the Ouray Miners* Union, and also with the deported Telluride miners, who had all congregated in this little city.
Now the governor had officially proclaimed that the members of the Western Federation of Miners in San Miguel County had risen in armed rebellion against the State. By virtue of this proclamation, the Fede-
130 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
ration was practically declared to be an outlaw organization, and its leaders consequently became outlaw chiefs. The militia (or should we say the mine owners?) therefore decided that the insurrection could never be suppressed so long as President Moyer was at liberty, and they concluded to arrest him. The only difficulty lay in the fact that Moyer was in Ouray County, and that county, not being under martial law, could not well be invaded by the military. But little difficulties of this kind could not thwart the desires of the mine owners and militia.
Sheriff Rutan, of San Miguel County, was a willing tool of the Telluride Mine Owners' Association. Papers were sworn out in Telluride charging President Moyer with the crime of "desecrating the American flag," and armed with these papers Sheriflf Rutan proceeded to Ouray, where he caused the sheriff of the county to arrest Mr. Moyer on the charge mentioned and lock him up in the county jail. The next day Sheriff Rutan and his prisoner departed for Telluride. Here Mr. Moyer was again locked up in jail pending a hearing.
It is a significant fact that, although President Moyer was arrested in Ouray, amid hundreds of ardent admirers and followers, not a move was made by a single member of the Western Federation of Miners to free their chief by force. The miners felt that the arrest of their president was for some hidden purpose, yet they allowed the law to take its course, ignoring the precedents established by the mine owners and the governor.