The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-09-19
Throw I'D BreaStWOrkS and
Establish Picket Lines.
UNDER MILITARY DISCIPLINE
They Number Into Thousands
and Speak Many Tongues.
The Governor HurrieS to Can
ital on a Special.

| >
fortified and determined held undispu-
| ted possession of the copper, lead and
silver mines of Bingham when the sec
ond day of the miners strike for 70
cent increase in pay and recognition
of their union daWned.
While the army. thousands strong
| and speaking many tongues, dug
breastworks, strengthened its picket
lines and worked out a rough form OF
military discipline, there was activity
in the offices of the mining company
and the headquarters of the county
and state officials.
The developments of the immediate
future seemed to depend almost en-
tirely upon the success of Governor
Spry in persuading the strikers to sur
render the mines, give up their arms
and wait in patience the success OF
failure of the mine managers IN el-
forts to fill the strikers places OF
figure out means by which their oe-
mands could. be granted
Charles H. Meyer, president OF the
Western Federation of Miners, was
said to have an appointment with Gov
ernor Spry to go over the sltuatlon
His influence with the miners has been
questioned since his failure to secure a
poStpOnement Of the strike
Much Promiscuous Firing.
There was much promiscuous firing
from the pits opposite the Utah copper
works this morning. -About 1000 men
were entrenched there. George W.
Dwyer, superintendent of the Utah cop
per. and some of the bookkeepers went
to the mine and have not been molest-
ed. All of the property of the mining
companies is undaInaged and the Utah
Apex company is working as usual
under an agreement with the union.
Deputy sheriffs are being sent in as
fast as they can be recruited. 1t Was
thought this morning that the sher-
ifs force would number 250 men by
noon and it was planned to make
flank attack on the rife pits as soon as
sufficient force could be mustered and
drive the strikers down the mountain
into the canyon.
Governor in No Hurry.
Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 19--Gov-
ernor William Spry reached Salt Lake
this morning on a special train from
the southern part of the state. A state
ment as to his views on the Bingham
strike situation was refused pending
a conferenc the governor had arranged
last night by telephone, after which he
said: Il have not as yet requested
the strike leaders to go to Salt Lake |
to confer with me. No action of any |
sort will be taken until my arrival at +!
the capital
THE strike is a matter for the civil |
authorities to handle first of all. Ther9 |
is a state board of labor cOnciliation and |
arbitration and it is up to that board 10 |
take the first steps toward a settlement.
''Imm ediately upon my arrival In Salt
Lake I will consult with Secretary Of
State Tingey, Attorney General Barnes
Adjutant General Wedgewood, Sher
Sharp and the board of conciliauon.
1T is hoped officials of the Western
Federation OF Miners and representatives
of the mine operators may be called into
conference
The Situation at Noon.
Salt Lake City, Sept. 19;INoon of
the second strike day at the copper
mining camp of Bingham found the
governor of Utah. with the state board
of labor conciliation and arbitra ton
breaking speed record toward the
camp anxious to restore reason and
caImness before the growing passions
of the five thousand striking miners
and the force of 25O deputy sheriffs
led to loss of life or destruction af
property.
Word had come from Bingham that
the chief deputy in charge had
stronghold on the mountain side at
noon 1t was the desire of the state
officials to gain the scene and try
argument and persuasion before a bat
tie could be precipitated- The morn
ing news indicated that the strikers
were not bloodthirsty. but were en-
joying their temporary ascendancy
over their former bosses by shooting
-ecklessly and pushing intimidation to
the limit of forbearance. There were
stories of attempted murders, the
sequestration of sixty-fve cases of
dynamite taken from StOrehOuSeS at
the mines, of an order for the arrest
of President Meyer. that the armed
miners had been directed by their
leaders to shoot deputies, to kill and
other equally sensational stories Some
of these reports are known to be false
and the others do not come from re-
sponsible sources
A mystery of the Bingham strike was
the simultaneous disappearance Sf
President Meyer of the miners, who left
Bingham on the 9:25 train, due here
at 1926, and of Clarence S. Darrow,
who canno- be found at his hotel
Meyer did not appear at the governors
conference.