Bisbee daily review., 1918-05-29
Open Letter to
 GOUernOr Hunt
The Hon. c. W. P. Hunt, Governor of Arizona,

sion or the Third State Legislature. Phoenix, 21st May, after depicting in
 scathing terms the Bisbee deporta- uons, wherein you express with char lacteristic vehemence your abhorrence of what you term to be one of the most lrevolting crimes ever committed in the state, you ask, Gan this dastardly
 "rime ever be equalled in the revolt
 Slg annals of American labor dis putes?" l take up your challenge and
 answer, "Yes, in this very state and during your own benign administra- tion."
 As l read your narrowing descrip-
 ticn of the events of the 12th day of
 July, 1917. an analogous, although
 more terrible. picture arose before my
 mind, to which your own words might
 as iittingly be applied.
 The events connected with the labor
 dispute in the Clifton-Morenci district
 during the winter of 1915-1916 are still
 fresh in the minds of the people of
 this state. To some of the horrors
 may freely and fittingly apply your
 own descriptive words.
 i During these awful months not only scores but hundreds of men, innocent of any intention to disturb the peace ! ful conditions of the communities in
 which they were living, men against whom no charge could be preferred
 except that they refused to be intimi- dated into joining labor organization with whose methods they were not in sympathy. were foTcibly expelled from | this district.
 Picture the spectacle afforded by | these deportations. Mcbs q use the
 word adyisedly) under the eyes of the
 very cfficers charged with the main- | tenance of peace and order in the ! county, and whose sworn duty it was
 10 suppress such lawlessness, organ | ized, not as mobs are wont to do un- | der the spur of justifiable indignation
 cf self righteous anger. but with h.
 dian-like stealth under the cover of darkness, premeditatedly. deliberately and swocped down upon the homes ! of unsuSpecting, unoffending miners who had made no violence, yea. more. ] who had threatened no violence, but ! wiO lad every lawful reason to feel | secure as citizens under the guaran- i tees vCuchsafed by the Constitution of | the United States and the State of Arizona. By sheer fierce of arms and of rocks and clubs and tin cans, this constituencies mob of organized fan atics apparently immune from arrest CT punishment, violated at one and the same time the sacred tenets of our Republic, and the sanctuary of the American home. With all the brutish abandon of the unconscionable Hun os-
 wives embrace, ruthlessly disengaged the arms of little terrified children ! from about their fathers necks, thrust mothers and sons apart, and offered coarse insults to the wives and daugh- ters of honest working men. In this eXecrable manner, without a vestige of justification or legality, many hun dreds of unarmed working men were driven at the point of gun or pike or by threats of violence from their homes, many of them beaten up and spat upon, their clothes torn, and
 bruised and bleeding, compelled to
 walk hatless and shoeless under the l blazing Arizona sun without food or
 water (hOw different to the case of | the l. W. W's who were provided with
 free transportation and an ample sup ply of food and water) until after
 many miles of agony they were a0le to reach the sheltering arms of a con- munity whose manly independent Am erican citizenry received them and as sured them that there at all events | they would be guaranteed the right to live in peace and quietness. of which
 these mobs had deprived them; and
 as can be readily imagined, the reali-
 zation that their mothers, wives and daughters were left in Morenci at the mercy of their ruffian captors did not serve to assuage their anguish. So that what you term this ddstardly | crime" had already been equalled in
 this district, in your own day and time. It is not necessary to accept as cor rect my recital of these doings. The | facts. which are not exaggerated. can | be verified by many reputable citizens who remained in the district through
 out those terrifying months, unparal i leled in the history of this state, by
 sworn statements of scores of victims and otherwise. At the time these oc- ! currences were given the fullest pub i licity and you were publicly asked by one of Arizona's most honorable and
 independent citizens in letter to the press the following question:
 "Is ii true, Governor. that large number of law abiding, inoffensive men. who resided in the Clifton-MOr- enci district with their families and
 themselves. were unlawfully and un-
 mercifully beaten and inhumanly
 abused and forcibly compelled to aban
 don their families, homes and proper
 ty and flee from the Clifton-Morenci
 district and seek refuge in the neigh
 boring town of Duncan, without em- ployment, homeless refugees?
 If this be true, Governor-common
 public rumor says it is true-permit me, with all respect. to ask what you,
 as chief magistrate of the state. under your solemn oath of office. to which you refer in your statement. have done officially or otherwise, to protect
 these injured people in their sacred rights of life, liberty and the pursuit
 Of happiness. and to restore them to their homes, families and properties. If they are not ldwbreakers, why are they unlawtully compelled to be refu- gees under your administration of the laws Cf ATiYOna2 Is not the refugee