Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 6, 1904 Denver, Colorado – Governor Peabody Plots to Hold On to Power
This week’s Duluth Labor World sounds the warning:
Governor-Elect Adams
Colorado is resting over a political volcano. Everyone is on the qui vive and following closely, and in most cases bitterly, the extraordinary antics of the [Colorado] Supreme Court.
Governor Peabody continues his machinations with the assistance of the Court to thwart the will of the people of the State of Colorado. The election of Alva Adams, Democrat, by a plurality of 11,000 votes has not deterred Peabody from his quest to hold onto power.
The latest twist in the plot involves the unseating of three Senators who have been elected from areas of the state where strikes have been conducted during the past year.
From The Labor World of December 3, 1904:
PEABODY’S PLOT TO
HOLD COLORADO GROWS
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“Czar” Seeks to Unseat Three Senators
Who Were elected From Strike Centers.
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Colorado Resting On Political Volcano
Outbreak Is Momentarily Expected.
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Governor Peabody
Denver, Col., Dec. 1.-The rounding out of the Peabody plot to retain the Gubernatorial chair was developed more clearly today by the renewed trial of men charged with contempt. Precinct Eight of Ward Five was the scene of operations. The men arraigned are prominent Democrats-Frank Kratke, Edward O’Mally, Joseph Ray and Charles Kofsky.
The defendants, half an hour before, were arraigned before the United States Commissioner charged with violating the federal laws in regard to the election. The commissioners postponed their hearings until the Supreme Court should pass upon the charges of contempt against them.
The trend is more and more toward a situation wherein the spectacle will be presented of two Governors ruling the same state.
At Pueblo the grand jury will begin consideration of the alleged Republican frauds tomorrow.
A banquet will be given here tomorrow night in honor of Adams’ election, and next day the Republicans will ask the Supreme Court to begin throwing out Democratic precincts.
Colorado is resting over a political volcano. Everyone is on the qui vive and following closely, and in most cases bitterly, the extraordinary antics of the Supreme Court.
Each hearing of cases by that body develops in which direction the efforts of the Republicans are tending, indicating what returns are to be attacked and what valuable precincts are to be thrown out.
To Control Senate.
Upon the face of the returns received from every county in the state, the Democrats elected ten members of the State Senate, without counting any of the members from this county. These, with the nine holdover Democratic Senators, would give that party the control of the Senate.
The Peabody managers have daily asserted that they would be able to organize the Senate. The basis of their claims was not apparent until yesterday when they announced that they contemplated unseating Martin of Pueblo, Ward of Boulder and maybe Beshoar of Trinidad, all Democrats.
The state canvassing board is looked to to do the work. The official canvass in Boulder County was completed several days ago and showed the re-election of Senator Ward by a small majority. No charge of fraud was made in that county until yesterday. In Las Animas County the canvass showed that Dr. Beshoar was elected if every contested ballot were counted for Barela. In Pueblo [County] the official canvass is not competed, but both sides concede that it will show Mr. Martin’s election. It is not charged that Mr. Martin’s supporters committed fraud, but the Peabody managers assert that Republicans voted for him and this is to be made the ground of contest.
[Photograph and emphasis added]
From The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colorado) of November 23, 1904:
Senator-elect Beshoar of Las Animas County, mentioned above, was Dr. Michael Beshoar. His name was verified by the following article from The San Francisco Call of December 28, 1904:
SENATE OF COLORADO MAY BE EVENLY DIVIDED
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Make-Up of the Upper House Depends Upon
Supreme Court Decision.
DENVER, Colo., Dec. 27-The Supreme Court to-day heard an argument on the application of Dr. Michael Beshoar, Las Animas’ Senatorial candidate, for leave to file an application for a writ of mandamus compelling the State Canvassing Board to count the returns as sent in, which show that Beshoar was elected….
[Emphasis added.]
Dr. Michael Beshoar, center. His son, Dr. Ben Beshoar, to left in shadow. Photograph taken at their office in Trinidad, Colorado, about 1905.
Dr. Ben Beshoar, son of Dr. Michael Beshoar, was the doctor for the UMW District 15 during the Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-14. After the Ludlow Massacre, the striking miners issued a “Call to Arms” and went to war to defend their tent colonies from further attacks by the murderous, gunthug-infested militia. The miners established military headquarters near Trinidad, and named it Camp Beshoar in honor of their chief physician:
In 1976, Barron B Beshoar, journalist and author, as well as the son of Dr. Ben Beshoar, was interviewed by Eric Margolis and Ronald L. McMahan. He recalled setting out on visits with his father during the strike.
While looking over photographs, Barron B Beshoar states:
…This is a group of women who served as nurses, volunteer nurses. You see my father was chief physician for the United Mine Workers during the strike in this field and uh he had to have many volunteers and he had some physicians assisting him and he also had, he even had a stretcher bearer corps, see, to go into the areas where there was fighting going on….This is a searchlight up on water Tank Hill there outside of Ludlow. All this county at that time there were search lights plying the sky. One night I went up the river with my father. He had a call to make, somebody sick up the river. And it was after dark when he started…But anyway he was making this call and he took me along and we would drive and we would get up oh opposite and that light would come along the road. And my dad had an Oberin [Overland?] touring car I think it was. And he’d stop and we’d sit there and the light would come by, go past us and they really couldn’t see us unless we were moving. And it would go past us and then he’d watch it a minute because sometimes they would move it back fast to see if they could catch someone moving. And when he decided that they weren’t going to do that then he’d put it in gear and we’d go again. Pretty soon the light would come back and we’d do that all the way up the river as we passed one camp after another. (The militia didn’t want him making calls?) They just had the road under surveillance and they had machine guns and you didn’t know when they’d fire on you.
They [striking miners] repeatedly came and borrowed my uncle’s [rifle]-He was a dentist here and dentist for the mine workers and they’d repeatedly come and he had a 303 Savage which was a beautiful rifle. And the miners would repeatedly come and borrow it and say, doc we got to get the light at such and such a place. So he’d say well take it….
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