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Adjutant General Sherman M. Bell was a controversial leader of the Colorado National Guard during the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903-04. While Bell received high praise from Theodore Roosevelt and some others, he was vilified as a tyrant by the leadership and the miners of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM).〔Weston Arthur Goodspeed, The Province and the States: Biography, The Weston historical association, 1904, pages 393-396〕 Sherman Bell, a former deputy United States marshal in Cripple Creek, Colorado, participated in the Spanish–American War as one of Roosevelt's Rough Riders. General Bell was active in the Masonic order and the order of Elks, and was honored by the Knights of Pythias. A former hardrock mine manager, Bell took the side of the Mine Owners Association against the strikers during a strike of smelter workers, which ultimately included the miners of the Cripple Creek District.〔Melvyn Dubofsky, We Shall Be All, University of Illinois Press, 2000, page 28〕 ==Persona== Much of the history written about Sherman Bell has to do with his characteristics, his attitude, and his affectations. William MacLeod Raine spent some time interviewing Bell in 1904, and concluded that Bell, filled with "cocksureness",
Raine said that Bell was "entirely devoid of humor", and "I have never seen him smile except when he was telling how he had hammered the Western Federation."〔 In 1998 J. Anthony Lukas wrote,
General Bell was direct about his purpose: "I came to do up this damned anarchistic federation." Bell justified the ensuing reign of terror as a "military necessity, which recognizes no laws, either civil or social."〔Jameson, ''All That Glitters,'' pg. 207, from Dubofsky, ''We Shall Be All,'' pg. 50.〕 Benjamin Rastall said of Bell,
According to Lukas, Sherman Bell's uniform was custom made, with gold lace, cords, and tassels at an estimated cost of a thousand dollars.〔 But on occasion he was also known to wear "an old battered campaign hat, a black shirt, and a rag of a tie."〔 At least one writer was impressed with Sherman Bell. Weston Arthur Goodspeed wrote in 1904,
Goodspeed declared Bell world-famous, "the most successful opposer of strikes that this or any other country has ever produced."〔 Bell was also "ruggedly strong" with a "trim and soldierly figure" and a "well shaped head" featuring an "almost boyish ... expression, and yet, commanding in every feature, from the square, firm chin, the straight line of the lips and the strong, Grecian nose".〔 Bell is "humane, as well as brave; kindly and at the same time chivalrous. Should one of his men be ill, no matter what his station in the Guard, it is General Bell who is the first to administer aid..."〔 According to Goodspeed, the Colorado militia had been "a mere handful, of three hundred or more willing but untrained troopers" whom Bell turned into "one of the best organized, the best drilled and the most loyal and able bodies of military men to be found outside the regular army."〔 Goodspeed attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt the statement, "I never saw such resolution as Sherman Bell displayed. If I had a regiment and could have only one man in it, that man would be Sherman Bell."〔 Describing Sherman Bell's exploits with the Rough Riders in Cuba, Goodspeed stated that Bell "shared valiantly in the distinguished services of that great command."〔 According to someone who was actually there, Bell was suffering from a hernia, and "limped through the jungles and across the hills most of the time, but always seemed to stay up with the troops despite the pain."〔Billy McGinty, Oklahoma Rough Rider: Billy McGinty's own story, University of Oklahoma Press, 2008, page 48〕 While Bell performed "splendid service" according to future president Theodore Roosevelt, most of fellow soldier Billy McGinty's published recollection describes a difficult trip to transport an ailing Sherman Bell to the rear aboard a small two-wheeled cart pulled by a mule. When McGinty saw Bell again, Bell was with a lady whom he told "a line of bull" about the Cuban experience, apparently exaggerating McGinty's role in saving his life.〔Billy McGinty, Oklahoma Rough Rider: Billy McGinty's own story, University of Oklahoma Press, 2008, page 50〕 Raine observed that Bell's "reckless irresponsibility is a continual thorn in the side of his superiors."〔 When Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning for Vice-President in 1900, "Bell enrolled himself promptly as his bodyguard."〔 After Roosevelt spoke in the Victor town hall, some boisterous miners seemed to Bell to show insufficient respect. Bell was described as having "blood in his eye", and "a very lively time ensued."〔Munsey's magazine, The Frank A. Munsey Company, 1904, page 687〕 The miners followed the party to Roosevelt's special train, and some of them were flinging stones. Roosevelt stepped from inside the rail car to the rear platform where Bell was confronting the miners, and Bell pushed him back inside. Roosevelt was irritated with the confrontation between Bell and the miners and sharply ordered, "As your superior officer, Lieutenant Bell, I order you inside."〔 While Bell saluted and complied, he immediately began organizing the party inside the train, telling them to "shoot if any of the mob () stones..."〔 When someone objected that shedding blood would damage Roosevelt's campaign, Bell curtly replied, "I'm not running the campaign. I'm maintaining order just now in Victor."〔 Roosevelt later told newspaper correspondents that his "principle fear in that distressing hour was that Sherman Bell would begin killing people."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sherman Bell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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