Charles H. Moyer: Martial Law and the Great Writ

• Publication year: 2004
• Pages: 41

33 Colo.Law. 41 Colorado Lawyer 2004.

2004, March, Pg. 41. Charles H. Moyer: Martial Law and the Great Writ

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Vol. 33, No. 3, Pg. 41

The Colorado Lawyer
March 2004
Vol. 33, No. 3 [Page 41]

Departments
Historical Perspectives
Charles H. Moyer: Martial Law and the Great Writ
by Frank Gibbard

This historical perspective was written by Frank Gibbard, a staff attorney with the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and Secretary of the newly-formed Tenth Circuit Historical Society. He may be reached at Frank_Gibbard@ca10.uscourts.gov. The views expressed are those of Mr. Gibbard and not of the Tenth Circuit or its Historical Society. The author expresses sincere appreciation to Dan Cordova and Catherine Eason of the Tenth Circuit Law Library

Habeas corpus be damned, we'll give ' em post mortems

Sherman M. Bell, 1903

Sherman Bell, Commander of the Colorado National Guard, could be an embarrassment at times, even to his superiors. During a 1900 presidential campaign stop in Colorado, Theodore Roosevelt found it necessary to restrain Bell's homicidal rage after a mob surrounded them. [See Lukas, Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1998) at 225.] With his expensive gold-braided uniform, left hand tucked into his shirt, Bell must have reminded some people of a tin-pot Napoleon. [Id.] Colorado Governor James H. Peabody once responded to one of Bell's strident proclamations by stating that he hoped and believed no one would take Bell seriously. [See Labor Disturbances in the State of Colorado S. Doc. 122, 58th Cong., 3d Sess., Vol. 3 (1905) at 213.]

Bell's deficiencies did not keep Governor Peabody from ordering him to Cripple Creek in September 1903 to quell a gold-mine strike. Peabody cited a "reign of terror" in the district. [Id. at 175.] Whether there really was a reign of terror is disputed, but Bell certainly became responsible for one after he arrived. He and his troops essentially created a military despotism in Cripple Creek and Telluride. [See generally Lukas, supra, at 230-31.]

On March 26, 1904, Bell's militia arrested and jailed Charles H. Moyer, President of the World Federation of Miners, in Telluride for "flag desecration." Moyer had printed a poster bearing the headline: "Is Colorado in America?" Below the headline appeared an American flag, each of whose stripes...