Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-09-13
A FIGHT FOR A SILVER MINE.

How the Powerful "HIiners' Union, Pre-
vented n Bloody Ahray-MarchinE In solid
PhalRnx, Grimly but Quietly, 20 Demand
that Hired FiEhters:and an Arsenal be Re-
moved from the Drift.
A letter from Virginia City, New, to
the New York Sun says: The sequel to
the sale of portion Of the. Justice mine
to the Alta company is interesting, as
showing phase of life on the Comstock
which is little understood in the East.
OF course, everybody who knows any
thing about Nevada knows that we have
in this State an organization known as
the "Miners' Union" but very few re-
alize the immense power welded by
that organization. Its objects are two
fold: First, to keep up the rate of wages
to the figures fixed-$4 per day of eight
hours; and, second, to protect its men,
bers so far as possible. from danger in
their peculiarly darS ~ous occupation.
In its first object it is very similar to
the trades unions of the East, only it is
much stronger. In pursuance of the
second object, it goes step further than
any ''union" of which I have ever heard
in any part of the world. 1t assumes to
manage mines in the interest of its men,
bers. If the superintendent is COM
PLEASANT, the union makes him its object.
If he is obstinate and attempts to assert
his right to manage his own business, in
his own way, the miners simply do the
business themselves, and the superin-
tendent has no redress. The union
never mingles in politics, with one note
worthy exception. 1t demands, and
always receives the place of sheriff of
the county. Both parties nominate
men acceptable to the union for this i'm
pcrtant Office, and whichever political
party wins, the sheriff is sure to be
union man.
AS I mentioned in one of my former
letters, when the Schultz gang was
elected from Justice, the Baldwin crowd
slipped in, and Capt. Sam Curtis-he of
the Widow Cooper fame-became su-
perintendent of the mine. The Cap
tain is man of remarkable nerve and
courage. The condition of affairs at the
mine when he assumed the command
was this: The Alta folks, claiming that
their dollar deed to the Justice ground
was valid instrument, were working in
that part of the mine which had been
decided to them. The Justice folks
were drifting steadily onward to meet
the drift made by the Alta. Capt. Curtis
notified Derby that the deed was to be
contested in the courts, and ordered him
to stop work in the Justice ground. Su-
perintendent Derby replied by advising
| Curtis to seek refuge in a region the
temperature of which is much high
er than that of any day which we
have experienced in this remarkably
warm summer, and continued with his
| drifting. The next move of Curtis was
to secure the services of five profession
| al fighters, and transfer to the lower
| levels of Justice small arsenal of rifles
and ammunition. The answer of Derby
was to stock and man the Alta drift in
the same manner, and the curious spec
tacle was presented of two armies half
a mile below the surface of the earth,
separated only by few feet of rock, and
waiting only for that to be battered
| down to begin q conflict in which one
party or the other must have been ex-
terminated.
To my Eastern readers, unused to the
ways of mining camp, this recital of
such cold -blooded programme of car
mage will doubtless seem incredible
To us on the Comstock it is nothing
wonderful. We awaited the result as
calmly as you would await the result of
q battle in war which you knew must
be fought. The professional Fighter
is as much an institution of a mining
camp as the miner himself, although not
30 numerous. 1t used to be common
method of settling disputed titles to
| fight it out on the ground. but, happily,
it is not SO common in these days. The
fighters are paid as high as $50 day;
they live and sleep in the mine, never
leaving it for an instant, and when the
time for action comes they are expected
to die in its defence or save it to their
employers by slaughtering the attacking
party. When Curtis and Derby garris-
oned these mines with these profes-
sionals, therefore, we were on the gui
VtVe for the coming struggle. The pre-
partitions were known to everybody in
Gold Hill and Virginia; it was known
that if the Alta men persisted in pushing
forward their drift, connection must be
made in few hours at least, the parties
would come together, and a number of
lives would be lost; and yet there was
not law officer on the Comstock who
took one step to interfere in this open
and palpable violation of law.
Meantime there had been mutterings
of discomfort among the men working in
the two mines. In a battle like this,
under ground, it was almost certainty
that some innocent men would be killed.
The lives of the professional fighters
were not worth thinking about. They
deliberately risked them; they were the
roughs of the country, and the commu.
: nifty could we'll afford to lose them. But
the miners were peaceable citizens,
: working hard and amid unusual natural
dangers to provide food for themselves
and their families. Individuals visited
Curtis and Derby and presented the case
/ to them, argued and reasoned with
} them. but to no purpose. The only
answer was, "You can stop work, if yor
, like; there are plenty of men to take YOU
place." At length the blasts fixed b,
workmen in the Justice few hour
t more and the strokes of the pick coul(
be heard through the thin shell of rocl
which separated the two mines. Dooms
l day was approaching, and as the mel
+ went to their shifts they felt that it wa
an even chance whether they left tn
mine alive or were borne to the surface
on stretchers.
Atthis supreme moment the Gold Hill
, Miners Union stepped to the front
s The time had come for the union to in
It terfere to protect its members lives.
: call was issued for a meeting at thre
q o'clock in the afternoon, one crisp da
J, last February. The miners swarmed t
b the hall like bees. A short consultatio,