THE CRIPPLE CREEK STRIKE — CONTINUED. THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.
One of the most noteworthy of the many remarkable incidents of the Cripple Creek strike was the case of Victor Poole.
Victor Poole was but an humble, every-day, practical quartz miner. Yet his name is associated with an event of much more than passing interest, the suspension, in his case, of the writ of habeas corpus.
The day following the Vindicator explosion, Victor Poole was arrested by the sheriflE of Teller County, on the suspicion of having had something to do with the fatal explosion, but as there was no evidence on which to hold him, he was soon released. For some reason, the military seem to have taken a positive dislike to Victor Poole, for the moment he was released by the civil authorities he was pounced upon by the military, and hustled off in true Russian style to the bull pen.
The military kept Poole in rigorous confinement in the bull pen for several weeks without preferring any charges against him.
As Poole was a member of the Western Federation of Miners, the latter organization, through its attorneys, brought habeas corpus proceedings before Judge Seeds of the District Bench. Judge Seeds granted the writ.
The military commanders and the governor were wroth indeed when they learned that a mere district judge intended to dictate to them as to whether they had the right to deprive a man of his liberty without due warrant of law.