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 152-154

The Mine Owners' Association And The Citizens' Alliances

No discredit is to be attached to the mine owners for opposing a solid front to the attack of the Western Federation of Miners, nor for straining every nerve to break the strike. To have submitted would have been to admit a condition of subserviency impossible to men of strength and courage. Nor with the police power of the district so thoroughly in the hands of the miners,43 could they be expected not to make every effort to secure the presence of state troops. The position of the Citizens Alliances was also perfectly natural, in opposing a condition that was bringing upon them financial ruin.44

Many of the men employed as guards by the mine owners during the strike were roughs of the worst type, men with criminal records either before or since that time. The following list of mine deputies who committed criminal acts within 12 months after the close of the strike will serve as basis for judging this fact.

MINE DEPUTIES WHO COMMITTED CRIMINAL ACTS WITHIN TWELVE MONTHS AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE STRIKE.

Name. Crime. District court trial. Sentence.
James Warford Murder No. 984 On second trial, life
James Warford Assault Nos. 909, 923 10 to 12 years
Thomas C. Brown Murder No. 923 Jury disagreed, nolled
Walter Kenley Assault, intent to kill Nos. 909, 912 10 to 12 years
John Police Fraudulent check No. 943 Not tried, Jan. 1906
Thomas C. Brown Theft No. 939 Jail sentence
Charles Fightmaster Highway robbery No. 956 8 years
Bert Smith Highway robbery No. 956 8 years
Clark Watt Assault, intent to kill No. 994 10 to 12 years
John Frame Assault, intent to kill No. 994 10 to 12 years
Eugene Scott Manslaughter No. 980 7 to 8 years
Thomas Scanlan Assault No. 865 10 months

It is not apparent just how much can be adduced from the above statement. The position of deputy at such a time, with its attendant danger, and the certainty of public contempt, will not be accepted by the ordinary citizen. The mine owners had to draw from the only supply available for the purpose, and had to take what they could get. But the fact remains that there were in the employ of the Mine Owners' Association during the strike men capable of almost any crime, and that, as pointed out by the unions, these men might as logically be blamed for the overt acts of the strike as any men who could possibly have belonged to the unions. In the train wrecking case the union attorneys certainly succeeded in throwing a great deal of suspicion upon Detectives Scott and Sterling.45 Charles Beckman, who had joined the Federation as a detective for the mine owners, admitted that he had been urging the commission of various overt acts, but explained that he did so simply that by working into the confidence of the right men he should be in a position to know of such plots.46 In some cases since the strike, officials under the influence of the mine owners have sought in a most disgraceful manner to protect criminal deputies and others from the results of their misdeeds.47

In the lawlessness following the crimes of June 6th the mine owners cannot be separated from the Citizens Alliance. Each had a part but not a separate one. It is the testimony of reliable witnesses that the speech of the secretary of the Mine Owners' Association on the afternoon of the Victor riots was such as any sane man must know would create trouble, and that he was entirely to blame for the starting of the affair.48

The actions of the following days can all be explained as the natural outcome of the conditions. The wave of indignation following the terrible Independence explosion could be expected to carry men off their feet. The great dread that followed the conviction that the Federation was responsible, might be expected to bear some fruit. For men believing as they did there was much excuse for the lawless acts that followed. But to explain lawlessness is not to justify it, to find extenuating circumstances is not to condone it. There are extenuating circumstances for practically all mob violence. There are always extenuating circumstances for the negro lynchings of the South. There were extenuating circumstances for the lynching that occurred near Denver a few years ago, but it roused such a storm as resulted in changing one of the fundamental laws of the State.49 If law is to be observed only when it seems to work no hardship upon those concerned and, when there are no alleviating conditions, it is a poor thing indeed, and useless, for men need no law to follow their own inclinations. One great intent of law is restraint, to compel men to follow one path when there are strong impulses to follow another. The mob outrages in the Cripple Creek District, and the wholesale deportation of men were a disgrace to the commonwealth of Colorado, and will long foster among other peoples a humiliating and unjust judgment of the citizens of that state.

43See p. 66 and same, f. n. 10.

44See pp. 63 and 144.

45See p. 106.

46p. 105. See also United States Commissioner of Labor, Special Report on Cripple Creek Strikes, Chap. XX.

47See District Court Case, People vs. Charles Fightmaster and Bert Smith. Conviction of highway robbery, October, 1905. Testimony and charge to jury.

See also this work, Chap. V., section on The Period Following the Strike.

48Statements of a number of non-partisan witnesses who were present at the mass meeting.

49The re-adoption of capital punishment.

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