The invasion of the District Court by armed soldiers, and their behavior toward Judge Seeds moved the people of Colorado to the highest degree of indignation, and it is almost a miracle that a real rebellion did not break out in the State.
However, not only did no rebellion occur, but the leaders of the Federation kept on admonishing the
78 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
miners to remain calm and peaceful in spite of every provocation; and these instructions were faithfully followed by the strikers, whose sober, cool-headed conduct merely served as a back-ground to set off in lurid glare the unscrupulous acts of the State administration and the militia.
From now on the Mine Owners' Association did not hesitate to do an)rthing that would injure the persons, property, or cause of the strikers. The Cripple Creek district was now indeed in the iron grasp of a vicious and lawless body of men, acting together for the purpose of resisting the laws of the state, and trampling rough-shod upon the rights of American citizens.
The militia, after its previous acts, went a step further, and attempted to throttle the freedom of the press.
The Victor Daily Record, from the beginning of the strike, had espoused the cause of the strikers and defended the Western Federation. It printed the daily bulletins of the Miners' Union, and in other ways rendered valuable assistance to the miners. • It goes without saying that the Record was opposed to the presence of the military and exercised its legal rights to criticize the actions of the militia. General Bell and Governor Peabody.
The Mine Owners' Association decided to suppress the paper, and thus, as it were, cut off the miners' communications. General Bell, when