 Merchants were arrested for displaying union posters.p.215 Then the CCMOA began pressuring employers inside and outside the district to fire union miners, issuing and requiring a "non-union card" to work in the area, while the WFM took counter-measures to limit the impact.Of the original 3,500 strikers, 300 had returned to work.There was evidence that the non-union mine operators were paying a heavy price for their actions, and the union believed that it was winning the strike.p.216-218

On June 6, 1904, an explosion destroyed the platform at the Independence train depot, killing thirteen and injuring six non-union men going to the night shift at the Findley mine.