T . J . Tarsney Thomas J . Tarsney ( 1846 – 1902 ? ) was a Populist politician and author in Colorado in the late 19th century . Early life and political career . Tarsney was born in Ohio , but later moved to Pueblo , Colorado . With Governor Davis H . Waite and Lieutenant Governor Francis Carney , Tarsney was one of the organizers of the Populist party in Colorado . He was a strong advocate for the coinage of both gold and silver , and was outraged by what he perceived as the distortions practiced by advocates of the gold standard in the election of 1876 . Tarsney was elected adjutant general of the Colorado state militia in April 1893 for a two - year term . Cripple Creek Strike . During the Cripple Creek miners ' strike of 1894 , Governor Waite , a 67 - year - old Populist , dispatched 300 troops to the Cripple Creek area on March 18 under the command of Adjutant General Tarsney after the local sheriff had declared that the region was in chaos . Tarsney found the area tense but quiet . John Calderwood , president of the local affiliate of the Western Federation of Miners , assured Tarsney that union members would peacefully surrender for arrest , if that is what Tarsney wished . In his report to the governor , Tarsney described the situation : Convinced that the sheriff had wildly exaggerated the extent of the chaos in the region , Tarsney recommended that the troops be pulled out . Waite concurred . The state militia left Cripple Creek on March 20 . But when the strike persisted , the sheriff — in collusion with mine owners — recruited a force of 1 , 300 hooligans to become deputies and break the strike . Although the mine owners and union had reached an agreement ending the strike , the deputies remained in Cripple Creek . Governor Waite ordered the force of deputies disbanded , but the sheriff told Tarsney he was no longer able to control the private army he had created . On June 5 , the deputies moved into the local town of Altman , cutting telegraph and telephone wires and imprisoning a number of reporters . Aware that the paramilitary force might get out of hand , Waite had already dispatched the state militia , under the command of General E . J . Brooks and Adjuntant General Tarsney , to Cripple Creek . The Colorado state troops arrived in the Cripple Creek region early on the morning of June 6 , but more violence had already broken out . The sheriff began to argue with Brooks and Tarsney about what course of action to take . But when the ' deputies ' attempted to charge the miners , soldiers of the state militia quickly intercepted them and stopped their advance . The sheriff ' s force committed more violence in the town of Cripple Creek . But by nightfall , Brooks had seized the town and corralled all the deputies . After consulting with Tarsney , Gen . Brooks threatened to declare martial law and keep his troops in the region for another 30 days . Meeting with Tarsney , the mine owners capitulated and disbanded their private army . Gen . Brooks dispatched the ' deputies ' via rail to Colorado Springs , where they began dispersing on June 11 . Tarsney became widely hated in Colorado for the role he played in protecting the miners ' union . On June 22 , 1894 , he was staying in the Alamo Hotel in Colorado Springs . Just after midnight , a group of men kidnapped him and took him several miles north of the city . They stripped him , tarred and feathered him , and left him to find his own way back to civilization .