, 1904-06-09
MOB VIOLENCE.
Victor, Colorado, the Scene of Murder
and dot From twenty-five to Thirty
Men Killed Militia in Possession.

Victor, Colo, June G.-An ex.
plosion under the platform of the
independence station of the Gold
en- Circle railroad on the south
slope of Bull Hill at 2:l5 this
morning hurled twelve miners in
to eternity aud wounded thirteen
others so badly that they will
probably die. The depot was as
completely wrecked as if it had
been struck by a cyclone or some
terrible CONFUSION of nature had
occurred, and a great blackened
hole in the ground now marks the
place upon which it stood. Frag.
ments of the mangled bodies of
the dead men We're sent whirling
through the air for several hun
dred feet and we're picked up still
q%uivering. The force of the ex-
plosion was felt all through the
camp and the crash awakened ev-
erybody.
In a few moments there was an
immense crowd about the place
and the work of caring for the
wounded was begun and carried
out until every one of the unfor-
Inmates had been removed to the
hospitals. The and the
sheriff were on the scene and DO
lice officers gathered from every
where, but there was little for
them to do, for willing hands had
been at work. There was talk of
arrests, but evidence upon which
to take anybody into custody was
lacking then. There is little
doubt that the explosion was ar
ranged so carefully that the pur-
poss of the guilty ones was carried
out, if not in its entirety, enough
to send thirteen, and perhaps
twenty-four, human beings to
their death.
A long steel wire running to the
ore bins about 400 feet up the hill
from the depot, the leg of a chair
and a revolver We're the means
used to set off the dynamite. The
chair leg and the wire were dis
covered soon after the explosion,
but the revolver cannot be locat-
ed. 1t is thought it was blown to
pieces.
Had the party who fired the
nine waited but another minute
the explosion would have wrecked
the entire train and all its occu-
pants. The train was only about
200 feet from the depot when the
mine was fired.
The dead and wounded compos-
ed the night shift of the Findley
mine, with two men from the
Deadwood property. They were
all non-union men. They num-
bered about twenty-five, and i'm.
mediately after leaving work they,
with men fom the Shurtlotf and
Last Dollar, made for the depot
to take the train, which was in
waiting.
The depot is Just below the
Findley mine, and probably fif-
teen men were on the platform
when the train, which had been
lying about 200 feet from the de
pot, whistled and started up the
track. Some-of the miners rush
ed to it and boarded it. Others,
who had not reached the platform,
raced with their dinner pals in
their hands, fearing that they
would miss it.. The waiting men
scattered over the platform and
chatted as the train slowly drew
near. Suddenly there was a ter
rife explosion. The platform was
lifted from its foundation and
whirled with its human freight
into a shower of debris. The de
pot building heaved and swayed
and then fell into a splintered
mass.
Darkness, caused by the cloud
of dust, came I'VE everything.
The train stopped short, the whis-
tie of the locomotive shrieked, and
the train g and the miners on
board jumped to the ground.
For a few moments they were