the 500 men at
72 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
work would be heavily assessed for the support of their striking brothers, and the revenue from this source together with the moneys subscribed by organized labor the country over, not to speak of the funds in the Federation treasury, would enable the miners to hold out indefinitely.
Fearful of the consequences of an indefinitely continued struggle, the Mine Owners, as stated before, demanded of Governor Peabody that he send the militia into the camp in order to create disturbances by acts of violence against the strikers. They offered to furnish the money for the maintenance of the troops, receiving from the State, however, interestbearing warrants for all moneys so furnished.
The Governor gravely replied that he realized the crying necessity for the militia in Cripple Creek, but that he considered it necessary to send a commission into the camp to investigate and report upon the conditions. The governor then ordered a few regiments of the militia to prepare for active service in the field, arranged for special trains with one of the railroad companies, and when everything was ready for the troops to leave on an instant's notice, His Excellency appointed the following persons as his commission of investigation: Attorney-General N. C. Miller, Brigadier General John Chase, of the State Militia, and Lieutenant T. E. McQelland, an officer of the militia, and also a lawyer.
The way this military commission performed its duty puts us in mind of a court martial in an absolute monarchy where the sovereign instructs the judges, even before the commencement of the trial, to pass sentence of death; and while the accused is being taken before the tribunal, men are already digging his grave.