d detective had, a few
days before, asked him where there was a good place for wrecking the
train. The result of the case was that all were acquitted except the
ex-prize-fighter, who was held for a time, but eventually released on
$300 bond, furnished by representatives of the mine owners.[42]

On June 6, 1904, when about twenty-five non-union miners were waiting at
the Independence depot for a train, there was a terrible explosion which
resulted in great loss of life. It has never been discovered who
committed the crime, though the mine owners lost no time in attributing
the explosion to the work of "the assassins" of the Federation of
Miners. When, however, bloodhounds were put on the trail, they went
directly to the home of one of the detectives in the employ of the Mine
Owners' Association. They were taken back to the scene of the disaster
and again followed the trail to the same place. A third attempt was made
with the hounds and they followed a trail to the powder magazine of a
nearby mine. The Western Federation of Miners offered a reward of $5,000
for evidence which would lead to the arrest and conviction of the
criminal who had perpetrated the outrage at Independence. Unfortunately,
the criminal was never found. Orchard, a year or so later, confessed
that he had committed the crime and was paid for it by the officials of
the Western Federation of Miners. The absurdity of that statement
becomes clear when it is known that the court in Denver was at the very
moment of the explosion deciding the _habeas corpus_ case of Moyer,
President of the Western Federation of Miners. In fact, a few hours
after the explosion the decision of the court was handed down. As the
action of the court was vital not only to Moyer but to the entire
trade-union movement, and, indeed, to republican institutions, it is
inconceivable that he or his friends should have organized an outrage
that would certainly have prejudiced the court at the very moment it was
writing its decision. On the other hand, there was every reason why the
mine owners should have profited by such an outrage and that their
detectives should have planned one for that moment.[AF]

The atrocities of the Congo occurred in a country without law, in the
interest of a great property, and in a series of battles with a
half-savage people. History has somewhat accustomed us to such
barbarity; but when, in a civilized country, with a written
constitution, with duly established