New Britain herald., 1914-06-02
CLAIMS STRIKE WAR WAS N|SSTATED
Judge BoughlOp, EmssaTy Of Gov. kmMOnS, Relates Details.

New Haven, June 2.-As the rep resentative of Governor Anmons, of Golorado, Edward Boughton, judge advocate of that state, and an officer Of the national guard who spent con- siderable time in the coal regions of Colorado affected by the recent strike, made statement of what he claims to be the true state of affairs during the occupancy of the state militia at Ludlow and Trinidad at the Quinni- piack club last night. Judge Bough- ton is touring the east as the repre- sentative of Governor Ammons, who is anxious that the public should know the truth because of the stories of brutality and murder laid at the door of the state militia.
 Tn closing Judge Boughton said Tt is unquestionably true that one side is not wholly to blame. I have no feeling of hostility toward the miners only in that they are opposed to troops upholding the sovereignty of the state of Colorado. Do not get the impression that I am holding any brief for the operators
 Lack of Oxygen.
 Judge Boughton, speaking of the stories of the killing of women and Children during the fight between the miners and state troops at Ludlow, said that with the exception of one small child killed by a stray bullet not one of the dead found after the fight were struck by soldiers bullets. The two women and eleven children reported killed by the state troops had been placed in a cave bv their own kind and all died from lack of oxygen, he claimed.
 Judge Boughton said in part T have been sent east from Colorado by his excellency to reach the avenues of publicity in the hopes of getting before the American people the &C., tual facts of what has happened since last October During that time the actions of the state troops have been deliberately misrepresented.' Judge Boughton went on to state that pre- vious to the strike the Western Fed 9ration of Miners had nearly six mill lion dollars in their trear~-r- which had been collected since the strike of 1910 by assessing each. Of the 42o,U0U members of the union fifty cents a month. So far the miners have spent
 
 liGps. -...
 Funds Not Sufficient.
 Regarding the reports that the troops sent to the strike regions had been recruited from thugs in the slums of Denver, Judge Boughton said: "All of these men were trades men, farmers and clerks and went to the strike zone out. of a pure spirit z of citizenship, they and t'-ai~ families enduring hardships because they have not been paid for their services this year, the state treasury not having sufficient funds'' t...
 Following the arrival of troops a truce was made with the miners who agreed to surrender all their arms, providing the mine guards were also disarmed. Following these arrange n9ents every gun was taken from the guards and shipped out of the regions. The following day elaborate prepara- tions were made for taking the 5000 rifles from the miners, but only twen- ty-eight rifles of obsolete patterns were secured and to add to the humor of the situation, in Judge Boughtons words, one child's toy pistol was turned over to the troops. The tent colony at Ludlow was searched four times thoroughly with the result that number of rifles were taken from the strikers
 Body Horribly MutiIated
 Tn the first fight between the troops and miners, Judge Boughton said: "One of our men was slightly wound. ed. He was placed in a clump of bushes near the gulley we were occu- pying. Within few minutes we were forced from our position and on re- gaining it few hours later we found the soldier dead, the body being hor- ribly .mutilated.
 . Following the firing of the tents which Judge Boughton said had been done by the impact of bullets against ammunition and dynamite in the tents, there was no question but what 1the soldiers footed the tents. but Arge amount of the booty was re- covered later and returned to the owners
 Three Prisoners Escaped.
 During the fighting three prisoners In the hands of the militia escaped and tried to reach their friends, but were brought down by the cross fire of both the miners and troopers shots. Subsequent examination showed one man to be shot through the breast, proving him to have been killed by his friends, the other being shot in the back by the soldiers bull lets. The third man was shot by both. One of the dead men was a leader of the strikers, who had tried to prevent the miners from fighting the troops.