Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1904 — DEvILTRY DONE IN COLORADO [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DEvILTRY DONE IN COLORADO

(Cripple Creek Mining Region in a Furor of Excite--1 ment. * RED WAR LOOMS NEAR AT HAND Dastard Deed Blows Twelve NonUnion Men to Shreds. Station Platform Blown Up at Independence—Hiot Follows at Vic* tor In Which One Is Killed and Six Wounded.

Cripple Creek, Colo., .Tone 9. —Teller county is once more under martial law, and the military is in supreme command. Adjutant General Sherman M. Bell and staff arrived in Victor early yesterday and immediately promulgated military rule by posting on the door of the armory, where a large number of union men and sympathizers are imprisoned. Cripple Creek, Colo., June 7. Twelve men were killed by the explosion of an infernal machine at the railroad station in Independence, and seven others were seriously injured. Eleven men were killed outright, and one died later from their wounds. All the killed and injured with the exception of two men from the Deadwood

mine were non-union miners employed on the night shift of the Findley mine. The men had quit work at 2 a. m., and were waiting to board a suburban train on the Florence and Cripple Creek railroad and return to their homes in Cripple £ reek and Victor. Bodies Blown to Fragments. Jnst after the engineer of the approaching train blew his whistle as a signal to the miners, according to custom, a terrific explosion occurred underneath the station platform, on and near which twenty-six men were gathered. The platform was blown into splinters, the station was wrecked and a hole twenty feet in circumference and about as many feet 1b depth was torn in the ground. Fragments of bodies were burled through space for several hundred feet. Hinu Debris on All Sides. Some of the bodies dropped into the pit made by the explosion, but "heads, hands, ears, legs, arms and trunks were strewn about on all sides. of flesh were found on buildings 500 feet away and blood-stained everything within a radius of fifty feet. The approaching train, was stopped and the train crew and hundreds of others began the work of relief of the wounded. The mangled bodies of the dead, pieced together as well as possible, were removed to the coroner’s office. Names of the Victims. Following is the list of the dead: Gus. Augustine, aged 15, has a brother living in Janesville, Wls.; Arthur Muhleise; Henry Haag, formerly of Leadville; Alexander McLane, Leadville; Charles E. Barber, Herbert McCoy, J. H. Hartsell, William Shanklin, E. Kelso, W. W. Delaney, Edward Boss and E. H. Johnson. The injured Phil Chandler, J. A. Brooker, Edward Holland, John Polllce, Tom Sinclair, Dan Gainey and Clarence Allen. Amputation has been performed upon a number of the wounded, but it is almost pertain that several of them will die. MACHINE THAT DID THE WORK game as the One That Killed Two Men la the Vindicator Mine. The infernal machine with which the diabolical work was done consisted of a quantity of dynamite, estimated at 100 to 300 pounds, a loaded revolver, and a long, slender, steel wire ran from under the station to the cribbing of the Delmonico property, about 400 feet away, where its end was fastened to a rang of a chair. The dynamite was placed close to the muzzle of the revolver, which was discharged by pulling the wire when the engineer blew bis whistle. The ball from the revolver exploded the dynamite. A man was seen running down the hill from the Delmonico after thd explosion. The Victor troops, who were ordered out by Mayor French, were so stationed as to keep people from pass-!

* i • ‘ • . , y Ist over the path taken by this man, and bloodhounds were sent from Canon City pod Trinidad tor the purpose of trailing the assassin. The infernal machine used was similar to the one exploded In the Vindicator mine on Nov. 21, 1903, killing two men.

WILD TIMKS A* VICTOR

Dynamite Outrage at Independence Fallowed by a State of Aaarchy. Victor, Cbl., June 8. —Anarchy, riot, and bloodshed reigned In Victor and the surrounding region after the infernal machine was set off under the station platform at Independence, six miles from here on the Florence and Cripple Creek road. That cost thirteen lives and resulted in the injury of several persons, six of-whom are Injured almost beyond the hope of recovery. Then the scenes of disorder Were transferred to this city, and a riot, in which two persons were killed outright and several fatally injured, was followed by an attack by the militia upon tbre hall where the miners’ union was in session. It is said when the smoke of battle blew away twenty unoln miners were found wounded. Armed men throned the streets and conflicts were of hourly occurrence. Militiamen marched hither and thither, making arrests by wholesale. A number of union miners were placed in the military bull penitentiary, and others were gathered in at frequent intervals. City and county officials were compelled to resign their office because of their reputed sympathy. The sheriff was deposed and Edward Bell was chosen in his place. City Marshal O’Connell is now a prisoner in the military bull pen charged with being a union sympathizer and in his place is Major Naylor of the militia, whose deputies are nearly all militiamen. The union men were in the minority and many of them sought the shelter of the military prison in order to save their own lives. Two companies of militia were ordered out by Lieutenant Governor Haggott, acting for Governor Peabody, who is in St Louis. There were three sensational affairs during the day, the first one taking place at Independence station six miles from Victor, where the station was blown up by an infernal machine add twelve men killed and six injured. Later in the day a riot was started in the city and one man killed and twenty hurt. Following upon this the militia turned out and started for the miners’ union hall, where a meeting was in progress. The troops were ordered to arrest the “ringleaders.” The militiamen were fired upon from buildings as they passed and were pelted with missiles of various kinds until they neared the hall. Volleys of shot were fired at them from the windows of this building, and for a time the situation was almost desperate. The militiamen were ordered to take the hall by storm and a squad of a dozen men with repeating rifles was sent through the front door. These men pumped bullets into the hnll as fast as they could operate their weapons, and a sharp fire was returned from the inside. Then the miners surrendered and came out, not caring to fight any longer. It was found that about twenty of the miners had been injured, and it Is feared some of them are seriously hurt Coincident with the eruption of lawlessness the state supreme court handed down its decision in the Moyer case and upheld the drastic acts of Governor Peabody and the militia by asserting the right of the executive to supersede habeas corpus and to quell anarchy by “the killing of insurrectionists” if necessary.”

One Striker Dies in Battle.

Cripple Creek. Colo., June 9.—A pitched battle at Dunnville, thirteen miles out of Victor, took place yesterday between 200 deputies and guards under Adjutant General Bell and a score of miners of the Cripple Creek district. The miners were entrenched in the surrounding hills. Fourteen miners wgre captured and one union miner was killed. The captured miners included John James, charged with shooting John Davis in the riot at Victor. The killed miner was John Carley, a union miner, of Cripple Creek. The deputies secured the arms and ammunition of part of the miners.

Another Battle Near Victor.

Victor, Colo., June 9. A second battle has taken place. Seven soldiers sent on horseback to Big Hill, two miles east of Victor, to arrest union miners, found them entrenched. The men refused to surrender, and the soldiers opened fire. Over 200 shots were fired. The miners opened fire on the soldiers as soon as they saw them coming up the hill. No one Was wounded. Seven men were captured by the guards and taken.to Cripple Creek. Intense excitement again reigns here.

ADJUTANT GENERAL SHERMAN H. BELL.