The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-01
THUGS HELD UTAH COAL LAND
TRUST DROVE OFF OWNERS AT
THE POINTS OF GUNS.

Interstate Commerce Commission Hears Of
Methods Employed by the Gould and
Hartman Interests-Cascs OF Rebate
That We're Giving TO Favored shippers.
SALT LAKE. Utah, Nov. so-George J.
Gould's Grande Western railroad and
allied o companies were under fire at the
concluding session Of the Interstate Com
meroe Commission hearing to-day.
Witnesses testified that thugs, armed
with Wholesalers, wore hired by the Pleas
ant Valley Coal Company and The Utah
Fuel Company 10 take and hold valuable
coal lands fled on by independents.
One property it was declared that was
gained in this manner is the Sunny Side
mine, which now employs several thousand
men and produces a high grade Of coking
coal.
Employees and former employees Of the
Goa companies testified that secret freight
rates were in effect up to August Of the
present year on material and supplies for
the coal companies and the Wasatoh Store
Company, which is controlled by the same
interests.
These rates were about a third Of those
paid by ordinary shippers.
~ "oS o"O US eNoS WV
roads gave a secret rebate on supplies for
the Rio Grande coal companies.
George d. Holiday and Arthur A. Sweet
were two witnesses who told OF the use Of
Winchesters by employees Of the coal COM
panies to secure possession Of land. Holi-
day filed a location on the ground on which
the Sunny Side mine has been developed.
This was in 1895. Two years after he started
work he began TO lave trouble with the
Pleasant Valley Coal Company.
On the stand to-day he related that in
1897 two employees Of the company, Robert
Forester and W. J. Chapman, called on
him at the mine one day and asked him to
take a few hundred dollars for his int re SITS.
This he refused and he was then told that
unless he did sell he would pack his blankets
out Of the canon without anything. He
then came TO Salt Lake City and had an
int erview with William g. Sharp, then
superintendent Of the Pleasant Valley Coal
Company, and several others. Tn witness
then said:
Il told them that / had come by the coal
lands honestly and that | would stand by
them. | told them that they could not take
a pin of my coat unless they paid me for II.
AT first they denied sending the man
down to the mine to order me of. Then
they asserted that there was some such
talk, and later Sharp said that he had sent
AOA ANGtVA " RAN IL AA@ "a ny A~H~N
Il told them to take them away a. quick
as God would let them" | said, If you
think more Of your scalps than Of that
coal property take your men away from
that land l toOk my coat and nat ana
ttEted out.
sharp took me by the arm and said
AS long as you own that coal land We viii
not bother you He then gave me a pass
to Sunnyside and return, good for thirty
days.
Il went to Alaska after that. At Port
land l received word that Robert Kirken
and others had jumped my claim and driven
my men OF.
When | returned / was requisite d by
my company, which was the Holiday Coal
Company, to go to Sunnyside and look over
the land. When ] went up to the place
Kirken and six armed men met me and
declared that unless / left the place at once
they would kill me.
was the leader and all were armed with
Winchesters INC side arms. They we're
w. j. Chapman, Frank Tibbals, Hiram
Tibbals, j.. F. Tibbals, Orange Tibbals
and q stranger.
They had torn down my signs and posted
up others. They had posted up notices
warning every one not to come on the land.
AN the tools had been taken out Of my
mine, and it had not been worked since l
was there.
when I came down out Of the caIon
Kirken and his men came out Of the cabin
hat / had built and cursed me. I had
gone down there unarmed, as l was ordered
to do. Then Kirken came out with his gun
and fired over my head. This irr itated
me and l tried to get my fathers Winchester
away from him. l jumped off my horse
and they all ran in the house like rats into a
hole.
again, until I was compelled 10 sell the land
to the Pleasant Valley Coal Company.
Every complaint that we would file
before Judge johnson to secure the land
would be demurred to and the Court would
sustain the demurrers. Attorney Grand
Young succeeded in getting the case trans-
ferred to Salt Lake City, and then the COM
pany wanted TO make terms. As the other
members of the company wanted it l was
oomnelled To dispose OF the place for S22 400.