Hi folks, Lew Basnight here. I first met the boys at the Columbian Exposition while I was working for the White City Investigation trying to keep an eye on the anarchistic elements that might threaten the undertaking. You see tensions had been running high ever since the whole Haymarket Affair back in '86.

Truth be told, I didn't even know what an anarchist was. Much less why they were scum. And when I went undercover to infiltrate the union ranks, and saw what they were fighting for -- an eight hour working day, decent wages, safe workplaces -- I decided my sympathies and my professional interests didn't align so well.

And then when I got "transferred" to the Denver office, I got an up close and personal look at the clashes between the unions and the mine owners. So now get this, in 1902, the Colorado State legislature passes an eight hour day amendment similar to other states. And the voters overwhelmingly ratify it (72% to 28%). But Governor Peabody, being in the pocket of the mine owners, kills it.

So then the Western Federation of Miners start striking in places like Idaho Springs and Cripple Creek, and then the national guard gets involved and things started turning violent. Plots to derail passenger train. Explosions, Wome of which turns out to be the work of the mine owners themselves so as to build anti-union sentiment.

Then all hell broke down there below in Victor. First an explosion kills and mutilates a bunch of non-union workers. Then the military open fires on union hall meetings and prospector camps, rounds up unions supporters, and starts trying them in those impromptu kangaroo camps and kicking them out of the state.I'd have the boys bring you down for a closer look but it's none too safe down there right now.

Now I know I ain't the smartest tool in the shed. And yeah, I hear what folks say about me being little more than a two dimensional foil for Pynchon's populist views. But just because a man (or a woman) joins a union to help protect their rights, that don't make them an anarchist in my book. Hell, I am sill not quite sure what Anarchism means, even after reading this whole long Wikipedia entry.