accusation if Governor Peabody, General Bell, Manager MacNeill, Secretary Hamlin of the Mine Owners' Association, or some other person very obnoxious to the miners had been on that train.
There was therefore no visible motive that could have prompted the Federation to authorize the commission of such a fiendish deed, and no one knew better than the Federation officials that violence of such a character would only arouse public sentiment
The Pinkerton Labor Spy. 85
against them, and serve as an excuse for the most extreme measures by the military.
Again, the testimony brought out at the trial proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Mine Owners' Association conspired to destroy the reputation of the Western Federation of Miners by levelling the charge of train- wrecking against their leaders. It is possible that if the association had chosen more skilled tools their plot would have carried, enabling them to send three innocent men to the penitentiary.
McKinney was