, 1885-12-03

"Ve eoiu 'hc tiuth uDout lHc COuuiioh VI
the miners at Rock Springs; that | am
subject to the dictation of a monopoly and
dare not make the admission that women
and children are starving. | would pay
no attention to these charges, were | not
On the relief committee who received and
distributed the donation Of goods sent
by the generous hearted people Of Chey-
neen. The newspaper referred to doubt
less has a deep and disinterested sympathy
for the w~orkingman, but its sympathies
were grossly imposed upon if it obtained
from any Rock Springs miners the
story Of restitution it gave n week
ago, and under the influence of which the
people Of Cheyenne contributed so gem
e%rously.
The statement made by the newspaper in
question was that there were 100 or more
miners in camp actually starving, who
hear their wives aud children cry in vain
for bread. The facts are these: At that
time thirty-nine miners and laborers,
formerly employees of the company, were
out of work. OF these ten were single
men. Of the twenty-n min others FIVE or
or siK own houses, have stock or a ranch
and are not dependant upon charity. This
makes twenty-fiv families. Add to these
ten families whose supporter has sought
work elsewhere, and we have t~hirty-ive
families to be supported by charity.
Many of these families have eked out a
living for themselves up to the present.
and many have no excuse for
being in want. But no matter how
they have come to want, the people of
Rock Springs are not so destitute of
charity as to permit any person to suffer
from hunger, and not one has suffered
for food, clothing or shelter. Charitable
neighbors and generous business men have
been ready to relieve any who we're
in need. One of the commissioners lives
here and would be notified of any cases Of
want.
The story of a miner child starving to
death and being buried in a rough box by
a few half starved miners and their ema-
ciated wives, is a fabrication from begin
ming to end. The family has been sup
piled with goods by one of our firms, and
has suffered at no time for the want of
food. The child died from a congestiye
chill, was buried in a neat casket furnished
by the Knights of Labor, and the usual
funeral services were held at the church.
The story as given by the paper reads
like a fancy sketch. Doubtless the edi-
tors imagination had been so wrought up
by the Thanksgiving story he was writing
that he failed to distinguish between fact
and fiction in writing up the situation
here. The facts as | have given them are
well known to our citizens, and they are
Justly indignant that our town should be
libeled in such a %scandalous manner. 1t
reflects on the commissioners and every
mao in town who has enough to keep a
.neighbor from starving. Is the cause of
the miners so weak that it must be boil
stored up by lying and misrepresentation?
Must every report that goes out be col
ored to favor the miners and prejudice the
Union Pacific in the eyes Of the public,
and are papers which refuse to do this "a
venal and subsidized press. " or under the
''dictation of a monopoly" When the
AdNfaH g4n mint 10 uuanla IN
stance where the hdependent has
suppressed or colored facts to favor either
the Union Pacific company, Beckwith,
Quinn & Co. or the miners, there viii be
some grounds for his charges. The hide
pendent is not IN organ, it is a newspaper.
The first duty of a newspaper is to give
facts as it finds them, and this the hude-
pendent has done as far as it could learn
them.
The charge that | dare not tell of the
suffering here because Beckwith, Quinn
& Co. own 800 worth of stock in the
Independent is simply an attempt of the
Cheyenne paper to excuse itself for pub
fishing such outrageous stuff about tho
miners. Further than this, nearly every
one of its specials from Rock Springs
are false, either wholly or partially. They
are chiefly obtained from miners from
Rock Springs who leave with hatred
against the Union Pacific company after
an unsuccessful attempt to down" them.
Whether such men are likely to give a
candid and unpreiudiced account Of affairs
here | leave to the judgment of your read
ers. Yours fraternally.
n. b. DRESSER,
Editor MdeDende1t