The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-05-26
CAP TURED BY WOMEN
Eighteen DeputySheriffs Guard
ing Cripple Greek Mines,
Were Captured and Disarmed
by Two Women.
ELEVEN WERE KILLED
By the Blowing Up of the
Shaft House.
ELEVEN WERE KILLED

is the record of the first day of trouble
here, although real fighting has not
vet begun, as the deputies are await
ing reinforcements before beginning
\ active operations.
At 10 o'clock yesterday morning
| eleven men started to work in the
| Strong mine on Battle mountain.
! Shortly afterward party of strikers
blew up the shaft-house, causing a
! loss of s25, 600 and then dropped 100
pounds of giant powder down the
shaft which was also exploded, kill
ing all the inmates. Not more than
300 yards from the Strong shaft house,
sixteen men, who had been engaged
| to go to work in the independence
mine, were surrounded in their bunk
house, and after long parley agreed
! to surrender. Each one was armed
! with a rifle and a brace of revolvers,
the arms now being in the possession
| of the strikers
1t is rumored that the strikers at
! tackled the Anna Lee mine, overpow-
ering the guards, after which they
blew up the shaft house, but the
rumor has not been verified. When
the deputies are finally masSed, and
the two forces come together, a most
desperate battle will doubtless be
fought.
The situation is one of most painful
anxiety. Not few believe the town
sunset if the strikers be not re-
strained.
At Victor, six miles away, where
fully. 1 900 people reside, a reign of
terror exists. Within half a mile of
the corporation limits of the town, all
day long fully 300 union men, armed
with rifles, have paraded up and down
the side of the hill. Occasionally a
detour into the village would be
made, and people whom the miners
thought to be Objectionable were or
dered to leave the place.
The guards from Denver, upon ar
rival at Victor, went into cam p on a
neigh boring hill. The strikers threw
out picket line entirely surrounding
them, but at distance that guaran-
tees them safety from the deputie s
rifles.
one of the largest mine owners in
Colorado Springs is authority for the
statements that the mine owners
have planted rifed cannon on hill
commanding the breastworks, and
that it will be used to dislodge the
strikers from that position.
The special train bearing $50 armed
deputies reached Victor about 10
o'clock yesterday morning The depu-
ties were immediately surrounded by
400 miners. A pitched battle ensned,
in which the deputies took refuge be-
hind the rocks. The deputies finally
proceeded to the independence mine
and secured possession, where they
are besieged by a part of the miners.
At the summit of Bull Hill, but 500
feet away from the Victor property,
the miners have barricade OF logs
and broken rock, which is supplied
with 1oopholes and ladders. Consid-
cradle ammunition is stored there,
and also a quantity of provisions, but
there is no water. Whole kegs of
blasting powder have been stored in
the barricade, and there is no telling
to what desperate extreme the men
may go.
All sorts of rumors concerning the
doings at the Strong mine are afioat-
One of them is to the effect the work
men were not killed, having been
warned off by masked strikers The
deputies from Denver have with
drawn to a less exposed position,
where they will await reinforcements.
The strikers, from their stronghold
on Bull Hill, can view the country for
miles, and all passes are guarded by
them. Every stranger is intercepted
and not allowed to proceed toward
the town unless a satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION of his business is given.
No one is permitted near enough to
the seat of war to be in danger, and
the streets of Cripple Creek and Vic
by miners carrying Winchesters and
revolvers.
The capture and disarming of depu-
ties, mum bering eighteen, was accom-
plished by women, and ever since two
of the women have been holding high
court in a saloon where the strikers
heap congratulations upon them
Two wagons loaded with powder
and cartridges for one of the mines
were captured by the strikers and
their contents confiscated.
Sam Mcdonald. superintendent of
the Strong, Anna Lee and Gold King
mines, and Charley Robinson, fore
man of the Strong, are missing. which
gives credence to the story OF the
Slaughter. If the men were IN GER
tain portions of the mine the concus-
sion NAV not have killed them. Sam
Strong, owner of the mine, is given
as authority for the statement that
eleven men were killed