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Show Concealed Assassin Pulls Wire, I By mmite Explodes, Twelve Die I NON-UNION IN I SLAUGHTERED I Infernal Machine Is I Exploded. I Terrible Massacre of Miners H Occurs at the Depot In H Independence. Workmen Are 'Blown, to Atoms by Dynamite Which Is Placed Under Station. CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo., June 6. A concealed assassin, by merely pulllng'a wire, exploded an Infer-nal Infer-nal machine, thereby instantly killing eleven men and severely wound-ing wound-ing nine others, one of whom has since died, at Independence, today. 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 Flndlcy mine. The men had quit work at 2 a. m. and were waiting to board the suburban train on the Florence & Cripple Creek railroad and return to their homes In Cripple Creek and Victor. Just 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 depot platform on and near which twenty-six men were gathered. People Blown to Atoms. The platfonn was blown Into splint-ers, splint-ers, the depot was wrecked and a hole twenty-six feet in circumference and about as many foct in depth was torn In the ground. Fragments of bodies were hurled through space for several hundred feet and, later, were picked H up still quivering. Some of the bodies dropped Into the pit made by the ex-plosion, ex-plosion, but heads, hands, cars, 'legs, arms and trunks were strewn about on all sides. Pieces of flesh were found on buildings 500 feet away and blood-stained blood-stained everything within a rudlus of jH Many Mangled Bodies. H The force of the explosion was felt throughout the camp and the crash jH awakened everybody. The approach-ing approach-ing train was slopped and the train crew were the first men to reach the pcene of the disaster. They were joined In a few minutes by hundreds of per-sons, per-sons, and relief work was begun at once. A special train was sent from Cripple Creek carrying physicians, nurses, officers and many others, but when it reached Independence the In-Jured In-Jured had already been placed on board H the suburban train and removed to the hospitals In Victor. The mangled bodies of the dead, pieced together as well as possible, were removed to th Coroner's ofllce. Following Is a list of H the dead: IH Dead: jH Gus Augustine, aged 25; has a brother living In Jancsville. Fin. . .H Arthur Muhlclsc, aged about 33; has relatives In Germany. Henry Haas. Alexander McLane, formerly of Lead-ville Lead-ville Charles E. Barber. Herbert McCoy. . J. IL Hartsell. William S. Ilanklin. 'T E. Kelso, married. W. W. Delaney. Edward Ross. E. H. Johnson, formerly. - of -"..-Little 1 Horse, Wyo. Phil Chandler. J. A. 13 rocker. H Edward Holland. 1 John Pollice. H Trm Sinclair. fl Dan Galney. Clarence Allen. H Several Will Die. Amputation has been performed upon a number of the wounded, but it Is al- H most certain that several of them will die. A majority of the dead and in- H Jured were single men, but several had H families living in the district. H Charles Rector of the Shurtloff mlno H escaped by a miracle. He was chatting H with several men, unconscious of dan- H ger, when the explosion occurred. He H wiw a number of men rushing toward H the depot, and at this moment he was H lifted from his feet and was deafened 1 by a terrific crash. When he realized H what had occurred ho was surprised to find himself uninjured. jH Story of Survivor. H. W. Vanatta. one of the Flndlcy miners who had a remarkable escape H from death, in describing the explosion, B said: "The earth seemed to heave under H the platform and depot and the noise H made was deafening. We had been at B the station about two mlnuteswhcn th explosion occurred. I was thrown through the air about seventy-five -feet. H There were about twenty-five men on H the platform, and most of them wern M non-union miners who worked on th II ' l(t P ' FIndlcy. The Shurtloff shift had not y I Ji yet reached the depot, but was hurrying: r Jf ! down the hill. Had these men reached the platform the casualty list would L i,r ' have been doubled. There must have ! ' "3 been 300 pounds of powder used, and ! I- U ' It must have been set off by an electric I J, '! spark or revolver, as the minora would II ' i have smollcd the fuse If one bad Dcon I i "sed." ' ji i w Goorpc Hcmlck was hurled many feet i iji f from the platform, but escaped with 1 . . j ji only a few bruises, although heavy I j j timbers and rocks fell all about him. j ''jj Dynamite the Explosive. g . The Infernal machine with which the JI i diabolical work was done consisted of ' i a quantity of dynamite estimated at 150 . ' .1 lo 300 pound?, a loaded revolver and a If long slender steel wire attached to the . ,' ; trigger. The revolver wasi fastened so l ii j that the pulling of the trigger would not ,i ' A' draw It awny. The wire ran from un- i ,1 ;1 der tho depot to the cribbing of the i t Delmonlca property, about 100 feet 'j ' j away, where Its end was fastened to the I i' rung of a chair. The dynamite was ,,' . placed close to the muzzle of the rc- " rt volver, which was discharged by pulling j? the wire- when the engineer blew his J ' whistle. The ball from the revolver cx- 4 If ploded the dynamite. A man was seen I 1 'J running down the hill from the Del- !1 , ,f inonlca after the explosion. : ) Path Protected. ? i The Victor troops, who were ordered if out by Mayor French, were so stationed ! ' as to keep people from parsing over the ( "J, path takon by this man, and blood- j hounds were sent from Canon City and i I ,, Trinidad for the purpose of trailing the i h -assassin. The Infernal machine used ii today was similar to tho one exploded f ' ' ' In the Vindicator mine on November 21, j jj ' 1303, killing two men. j , Bodies Taken From. Coroner. t 'V By order of Maj. H. A. Naylor of the National Guard the bodies were rc- 1 ' moved from the Coroner's establishment ( , to another undertaker'?. This action 1 was taken on request of J. S. Murphy, i superintendent of the Flndley mine, be- i I , cause It was alleged that Coroner James it , Dornn had remarked before the dls- covery of the Infernal machine that the IH v ( death of the men was due to nn accl-I accl-I dent. Later Coroner Doran explained Bl f, A that, although he had spoken of the B ', disaster as an "awful accident," he was convinced that a terrible crime had I ' been committed. L S ' Sheriff Resigns. I r I "Without explanation and with a sud-fv sud-fv ' denness that has caused great surprise, f '' Sheriff Henry M. Robertson this after-l after-l noon resigned his position and Edward i ii I3ell was named to succeed him by the ( County Commissioners. Bell Is a mem-I,' mem-I,' her of the Citizens' Alliance. ' , City Marshal O'Connell of Victor has ly sworn In a large number of special po-H po-H 1 I Icemen, who are palrollng the streets IJ with shotguns. Many union men have m armed themselves and say they will re-l re-l iIst with violence any attempt to run lj them out of town, as is proposed. De- , tcctlves have been engaged to shadow , the movements of every prominent union leader In the camp, h , Feeling- Is Bitter. I f 1 Clarence Hamlin of the Mine Owners v, association has arrived at Victor, and if has taken charge of affairs over there. ) ' He declared this afternoon that the men u 4 who are responsible for the Indepen-I Indepen-I donee outrage should be hanged from a j., telephone pole, and that he would be only too glad to help pull the rope If the 14 murderers could be discovered and cap-V cap-V tured. Ij JW,. -A- squad of soldiers under the com-I com-I , mand of Maj. H. A. Naylor this after- ' noon notified all hardware and gun it " stores in Victor not to sell any flrc arms i or ammunition without a permit from J him or the police authorities, and then , , j to take the name and description of the ' ? i 1 purchaser. The demand will be com-J com-J j piled with. V Mines Closed Down. j jli) Among tho mines that have already ,. closed down are the Stratton Indepen-ff Indepen-ff ' dence, the Last DoUar, Theressa and the Shurtloff, These properties em-! em-! ployed nearly 1000 men. The streets of , , Victor are filled with an excited mob, ,' and much loud talk Is being Indulged In. j City Marshall Suspended, j City Marshal O'Connell of Victor was T j suspended by Mayor French and Maj. f . .! H. A. Naylor was appointed provisional )S M 1 ' 'fl Marshal. O'Connell yielded, although he ( was strongly urged by union miners to r , ; resist ' Sheriff Robertson and a detective 7' force have found the machine which set off the dynamite. It consists of a reft re-ft . ,', volver and 200 feet of steel wire. The ii ' ill revolver was placed underneath the ' jU ij platform close to the powder. One end 'j of the wire was fastened to a chair leg, j! jN which was used as a lever from the Dcl- hi u" ,!, monico property. Kk ' Hurled to Death. B kj f jf I The men employed on the night shift . j f , at the Flndley mine, who had just fln- H. j' iHhcd work, had gathered on the depot ' . platform to board n train and return to , their homes when the explosion oc- curred beneath their feet, hurling them i In every direction, destroying the deDot B' i and rending a great hole In the earth. Hjt I A special train carrying physicians, B ' j nurses, detectives, mine owners and H'? u ,' ' other persons was disi)atched from this V; 11 ity as soon as possible after news of tho explosion was received and arrived at Independence, six miles distant, at J 4 o'clock. Sheriff Robertson and other HBV j ' olhcers immediately began a careful I t1 search for clues to the perpetrators of i ' j the outrage. A' 1 Troops Withdrawn, r! tj. , Although the strike of union miners Mj. R in the Cripple Creek district, which be- H,1 . ' gan August 10, 1903, and which led to H ' the declaration of martial law In Teller H ' 1 county by Gov. Peabody, is still In ef- B feet, good order having been maintained j for the past six months and the .military Hl. I rulo has been suspended and all troops Hkj withdrawn. The mine owners, with tho .r1 j L exception of the Portland company, HL j f' claim to have as many men working as H,t- j tncv need and they require all miners s 1 to renounce allegiance to the Western I ' Federation before giving them employ- t mcnt. 1 f Investigated Situation, pi' A committee appointed by the con- i ventlon of the Western Federation, now j i In session at Denver, to investigate the f situation In this district, visited tho BW V J camp last week. .i J Charles H. Moyer, president of the Mi 1 Federation, Is In Jail at Tellurlde, which BM J . f, is under martial law, being held as a BWji military prisoner by Gov. Peabody, who , j charges him with Inciting Insurrection j ' , an(1 rebellion. Tellurlde Is In south- Bj' i i western Colorado, and Is about 400 miles I ' from Cripple Creek. HU J j 'rhe strikes in the metalliferous mines i. If of Colorado were ordered by the execu- Wl 'f tlve board of the Western Federation t of Miners, for the purpose of cutting off 1 M the ore supply of mills and smelters at Hf ll ; which an eight-hour day was refused to . 'l the employees. The Flndley mine la ; controlled by A. E, Carlton, president of i the First National bank, a man proml- j ent in the councils of the Crlpplo A . , ' Creek MinC'-Owners' association. ' 1 ' Tien news of the disaster reached I Victor, Mayor Franklin ordered out j i company L National Guard, and the j . j ! -oldlers are now on guard, Hl I t Horrible Sights. ' l The sights at tho depot are sickening. Portions of human, .bodies, ar.e scattered over the right of way of the railway and the twenty-foot holo made by the explosions ex-plosions are several skulls, arms, legs and hands. Every object "within a radius of fifty feet from the hole Is bespattered be-spattered with blood. The injured were removed as quickly as possible to the Victor and Red Cross hospitals and tho mangled remains of the dead, most of whom were unrecognizable, unrecog-nizable, were gathered. Train Crow Is Saved. The murderers evidently did not wish to kill or Injure any or the crew In chargo of tho train which the Ill-fated miners intended to take for their homes In Victor and Crlpplo Creek. When within seventy-five yards of the depot at Independence, the engine whistle sounded as a signal for the men at the depot to get ready to board and to warn nny laggers to make haste Jf they wished to catch the train. Tho whistle was the death signal, for no sooner had tho shrill blast sounded than a muffled roar was heard and the mountain trembled trem-bled as if rocked by rn earthquake. An Awiul Spectacle. The train, which was running slowly, was brought to a sudden stop by the engineer and members of the train crew ran hastily forward to investigate. They Were horrified at the sight which greeted eyes, me spectacle oeing maac an the more gruesome by tho sickly flickering flicker-ing lights from the lanterns and burning burn-ing torches the railroaders carried. It took but n few seconds for the trainmen to appreciate the terrible results of tho explosion, and messengers wero rushed off for assistance. Explosion Described. Charles Rector of the Shurtloff mine, describes tho explosion as follows: "There were about fifty or sixty of us waiting for the train which was coming com-ing up the track a few hundred feet distant. dis-tant. A number of miners who had not yet reached the depot were running toward to-ward it with their dinner buckets in hand. The train approached the depot at a moderate rate and the crowd on the platform began to move around so as to secure points of vantage in getting ' flhn.lrrl nci ennn n i (Via .pnln .vn.i,1 "At this moment a great explosion occurred right under our feot. The Impact Im-pact shook the buildings In the town and everything became absolutely dark. A few moments later groans of men Avere heard, people came running from residences and stores to the scene. I found myself uninjured. Torn Into Splinters. . "The depot, the platform and the surrounding sur-rounding objects were rent into splinters. splin-ters. The work of rescue was begun at once. Six badly wounded miners wero picked up at different points near the scene. The dead were found after much difficulty. There was almost total darkness dark-ness In tho vicinity." The whole district le up in arms over tho catastrophe and danger of further trouble is feared. Of the miners murdered, several are from this city, while some reside In Victor. Vic-tor. Most of them have families, and the crime Is enhanced for that reason into the most stupendous disaster In the history of the district, not even excepting ex-cepting that of the Independence mine last January, whereby fifteen men lost their lives. Crime Carefully Hatched. That the diabolical crime was carefully care-fully hatched and deliberately perpetrated perpe-trated there is now not the shadow of a doubt Two or three hundred pounds of powder was exploded, probably by a revolver attached to the wire, which still remains leading out from the sceno of the explosion. The rear end of the wire was uncovered at 11 o'clock this morning by a construction gang of the F. & C. C, railroad, which was sent to the scene of the wrecked depot by Trainmaster Mlddaugh of tho Southwestern South-western system. Unrecognizable Remains. A large quantity of unrecognizable remains of human beings was also uncovered un-covered at the same time. Sheriff Burton Bur-ton and Deputies Wilson and Underwood Under-wood stood guard over the pile of debris de-bris from early morning, in the hope that upon the arrival of the railroad workers some definite clue to the nature na-ture of the machine might be discovered. discov-ered. Nothing was fourid, however, except ex-cept the rear end of the wire which was used to explode the gun. The wire was discovered at daylight running out alongside the switch which goes to the Delmonlco mine. Attached to the end of the wire as a handle was a chair leg. This was used to pull tho fatal trigger, seventy-five yards away. Bloodhounds on Trail. Bloodhounds have been requisitioned Hum imiiuau, rainier jjaice and Canyon Can-yon City. The wire is being carefully guarded and no one Is being permitted to walk along the spur of the track along which It runs. It would seem like a futile attempt to apprehend the assassins who pulled the string. The trail would be lost after the end of the spur Is reached. It la so near tho town of Independence that Innumerable persons have traversed the ground In that vicinity. It would seem that the only hope is for the arrest ar-rest of every suspicious person in tho district and forcing such persons to prove alibis. The crime Is such a terrible ter-rible one that nearly all the authorities are at sea to account for the Identity of the murderer or murderers. |
