this vivid contemporary account of the 1913 Nanaimo coal strike (and more) in the Socialist History Project--

"The manner in which the accused miners were brought to and from the courthouse is aptly illustrated by the following excerpt from the News-Advertiser:

They were brought up in a body, under the escort of fifty special police, and a guard of soldiers with fixed bayonets.

Martial law had not been proclaimed, yet Russia was never more militarized than was Vancouver Island. Soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets searched the trains, looked under all the seats, (presumably for machine guns) and subjected all passengers to an inquisition as to their business, etc. All persons travelling to Nanaimo by boat, had to pass an examination at the hand of special police, reinforced by a file of soldiers. It was impossible to send telephone or telegraph messages out of the city without the military knowing the text of such messages. The following excerpt explains the origin of some of the stories which afterwards appeared in the press:

Special to the News-Advertiser.

Nanaimo, Aug. 20.—Indications point to the possibility of the extension of the power of the military authorities here over the telegraph and telephone lines leading out of Nanaimo and the strike-affected district..

Already the telephone headquarters here are under guard, and all messages, especially long distance ones, are overheard by a military representative.

The telegraph lines to a certain extent are supervised, military men being stationed at the railway station here to overlook all messages received or sent.

Now, so the rumor emanating from the military headquarters indicates, the next step will be the exercising of some measure of control over the messages sent out by the newspaper representatives.

Some members of the newspaper fraternity have had the suggestion made to them that they should first submit their press copy to headquarters, where it could be looked over before being sent.

In all, 179 miners were arrested and thrown into prison where they were held, bail being refused."