The Irish standard., 1904-06-18
People of the State by an Immense Vote De-
clared For 1t, But Their Wish Was
Denied by Legislature.
If the Laws and Expressed Will of the People
Had Been Obeyed There Would
Have Been No Trouble.

am not discussing the reasons for
these arrests, nor asserting that the
men were not guilty; the point is:
| Every right of the individual citizen
was here trodden upon and disregard
ed.
Friends of the men arrested had i'm.
mediate recourse to the civil courts,
They began habeas corpus proceedings
before District Judge Seeds of Cripple
Greek.
AS every one knows, the writ of
habeas corpus is one of the most pre-
cious rights of the Anglo-Saxon, called
by Blackstone the second Magma
| Charta." 1t has for it's object the pro-
lection of the precious personal liberty
OF the free citizen-it provides that he
Shall not be held a prisoner without
due process of law. Judge Seeds Or
dered that the Bull Pen prisoners be
brought into court, that an orderly in
qulry might be made as to whether
any innocent man was deprived of his
liberty. General Chase and General
Bell, then in command, obeyed the writ
in their own significant way. They
surrounded the courthouse with armed
men; they planted sharpshooters on the
roofs of the buildings roundabout; they
set gatling gun in the street outside,
and then they marched into court with
an overawing force Of troopers which
they planted squarely in front of the
Judges bench. When the judge ap-
preached his own court he was halted
with bayonet brought to his breast
and kept waiting the pleasure of an
officer from Denver! After the bailitf
raped for order Eugene Engley, for
mer Encouragement Of the state of
Colorado, one of the attorneys for the
prisoners, declaring that no real justice
could be administered in court inti-
Undated by armed men, left the room.
The constitutional guarantee that
courts shall be open and free has been
invaded and overthrown," he said. But
the judge finally decided that the pris-
oners, whatever their offense, must not
be deprived Of their liberty without
charges, and ordered that they be sur
rendered to the civil court
The generals deliberately violated the
court order and marched the prisoners
back to the bull pen, with the sharp
shooters and the gatling gun. They
were subsequently released by special
order of the governor, but others were
arrested repeatedly and held for con-
siderable periods. And finally the gov
ernor himself took the gravest step
which any executive officer in this
country can take, step forbidden ex-
cept under the most stringent safe
guards, by the constitution of practical
ly every state in the Union, including
that of Colorado-he suspended the
writ of habeas corpus in the case of one
Victor Poole, keeping him locked up
without due process of law for weeks
1t will be instructive then, to see
what the Western Federation of Miners
has done to merit this weight Of public
opposition. Unionisn-one sort of
unionism-is OH trial in Colorado; has
it brought anarchy or has it not?
The two chief centers of the metalli-
ferrous strike are Cripple Greek and
telluride. In both of these districts
the union was strongly intrenched. 1t
had been able, in past strikes, to get
from the employers practically every
thing the men wanted; they hade the
eight-hour day, they were paid the
wages demanded. No miners in the
} world, perhaps, worked under more ia
vorable conditions and were more gen.
orally contented. In Telluride the
union had a contract with the employ
ers assuring the workers the continu-
ance of these excellent conditions. In
Cripple Creek there had been peace
AMI prosperity since the strike of 1894; /;
in Telluride since the strike of 1901.
One would have said, looking super
ficially at either of these towns, that
here. indeed, were ideal industrial con-
ditions.
But there was fly in the ointment.