent union men. Sherman Parker was president of the district union. W. P. Davis was president of Altman union.

⁴District Court Records, No. 752. People vs. Sherman Parker et al.

3 Mills Annotated Statutes. Sec. 1421 A.

⁵The charges In train wrecking cases were made the principal basis for declaring Teller County In a state of rebellion. See Governor's proclamation, Dec. 4th.

⁶The digest of testimony given here was made from the manuscripts of the court stenographers.

⁷Charles Matthews, John Lee, Aaron Smith, F. M. Longevell, A. S Chadwick, W. J. Lindsay, David Vaughn, C. D. Profit, J. A. M. Smith, F. E. Robinson, D. A. Elswerth.

⁸See written brief by district attorney filed with case papers N. 752. Such proceedings are taken under the general doctrine that where a person fully and impartially discloses all of his connection with a crime for the informaton of the state, thus leadng to the detection of others, the implied faith of the government, although not expressed, is given to him that he shall not suffer in consequence thereof. Such doctrine is cited from various authorities by the district attorney.

⁹On information hy Frank J. Hangs one of the federation attorneys. Following the deportations of June, (See chapter V.) the case was dismissed hy the request of Mr. Hangs, who stated that his witnesses had heen forced to leave the district.

¹⁰The following is the coroner's verdict, after a careful examination of all the evidence available:

"From examination made at the mine and the evidence introduced, this Jury is unable to determine the exact cause of said explosion.

(Signed.) "John Ketellsen,
"Foreman."

NEXT: 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