Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1916-08-10


against them. Prevent further preach
OF the peace, riots and unlawful as
semDnes. use all your powers toT
the preservation OF llTe and property.
1t should be noted that the range
towns are seventy miles from Duluth
and that magistrates were available at
all OF them. Surely there is some
thing in the Minnesota laws directing
tnat men charged with crime be taken
before the NEAkESE magistrate. But
Duluth, ambitious and hungry for
eastern capital, is VIGOROUSLY with
the companies and against any in
terest opposing them.
In the light of that one phase, Pre-
ferably at Duluth and OF subsequent
Developments, the observer can al
most see the hand reaching over
Burnquist's shoulder and directing his
pen. Commenting on the telegram,
the ,Mesaba Ore, newspaper OF gen
eral circulation at Hibbing, said on
July %:
line governor accepted without
question the word of the mining COM
panies that the law was being vioiaI-
ed on the ranges by the striking min
ers, that riot and bloodshed was ram
pant and life and property were in
Danger of destruction from the mob,
out the governor made no effort, 1t
appears, TO ascertain the truth or
falslty of the statement made to him
by the mining companies-he acted
Dlindly.
Had the governor made proper, or
half proper, investigation he would
nave learned that nearly all OF the
law violation that followed the strike
was that of the armed thugs employed
by the mining companies, or inspired
by them.
IN his order to the Sherltf 10 un-
arm Ine strikers the governor Was
commanding a county omclal 10 Vlo-
late ms oaLn OF once. by Jnat or0er
me snenn was expected TO approach
a group OF men anywhere ana proceed
70 go through their pockets without
lormallIy- SIMPLY strongarm them; ne
was ordered 10 enLer WlLnout warrant
the homes OF the miners and search
Tor firearms, and it there was resist
ance TO, arrest The miners and slap
them into JAIL, or beat them into
with billie. Deputy
sherltfs employed by the mining COM
pany used these tactics as an excuse
Tor getting" the men they wanted,
and they were exceedingly busy along
that line.
WAS there ever anything more like
ly to drench the range with human
blood than this governors order to
the sheriff? 1t. was just what the
mining companies wanted TO give then
gunner, their armed thugs. full au-
Ihorlty to murder those opposed to
the mining company-the authority OF
the State Of Minnesota backing up the
mining companies in the Wanton kill
ing OF men who were only asking for
an increase in wages, and the protec-
ton of the state for their thugs with
the bloody hands,
The Governors Part. ~
Following the receipt of this tele-
gram, the company gun men became
holder. On July 3, a notorious char
acter named Nick Dillon, a gun man
in the employ of one Of the companies;
into the home of striking
miner at Biwabik without knocking,
armed with a revolver, and followed
by three deputy sheriffs. According to
a newspaper owned by the Postmaster
Of Duluth Dillon received his training
as "bouncer" for a house of i'll fame.
This invasion of Workingmans
home the facts of which are admitted,
was undertaken ostensibly to serve a
warrant for the illegal sale of liquor.
by his wife, children and
several miners who boarded with him,
the miner holly resented the intrusion
Of the company guard, and fight
ensued in which one deputy sheriff
and a peddler friendly to the miners
was killed, and a miner shot twice
through the thigh. The miner and
four of his friends were arrested, tax
en- to Duluth, and jailed for first de-
gree murder. A coroner's jury re-
fused to return a verdict fixing the
responsibility.
4 Within a few hours. of this outrage
on the part of the company guard and
the subsequent tragedy, seven organ
izers for the l. W. W., stationed at
distant points on the range, were ar
rested without warrants, refused a
hearing, placed on special train,
taken to Duluth, seventy miles distant,
and lodged in the county jail charged
with murder in the first degree.
Under a peculiar Minnesota statute,
these organizers are charged as prin-
cipals in the murder Of the deputy
sheriff on the ground. that speeches
made by them induced the killing.
The writer talked to witness for
the State who had heard the organic
ers advise the strikers to refrain from
violence, and keep their hands in+their
pockets, but to retaliate if the life of
one of the strikers was taken by a
guard. This and the fact that the
miners carried union cards apparently
is the principal and in fact the only
evidence against the organizers. Yet
Sheriff Meining admitted to the writ
er that if gun men in the employ of
a private corporation were. to enter
his home without knocking and threat
en- the safety and lives of himself and
family, he would feel justified in de-
tending himself.
In jail at Duluth on the murder
charge are Carlo Tresca, Lawrence
strike leader; Frank Little, Sam Scar
lett, Joe Schmidt, Joseph Gilday, Leo
Stark, and others. Every effort is
being made to convict them and send
thorn RI tho pal1ows nv County Prose-