Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1904-06-13
UNION MINERS MURDER WORK.
MEN AND FIGHT SOLDIERS.
MANY KILLED AND INJURED
Exploded Dynamite Beneath Station
Kills and Mangles-Soldiers Called
and Battle With Angry Mob-Sher-
iff and City Marshall Removed
Anarchy Breaks Out Afresh.

Cripple Creek, Colo, June 7.-Thir-
teen men were killed by the explosion
of an internal machine at the railroad
station in independence yesterday, and
several others were seriously injured.
Eleven men were killed outright, and
one died later from his wounds. All
the killed and injured, with the excep- |
ton of two men from the Deadwood
mine, were non-union miners employed
on the night shift of the Findley mine. |
The men had quit work at a. m. and
were waiting to board suburban train
on the Florence & Cripple Creek rail-
road and return to their homes in Grip
pie Geek and Victor. Just after the en-
gineer of the approaching train blew
his whistle, as a signal to the miners,
terrific explosion occurred under
meath the station platform, on and near
which &c men were gathered. The
platform was blown into splinters, the
station wrecked and hole 20 feet in
circumference and about as many feet
in depth was torn in the ground.
Fragments of bodies were hurled
through space for several hundred feet
and later picked up still quivering.
Some bodies dropped Into the pit made
by the explosion, but heads, hands, |
ears. legs, arms and trunks were
strewn about on all sides. Pieces Of
flesh were found on buildings 500 feet
away. and blood stained everything
within a radius of so feet. The crew
of the approaching train were the first
men TO reach the scene OF the disas-
ter. They were joined in few min
utes by hundreds of persons and the
relief work was begun at once. A
special train was sent from Cripple
Creek carrying physicians. nurses, Of
ficers and many others but when 1t
reached Independence the injured had
already been removed to the hospital
in Victor
Dead:
Gus Augustine, aged Is; has brother
living in GAINESVILLE.
Arthur Muhleise.
Henry Haag.
Alexander McLane.
Charles f. Barber.
Herbert Mccoy
j. H. Hartsell.
William Shanklin.
Z. Kelso, married.
w w. Delaney.
Edward Ross.
f. II. Johnson. formerly of Little
Horse, Wyo.
The internal machine with which the
diabolical work was done consisted Of
a quantity of dynamite, estimated at
100 TO 800 pounds. a loaded revolver
and a long. slender steel wire attached
10 the trigger. The wire ran from IN
der the station to the cribbing of the
Delmonico. property, about 400 feet
away. where its end was fastened TO
the rung of a chair. The dynamite
was placed close to the muzzle of the
revolver which was discharged by pull
ing the wire when the engineer blew
his whistle A tall from the revolver
exploded the dynamite.
Sensational Developments.
A man was seen running down the
hill from Delmonico's after the explo-
sion. Victor troops. who were ordered
out by Mayor French, were so sta
toned as to keep the people from
passing over the path taken by this
man and blood hounds were sent from
Canyon City and Trinidad for the pur-
pose of trailing the assassin. The In
fernal machine used was similar to the
one exploded in the Vindicator mine
November 81, 1903, killing two men.
Without giving any explanation Sheriff
Robertson resigned, and Edward Bell,
a member of the citizens alliance, has
been appointed to succeed him. CITY
Marshall O'Connell of Victor swore in
a large number of special policemen,
who are patrolling the streets with
shot guns. O'Connell was afterwards
suspended by Mayor French and Major
Naylor appointed provisional marshal.
Union miners have armed them
selves and declare they will resist any
attempt to run them out of town.
Victor. Colo. June 7.-Rioting
broke out III lulS CITY gCotNANos 0AbCA 4
noon while a mass meeting was being |
held TO discuss the explosion at lnde- |
pendence. Forty shots were fired /
into crowd in the street. One man
was killed and six persons at least in
jured.
Dead:
R. MCGEE. of Victor; shot through
heart
Injured:
William Hoskins and Alfred Miller,
both of Goldfeld; may die.
Secretary Hamlin of the mine own
ers' association, concluding a short
address. said:
Il want to hear what the boys in
the mines have got TO say about this
trouble"
William Hoskins. union miner
from Goldfeld. asked to be heard and
was Kissed by the crowd. A free
for all fight followed and the shoot