Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1914-02-26
The Copper Strike.
CONTINUED FROM 1isT PACE.

anu ClOUn0 Tie SII1h0GS families.
Large sums of money and big collec-
ton of food and clothing were sent
from Chicago for a Christmas celebra-
ton
The world knows of the terrible
tragedy enacted at that celebration.
That the cry of fire" was a premedi-
tated act on the part Of the Citizens
Alliance is the firm conviction of
many who have good grounds for their
suspicious. And no matter what may
have caused the catastrophe, the fact
remains that the 70 corpses, now rest
ing in their cold graves ON the bleak
shores of Lake Superior, are but an
other tribute paid to the greed of CAPT
tai, and, particularly, the greed of the
Calumet & Hecla.
We have heard how President Moy-
er and Auditor Tanner of the Western
" Federation of Miners were brutally as
saulted and deported from the strike
district Meyer, with a bullet in his
back, by members of the Citizens Al
lance, just two days after the tragic
deaths on Christmas Eve.
Conspiracy" and Jail for Strike Lead
A grand jury was in session. A
pretext was made to investigate the
disaster and the deportation, of Moy-
er and Tanner But the result of the
inquiry was the indictments against
international and local officers of the
Federation for conspiracy"
"A Finnish Socialist paper in Han
cock published on December ~ the
following sworn statement:
11rv
les questioned many of the persons
who were present at the Italian Hall
on Christmas eve and their afidavits
given under oath prove the following:
Il. That one gentlemanly looking,
rather largely built anu stout man,
well clothed and wearing a sealskin
hat which was pulled down close to
the eyes, entered the hall from outside.
I He had yelled twice Fire
SO. This created a pour-out from
the hall, there being not much rush at
the beginning.
't3. That the women and children
coming out of the hall formed a pile
of about four feet high. Two persons
testified that this happened because
something had been dropped or push
ed in the way of the women and child
rem scrambling to get out.
"A. Two men at the door had start
ed to take apart the pile, pulling some
out alive, and if they had been allowed
to continue, everybody would have
been rescued.
"5. The deputies drove these two
resources forcibly away.
IS. The deputies made no effort to
do any rescue work, but, on the con-
rary, they let the human pile grow
so that the deputies in front were
supported by those behind, thus stop
ping the outpouring of the people, and
so more and more victims fell in the
pile, and finally the pressure became
so great that one Vestola, for instance,
died in a standing position, his face
being against the face of the witness,
whose face was burned by lighted
cigar hat was in Vestola's mouth, be
cause he could not free his hands on
account of the pressure.
~. Deputies has closed the doors,
and thus the work of rescue had to
be started from the top, and those in
the pile had to stay there SO long that
they suffocated.
''8. In the hall a deputy had brok-
en- the neck of a s or year old child
by twisting he'd by the neck under his
amrs Also another deputy dragged
man, holding him by the throat and
his thumbs pressed against the man s
weasand.
SO. A group of deputies and those
with the Citizens Alliance buttons
had been hooking and waving their
hats down below.
40. A man tried to shout from sbe-
low that there was no fire was club
bed in the head"
The next day seven employees of the
paper were arrested, three of them
editors. Thirteen others fed from the
county to escape arrest.
Calumet & Hecla Control Politicians.
4 Following these sensational events,
the demand for a federal nVestiga-
ton increased. From everywhere
came appeals. Congressman Melon
aldAx representing the copper district,
introduced a resolution in the House
of Representatives. His Progressive
constituents, evidently puppets of the
Calumet & Hecla, roared. They de-
manded McDonald's recall.
The Republican governor of the
state objected to the proposed inquiry.
He also appeared in the light of a
creature of the mine owners.
The Democratic majority of the
House committee, to which McDon-
AIDS resolution was referred, baked
Thus we see the fine hand of the
Calumet & Hecla in the Progressive
party, locally, in the State Republican
party and in the Democratic party In
the national legislative assembly.
But Mcdonald persisted and finally
compelled action on his resolution
With the result that an investigation
has been ordered. What the effect of
the inquiry will be is yet to be seen.
And as to the strikers demands?
They are moderate, to say the least.
The conditions. asked for, can not