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 139-141

CHAPTER VI

DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

The Western Federation Of Miners—Its Side Of The Case

The Western Federation of Miners was organized in a convention held at Butte, Montana, May 15th, 1893. Forty delegates, representing fifteen unions from the states of Colorado, Utah, Montana, Idaho, and South Dakota, assembled, drafted a constitution, and began an active campaign for general organization.1 The first Cripple Creek strike came six months later, while the movement was in its infancy, and the Federation hardly more than a name. The Altman union secured a charter in the general organization, and this was utilized by the striking miners to secure uniformity and authority in their actions, but the Western Federation of Miners as a body had no connection with the strike.2

The Federation has grown steadily since its organization. By 1903 its unions numbered 200, and its jurisdiction extended over the Rocky Mountains and far western states, and British Columbia. Five hospitals are owned by it, and several cooperative stores at various mining centers. Some of the local unions provide sick benefit, and maintain wards in the local hospitals, and many of them have halls with libraries, reading rooms, and rooms for social entertainment.3

During the first years of its existence the Federation changed officers every year, but from 1896 to 1906 the office of president has been held by but two men, Edward Boyce and Charles H. Moyer.4 William D. Haywood, elected secretary-treasurer in 1901 has held the position ever since.5 At the end of his sixth year in office Mr. Boyce positively refused re-election, and closed his career in a stirring speech that became a classic to his followers. Its dominant note was an appeal to class consciousness, and its climax a demand for socialistic action.6 When the convention closed it had voted confidence in the words of its president, and declared itself with the Socialist Party of America.7 President Moyer and Secretary-Treasurer Haywood, radically socialistic in their own views, lost no opportunity to direct the activity of the organization more and more into socialistic channels.8 The rank and file of the membership hung back, and did not accept socialistic ideas nearly so generally as has been supposed. At their annual conventions the delegates repeatedly refused to pass extreme resolutions asked for by the leaders.9 But the Federation has been strongly under the influence of its officers these last years.10 It is its misfortune that these men have been extremists. Its catastrophies have been mistakes of leadership.

The Federation man in speaking of the Cripple Creek difficulties prefers to merge them with the general strike difficulties of the time.11 The struggle over the eight-hour question, and the wrongs done by capital therein loom large to him, and Cripple Creek is merely a phase of the general situation. The Colorado City difficulty is the immediate irritant. Here the union just formed is all but broken up by the summary discharge of its members from the employ of the Colorado Reduction and Refining Company. A strike is the remedy, a verbal agreement being reached at last, the union acting under pressure, and coming two-thirds of the way. But the company does not fulfill its agreement satisfactorily—work is offered the men in such a way that they will not accept it—the management will not consider the wage scale. The other mills, which have made entirely satisfactory adjustments, become dissatisfied, and threaten to lower wages again unless the Colorado mill is forced into line. So a second strike is called. But the hostile attitude of the management has been so effective that the strike is unsuccessful. There is danger that all that has been gained will be lost if the mill cannot be controlled. Its ore can be shut off. The Cripple Creek miners are of the same organization and should support their brothers. There is added irritation in that some of the Cripple Creek mines refuse to employ union men at all. The capitalistic class in Colorado is pushing labor to the last ditch, and throttling its every move for Betterment. The time for a decisive blow against such tyranny is at hand. So the miners are called out.12


1Information furnished by the unions. See also Special Report Commissioner of Labor. U. S. Chap. I.

Also Langdon, Mrs. Emma F. The Cripple Creek Strike, Introduction.

2See p. 20.

3Information furnished by the unions. See also Special Report Commissioner of Labor, U. S., Chap. I.

The federation does not report its membership. The report of the Colorado Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1901-2 estimated the membership at 48,000.

4Official Reports Western Federation.

5Ibid.

6Ibid.

Copy officially published by federation. Also In Official Proceedings for 1902.

7Ibid.

8Ibid.

9See page 10, 2nd par., also f. n. 1.

10See pages 25, f. n. 1, 36 and 37, Including f. n., and page 13.

11A digest is here given of the statements of the case by various union officers.

12Official Reports Western Federation.

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