Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-10-13


this fear of coming trouble the cam,
could have revived at any time. Blu
the Federation had begun campaign
of intimidation among the men In tn,
mines. Miners began to appear dali,
at the company Offices to know
whether what they were being told II
the slopes by their union fellows. wa,
true-that soon every non-union mar
was to be driven from the district.
At intervals. men who had refused
after repeated solicitation to Join the
union were being taken from theil
homes AT night and beaten, as exam
pies. Not an arrest was ever mad,
for this sort of thing.
Union leaders when told that the,
were forcing strike upon the mine
owners and that in event o! one com
ing the employers would in all prob
ability make the men pay the cost OF
strike by reducing wages. would
invariably reply that they knew that
we'll they had no idea of going to
the extreme of strike but that they
wanted to get every man they could
into the union.
After months of this there appear.
ed, on Aug. G. posted on telephone
poles, shaft houses and dead walls
all over the camp the now famous
,cab notice stating that every man
not able to show a union card on Sept
18th would be classed as scab and
treated as such.
Scab Notice Killed All Hope
OF Reviving Boom
From that day all hope of reyivine
the boom was dead All recognized
hat Cripple Creek was never again to
know peace and prosperity until a
battle had been fought between the
inion men and their employers. Near.
ly half of the miners persisted in their
refusal to join the unions in spite of
the threat and the frequent backing up
of 1t with examples of white-capping
beating of non-union men and depor-
iation of them from the district at
night with no Interference from the
Sheriffs Office. over 1000 of the men
held out to the day OF actual conflict
in insisting in their independence and
their right to work without the con
sent of the union.
On Sept. 8 the notice OF Aug. G
was reinforced with another Of like
import posted freely throughout the
amp calling attention to the fact that
The time of grace had nearly expired.
warning the men that they were not
to consider this only a blum" and in
timating that scab treatment was to
be expected by all who held out.
Every reader of this notice well
knew what ii meant; the men knew
what the union had done to non-union
workmen in Wardner but a few
months ago. but still they held out,
There was another outbreak OF vio-
lence following this and man after
man was deported. beaten. maltreated
in every conceivable way
Not week scarcely night passed
without some act of violence by union
against non-union men, and the sherif1
of the county was never able to make
an arrest. Some of the most cowardly
acts conceivable were reported at the
time.
On Dec p Martin Gleason, superin
tendent of the Wild Horse was struck
from behind as he was going to the
mine. killed and his body thrown
down the Kalamazoo shaft, 500 feet
deep His only offense was that he
had refused to deny non-union men
the right to work on the mines in his
charge
The county was in control OF the
Democratic officers elected by FEEDER
alton voters; Orman was governor
refusing to allow troops to be used in
Telluride even after the strikers had
taken actual possession of mine
and driven OFF representatives of the
owners and beaten and even killed
the non-nuion men. Operators in Grip
pie Creek were helpless; there was
no hope Of invoking the law; to do
so was to be laughed at and told thai
they should accede to the union de
mands and drive from their employ
all non-union men.
Under such conditions. how could
the district be expected to show any
life? Business was stagnant; no mine
owner undertook to branch out. no
search was made for ore. the intent
was toward reducing operations. re
stricting the number Of men employed
TO the very minimum: no new work
could be undertaken; all wanted to go
on as long as they could without fore
ing upon themselves any more trouble
than they were already having. but
knew not what day the blow would
fall, naturally not dollar of new cap
ital was coming into the camp. stocks
were dead and no sales OF property
being made.
District Kept on Edge
Of War for Two Years
For more than two years the dis.
trict was kept on the ragged edge of
war. The threat of impending strug-
gle held over all. depressing, deaden-
ing. killing enterprise until the out
side world began to say that the camp
had run dry. given out, that its day
of grandeur was over.
Why. when IL had the governor and
all county officers under 1t submission
the union did not strike may be left
to puzzle the future. 1t had everything
Its own way There is some evidence