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Follow the Fire in
the Hole script and accompanying images to understand why dreams of a
"worker's paradise" were crushed in Cripple Creek, Colorado.
Narrator:
The blow aimed at the Western Federation of Miners in Idaho stood in sharp contrast to Colorado. The Cripple Creek mining district at the turn of the twentieth century continued to ride pro-union sentiment. The movement reached all the way to the dance hall girls in the saloon district.
Cripple Creek Times:
"The federation soon became so strong in Cripple Creek that it was a most powerful factor in the political and industrial life of the district. This soon had its effect, for the district became wholly at the mercy of the federation."
"You could walk into a bar in a mining town, and having people debate whether you should have a miner's cooperative or socialism, or whether capitalism was really the most efficient way to do things. And the passion with which they debated had everything to do with the fact they had some notion that they could influence the outcome. That they were going to direct what the world was going to be like."
Narrator:
Flexing their muscle, the Western Federation of Miners decided to make a show of support for unionizing smelter workers in nearby Colorado City. Their plan was to stop mining. . . dry up the supply of ore. . . and pressure the smelter owners into recognizing the union. But the strategy ran head-on into a new governor.
Jameson:
"James Hamilton Peabody becomes governor and anti-union owners all over the state know that they then have an ally in the governor's mansion. And if they want state assistance in opposing labor, now is the time to do it."
Narrator:
By september of 1903 the union's strategy was working. One of the smelters was forced to close due to lack of ore. The day after the closure, mine owners in the town of Victor, Colorado telegraphed governor Peabody, demanding troops to restore order.
Mayor F.D. French:
"There is in Victor a body of men acting by force and violence to resist and break the laws of the state. Riot and bloodshed are seriously threatened, and are imminent."
Narrator:
Strikes had broken out throughout Colorado. . .and the governor was hard pressed to fund another call-up of the National Guard. In a secret meeting, the adjutant general of the Guard arranged to have the mine owners association pay for the troops. The next day, one-thousand guardsmen were on their way to the Cripple Creek district. A fact that stunned the local sheriff.
Sheriff Robertson:
"To the public: there is no occasion for the militia here. I can handle the situation. As sheriff of teller county, I do solemnly protest against the militia being sent here at this time."
Narrator:
But the commanding general of the guard. . .a former mine manager. . . said the time for civil authority was over. He was there to crush a union.
General Bell:
"I came to do up this Anarchistic Federation. I'll take no further orders from civil authorities. Habeas corpus hell! We'll give ‘em post mortems."
Narrator:
Without a declaration of martial law, general bell started rounding up union leaders and throwing them into a bull pen. Pro-union Cripple Creek was suddenly looking like the Coeur d'Alene district of Idaho. Local judge W.P. seeds ordered bell to yield to civilian authority and bring the prisoners to court.
Jameson:
"And there is this incredible scene where they march these men into the Cripple Creek district courthouse under the guard of these armed militiamen. That have troops stationed on the roofs of the hotels all around the courthouse. They have a gatling gun that is pointing at the courthouse. And seeds orders them to release the prisoners, and they refuse."
Narrator:
Defying the civil courts, general bell then acted to defy the constitution by shutting down pro-union newspapers. The first to go was the victor daily record.
The Victor Record:
"The record does not know at this time how far it will be allowed to express its opinion under the reign of military law. But we propose to proceed just as if we lived in free America."
Narrator:
Word of Sherman Bell's unique form of law and order eventually leaked out, and captured attention throughout Colorado.
The Rocky Mountain News:
"His mental characteristics are such as to make him an unsafe and even dangerous person to hold that position. This has been shown by his disregard of the law and the most ordinary rights of citizens."
Narrator:
The Cripple Creek economy dried up as the military occupation and the strike dragged on. Banks failed, and people lost their savings. The people of Cripple Creek became deeply and sharply divided. An uneasy stalemate gripped the area, while the union held out hope that it could still win. But violence flared. . .a mine was dynamited, killing two non-union workers. Both sides blamed the other. The mine bombing was like a dam giving way. Following the lead of Idaho, mine owners required workers to sign a loyalty oath, denouncing membership in the W.F.M. Union miners were blacklisted.
In the early morning hours of June 6th, 1904 a group of non-union miners ended their shift at a mine near independence in the Cripple Creek district.
Jameson:
"And they are standing on the depot platform at the Florence and Cripple Creek railroad station in Independence waiting for the 2:15 train to come and take them home. There is this massive explosion that blows up the train platform and kills thirteen non-union miners and horribly wounds and mutilates a bunch of others."
Narrator:
A mine private detective joined the crowd that quickly gathered.
Pinkerton Operative:
"The killed miners were blown into unrecognizable masses of flesh and bone, and when the crowd beheld this sight it moved them to tears. Nearly everyone in the crowd was condemning the union, calling them vile names."
Jameson:
"The mine owners association calls a mass meeting of public outrage to be held that afternoon in front of the Victor miner's union hall. And the secretary of the mine owners association, Clarence Hamlin begins to make a speech."
Clarence Hamlin:
"United States citizens must arm themselves and drive these federation men to the hills. For the blowing up of those brave boys, fifty union men should be shot down like dogs, and as many more swung to telephone poles."
Narrator:
Agents and detectives of the mine owners seized control of local governments while National Guard troops looked on. One of their first targets was the pro-union sheriff, Henry Robertson.
Pinkerton Operative:
"A number of men procured a rope, made a noose, and gave Robertson five minutes to decide. Robertson sat down and signed his resignation saying ‘Boys, you got the drop on me, and I know they'd hang me.'"
Narrator:
Into the night, roving squads of soldiers -- newly sworn deputies -- and private detectives kicked down doors and arrested nearly two hundred union miners. The union hall and union stores were ransacked.
An anti-union citizens alliance formed a kangaroo court and started deciding who would be allowed to stay in Cripple Creek. Eventually hundreds of miners. . . the Colorado backbone of the Western Federation of Miners. . . were deported. That was the term. Deported from the heartland of America. Without formal charges. . .without the semblance of a trial. . . without concern for those left behind.
Harriet Minister:
"They sent my man away and he will not come back. I make my living taking in washing. It is better than begging. One who has six mouths to feed has to work pretty hard."
Collier's Magazine:
"Strikers were seized by soldiers in the service of the mine owners and taken out of the state by violence. Without even the most perfunctory trial. The courts being told to go to the devil by the governor, the mine owners, and the soldiers."
Narrator:
But Colorado's governor argued that all civility had to be thrown out when fighting for the life of his state and his nation.
Governor Peabody:
"The Western Federation of Miners is a hydra-headed monster: anarchy, assassination, murder and dynamiter."
Narrator:
For three years, the Western Federation of Miners had pointed to cripple creek as the start of a social and economic revolution. The first step in a journey to redefine living and working in America.
By 1904 the Colorado foothold was crushed. The Western Federation of Miners was considered dead in most circles. But rather than concede, the union's secretary -- a big, blustery, one-eyed former miner from Utah named William Haywood -- said the battle was not over.
Bill Haywood:
"The governor says the constitution demands the suppression of insurrection. If he would go and hang himself, the chief insurgent would be dead!"
Narrator:
It was late fall in 1904. . .and "Big" Bill Haywood would soon make headlines from coast-to-coast.
