Tombstone Epitaph

CLEARY'S TALK ANSWERED BY WORKING UNION MINERS, BUSINESS MEN AND COUNTY OFFICERS

We have read the addresses of Bill Cleary's one would be led to believe that the I.W.W.'s now at Columbus were all little innocent lambs, overflowing with love of this country and patriots to the core. But we who know Bill Cleary know differently. But it is just such misleading statements of Bill Cleary's that has caused the men now at Columbus to be there. Cleary's statement that there are a number of men in his party that are subject to draft and have signed up is all rot because even if they take the chances are they are all exempt because of non-citizenship and is not Cleary been advising these men to resist the draft, or has he not? He says that many have Liberty Bonds. If so did he or did he not advise the purchase of them and how many dollars' worth did Cleary take? Echo answers and says: "Not any." If there are any Liberty Bonds held by any of the "stockaders" in Columbus we will bet they bought them for an investment and not for love of country, because crippling our country by reducing the output of copper and thereby helping the Kaiser and buying Liberty Bonds does not jibe along the patriotic highway. He says that several men in the Cleary Fusiliers have sons in the army or navy. That but goes to show that the fathers are a poor lot and serves to show that the sons had more sense, more love of country and real American blood than the father and proves nothing so far as the father being patriotic and it is ten chances to one that the father now in the stockade while his son is somewhere in France tried to get the boy not to enlist because Bill Cleary has been raving for months against this war. The following statement carrying the signatures of the men who wrote it, answers all of Cleary's stuff that was given out to mislead the resident and the American people in general but the fact that Col. Cleary is advocating the cause of the men who stand for "no religion and no law," his statements will be taken with a grain of salt. To read the Cleary statement of the affair in Bisbee on June 12 one would think that the "rape of Belgium" by the Germans was mild compared to the union miners' drive in Bisbee. As a matter of fact the drive by the union miners, business men, taxpayers and red blooded Americans of the Warren District, was participated in by officials of all kinds and was not a mob or a sudden uprising of irresponsible people. It was the last word of an outraged community who had suffered to the breaking point. The true statement of the affair follows signed by people who are responsible and who have a standing in the community above suspicion or reproach. It uncovers the Cleary bunk absolutely. No living man can question it when it carries the signature of Harry Wheeler, Vance Johnson and Miles Merrill, all of whom are known over the county while the other men have a spotless reputation in their community. Wheeler's reputation for veracity covers the state while his reputation as a fearless, law enforcing officer is now well known in all parts of the union. The following message was sent to the president and secretary of war: Referring to recent occurrences in Cochise county, which we understand have been brought to your attention through various sources and particularly through W. B. Cleary, we take the liberty in behalf of the citizens of this district to submit the following statement: Without discussing the merits of the demands upon the basis of which the recent strike in the copper mines of this district was called, it may be noted that Mr. Cleary complains of enforced physical examination because he claims it has been used to blacklist miners. At the same time he reiterates that with few exceptions all of the 1286 men lately deported from this district were underground miners, which if true, negatives any possible use of such examination for blacklisting purposes. For a long time Mr. Cleary has been vigorous and outspoken in his public utterances and otherwise in his opposition to our present war with Germany; he has publicly advised his followers against the purchase of Liberty bonds; on every possible occasion he has opposed military conscription, and has described the strike in this district as a protest against military draft. In a mining district where, as a matter of fact, labor conditions are best and wages the highest paid anywhere in the world for the same class of work, we consider that the existing conditions are very largely the result of Mr. Cleary's public and private utterances in which he has constantly fostered and engendered industrial strife and labor discontent. The recent deportation from the district as the reply of the law-abiding citizens to the open sedition publicly preached by the I.W.W. advocates and to their lawless methods of conducting what they improperly termed a "labor strike." When the mayor and city council of Bisbee, in view of these conditions, closed the city park and prohibited its public use for such purposes the city authorities were openly defied by the I.W.W. agitators, which we understood was done upon Mr. Cleary's advice. When the mayor and common council endeavored to enforce the existing ordinance of the city and preventing unlawful blocking of the city streets the same result followed. The citizens of this district would have no quarrel about bona fide labor demands or grievances but we respectfully urge upon your attention the wide spread and violent character of the I.W.W. propaganda and activities. They are probably directly financed or encouraged by German influence, but whether that is true or not, they are as much interested for Germany in this war as if directly inspired and handled from Berlin headquarters. The deportation of undesirable Germans from this district on July 12 was not the work of a mob, but was conducted by the sheriff of this county and some 1200 law-abiding citizens and deputy sheriffs, among whom were at least 1000 men who have continued to work in the mines of this district notwithstanding the strike and the outrages and unlawful treatment to which they were subjected to by the I.W.W. The whole proceeding was quiet, orderly and determined, and the only blood shed which occurred was brought about through the action of an I.W.W. member who killed a deputy sheriff firing through a door without warning, and was himself killed by the posse. The whole proceeding was unavoidable, unless the citizens of this district were willing to compromise with open treason and sedition. The Warren mining district is now peaceful and quiet. The men have returned to work and the production of copper has been resumed. The law-abiding citizens of this district send this telegram because they are unwilling to rest silent under the imputations being cast upon them by the I.W.W. members and their supporters. We beg to assure you and your administration of our loyal and unqualified support during these trying times.

JACOB ERICKSON,
Mayor of City of Bisbee.
HARRY C. WHEELER,
Sheriff Cochise County.
VANCE JOHNSON,
Chairman Cochise County Board of
SUPERVISORS.
J. S. HENDERSON,
President Citizens' Protective League, comprising business men of the Warren district.
MYLES MERRILL,
President Workmen's Loyalty League, comprising men working in and around the mines.