The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-03-12
DETERMINED To
MAINTAIN ORDER
Citizens of GoIdfieId Will No
Longer Put Up With the In
duStriaI Workers.
MINES ALL CLOSED DOWN
TROUBLE TO BE SETTLED FOR
ALL TIME.
Especial to The Herald.)


Goldfeld, New. March 1.-THE crisis
in the Goldfield labor troubles is at
hand. The next twenty-four hours will
decide whether the new union, known
as the Industrial Workers of the World,
backed by the Western Fedora non of
Labor, shall prevail in this district.
Matters were brought to head by the
cold-blooded assassination last night of
John p. Silva, manager and owner of
the Nevada restaurant. Silva's place
had been declared unfair because he
fed members of the Carpenters union.
an organization affiliating with the
American Federation. and that has re-
fused to join the Industrial Workers.
Shot by Walking Delegate.
On Friday last. late in the evening,
Silva's cook and a waiter employed by
him were set upon by unknown men
and severely beaten. At the same time
Silva was warned that if he persist ed
in his course something of a serious
character would happen to him. Silva
did persist. Last night about S O'Clock
while his little place was filled with
people, two shots were fired at Silva
through the front door. The first bullet
liie lildll MANU. llC
second passed through his body, injur-
ing him so severely that he died a few
hours later. To the last Silva retained
consciousness. In an ante-mOrtem
statement given to Chief Constable
Claude Inman, he declared that he had
been shot by a walking delegate of the
/. w. w, giving a description of the
man.
Arrest of Suspects.
Upon the description furnished by
Silva, the delegate in question, NJ. B.
Preston. who went into hiding shortly
after the killing, was suspected. Search
for hin was continued through the
night. Today. shortly before noon,
| Preston surrendered himself. Imme-
diately afterward Joseph Smith. an
other walking delegate for the l. w. w,
was arrested, charged with completely
in the crime. Both men are now locked
up. together with a third man whose
name the police refuse to give out. The
/ inquest on the body of Silva is set for
/ IL o'clock tomorrow morning. At
10 o'clock i'm the afternoon the preliminary
hearing o. the accused men will begin
before Justice of the Peace Solomon.
Meeting of Citizens.
In all the strenuous history of Gold
! field the citizens have not been keyed
/ up to the high pitch of excitement that
is stirring them tonight. As soon as the
lassassinati ton of Silva became known
"a call was issued for meeting of citi-
gems to be held at the Montezuma club
this afternoon. This meeting was at
tended by seventy-five of the most
prominent citizens of Goldfield. TAX
ing a prominent part in the dehbera-
tons were ;Diamondfield jack Davis
George Wingfield, J. p. Lotus of tbs
firm of Lotus & Davis. Major w. a
Stanton, formerly of Salt Lake, ans
others.
Some of the more hot-headed were in
favor of going out at once and hanging
the alleged slayers of Silva As the
meeting progressed, however, cooler
counsel prevailed.
Mines Closed Down.
The result of the deliberations was
the appointment of q committee to as
sist the chief constable and other off.
GERS in maintaining order and the pas
sage of resolution ordering the clos
ing of every mine In the district at /
o'clock this evening for a period o
thiIty-six hours.
The closing of the mines is for the pur
pose of enabling the miners to take par
in a demonstration planned for tomorrow
against the I. w W. And this demon
stration is likely to cause trouble of tn.
gravest character By the terms of al
| announcement made today the miner
who are opposed to the affiiiation witt
the l. W. w. are to gather at Columbi,
tomorrow morning at 10 O'Clock an,
march through Jumbo town, between
: Goldfield and Columbia. to Goldfield.
At Jumbo town they will be Joined b,
: other miners. and at Goldfield by more
: They are expected to proceed to one o
: the prominent street corners and organ
ize a local union of their own. entirell
! distinct and apart from the Westerl
2 Federation and from the |. w w.
BIoodshed Probable.
If the plan is carried out without blood
! shed nobody will be more surprised ths
! those in Goldfield. who are most familia
: with the situation
Tonight there is a undercurrent of de
termination to fight the battle out to it
e bitter bloody end. and that within tn
0 next twenty-four hours 1t is pointed Gu
Y that all the trouble has arisen over tn
determination of the I. W. W. to force
the other unions into affiliatiop with
and that the time has come for a def
; mite settlement of a very ugly c0mpl1ca
! ton. The present trouble was precipi
| tated by the union earoenters.
The carpenters have a national organ
ization of their own. There are nearl
5000 of them in the district. The I. w. "
/ delegates have been trying to persuad
{ them to join their organization, but tn
carpenters have refused on the grOun
that their national constitution does nc
z permit such action
: Continued on Page 2.