Arizona republican., 1914-12-04
Former United States Sen
 ator Charges Colorado Governor Abdicated and Delegated Authority as
 Chief to Military Officer
SAYS HABEAS
 CORPUS SUSPENDED
Declares Arrests Were Made Without Court Procee- ings and Orders Issued
 Directing Enlistment of Mine Overs 'Gunmen"
ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATcHl

1 DENVER, Dec. 3-Former United States Senator Thomas Patterson i testifying before the Federal Indus trial Relations Commission, said that after Gov. Ammons called out the militia in the Colorado coal strike, the Governor changed his call from enc to proect all property. afford protection for the men at work and protect strikers who wished to re- turn to work, to one directing that they be used to protect strike break CTS, and directed that they operate under the Mover decision, famous as the authorization under which Ad- jutant General Ball controlled the state in 1904, during the strike of the Western Federation of Miners. In effect that authorization suspend ed the right of habeas corpus and made Adjutant Chase the judicial military arbiter in the strike dis | tricts.
 That decision has done more to demoralize society where these in dustrial disputes arise than any oth- CT agency" declared Patterson. T think where you put the lives of community at the will of a mere sol d1er and suspend the operations of the courts, that soldier is more than human if he does not abuse it. l think it the gravest mistake for any governor to abdicate his power as lcommander-in- chief to q military of , ficer."
 | He said after the order to the mi litia had been changed, the troops engaged in taking strike breakers in- to the mines, arrests were made without court proceedings and others were arrested, among them Mother Jones, and held incommunicado on
 suspicion. The good feeling with which the strikers had received the militia at the time of their arrival vanished under the change in the or i der and some authority he said | ordered the enlistment of 'gunmen
 mine guards and men under obliga- tions to the operators in the militia,
 men who had absolutely no right in the militia in any of the states About this time AmmonS went east [ anu NAolCutc DtSdH al luQlOW. ol ] that violence I know nothing I do
 not believe the entire tent city was destroyed accidentally by fire Twelve 1 children and some women were
 burned-I mean suffocated They
 were in pit-for protection I can-
 not believe that any militiamen was
 aware of the presence of these chil- dren in the pit, I want to exonerate absolutely the militia and employees of the company who filled up the two batteries engaged in the incident from any knowledge of that fact. Denver and all Colorado was horri- fled by the tragedy That afternoon called at the headquarters of the State Federation of Labor I found
 at the headquarters representatives Of the unions in Denver making
 speeches that showed a frenzied
 state of mind. At the chamber of
 commerce I found those senate mem
 bers equally excited-but upon the
 other side. It was a clear exhibition
 of class differences"
 His next meeting with the governor
 was after the governors return. when
 he was called upon to discuss with the
 governor the call for an extra session
 Of congress. The governor he found
 was absorbed in the problem of get
 ting funds to support the militia and
 measures to stay the sale of liquor
 in the strike district.
 T prepared for the legislature
 either the bill that was entered, sub-
 hitting to the people a constitu
 tional amendment for compulsory ar bitration, or one similar to it.
 "The legislature adjourned withou action, although the measure wa | passed by the house by a large ma