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Show IBS' SIDE ' : OFTHESTORY Aratioo Appeals to : People, tfaitive Board Issues a Utemont to Public Proclaiming Pro-claiming Innocence. SL , Spa the Colorado People -Are ;J Heking-Wnr TJpon Union 1; Organization. , SEw ' 'TU,1C "-Al'ng under ln-IJctlqns ln-IJctlqns given by the twelfth FAannual convention of 'the Western ration of Miners, recently a w "Us uy, the osocutIve board orgaulzaUon today issued a atnt regarding u,c strikes In w d 1"!, llmo; Publicity in ail St ,ai is fff 118 members In "Mo be ffi'"h8Cand,nf Persistent ? Pon tho n.2,.?rvcry ,local un'n riiindpiS,p3lrtl0 .bnrore any ycEtigato the situation This committee. It Is declared, found the representatives or the miners ready and willing to listen to a proposition of settlement "What Is Asserted. , '!??r"0ro nny further conference could bo held. It ,1s asserted, "the Citizens' Al-ilanco Al-ilanco Interfered in such manner as to frustrate further efforts Jn the direction of settlement, the Interference of tho alliance al-liance being no doubt prompted by the mttcr hatred of tho merchants against the four co-operative stores established and maintained in the district by tho federation." federa-tion." Tho statement continues: "Wc aro fully convinced from Information bv trustworthy trust-worthy persons that the original explosion explo-sion and subsequent outrages perpetrated are not only the work of the Citizens' Alliance, Al-liance, but are thoroughly of the opinion that tho whole matter was planned In advance. ad-vance. Perhaps no single occurrence has ho mu,c" bearing on this conclusion as the forcible resignation of various regularly elected ofllclals In the dlstiict. Appeals to People. "What 'public necessity' Justified the mob to compel the resignation of these cf-flecers cf-flecers we will leave the reader to Judge for himself. To set asldo tho expressed will of the people, to deposo officials named by the majority to conduct public affairs, is of itself a crime against citizenship citi-zenship that wo cannot pass without severe se-vere criticism. Bealdl? this all other crimes arc puny arc parlor JoI;es or comic opera " After referring to the Imprisonment and deportation of union miners and the refusal re-fusal of tho Citizens' Alliance to jxsrmlt any merchants to supply provisions to the families of such men. the statement continues: con-tinues: "The very fact that union men aro deported by the mlllt-j- trf of itself suflicient to show that no evidence has been obtained against those- men, for If evidence of crime was at hand does any "reasonable man or woman suppose that tho military commandant or the mob Sheriff would be simple enough to deport'' to other parts the guilty persons? No. indeed. What evidence thre is acquits the miners, but apparently fastens tho crime upon the heads of hired assassins and thugs Jn the pay of the Citizens' Alliance. Al-liance. Says Militia Is n Mob. "Tho apparent success of this line of action at Tellurhle. has evidently prompted t Me recent nets of violence In the Crlpplo Creek district. The lawl.-ss mob at nil times had access to the State guns and ammunition. When the mob had committed com-mitted outrages without number the power pow-er of tho grrat State of Colorado steps In, takes up afTalrs where tho mob left off. deports union men, abuses others nnd brazenly heralds to tho world tho pnlna-blo pnlna-blo lie that the miners' unions arc criminal crim-inal organizations and must be wlpc-d out At no time during all this Btruggkt has the military power or the civil power ever been used to protect our members In their rights of citizenship, 'Even at tho present time no determined effort Is being made by the Authorities to discover the real perpetrator of the Independence In-dependence explosion. Nothing 1 attempted at-tempted to bo dono except tho one thing: that is. to fasten this unholy crlmo by Imputation Im-putation and Inncucndo upon the heads of-our of-our Innocent membership. Declares Innocence of Crime. "As was plainly shown some months ago in a trial where the Western Fodern-tlon Fodern-tlon of Miners was accused of wrecking a train, the federation was innocent. So it is clear that nono of the present outrages were committed by our members. As was plainly shown then that the crimes and" outrages were committed by hired dcrtcc- . ttves and thugs for the purpose of bringing bring-ing discredit upon union men. so It will be shown that the present outrages, even tho ruthless slaughter of the unfortunate victims vic-tims of tho explosion that killed sixteen men nt tho Independence depot on the morning of June C. was the work of these same hirelings, who simply enacted the first part of tho plot that was to furnish the excuse for all subsequent outrages. Wo denounce the verdict of tho Coroner's Jury, which holds the federation responsible responsi-ble for the death of these men as unjust and ridiculous, and wo assert that when the truth Is known (If It is ever divulged over tho combined opposition of all county coun-ty and State officialdom) It will be found to be as stated above, tho work of detectives detec-tives and thugs hired on purpose to commit com-mit a deed that might bc laid at our door nnd offer the excuse for tho reign of terror ter-ror that followed." Appeals for Funds. The statement concludes with an appeal for funds to sustain the deported miners and their families. "This la not our struggle strug-gle alone." says the executive board. "Wo aro merely bearing the brunt of battle now. Later it may come In the same way to all others, for the right to organize and maintain a union Is now the only Issue at stake. If tho Western Fedoratlon of Miners Min-ers can bc ruthlessly destroved, then other , unions can bc likewise destroyed. This Is tho concern of all. Let us mako common com-mon cause against the common oncmy. Let us pour out our treasure to bo used In securing tho rights for union men that are denied them without chargo and without with-out trial." |