Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-10-04
May Convict
Strikers OF Crime

NEHNA "W
ar santed bat or these the fight u
ths peace Officers Tor conviction wil
De- made.
S D Cramp, : 'aallEg attorney 81
the camp. was given charge o. d
prosecution With power 70 employ as.
sytants. He selected r. c Brown q
Glnn.son county 20 prepare cases and
together they have worked coni!ng'
ously for three moltas getting eri'
dence together and preparing 10 So
INTO court and convict not only the
loolhardy, blind and driven agents
aut ne heads VI The organization.
tAe men who sanctioned The Derpctra-
don ~ The crimes. who paid the
money u rhe RESERVATION 70 the men
90 ala them ard who wiz always
~ boxed upon Dr. the people 4 not
5y The Jaw. as tae real criminals
Much has been said about the Fed
Grafton having instlgated the crimes
The public asks for verdicts and court
testimony. This win be given nov
that the cases are 10 come TO trial
some haze waited for the evidence
.of the criminality Of the labor organi-
zation 1t Is to be supplied and must
convince them when II comes. In
Cripple Creek there is no more doubt
about who are guilty than there is in
the minds Of the American people
that Spanish agents in Cuba blew up
the Maine. The criminals who blew
IN the Maine were never ~apprehend-
ed but the legal machinery of Teller
county is doing all In human power
to a~pprehend and convict the men
who blew up the Independence depot
The confession of one Robert Ro-
| maine, formerly a union miner In
Cripple Greek. was recently given
publication from the Jail at Topeka,
Kan. Romano states facts that have
been verified and names as accom-.
! pllces men who were prominent in
! Federation circles. His confession
was not secured By the Teller coun-
is officials but came out through a
Cripple Creek man visiting in a pri-
yaie capacity, a boyhood friend, the
Topeka sheriff, and through MIN
learning that Romano was confined
In the jail. During the strike a plot
Of the Federation to wreck a train
loaded with nou-union workmen was
frustrated through discovery in adj
1 vance and the man who had ha-n
hired by the Federation to do the job
when caught In the act turned states
witness. He was such a man as it
would be expected would be hired TO
carry through such a hellish plot and
so when placed on the stand, his per
sonal character and past history oper-
ated TO weaken the testimony he gave
and no conviction was possible. Be
cause Romano is an ex-conyict, a
man of no principles, just the kind
C. a man to be hired as he claims
he was hired and paid to take pa Ia
the Independence atrocity-the off.
cers fear that his testimony WI. car
~ no weight before a jury and ;t is
not yet certain Just what reliance
viii be placed on his confession in
the coming trials.
Whether or not Romano Is asked
to repeat his confession on the ~.
ness stand, people OF Cripple Greek
generally believe that he is telling
Tie truth. With or without his cyi-
jerce 1t is expected taat convictions
viii result fom the coming trials ALL
thal In time every criminal who .sp1k
part In the plots of the Federation
10 win a wholly unwarranted s.rikc,
viii he brought 20 justice ami hat
out Of the convictions the 9afsil eI
public Will come TO know tha- me.
people Of Cripple Creek were acting.
% the defensive all through the
greatly advertised labor war, that
what they did they had TO do for their
own protection and that they were
fighting. in the interests Of law and
order, a labor organization unworthy
OF the name OF unionism, one that
hesltates at no crime however un-
p~ardonable to win it's battles. to
strengthen its monopoly Of labor in
mining industries. and strengthen
itself for the great conflict its so
cialist leaders are preparing against
all government. all Law and all vested
rights
Real Estate.