The Farmington times and herald. (Farmington, St. Francois Co., Mo.) 1902-1905, 1904-06-10
THE MINING TROUBLES
In Colorado Culminate in BloodShed
and Riots-0ver Twenty
Lives Sacrificed.

At independence, near Cripple
Creek, Colo last Monday morn
ing. while the night shift OF the
Findley mine were waiting to
board n suburban train, II terrible
explosion occurred underneath the
station platform, blowing the plat
form into Spliutors, killing thir-
teen non union miners and lnjur-
ing many others. The bodies were
literally torn to pieces, and heads,
legs, arms, hands and other pOi-
tions of the bodies were scattered
in all directions. The Internal
machine with which the diabOlical
work was done consisted of II quans
tlty of dynamite. estimated ut 100
to 300 pounds, exploded by means
of londed revolver aud II long
slender steel wire attached to the
trigger leading to Il point about
100 feet away.
At Victor, Col ., in the afternoon,
Will" a mass meeting was in pro
grcss discussing the wholesale mur.
der, a riot broke out and two men
were killed aud several others shot
whose wounds may prove fatal.
At O'Clock ut night the same
day, a meeting was beng held by
the union miners at their head.
quarters in Victor, when the mill.
tia fired several vollcys into the
hall, killing seven miners and
wOundlng as many more, making
n total of - deaths for the day as
the result of the mornings dia.
bolIcal w0rk-l3 10y the explosion,
two IN the afternoon riot and seven
at the union miners hall
The militia was called ont uftcr
the afternoon riot, and ms they
marched down the street they were
Missed 10y many and chcrrcd by
others At one point the SHARP
crack of rifles came from several
houses ON both sides, but the par
ties firing We're hard to discover,
rs every window and roof top held
groups of men armed with rcFOI,
rrS The militia hcsitatcd for II
moment and fired hack, but with
sharp commands 10 drSist they raj.
he'd and ran down the street ut Il
double quick until they ucarrd tn,
hall where the union miners were
holding meeting Some were III
the hal! listening to speeches while
others were outside bent on seeing
what was happening. 1t said that
several fired their revOlvcrS in the
the air, when the militia dashed
into the hall and fired volIcy int
the crowd, killing several us stated
rs stated above and woundimg Il
number of others As many II,
could stumbled out into the street
some shouted and screamed nut
others turned to attend to the dcut
and injured For fcar the militia
might fire more vOllcyS the miner,
put up their rcvOlvcrs aud demand
ed mn explanation They were or
dcrcd to clear out Of the hall
The mining towns and district,
are under martial law, several hun
drcd union miners and their head
crs have been arrested and lmpris
Oncd in bull pens, and the most
intense excitement prevails
The trouble between the Colorado
miners and the nine operator,
dates back several months, when
II is claimed by the union men that
the mine operators undertook Il
break up the union Strikes re.
suited that have kept mp ever since.
and some OF the mines hive been
partially operated by non-unlOu
labor With intense hate on both
sides arbitration appears impossl-
bile aud there is no telling when o.
how the trouble may end or how
much suffering is yet to follow aut
how many more lives may yet bC
sacrificed
VICTOR, COLO.. June s.-Twc
pitched battles wcr" fought between
the military and the striking min
crs i'll the roundup following til,
declaration of martial law III the
Cripple Greek District to day On,
miner was shot dead and twenty.
one We're taken captive. One OF
the clashes took place nj Dunnvllc
the new mining camp, thirteen
miles north of Victor, and the othe'
ut Big Hill, two miles east of here