Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-09-25
DAuNING EVIDENCE.

Col. Sanders 10 in any way responsible iol
the Timberline difficulties which led to thu
discharge of the Knights Of Labor employed
there and finally to the arrest Of many o.
them and the eviction Of their families by
the coal company, from the homes they
occupied. The following, which we find in
the Helena Independent OF the Gath Instant,
shows that Col. Sanders was .he agent o.
the company, and rs far as an agent
can be held responsible for the acts OF a
company governed by the counsel and ad'
vice of such agent. he is responsible for the
shameful and d~isgraceful treatment the
laborers received at the hands OF the North
ern Pacific Coal Company:
Northern Pacific Coal Company. of the
State of kinnesots:
The underyigned, having been appointed
agent OF the said corporation, in the Terri.
tory OF Montana, upon whom servire u
process against the said corporation may
be made, has accepted and does hereby
Witness my hand on this first day oil
April. A. D., 1884.
ISiguedl WILBUR F. SANDERS.
Filed in the Office of the Secretary oil
Montan. August 2. at 4 O'Clock p. M. A.
D., 1886.
iSiyuedl WV. B. WEBB.
Secretary OF Montana.
UNITED s1A1Es OF AHsa,c.: IS
1, William B. Webb. Secretary OF the Ter
ritory of Montana, do hereby certify that
have compared the annexed and forego-
ing acceptance OF agency for the Northern
Pacific Coal Company with the original
thereof, fled in my Office ON the I'd day OF
August, A. D., 1885, and that the same is
a correct transcript therefrom, and of the
whole OF said original.
Witness my hand and the seal
[sEALl of the Territory OF Montana,
this goth day OF September,
Six. Signed,
WILLIAM B. WEBB,
Secretary Of the Territory OF Montana.
The history OF the document, as given by
the Independent, is as follows: The Coal
Company is a foreign corporation, and &C.
cording to the avs of Montana must file
within the Territory a copy OF it's articles
OF incorporation and also appoint an agent
be its legal representative. When it be-
gan operating in the spring Of 1884 the
company turned over its articles OF incor-
poration to Col. Sanders, and appointed
him as its agent, the legal representative OF
the company in Montana-selecting him
for the Northern Pacific Railroad Com
pany, OF which the Coal Company is the
progeny; and also, doubtless. because he
was fixed upon as the attorney OF
the Coal Company. That they locked upon
him as their attorney would appear evil
dent from the fact that the incorpora.
ton articles were turned over to him, and
that the acceptance OF the agency was made
out in his Office. Neither document was at
that time filed. hut they were pigeon-holed
in his office up to the beginning OF August
last.
By that time the Northern Pacific Coal
Company had begun its first litigation in
Montana. They had maintained and en-
forced a most slavish and obnoxious set
OF resolutions for the government OF the
lives, liberties and actions OF their employees
until the men might have been expected to
rebel and refuse to work. But they
did not, bnt rather bore those impositions
patiently. At last the company learned
that there was ar organization of Knights
of Labor in the coal camp at Timberline.
They posted q notice over the entrance to
the mines, mo Knights OF Labor will be
employed"
The next nov was to send a spotter to
force his way into the lodge DON when the
knights Of Labor we're in session, to ascer-
tain who were members. Discharges then
began and the lockout against Knights of
Labor was enforced. The Knights of La
Dor we're few in number compared with the
miners in q body made common cause
with the knights and refused to work, un-
less their fellows, against whom no reason
Tor discharge could be urged, were re-em-
The grinding, slavish rules which
had long patiently labored under un.
doubtedly had much to do with their de-
though they might have been
q little longer had not the lockout
Of Knights Of Labor precipitated the in
The history OF what since occurred is
pretty we'll known. BY legitimate and hon.
orable means the locked out miners sought
20 persuade imported laborers from going
% work in their places. So successful were
hey hat the mines have been closed down..
Beaten in that direction. the company
fought to take vengeance upon the miners
~ arresting them IN charges brought I'M
Ter the gag law.
By means OF q lot OF paid spies and in
that the company had for weeks
Employed to watch the actions OF the
and to sometimes patrol the
lamp with masks and firearms, these
were trumped up and over twenty |
II the miners were arrested and thrown
nto Jail. The examinations were held in
3ozeman and in spite OF the reckless per-
ury OF these spies and informers the men
we're discharged upon the evidence OF hon
men.
Before this time suits in ejectment had
'een brought against the occupants of the
louses which the company had built at
he camp. houses built upon the company's
hat vicinity, occupied by the miners and
ecause there we're only six other non-com-
ANY buildings in the camp-suits were
against the poverty-stricken, un-
mplOyed miners to evict them and their
antilles, even though they offered to con-
niue paying with money raised by labor
ng mel throughout the Territory the
arge rents charged.
1t was at this stage that the company
ound that it had no standing in court be.
ause there was no public record in Mon
ana OF its existence, or OF who was the
representative. It was at that time that
oil. Sanders pulled the above document
ut Of the piseon-hole in his Office and
it on file for the protection of the
coal company.
Col. Sanders, therefore, stands upon re-
ord over his own signature as the sole
gal representative in Montana OF the
orthern Pacific Coal Company-the COM.
any that established q saloon and re-
uired their men to p~atronize it and de-