POLICE OPEN FIRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20005, 23 November 1927, Page 9

POLICE OPEN FIRE

BLOODSHED AT MINE Two Strikers Killed in Attack on Deputies MARTIAL LAW TO BE DECLARED (By Telegraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright.) (A. & N.Z.) NEW YORK, Nov. 21. A message from Denver states that the long, tense mjjna dispute broke into open violence when State police and the striking miners battled at the Columbine Mine. Official reports declare that two strikers were killed and at least 30 persons were injured. The fight occurred when 500 miners and women sympathisers rushed 15 State guards at the mine, which had been the testing ground since the strike was called and the only property operated virtually throughout the strike. When the miners approached the property the deputy-sheriff mounted* a truck and warned them against entering the enclosure. The miners paused but the leaders urged than on and the crowd pushed inside. The police used tear bombs and the miners retreated cursing and yelling, but charged* again when the gas cleaned despite further police warnings. The latter fired in the air, hoping to stop the advance but the attackers swung clubs, waved knives, and. swept on. the officers, who then fired into the advancing ranks. Two miners dropped death at the first volley. Meantime, in another dash near Aguilar, 12 more miners were injured and 35 were arrested by deputy sheriffs, but no shots were fired. Governor Adams stated that martial law would shortly be declared and National Guardmen were being despatched to the strike zone. ANOTHER MINER DEAD NATIONAL GUARDSMEN CALLED OUT PROTECTING LIFE AND PROPERTY Received Nov. 22, 9.30 p.m. (A. & N.Z.) NEW YORK, Nov. 22. The latest news from Denver says three miners are now dead*, five near death, and 25 persons, including eight of the police force, are injuredGovernor Adams has called out the Colorado National Guard, proclaiming the rioting miners to be “bodies of men acting together by force in an attempt to commit felonies and offer violence to persons and property.”

Three hundred Guardsmen are now patrolling the mines in Boulder and Weld counties.