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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 23, 1904
Cripple Creek District, Colorado – Former Governor Fears Bull Pen
Things have come to quite a pass in the state of Colorado when even the former governor of that state suggests that he could end up in the military’s bullpen for expressing his opinion on military rule in the Cripple Creek District. Former Governor Charles S. Thomas is counsel for the Portland Gold Mining company, the mine recently closed down due to having committed the crime of employing too many union men. Governor Thomas, made this statement in Denver on June 14th:
We all realize that If we open our mouths about anything connected with Cripple Creek we lay ourselves liable to the bull pen or some other of the drastic measures that come under the head of military necessity.
Matters remain absolutely in statu quo. We have not decided fully as yet what course will be taken to reopen the mine. I suppose that if I talk too much I might get what Frank Hangs received. His only offense was acting as legal counsel for some men charged with crime several months ago. Perhaps if I should talk actively in regard to my client I might be burned at the stake.
Frank Hangs is the Attorney for the Western Federation of Miners who was arrested and taken to the military’s bullpen on Monday, June 13th.
From The Omaha Daily Bee of June 15, 1904:
CITIZENS AFRAID TO SPEAK
———-
Former Governor Thomas of Colorado
Intimates Speech is Dangerous.
———-DRASTIC MEASURES BY THE MILITARY
———-
Method In Vogue in the Mining Districts
Forces Men to Hold Their Silence
or Suffer Arrest.
———-DENVER, June 14.-“I have nothing further to say about plans for reopening the Portland mine,” said former Governor Charles S. Thomas, counsel for the Portland Gold Mining company, today. “We all realize that if we open our mouths about anything connected with Cripple Creek we lay ourselves liable to the bull pen or some other of the drastic measures that come under the head of military necessity.
“Matters remain absolutely in statu quo. We have not decided fully as yet what course will be taken to reopen the mine. I suppose that if I talk too much I might get what Frank Hangs received. His only offense was acting as legal counsel for some men charged with crime several months ago. Perhaps If I should talk actively in regard to my client I might be burned at the stake.”
Test Kennison’s Arrest.
A hearing is to be given to C. G. Kennison, president of the Cripple Creek Engineers’ union. No. 82, and W. F. Davis, president of local Miners’ union, to test the legality of their arrest. The prisoners, who were arrested yesterday, will be taken back to Cripple Creek for trial if the court finds that they were legally arrested.
Eighty-seven warrants are out for miners who are accused of complicity in the explosion at the independence station and the rioting at Victor. These warrants have been placed in the hands of Under Sheriff Felix O’Nell here and will be given to his deputies to serve.
Leave Town to Avoid Arrest.
Among those wanted are the following: Sherman Harker, secretary of the Altman union, who was acquitted after having been held in the bull pen three months on the charge of having conspired to wreck a Florence and Cripple Creek train; B. L. Whiting, secretary of Engineers’ union No. 381 of Altman; Fritz Gorey and W. B. Easterly, members of unions in the district. It is said that some of the men for whom warrants have been issued in Teller county have left Denver for Butte, Mont., to avoid arrest and incarceration in the bull pen.
In each case the charge is murder based on the explosion of Monday morning of last week at Independence station. City Marshal L. S. Moore of Goldfield, who arrested President Kennison, said today:
I know all of the miners and have been their friend all along. I was a member of the union through the Bull Hill strike in 1894. I have sympathized with the union until the dynamiting and rioting.
Vice President J. C. Williams and Secretary W. D. Haywood of the Western Federation of Miners said today that the accused men were delegates to the federation’s convention and were in Denver at the time of the explosion. Officers of the federation have been requested by agents of the Mining exchange building to move the union headquarters from that building. The officers say this is petty spite work begun at the instance of the Citizens’ Alliance. They have numerous offers of quarters.
Statement by Miners.
Acting under instructions given by the twelfth annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners recently held in this city, the executive board of that organization today issued a statement regarding the strikes in Colorado and the recent disturbances in the Cripple Creek district.
The Western Federation of Miners…has always courted and invited the utmost publicity in all its acts and the acts of its members in matter affecting all its dealings…notwithstanding persistent reports to the contrary, every local union voted upon the proposition before any strike was called. The recent convention sent a committee to Cripple Creek to investigate the situation. This committee…found representatives of miners ready and willing to listen to a proposition of settlement.
Before any further conference could be held…the Citizens’ Alliance interfered in such manner as to frustrate further efforts in the direction of a settlement, the interference of the alliance being no doubt prompted by the bitter hatred of the merchants against the co-operative stores established and maintained in the district by the federation..
We are fully convinced from information by trustworthy persons that the original explosion and subsequent outrages perpetrated are not only the work of the Citizens’ Alliance, but are of the opinion that the whole matter was planned in advance. Perhaps no single occurrence has so much bearing on this conclusion as the forcible resignation of the various regularly elected officials of the district.
After referring to the imprisonment and deportation of union miners and the refusal of the Citizens’ alliance to permit any merchant to supply provision to the families of such men the statement continues:
The very fact that union men are deported by the military is of itself sufficient to show that no evidence has been obtained against these men, for if evidence of crime was at hand does any reasonable man or woman suppose that the military commandant, or that the mob of deputy sheriffs would be simple enough to deport to other parts the guilty persons? No, indeed. What evidence there is acquits the miners, but apparently fastens the crime upon the heads of hired assassins and thugs in the pay of the Citizens’ alliance.
No Effort to Locate Criminals.
Even at the present time no determined effort is being made by the authorities to discover the real perpetrator of the Independence explosion. Nothing is attempted to be done, except to fasten this unholy crime by imputation and innuendo upon the heads of our innocent membership.
As was plainly shown some months ago in a trial where the Western Federation of Miners was accused of wrecking a train, the federation was innocent. So it is clear that none of the present outrage were committed by our members. As was plainly shown then that the crimes and outrage were committed by hired detectives and thugs for the purpose of bringing discredit upon union men, so it will be shown that the present outrages, even the ruthless slaughter of the unfortunates of the explosion that killed sixteen men at the Independence depot on the morning of June 6 was the work of these same hirelings, who simply enacted the first part of the plot that was to furnish the excuse for all subsequent outrages.
Bell Issues Statement.
CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo., June 14.-Adjutant General Sherman Bell, in command of the military here, has issued a statement concerning the deportation of union miners and others from the Cripple Creek district. The statement was prepared at the request of an eastern newspaper for an opinion as to why the deportations do not conflict with the provisions of the constitution of the United States against depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. It reads in part as follows:
The powers of the military in dealing with an organization engaged in insurrection against the lawful authorities of the state, in a criminal conspiracy against the lives of its citizens, has recently been defined by the honorable supreme court of this state in re Moyer, in which I refer you for my authority. I am taking only such steps as are necessary to restore peace in this community and to render safe the lives of its citizens. Many innocent lives have already been sacrificed and the authorities of Colorado propose that these assassinations shall cease.
The people of Colorado love order and peace and law, just as much as those of the older communities, but they sometimes make their election of citizens in a hurry, and the murderous, unspeakable outrage at the Independence station a week ago, coming as a culmination of many hidden crimes, all traceable to the Western Federation of Miners, precipitated such an election.
A committee of forty leading business men today unanimously agreed upon the following statement of the attitude of employers toward union labor in this district:
Determined to Have Peace.
In the future neither walking delegates, agitators or labor unions will be allowed to say who may or who may not labor in Teller county, who may or who may not be in business here. The source of all strife in the Cripple Creek district has been the Western Federation of Miners and the Trades assembly, which they dominated, and through which they carried out their boycotts, etc.
There is no room in Teller county for these two organisations, and their existence will no longer be tolerated. The citizens and taxpayers are determined to have peace and law and order in Teller county, and while they have no wish to work hardship on any person simply because of his membership in a labor union, nevertheless, drastic measures must and will be adopted to preserve peace.
Thirty-Six Miners Exiled.
VICTOR, Colo., June 14.-Thirty-six men were deported this afternoon by the military. The men were residents of different sections of the district, but mainly lived in Cripple Creek and Victor. There was a large crowd at the Florence and Cripple Creek station when the men were loaded on the train, but little excitement or demonstration of any kind was made. The destination of the exiles was given out unofficially as New Mexico. The report was current, however, that they would be taken through that territory to the Old Mexico line and made to pass over on to Mexican soil. A strong guard of military will accompany the men until they are finally released. The men sent out today are nearly all union men or union sympathizers. Quite a number of them are married. Food was taken on the train for the prisoners.
[Emphasis added.]
From the Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette of June 16, 1904
-Attorney for W. F. of M. Held in Bullpen Under Military Custody:
Frank J. Hangs, attorney for the Western Federation of Miners, was arrested by the military authorities Monday, June 13th, at his office in Cripple Creek. His home was then searched for any documents regarding his client, the W. F. of M. The Gazette reports that the Portland mine remains shut down for the crime of employing union men, and that the search for and arrests of union men in the Cripple Creek strike zone continues:
F. J. HANGS ARRESTED
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Attorney for the Western Federation of Miners
Is in Custody by Order of the Military Authorities
—————Special to the Gazette.
Cripple Creek, June 13.-Practically normal conditions prevail in the district today. All the mines with the exception of Portland, Pride of Cripple Creek and Wedge properties, have resumed operations with full forces of men. The exceptions are those closed last week by General Bell, for the harboring of alleged agitators who are not wanted in the district. In all probability there will be no change in the Portland’s situation until after President James Burns is through attending the law suit which is now taking place in Denver. What he will do then is hard to state, but from appearances, when he does get ready to open the mine very few union miners will be left in the camp to work the property. It is also believed that the military authorities will have nothing further to do unless Mr. Burns should take some radical stand in the matter…
Two mounted forces of deputy sheriffs left this afternoon for West Four Mile and North Four Mile to make the arrest of from 15 to 20 strikers who are said to have fled to that locality. For the past two days ranch teams from that district have been going into Anaconda and hauling out to the union miners arms and ammunition as well as food supplies for the men who are located out there. It has been learned by the sheriff that at the Kessel ranch a number of the men wanted from this district are being kept and provided for. Mr. Kessel, the owner, is brother of President Kessel, of the Anaconda Miners union, and is known to be in sympathy with the union men. A number of others are supposed to be lower down on another ranch and a posse will leave for that section early in the morning.
To the knowledge of the sheriff many of the ranches west and northwest of this city are sheltering men who left the district after the trouble last week and an effort will be made to capture them.
Arrest of Attorney Hangs.
The most important happening during the last 24 hours in the district is the arrest of Attorney F. J. Hangs, of this city, who was placed under arrest by Sergeant Baldwin, General Bell’s orderly, this morning a 11 o’clock in the former’s office in this city. The reason for the arrest is not given out by the military authorities, but it is supposedly to be on account of the active affiliation of this attorney with the W. F. of M. as it has been known that Mr. Hangs was the author of late of many of the W. F. of M. statements.
Mr. Hangs was not anticipating arrest and had just returned to his office from a visit to the Mabel M. property on Beacon hill, where he is interested in a lease. The order for the arrest was issued by General Bell, but at whose special instigation it was will not be made public. Mr. Hangs was immediately taken to Armory hall in Victor, where after a short conference with the members of the military and peace commission he was placed in a separate room near military headquarters and is being closely guarded, no one being allowed to converse with him.
This afternoon Majors McClelland and Naylor, accompanied by two sergeants, visited the home of the attorney and made a complete search for documents or letters with reference to his dealings with Western Federation of Miners…
J. Obeckel was brought in today by a squad of deputies, having been arrested on one of the side streets. Mr. Obeckel has been working on the Russell and Sharpe lease of Lonaconing on Beacon hill, securing employment on this property by promising that he would get a Mine Owners association card the first time he was in town. However, he has failed to get the card, although he has had over 10 days in which to do it. Furthermore, he was heard to make the remark several times today that he did not propose to belong to that body as he was a union man, and that there were not deputies enough in the district to arrest him.
In this city there are now 56 prisoners confined in the county jail and between 25 and 30 in the old Mining Exchange building. The greater part of the latter will, in all probability, be deported with the next crowd that leave the district...
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/3
Omaha Daily Bee
(Omaha, Nebraska)
-of June 15, 1904
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/1904-06-15/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/1904-06-15/ed-1/seq-2/
The New York Times
(New York, New York)
-June 14, 1904
https://www.newspapers.com/image/20585309/
(Colorado Springs, Colorado)
-June 16, 1904
IMAGE
The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District
A Study in Industrial Evolution
-by Benjamin McKie Rastall
University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1908
(search: striking miners bull pen guarded militia) p68
https://books.google.com/books?id=wRpSAAAAMAAJ
Frank J Hangs, of Cripple Creek, page 66,
Attorney for the Western Federation of Miners
From:
Representative men of Colorado in the nineteenth century
New York : Denver : The Rowell Art Pub. Co., 1902
https://archive.org/details/representativeme00newyrich/page/66/mode/2up?view=theater
See also:
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 18, 1904
Cripple Creek District, Colorado – General Bell Blames Socialist and WFM for Troubles in Colorado as Terror Continues Against Strikers and the Victor Daily Record Is Destroyed
Tag: Military Despotism Colorado 1904
https://weneverforget.org/tag/military-despotism-colorado-1904/
Tag: Cripple Creek Strike of 1903-1904
https://weneverforget.org/tag/cripple-creek-strike-of-1903-1904/
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There Is Power in a Union – Street Dogs
Lyrics by Billy Bragg