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Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 27, 1913
Hancock/Houghton, Michigan – Moyer and Tanner Kidnapped and Deported
Last night at about 8:30 p.m. Sheriff Cruse and a “committee” paid a visit to the Scott Hotel in Hancock. They went to the room of Charles Moyer, President of the Western Federation of Miners. The “committee” was determined that the leaders of the W. F. of M. should reconsider their refusal to accept any donations from the Citizens’ Alliance to the families of the victims of the Italian Hall Massacre. Mr. Moyer remained adamant that donations from the Citizens’ Alliance amounted to blood money and that the union would bury it’s own dead.
No sooner had this “committee” left the room than a mob burst into the room. They began to beat Moyer and also Charles Tanner who was there with him. A gun was used to beat Moyer over the head which discharged during the assault. Moyer was shot in the shoulder. Moyer and Tanner were dragged out of the Hotel and down the street to the train station in Houghton. At the Houghton-Hancock bridge they were threatened with hanging, and shown a noose brought for that purpose.
The kidnappers put Moyer and Tanner on the Chicago train. Deputy Sheriff Hensley and Deputy McKeever were assigned to accompany the deportees. The deputies wore their Citizens’ Alliance buttons right next to their deputy badges for all to see.
The train stopped briefly in Milwaukee, and reporters were able to get the story from Moyer and Tanner. The reporters also witnessed Moyer’s “pillow and bed linen were soiled with blood from wounds in his scalp and back.”
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From the Chicago Day Book of December 27, 1913, Noon Edition
From the Chicago Day Book of December 27, 1913, Last Edition:
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/3
The Milwaukee Leader
(Milwaukee, Wisconsin)
-Dec 27, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045293/1913-12-27/ed-1/seq-1/
Death’s Door
The Truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder
-by Steve Lehto
MI, 2006
The Day Book
(Chicago, Illinois)
-Dec 27, 1913, Noon Edition
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-12-27/ed-1/
-Dec 27, 1913, Last Edition
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1913-12-27/ed-2/
See also:
Tag: Charles Moyer
https://weneverforget.org/tag/charles-moyer/
Tag: Italian Hall Massacre
https://weneverforget.org/tag/italian-hall-massacre/
Tag: Michigan Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/michigan-copper-country-strike-of-1913-1914/
More on the Deportation of Moyer and Tanner:
This story was front page news across the nation. The following is a report from the Fairbanks Daily Times:
CALUMET CITIZENS ATTACK UNION MEN
———-Members of Citizens’ Alliance Resent Riot Story
Circulated by President of Western Federation
-Moyer and Organizer Tanner Driven from Copper District
the Former with Two Bullet Holes in Shoulder
-Strikers Refuse Aid from Citizens’ Alliance.
———-CALUMET, Mich., Dec: 27.–Angered by the utterances of President Moyer of the Western Federation Miners, who charged the Citizens’ alliance with responsibility for the death of the 73 women and children were trampled to death on Christmas eve as the result a fire panic in a local hall, one hundred and fifty of the Citizens’ alliance stormed the Hancock hotel last night, dragged President Moyer and Organizer Tanner from their rooms and put them on a train at Houghton, with a warning to stay away from the copper district hereafter..
Both of the laborites were handled roughly by the mob, Moyer being so severely injured that he was compelled to go to a hospital for treatment. During the roughhouse in the hotel, the president of the federation was shot twice in the fleshy part of the shoulder, and he also received a scalp wound which required the services of a surgeon. Tanner was battered up considerably, but not to the extent requiring surgical aid.
MINERS THREATEN VENGEANCE
Calumet, Dec. 27.-Intense feeling exists through-out the strike zone as the result of the attack upon President Moyer and Organizer Tanner. Threats of vengeance are made freely made by the strikers and it is feared that much trouble will occur.
SOURCE
Fairbanks Daily Times
(Fairbanks, Alaska)
-of Dec 28, 1913
https://www.newspapers.com/image/6890726/
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Union Song – The Nightwatchman & Tom Morello