Mohave County miner., 1917-12-01

vestigation was made.
 The future cannot be safeguarded against a recurrence of such deporta- tions, the report says, unless a candid and just statement is made of the facts surrounding the Bisbee deporta- tions and an understanding is had of the conditions which brought it about" :"
 "A strike was called in the Warren district on June 26, 1917, to be effec- tive the following day. While un- doubtedly the men sincerely felt that several grievances call for rectifica- 1 tion by the companies having regard to the conditions in this district and the governments need for its copper production, the grievances were not of such a nature as to have justified the strike"
 Shortly after the strike was called, the report explains, the sheriff of the county through the governor of Ari- | zona, requested the aid of federal troops, but after investigation of the situation in Bisbee an army officer re- ported that every thing was peaceable and that troops were neither needed nor warranted.
 'That the conditions in Bisbee were, in fact, peaceful and free from any manifestations of disorder or violence,' the report adds, "is the testimony of reputable citizens as well as officials of the city and county who are in position to report accurately and speak without bias.
 Early on the morning of July 12 the sheriff and large armed force presuming to act as deputies under the sheriff's authority, comprising about 2,000 men, rounded up ], ,186 men in the Warren district, put them aboard a train and carried them to Columbus N. NJ. The authorities at Columbus refused to permit those in charge of the deportation to leave the men there and the train carried them to the desert town of Hermanas, N. NJ. The deportees were wholly with out adequate supply of food and wa ten aud shelter for two days. The men were abandoned by the guards and left to shift for themselves. The situation was brought to the attention of the war department and on July IA the depOrtees were escorted by troops to Columbus, N. M., where they were maintained by the government until the middle of September.
 According to an army census of the deported men, 199 were native born Americans, 468 were citizens, 472 were registered under the selective draft law and 433 were married. Of the for eign born over twenty nationalities were represented, including Al British 12O Servians and 175 Slavs. Germans and Austro-Hungarians (other than Slavs) were comparatively few.
 "Ihe deportation was carried out under the sheriff of Cochise county. It was formally decided upon at a meet ing of citizens on the night of July, II, participated in by the managers and other officials of the Copper Queen 1 Consolidated Mining Go. (Phelps- Dodge corporation, Copper Queen di- vision), and the Calumet and Arizona Mining company. Those who planned and directed the deportation purpose ly refrained from consulting about their plans either with the United States attorney in Arizona or the law officers of the state or county, or their own legal advisers.
 The plan for the deportation and execution are attributable to the be- lief in the minds of those who engi- neered it that violence was contem- plated by the strikers and sympathiz- CTS with the strikers who had come to the district from without; Nhat life and property would be insecure unless such deportation was undertaken, and that the state was without the neces- sary armed force to prevent such an tclpated violence and,to safeguard life and property within the district. This belief has no justification in the evi- dence in support of it presented by the parties who harbored it.
 The deportations was wholly illegal and without authority in law. either state or federal.
 Immediately after the first deporta- tions and until late in August the function of the local judiciary was usurped by a body, which, to all in- tents and purposes was a vigilance committee, having no authority what ever in law. It caused the deporta- ton of large numbers of others.
 Among these who were deported from the district, and who thereafter were arrested in seeking entrance into Tt were several who had registered under the selective draft law and sought to return or remain in the dis trlct in order to discharge their legal duty of reporting for physical exanf- nation under the draft"
 These conclusions were reported by the commission:
 "All illegal practices and the denial Of rights safeguarded by the consti T11Tunn DT1n cfnArrAo~