You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Wednesday July 13, 1904
Cripple Creek District, Colorado - Terror Continues: Beatings, Whippings, Deportations
The Stark County Democrat of Canton, Ohio, reported yesterday that Mother Jones was in Cleveland a few days ago speaking on conditions in Colorado:
Mother Jones in Cleveland.
Cleveland, July 8-"Mother Jones" spoke on the public square today to a crowd of three hundred. Among other things, she said,
There is more freedom in Siberia than in Colorado.
[emphasis added]
From the Appeal to Reason of June 25, 1904
The following reports from Mrs. Emma F. Langdon of Victor, Colorado, verify that Mother Jones has not exaggerated the state of affairs in the state of Colorado:
On July 4th warrants were served by Sheriff Bell of Teller county, upon Charles H. Moyer, J. C. Williams, vice-president W. F. M., and James Kirwin, assistant secretary of the Federation. They were released on bond of $5,000 each. Other warrants were out against all persons charged by the coroner's jury as being implicated in the Victor riot of June 6th.
The warrants were made returnable to the district court of Teller county, September 20th, 1904.
ANOTHER SUICIDE.
W. H. Morgan, an assayer from Cripple Creek district, president and general manager of the Grouse Mountain Mining Company, committed suicide in Denver on the afternoon of July 4th. Letters left behind by him showed that he had been hounded and threatened by the military.
Morgan was one of the first men to be deported from the district. Although not a union man, he had been an employer and sympathizer with all organized labor.
Deportation so preyed upon his mind that when the statement was made by General Bell through the daily press, he determined upon suicide. This was ascertained through letters left by him. He accomplished this end by swallowing cyanide of potassium and then shooting himself through the heart.
This man's death was undoubtedly due to Colorado's militarism.
WHIPPED AND ROBBED.
July 8th, C. M. Tully, president of the retail clerks union, D. C. O'Neill, secretary of the same union, Fred Warburton and G. C. Fraser, members of No. 32, W. F. M., were cruelly betrayed by deputies into the hands of a mob, by whom they were beaten and robbed. Three weeks previous, Mr. Tully returned to the district on a pass issued by General Bell at the solicitation of Dr. Latimer of Victor. Mr. Tully had left the district for the reason that his wife was in a delicate condition and he feared for her safety if he became involved in trouble.
Mr. O'Neill was among those deported to Kansas on June 10th. A few days previous he succeeded in securing a pass from General Bell to return to Victor in order to collect his personal effects. Mr. Warburton had returned to Victor on a pass issued to him by Colonel Verdeckberg. Mr. Fraser also had a pass signed by Bell.
All these men were arrested and taken to the Mine Owners' and Citizens' Alliance headquarters where, upon producing their passes, they were released. They were later arrested by Deputy Sheriffs Kid Waters and William Dingman.
Sam Larson, William Miller and Ed Wilder assisted Waters and Dingman. The prisoners were taken to the Baltimore hotel and confined in a room. As the prisoners were being conducted through the streets to the hotel they were seen by dozens of the military officers to whom they called that they had passes from Bell, but none made any attempt to rescue them. They were held in the hotel until ten o'clock that night. At that hour Waters rushed into the room exclaiming, "For God's sake, get these men out of here."
Mr. O'Neill, when interviewed, spoke as follows:
We knew we were up against it then. They rushed us out the rear way to the alley and marched us down the alley to the F. & C. C. tracks and continued still in the alleys between Sixth and Seventh streets to Wilson's creek. Here, a question of the road to take arose and Waters decided the men should take the main road although they wanted to go around by the railroad tracks. At this point Waters lighted a number of matches for the double purpose, we believe, of searching the road for fresh tracks and to signal the mob leaders of our whereabouts. He was apparently satisfied with the search, for he soon gave the word to go on, and with one deputy guarding our rear and Waters leading, we proceeded. We had gone one hundred yards when the mob broke upon us. They had a few words with Waters and he promptly stuck his guns in his pockets. They paid little attention to the other deputy, who promptly turned his back and went back in the direction of Victor. During our march out of town Tully asked Waters why he did not turn us over to the military, as they were close at hand and could protect us? Waters replied: "That would make a pretty fix, wouldn't it? Having the soldiers shooting their own people."
After the mob had sent Waters and the other deputy away they ordered us to step forth. I was the first one. They gave me a crack over the back with a club and then one of them took out a long blacksnake and began on me. He must have given me about fifty lashes, but the blow in the small of the back is causing me the most inconvenience, although my body is covered with stripes.
When O'Neill paused for a moment Fraser took up the thread of the story. He is a powerful man, well dressed and has the stamp of intelligence. He said:
While they were flogging O'Neill three of them set on me and I was knocked down with a Winchester. I tried to get up, and three times they floored me. They beat and kicked me when I was down, and when they finished lashing O'Neill they turned to me with the blacksnake.
Warburton and Heeney escaped with floggings and verbal abuse. Tully was not assaulted, one of the mob explaining to him:
You weak-looking little ———, we won't do anything to you this time, but if you come back, we'll hang you.
After the business of the floggings and assaults had been completed, the five men were faced up against the wall of the mountain and ordered to throw their hands in the air.
O'Neill continued as follows:
They then made a run for us to go through our pockets. There did not seem to be any leader, but every member of the mob acted on his own responsibility.
Following is the haul which the mob secured:
D. C. O'Neill—Fifty dollars in cash, fountain pen, pocket comb, papers and letters.
Fred Warburton—Diamond, valued at $50 or $60; watch, $65; fob chain, $35; railroad ticket to southern Kansas, $20; check on Colorado Springs bank, $30; $11 in cash, pocket knife, pocketbook, letters and papers.
J. C. Fraser—$39 in cash, letters and papers.
From the two other men they secured nothing of value except that each one was robbed of his pass signed by Bell. During the search O'Neill turned his head to get a better look at the thieves who were going through him, when one of them dealt him a savage blow on the head. Fortunately, he wore a stiff hat, which broke the force of the blow.
The men were then marched about 100 yards farther, when they were released with the warning never to return, emphasized by several volleys fired in close proximity to their persons.
O'Neill and Fraser seemed to be the objects of the mob's particular hatred. Curses and foul names accompanied the parting words which were delivered to the men.
If ever you come back here...we'll hang and quarter you. You ———, I've a notion to kill you now.
It was about eleven o'clock that the lame and sore quintet began the weary march across the hills to Canon City. They were suffering from hunger and ready to drop from exhaustion when they reached the home town of Governor Peabody at seven o'clock in the morning. After staying in Canon City all day they boarded a Rio Grande train for Denver on transportation which had been wired them by the Western Federation of Miners.
The men were advised not to give out the names of the persons they recognized in the mob, but they could swear to the identity of at least a dozen of them. The case of Mr. Tully was particularly pathetic. His wife was still in delicate health, and the shock of the outrage on her husband, it was feared, would have a serious effect upon her.
General Bell, when questioned in regard to the men being assaulted after having received passes from him, expressed himself as follows:
They just wanted to find out what would happen to them if they returned to Cripple Creek and I am glad they found out.
Arrest of County Clerk and Recorder Frank P. Mannix
It appears that the Republican Party of Colorado is attempting to set the stage for stealing the upcoming election. Most everyone agrees that Governor Peabody stands little chance of being re-elected come November. Not content with deporting the union miners of the Cripple Creek District, who certainly will not be supporting Peabody, the Citizens' Alliance and the Mine Owners' Association have now made an attempt to force the county clerk, a Democrat, to resign.
July 8th a committee from the Citizens' Alliance of Victor went to Cripple Creek to demand that the board of county commissioners appoint a successor to Frank P. Mannix, county clerk and recorder, whom they were trying to force to resign. At seven o'clock, p. m., Mr. Mannix, while at supper with his family, was arrested and taken to the Mine Owners' Association room and later brought before the military commission. He was questioned at much length regarding his attitude during the strike troubles. After nearly an hour spent in examining the prisoner, he was requested to hand in his resignation as clerk and recorder. This he refused to do, stating that he had done nothing that would justify his resigning by force or otherwise, and that there was no legal basis or any just cause for enforcing his resignation. He was released and demanded military protection from General Bell, fearing that he would receive violence. Bell furnished Mr. Mannix with a guard.
On the following day Mr. Mannix, accompanied by General Bell, Major McClelland, General Reardon and two private soldiers went to Canon City. Mr. Mannix, in speaking of the affair said that he had not been deported but left because of imminent trouble in the district. Discussing his reasons for leaving Victor Mr. Mannix said:
I had no idea that the situation was as bad as it is. No one can comprehend the state of affairs unless he sees things for himself. The military almost admit that the armed thugs are beyond their control, and I felt that one of these might do me harm if I remained. There is no telling what they will do to other union sympathizers in the district, as the military is powerless to restrain their reckless acts. It is quite likely that we will hear of more dastardly acts on the part of the members of the Citizens' Alliance.
Every effort was made to make me resign from the office of county clerk, but I went back to the district determined that no kind of threat would induce me to give up the office. A proposition was made to me that if I gave a deputy power to act and went back to my ranch I would receive the salary from the office just as heretofore. I told the person who made this proposition that I would sooner resign than consent to anything like this.
It is all plainly a game of politics. The mine owners and members of the Citizens' Alliance realize that without the office of county clerk they will be greatly hampered in stealing the election in Teller county this fall. * * * It is the desire of the mine owners to register all the strangers they have brought into the camp, and as they can not be qualified voters on account of their short residence, it is necessary to Republican success that the mine owners and members of the Citizens' Alliance have full possession of the office of the county clerk. I will go back to my ranch at Montrose tomorrow and stay there until I think I can go back to the Cripple Creek district and live in peace. I did not take my wife along with me. She is in bad health, and it was more on account of her condition that I left the district than any other reason I can assign. I feared that some violence would be attempted at my home, and General Bell will keep a guard there until my wife can join me at Montrose.
Mr. Mannix is one of the best known Democrats in Teller county and has always been very popular. He is a member of the Typographical union and has a very wide acquaintance throughout the state.
General Bell in speaking of the Mannix affair said he was sorry that Mannix was compelled to leave the district on account of the danger he was in, but he did his best to do things right for him, and added that it was all because of personal friendship.
Pity others did not enjoy the friendship of Military Dictator Bell, who, might thereby, have been saved beatings and humiliations.
[emphasis added]
YOU CAN'T COME, BACK.
The entire front page of the Cripple Creek Times, July 12, recognized as the official organ of the Mine Owners' Association, contained the following ''garble'' set to music, with headlines in large type, printed in red ink:
"CRIPPLE CREEK'S LIBERTY ANTHEM."
One, Two, Three—Now altogether,
You can never come back—No, Never.
You can never come back, no never,
We will follow your track forever.
Though you promise and plead
We will give you no heed,
For to this we're all agreed forever.
CHORUS
You can never come back, boys, never,
The game's all up with you forever,
We treated you square,
And the pay was fair,
And all would be yours yet,
But now you'll beware
The W. F. M. is fated,
And you'll stay there, you bet.
You had better keep away,
Without test,
For here you cannot stay
With any rest.
Cripple wants you no more,
Even though you are sore,
As we are tired of this gore,
And that's no jest.
To that murderous crowd
We do swear,
In words both strong and loud,
You beware.
If you return,
Well, a lesson you'll learn.
You may have a bad turn,
So, take care.
Your venom is vain.
No ember
Of it shall remain—
Remember.
Stay away and keep still,
For we mean it and will
From December until
December.
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[emphasis added to dates in above reports from EFL]
From the San Francisco Chronicle of July 13, 1904
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SOURCE
The Cripple Creek Strike
A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado, 1903-4-5
-by Emma F Langdon
"Being a Complete and Concise
History of the Efforts of
Organized Capital
to Crush Unionism"
The Great Western Publishing Co.
Denver,Colorado, 1905.
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
The Stark County Democrat
(Canton, Ohio)
-of July 12, 1904
http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...
IMAGE
1). Citizens' Alliance Terror in Cripple Creek Strike
http://www.newspapers.com/...
2). Emma F. Langdon
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
3). San Francisco Chronicle July 13, 1904
"Offers to Maintain Order In Colorado"
http://www.newspapers.com/...
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Vigilante Man-Ry Cooder
Well, what is a vigilante man?
Tell me, what is a vigilante man?
Has he got a gun and a club in his hand?
Is that is a vigilante man?
-Woody Guthrie
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