Croly described the retaliation for the deaths of two strikers (the third had been mortally wounded) as "atrocious". He noted that while the union miners were likely to escape punishment for killing the African-American strikebreakers, officials who have harmed strikers—such as Major Patrick Hamrock of the Colorado National Guard at Ludlow, or Wheeler after Bisbee—likewise frequently escaped justice. Croly noted that the local government was sympathetic to the union, as was public sentiment. He said that under such circumstances, the union had a responsibility to police its own members.