Tag: W. F. Davis

Hellraisers Journal: “We all realize..if we open our mouths…we lay ourselves liable to the bullpen.”-Former Colorado Governor

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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 23, 1904
Cripple Creek District, Colorado – Former Governor Fears Bull Pen

CO 1904 Striking Miners in Bullpen, Rastall p68, 1908

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.

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Hellraisers Journal: “The Class War in Colorado” by John Spargo-W. F. of M. on Strike at Telluride and Cripple Creek

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Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday March 5, 1904
“The Class War in Colorado” by John Spargo-Strikes at Telluride and Cripple Creek

From The Comrade of March 1904:
Western Federation of Miners sends Delegates Reed and Dougan to New York City, will make known the truth about the miners’ strikes in Colorado.

Class War in CO by John Spargo, WFM Delegates Reed and Dougan, Comrade p128, Mar 1904

The article continues for the next two pages and covers the following subjects:
-Military Despotism established by Governor Peabody to crush the striking mines.
-Persecution of Foster, Parker, Davis and Adams.
-Terror inflicted upon Parker’s family.
-The Case of John Glover.
-The Case of Victor Poole.
-Telluride Deportations.
-“The W. F. of M. is one of the most advanced labor organizations in the country.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Cripple Creek, Colorado-The Persecutions of Union Leaders Parker, Davis, Kennison and Foster Comes to End with Verdicts of Not Guilty

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Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 4, 1904
Cripple Creek, Colorado – Union Leaders Freed by “Not Guilty” Verdict

CO WFM Davis, Parker, Kennison, Foster, EFL 1904 p233, 234, RMN p8, Feb 26, 1904
W. F. Davis, Sherman Parker, C. G. Kennison, Thomas Foster
Leaders of Cripple Creek District of Western Federation of Miners

From The Denver Post of March 3, 1904
-Strike Leaders of Cripple Creek Freed by Jury:

Cripple Creek CO Strikers Freed by Jury, DP p1, 8, Mar 3, 1904

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Hellraisers Journal: Mass Arrests of Union Men Follows Upon Vindicator Explosion; Military Seizes Miners at Altman, Independence and Victor

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Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 27, 1903
Colorado Military Arrests Striking Miners at Altman, Independence and Victor 

From The Rocky Mountain News of November 24, 1903:

Tracing Vindicator Explosion, RMN p1, Nov 24, 1903Tracing Vindicator Explosion, Arrests, RMN p1, Nov 24, 1903

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Hellraisers Journal: Emma F. Langdon Reports on Cripple Creek Strike: Military Despotism, the Bullpen at Camp Goldfield

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Quote Emma F Langdon, Miners Are My Brothers, EFL p244, 1904—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday October 12, 1903
Cripple Creek District, Colorado – The Military Bullpen at Camp Goldfield

Report of Emma F. Langdon of Victor, Colorado:

[The Military Bullpen]

Victor Daily Record Staff in Bull Pen, EFL p153, 1904

Now I will invite the reader to take a trip to the military prison and see how fared the Record prisoners. 

These prisoners were marched unceremoniously to the bull pen. Armed thugs forced them into a filthy and squalid little tent, absolutely barren of furniture or bedding, where they were told to stay under penalty of having their heads blown off if they appeared an inch outside of the entrance.

The night was bitterly cold and on that frigid mountain side, under the intimidating guard of a horde of armed assassins, the working force of the Victor Record passed a night of torture equal to anything ever devised by the Spanish inquisitors. The entire force will bear testimony that the treatment accorded them was so inhuman and revolting as to surpass the belief of American citizens.

The “bull” tent had just been vacated by a number of drunken soldier prisoners, who had vomited all over the interior. The stench was sickening, but there they were forced to lay, without even so much as a gunny sack to protect them from the cold. Shortly after sunrise they were told to come to “breakfast.” Emerging from the filthy kennel they were escorted to the mess table a short distance away. A dozen guards kept them covered with guns loaded with riot ammunition while two grimy negro cooks dished out a little slop on tin plates and told them to eat. There were no knives, forks or spoons at hand. “Use your fingers,” said the head negro when remonstrance was made.

Beneath the table were a number of wash boilers and buckets filled with the accumulated garbage of several days and the stench arising therefrom was nauseating enough to insult the gizzard of a buzzard. It is quite needless to state that they had no appetite.

They returned to the tent hungrier and more distressed than ever. The day was raw and cold and they were chilled to the marrow. Faint and sick Mr. Richmond approached the captain of the guard and implored him for God’s sake to obtain some blankets. His appeal was cut short with an oath from that dignitary.

A little later a murderous looking gatling gun was drawn up, trained on the prisoner’s tent, and they were subjected to the nerve rending ordeal of posing as targets. The excitement attending this outrageous intimidation completely unnerved some of them. 

Attorney Tully Scott, formerly of Kansas, succeeded in getting them liberated through some legal procedure and after unwinding a few miles of military red tape the commanding general turned them over to Sheriff Robertson of Teller county, when for the first time they learned that they were defendants in a libel case. 

It was a deliberate plot to suppress a paper for telling the truth about the uniformed hirelings who were guilty of the outrages above mentioned.

The excuse for the taking of the Record force was that in the issue of the day before, there was an article of about six lines which referred to two tools of the mine owners as ex-convicts. It was learned that in the case of Vannick it was true, but Scanlon, with all his faults, had not, as yet worn the stripes. However, there was a correction coming out the following morning. The whole truth of the matter was that the military was watching every movement of the Record for a chance to raid the office. The real reason of the military raiding the office at that hour, was to suppress the official organ of the Western Federation of Miners. The district had only the one paper that stood up for the cause, and of course the enemy did not have a very warm feeling of friendship for the Record. The reader will at once realize that even had the editor been guilty of criminal libel the operators or the mechanical force could not legally be held responsible. But when the military endeavored to suppress the Record they reckoned without their host. Again the writer will quote: “The best laid plans o’ mice,” etc. The writer would advise the warrior Chase, when he again undertakes to suppress the press, to not only arrest the force at work, but every living printer in the county—and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to carefully guard the cemeteries, for the press is a hard game to beat—even by a warrior of the ability of Chase, as he has doubtless discovered.

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Hellraisers Journal: Butte Labor World: Speech by President Moyer Makes Plain the Responsibility for Trouble at Cripple Creek

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote BBH Corporation Soul, Oakland Tb p11, Mar 30, 1909—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 30, 1903
Cripple Creek District, Colorado – W. F. of M. President Moyer Speaks

From the Butte Labor World of August 28, 1903
-Speech by Charles Moyer, August 15th at Pinnacle Park Picnic:

WFM Pres Moyer Speech at Cripple Creek District Picnic Aug 15, Btt LW p1n2, Aug 28, 1913WFM Pres Moyer Speech at Cripple Creek District Picnic Aug 15, Btt LW p1n2, Aug 28, 1913, 2[…..]
WFM Pres Moyer Speech at Cripple Creek District Picnic Aug 15, Btt LW p1n2, Aug 28, 1913, 3

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Hellraisers Journal: Coverage of the Haywood Trial from Wilshire’s Magazine: Witnesses for the Defense

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There came to [Boise] an array of
defense witnesses full of health and spirits,
brawny, frank-eyed men and cheerful, resolute women.
-John R. McMahon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 9, 1908
Remembering the Haywood Trial: Witnesses for the Defense

From Wilshire’s Magazine of August 1907:

While reviewing the coverage of the Haywood Trial by Wilshire’s Magazine, we came across a particularly compelling photograph of the many witnesses who came to Boise in order to testify on behalf of Big Bill Haywood.

Boise Witnesses for the Defense in the Haywood Trial, Wilshires Aug 1907

The photograph was from an article by John R. McMahon entitled “Story of the Famous Trial” wherein he had this to say about the witness:

In refreshing contrast to the State’s array of official scamps, deputy sheriffs, policemen, clerks, et al., there came to town an array of defense witnesses full of health and spirits, brawny, frank-eyed men and cheerful, resolute women. They did not have to be dragooned into comming; they rejoiced that they could be of service to their imprisoned comrades; their faces beamed with the hope and inspiration of a new day for the united workers of the land. They greeted one another affectionately and with crushing hand grips. It seemed that all the known and unknown veterans of the labor war of Colorado were gathered together. Nearly every man had been causelessly persecuted, jailed, bullpenned, deported, shot at or assaulted by mine owners’ thugs; every woman had been insulted, threatened, arrested or starved out for the crime of sheltering the homeless and giving food to the hungry. If this is the stuff that the western working class is made of, we need have never a fear. These people thrive on persecution.

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Hellraisers Journal: For the Defense: WF Davis, Union Veteran, & Morris Friedman, of “Pinkerton Spy” Fame

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If they hang Moyer and Haywood,
they’ve got to hang me.
-Eugene Victor Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday July 5, 1907
Boise, Idaho – “The defense is putting up a magnificent case.”

From the Montana News of July 4, 1907:

Union Veterans
—–

Reviews History of the Idaho
and Colorado Wars—
Witnesses Tell Experience
of the Bullpen

Boise, June 28.

HMP, WF Davis of WFM, DEN, June 28, 1907

On Wednesday afternoon [June 26th] W. F. Davis took the stand. This is one of the most valiant and dauntless characters in the whole ranks of the Western Federation. He was accused of stealing and running the train in the Coeur d’Alenes at the time the mill was blown up. The mine owners declared he was on the engine and directed the engineer, and he has been pursued relentlessly ever since by the persecutions of the mine owners. He was a member of the strike committee in the Cripple Creek district, and was tried with the other members of the committee on the charge of attempted wrecking of a Florence and Cripple Creek train. Davis was dismissed by the judge without letting the case go to the jury. H e was obliged to leave the district when the union men were run out, and change his name in order to get work.

While he was held in jail, his wife and baby both died. He is a big, noble-hearted fellow who has the confidence and sympathy of the entire Federation. He was moved to tears when the fact of the loss of his family were brought out on the stand. He has jeopardized his freedom by coming here from Goldfield, as the mine owners are looking closely for a chance to arrest him for the Coeur d’Alenes difficulties. Orchard implicated him in the blowing up of the Vindicator mine at Cripple Creek, where the two shift bosses were killed. When he read Orchard’s testimony he immediately telegraphed to the attorneys of the defense that he would come to Boise and deny the cowardly lie.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Socialist Montana News: Clarence Darrow Opens for the Defense in the Haywood Trial

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Who comes to speak for
the skin and the bone?
-Billy Bragg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday June 28, 1907
Boise, Idaho – Clarence Darrow Opens for the Defense

From the Montana News of June 27, 1907:

Darrow’s Statement
—–

Address to the Jury Outlining
Plans of Defense
—Orchard Spends Sunday Auto
Riding in Boise

Special to the Montana News—

Boise, June 24.

HMP, Darrow Opens June 24th, LA Herald, June 25, 1907

At the call of the defense attorneys the Federation men who are to appear as witnesses have come pouring into Boise the last few days. It seems good to see them here—all the old stand-bys that have so valiantly fought the struggles of the western labor for the last ten years. D. C Copely, formerly of the executive board, now a mine owner in Nevada; A. H. Floaten, candidate for governor of Colorado on the socialist ticket; Deportee from Telluride, a merchant who has been through the fiercest of the fight for his convictions; J. C. Barnes, who was up in a tree in Telluride, while the militia were hunting him underneath; John M . O’Neill, W. F. Davis, M. E. White, one after another. The very backbone of the Federation, fine, able, brainy men, more than a match for any capitalist prostitute that can be marshalled against them.

And they are here with the goods, the truth, the eternal fight against the injustice of employers, and the reasons for that fight. As one of them said:

We are here to go to the river, our cause is right and we’ll stay with it.

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