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ROCKEFELLER SPY SYSTEM EXPOSED ATLAWSON MORDER TRIAL IN COLORADO.' SELF CONFESSED SHADOWS TELL COURT NOW i EVERY MOVE OF MINERS IS WATCHED — SLEUTHS STOP AT NOTNINO TO GET “GOODS” ON A MAN.BY WILLIAM MacLEOD RAINE.Staff Special.Trinidad, May 5: A feature of thetrial of John R. Lawson, charged with the murder of a mine guard at Ludlow, is the testimony of ( harles Snyder and Pat Murphy. These two Bald* vvin-Felts detectives, confessed spies, draw hack the curtain for a momentMthat has thinly veiled the Rockefeller r spy system that obtained here in the * days of the Colorado coal strike.I “They admitted frankly on thestand that thay were out for the money. They said they did not care in the least whether tha work they were doing would lead to murder or not. Serving their employers for $4.00 a day and$ Iexpenses, they washed their hands of all responsibility. Sometimes they sold out to the otherside. Occasionally they worked for both sides at once, double-crossing the one that was paying them the least.Three indictments for the murder* of different men hang over the headof one of these “gun men *, the othei is charged with four on the records One has been convicted of a crime anlt;l has served a sentence.Because his case is a typical one look for a moment at the record of Charles Snyder, the star witness foi the prosecution against John II Law son. I touch only that part of it tc which he confessed on the stand.In HOI he was a mine guard ant1 a strike breaker at Superior, Colorado. Later he was guard at anothermine. He published in 1912 the most scathing indictment I have ever seen of the Baldwin-Felt; detective bureau and the mine operators for whom he worked. 1 quoto, in his own wording and spelling, one sentence of his tirade.“In regard* to having ex-convict* and murderer* a* guard* and of the class they import to break strike* they are worse than a cankerous growth on God'* green earth, but it is this class that such company's as theRocky Mt. Fuel Company and others hire as the main tool to hire small tools to break unionlabor.**He was hired by the Mine Workers* union, in September, 1913, to act as a bodyguard for John Lawson, Mother June1 and others, the reason being that a union leader named Lippiatthad been shot down in the main street of Trinidad (within 75 feet of where I now sit) by two Baldwin-Felt s detectives.Within six months he was back with the Baldwin-Felts people as a spy. This was in March of last year.In April, while still in the employ of the Baldwin-Felts people, he tried to get money from the United Mine Workers, against whom his detective agency was working hard. A year or two ago he testified before u legislative committee against his former employers the Baldwin Felts people and the operators. Only the other day he lid the same thing against his other •mploycrs, the union.Many of the spies are fixtures.They are bartenders or store clerks r pit bosses. Whenever a man talk ; incautiously about injustice on the part of his employers his name is marked. Soon he is let out. So at least the men charge.in the closed camps, according to their story, they cannot buy goodsutside but must trade at the company stores. The “buddie” with whomi man works may be a spy for all helt;nows. So men learn to be close-mouthed.The unions have their spies too.They too keep tab on everyone of importance. But their opportunities to get results are less.And at present Trinidad is a city of suspicion.|§ Spies watch your goings, not because of what you are but because of mittet a session of the Lawson trial; Granby Hillyer, the judge in the cssc what you may be.; If two men stop on the street and Lower picture, left to right: John R. engage in talk someone drifts up and lights a cigarette with much trouble, a step or two away. At restaurants men choose their seats with regard to their position as to offering cover for an eavesdropper.The secret service of the Rockefeller interests knows where John Lawson ate his dinner last night, whom he ate it. and very likely what | they talked about.In Las Animas county a man may be geographically in America hut he is socially in Russia. Passports ought to be given out to strangers forconvenience.Men who figure in Lawton trial at Trinidad, Colorado. Top. left to right: A. W. Archibald, oldest attorney in Las Animsi-co; although 70 be nevercounsel, L. Pwho ran for govarnor twice on
Newspaper Details
Hanover Evening Sun
Hanover, Pennsylvania, US
Wed, May 05, 1915
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
OH, USA 15 Apr 2019
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