There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday October 13, 1906
Wallace, Idaho – Steve Adams Fights Pinkerton Frame-Up
From Isaac Cowan in the October 11th edition of the Montana News:
Steve Adams On Trial
—–Montana News Special Correspondent Reports
McPartland’s Murderous Schemes
After a preliminary hearing before Probate Judge Boomer, Steve Adams is bound over to the district court, which meets Oct. 15. When I arrived in Wallace, Idaho, Sept. 26, the city was full of detectives, headed by the notorious James McPartland [McParland], alias Jim McKenna, of the Pinkerton-Mollie Maguirs [Molly Maguires] fame, who is now trying to railroad Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone, officials of the Western Federation of Miners, to the gallows. Steve Adams, who was arrested shortly after Harry Orchard’s alleged confession charging the miners’ officials with being implicated in the murder of ex-Governor Steunenburg, is now charged with the murder of an alleged claim jumper named Fred Tyler.
McPartland’s Sleuthing.
Adams had been relied upon by McPartland and Governor Gooding to corroborate Orchard’s confession, or the main part of it, and was being held in jail (with his wife, Mrs. Adams, being kept in the woman’s ward for that purpose.)
Adams denies that there was or is any truth in what McPartland and Gooding say he swore to, and says that the statements about his knowledge of the guilt of the officers of the miners was written up by McPartland or Gooding, or both; and he was compelled to swear to them by threats of Governor Gooding, who stated that if the people of Colorado got hold of him he would be mobbed and killed. All of this Adams has given out through signed documents, witnessed to by Mrs. Adams, his wife, and handed to J. W. Lillard, Adams’ uncle, a sick ranchman in Washington, and is now in the hands of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone’s attorneys. On application Adams was immediately released on a writ of habeas corpus, but was at once arrested for the murder of Fred Tyler.
Restrict Defense.
There is a move on the part of Gooding and McPartland, the capitalist tools, to keep Adams from being used in the defense, but it is very doubtful whether the game will work. It is stated by those who were present when the alleged body of Tyler was found that Coroner D. C. Keys stated that he was undoubtedly a claim jumper, and had been shot by a vigilance committee, and that they did a good job. The coroner swore to the following on the stand: That there was only one shoe found with the body, and it was eaten by wood rats into holes; that Tyler had a little finger with a lump on it; that the little finger was not with the skeleton. When brought into court the shoes produced with the skeleton were half worn, and there is a pair of them.
Conflicting Statements.
Another witness stated that Tyler wore tan shoes; another stated that he wore hob-nailed shoes. They cannot possibly all be right. The facts they have not proved, that Tyler was shot, or that these are his bones where the skeleton was. There were a lot of jokes cracked by the attorneys, and Adams and his wife seemed to enjoy it. The only evidence the dirty Pinkertons have is a confession, as usual. A Pinkerton named Theile stated that Adams confessed to killing Tyler. This confession was made in a buggy, when on their way to hunt up some supposed grave in Colorado, which they never found because there was none. But strange to say, the confession was not heard by any one but Thiele, although a private detective was in the buggy with them. His name is Eugene Johnson. This Pinkerton named Thiele admitted on the stand that he joined the Butte local of the Mill and Smeltermens’ Union in 1904.
McPartland Does Not Appear.
McPartland never appeared in court, but was undoubtedly coaching the witnesses for the state, as Darrow made Perry Hughes, a merchant, admit on the stand that he had been in a conference where McPartland was, but did not remember whether he said anything or not. Darrow made the statement that he did not believe a jury could be found now that would convict Adams. It was all trumped up with a lot of detectives, who are hired murderers and thieves, and it can be proved all through.
Socialists Size Up Pinks.
While the hearing was going on it gave the socialists a good chance to size up the Pinks. I ate breakfast right opposite McPartland. He wears gold-rimmed glasses, has little eyes set back like an overfed Berkshire hog, sandy mustache turning white, heavy fat under jaw twisted from left to right under the mouth. Put a straight-edge across the top of his eyes, the top lobes of his ears would be below the center line, which, according to specialists and scientists, is a sure indication of a low murderer. In lifting anything from the table, a spoon, knife or fork, he lifts it with a nervous jerk. He can’t look you in the face, waddles when he walks, carries a heavy cane. When he sips his coffee he sucks it up so that you can hear it all over the room. He tries to get a table by himself, and has two detectives with him at other tables and close around him night and day. He left Wallace in a private car owned by a mine owner. At least, I heard him and his pals get the invitation to ride in a private car that was attached to the train.
Sheriff Sutherland Appointee of Mine Owners.
Sheriff Sutherland, who made such a gallant drive with Adams over the country, in defiance of law and constitution, was appointed during bull pen days by the mine owners, when the legally elected sheriff was thrown into the bull pen. The miners have never mustered courage to put him out since-but things are changing fast. Comrade Goebel roasted the sheriff for his actions on the 27th of September. On the 28th the police came up and tried to stop me. He said they were not going to have their officials abused. I told him I would not befoul my mouth by mentioning their names. He gave me five minutes to close up but we did not, and he never came back. I had a larger crowd on the 29th, but no police. They turned the lights out, but I am up to that dodge so had the comrades secure a torch. So we had light, and lots of heat as well. The comrades are moving along and the Coeur d’Alene will show up this election as it has never done before.
ISAAC COWAN.
[Photograph added.]
From C. C. Briggs in the same edition of the Montana News:
COLORADO-IDAHO OUTRAGE
Collier’s Weekly for Sept. 29th in the first column on the first page says:
Intensity of feeling is being maintained if not increased as the trial of Moyer and Haywood draws near.
Nothing could be more natural, considering what is at stake. If the prisoners are condemned then no workingman’s neck is safe that does not submit meekly to the capitalist’s yoke.
If the “anarchy” of Governors Gooding and McDonald and the mine owners is condemned, capitalistic methods will suffer a rebuke far from pleasing to the lords of industry. Collier’s criticizes the speech of Clarence Darrow before the working men of Spokane. What Darrow said was true. However, I would change the wording to read: “If the laboring man knew anything” he wouldn’t be voting the capitalist ticket, but would elect men from his own ranks, who, being class conscious, would pass laws favoring labor just the same as the class conscious capitalist favors his class. The worker would then be in position to decide legally whether the coal belonged to “Baer” or to “us” and also whether we would have to pay for it or not in order to get control of it.
C. C. BRIGGS.
[Photograph added.]
SOURCE
Montana News
(Helena, Montana)
-Oct 11, 1906
https://www.newspapers.com/image/77935087/
IMAGES
Montana News, ed Ida Crouch-Hazlett, Oct 11, 1906
https://www.newspapers.com/image/77935097
Moyer and Haywood, Wilshire’s Magazine, 1906
pdf! http://darrow.law.umn.edu/documents/Wilshire_Mag.pdf
See also:
Tag: Steve Adams
https://weneverforget.org/tag/steve-adams/
Molly Maguires
http://spartacus-educational.com/USAmolly.htm
James McParland
http://spartacus-educational.com/USAmcparlan.htm
For more on Comrade Goebel:
(search with: “George H. Goebel”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=6i3PS8RLEygC
Collier’s Weekly, Sept 29, 1906
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000068357757;view=2up;seq=10
Diving Rights Baer:
The rights and interests of laboring men will be protected and cared for, not by labor agitators but by Christian men to whom God in His Infinite wisdom has given the control of the property interests of the country.
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