Hellraisers Journal: Martial Law Declared in Telluride; Union Men Arrested and Deported, Must Scab or Leave Town

From the American Labor Union Journal of January 7, 1904:

[News from Telluride by A. H. Floaten]

Wednesday January 6, 1904 – Denver, Colorado
-Deported Men of the W. F. of M. Tell Their Stories

Several of the men who were recently deported from Telluride have made their way to the headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners in Denver. Among them are Vice President J. C. Williams and General Engley, Civil war Veteran and defense attorney.

Vice President Williams gave this account of the deportations:
The men were at the union hall enjoying a literary entertainment when..

At eight o’clock Captain Scholes came with a bunch of soldiers to get us. They took us to the court house, lined us up to march to the station. It was bitter cold, and a lot of the men were worried leaving their families like that without any one to look after them. I saw one of the wives coming along nearly at a run, carrying a little kid and crying as she came. She tried to fall in line with us beside her husband, but one of the dirty yellow-legs shoved her back on the side walk.

We got down to the depot and they herded us onto the train, and just before we pulled out I saw the same woman on the platform, all in with hurrying, and her face twisted up with misery. She climbed on to the train. She couldn’t afford to get left behind. She looked too sick to look after the baby, let alone work.

They were mad clear through, being force to leave their houses and families like that. They had lived there for years, and here they were being kicked out, “not wanted,” by a bunch that thought it owned the town. A lot of them made up their minds to go back on the next train they could get.

A. H. Floaten, the manager of the union’s cooperative store which provides relief for the strikers in the Telluride district, was also among those deported. He came to Union Headquarters with his clothes still torn and bloody. The soldiers-turned-gunthugs came to his home in the night as he was getting ready for bed. They dragged him out of his home, half-dressed and with his shoes in his hands. One of the soldiers used his gun to beat Brother Floaten on the head. The inch-long gash bled profusely as Floaten was dragged down the street to the train depot.

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Thursday January 7, 1904 – Cripple Creek District, Colorado
-Striking Miners to Be “Vagged” by Military Order

Today is the last day given, by order of of the Military, for the striking miners of the Cripple Creek District to return to work or face arrest and deportation by the military.  The Western Federation of Miners has issued circulars urging the men to refuse the orders to leave their homes:

NOTICE-To all members of the W. F. M. of the Cripple Creek district-It has been decided in many courts that members of organized labor are not vagrants. Keep your union cards and refuse to be driven from home. If compelled to leave by force of arms, union men are advised to return immediately to the Cripple Creek district. The Western Federation of Miners will provide for all striking miners’ families.

CHAS. H. MOYER, President
WM. D. HAYWOOD, Sec.-Treas.
W. F. M.

The military is now on a rampage against the circular in the city of Victor. The Miners’ Union hall has been searched, the Victor Record has been officially warned to cease printing the offending literature, and a young boy has been arrested for distributing same. Soldiers are marching up and down the streets ripping the circulars from telegraph poles and store fronts.

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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/3

American Labor Union Journal
(Butte, Montana)
-Jan 7, 1904
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/american-labor-union-journal/040107-alujournal-v2n14.pdf

Hellraisers Journal – Friday January 2, 1904
General Sherman Bell States He Will Throw Mother Jones in the Bull Pen
Should the Opportunity Arise
Military Despotism Rules Cripple Creek, Telluride and Southern Colorado