The Elk Mountain pilot., 1900-10-09
DENVER LETTER.
DISGRACE OF COLORADO BY DEMOCRATIC RI
OTERS In VICTOR AND SALIDA.
Outside of These Tive Places Rooseves Trip Through the
State Was Continued Ovation, and Great Good Has
Been Done-O,her Speakers Coming Colorado.

welt, and everybody has been talking
of the disgrace brought upon the state
by the rufiians in Victor and Salida
who attempted to break up his meet
ings in those places, and in Victor
made an assault upon him and his par
ty, which was only prevented from do
ing them serious bodily harm by the va
liant fight put up against the rioters
by Roosevel-'s Rough Rider guard. The
most remarkable part of the thing, and
the most disgraceful to Colorado, is
that the assaults have been virtually
approved by Governor Thomas and the
Rocky Mountain News. Thomas be-
| gan by publishing an insulting open
letter. to Governor Roosevelt, and the
News says that Roosevelt could ex-
pect nothing else when he went with
Senator Wolcott. In this sort of talk
the News is thoroughly at home. one
of its specialties for years has been in
citing men to riot. In this case, it i'm
plies. If it does not say directly, that
such treatment as was accorded to Mr..
Roosevelts party in Victor would have
been perfectly proper If applied to
Senator Wolcott alone. In other
words, it believes, not in giving to
your opponent fair hearing, but in
hooting him, throwing stones at him,
and running him out of town If possi-
bic. Everybody is aware that these are
Democratic methods of campaigning
in some states, but it is unusual to
hear and see them endorsed as proper
| by high Democratic authority.
But this is only a repetition of the
treatment of four years ago. There
We're not dozen towns of any size in
the state, in 1896, where Republican
would have been permitted to make n
speech without personal assault. 1t
was n common expression, heard all
over the state, and just as much in the
streets of Denver as in the back coun-
ties. that any man who would vote for
Mckinley ought to be run out of the
state. 1t is an indication of the great
change that has come over Colorado in
four years that there Were only two
places in which that feeling apparently
now exists. Governor Thomas and n.
NJ. Patterson have been doing their ut
most to stir up the lawless spirit again.
but they have not yet succeeded rs
doubtless they had hoped to.
As for Governor Roosevelt himself,
he bore the assault with the firmness
and courage which have always been
among the strongest attributes of his
character. Mr.. II. l. Cleveland of the
Chicago Times-Herald, who is one of
the journalists on the Roosevelt train,
secured the following statement from
the vice presidential candidate after
the assault:
"Those poor. misguided men Mt Vic
tor are more to be pitied than con-
demned. Law breaking is never a good
political game. | can stand all this
kind of thing they choose to give. It's
the very sort of thing that | am fight
ing against as n candidate for office
reason and patriotism against the rule
of the mob"
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge tells the
facts very plainly in his statement pub
lished in the Boston Journal, as fol-
lows:
81 was in the crowd at Victor. both
going and coming from the hall. and /
was in the hail. on the platform, dur
ing the entire meeting The meeting
was broken up by n large body of dis
orderly men, who went there for that |
purpose. They shouted and made such |
a disturbance that 1t was impossible |
for anyone to speak. | have never wit
messed such Il scene in any public |
meeting in the United States. General
Hale, who commanded the Colorado |
troops in the Philippines, and is n dis
tinguished soldier. was Missed when he |
was introduced as Il soldier. and was |
constantly interrupted. When he made |
an appeal for the flag, upon which he |
laid his hand, lie was hooted, and there |
We're cries of Occur d'Alene' and Bull |
pen 1t was directed, not against the |
man, but against the flag and the uni |
form of the United States which he |
represented.
"The disorder in the streets was very |
great. There was an element present, |
evidently determined on trouble. They |
struck at Governor Roosevelt with the |
poles of the Bryan banners, and stoned |
the car on which the governor stood as
the train drew out.
The statement of Governor Thomas
that the disturbance was directed |
against Senator Wolcott, is absolutely |
false. The attack, such as it was, was
made on Governor Roosevelt, and the
purpose of the roughs who engaged in
1t was to break up the Republican
meeting and not permit us to be heard.
l believe from very sufficient evidence
that the whole attack was deliberately
planned by the Bryan leaders in this
state. There are no better people any
where than the people of Colorado, and
this attack on Governor Roosevelt has
created widespread Indignation among
men of all parties. 1t will contribute
powerfully to the redemption of the
state, which now seems very probable.
from the control of the fusion leaders,
who are capable of such outrages up
on free speech as that perpetrated by /
the roughs in Victor.
HENRY CABOT LODGE"
The Denver Republican comments
upon the occurrence as follows:
THE false pretense that no insults
were intended for any member of the
party but Senator Wolcott was after
thought, designed to break the force of
the storm of Indignation that swept
down from every quarter as soon as
the story of the mob was published.
Senator Wolcott has larger and
more enthusiastic following in Colora
Il l,l.f.