Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 22, 1914 Houghton, Michigan – Seeberville Gunthugs Found Guilty of Manslaughter
From the Michigan Miners’ Bulletin of February 18, 1914 -Jury Finds Waddell Men Guilty of Seeberville Slaying:
A jury in the strike zone of Michigan has found three Waddell men and a deputy sheriff guilty of manslaughter in the death of Steve Putrich. This report is from the latest edition of the Miners’ Bulletin:
The Milwaukee Leader February 16, 1914
FOUND GUILTY
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Arthur Davis, William Groff and James Cooper, Waddell gunmen and Ed Polkinghorne, a deputy sheriff were found guilty of manslaughter after a trial lasting two weeks in the circuit court. The case was turned over to the jury Saturday at 4 o’clock and after twenty hours deliberation the above verdict was reached. In its verdict Polkinghorne was recommended to the mercy of the court, probably on account of his being a deputy sheriff. Harry James, another deputy sheriff, who stood trial along with the others was not considered in the verdict in compliance with the instructions of Judge Flannigan to the jury. James, it was brought out by the testimony, did not take any part in the shooting but was merely in company with the others, he not firing a shot.
When the verdict was read in court Monday morning, Attorney Galbraith for the defense addressed the court, stating that he had three motions to make as follows,-First, that the court set aside the verdict and dismiss the respondents at the bar; Second, that the court set aside the verdict and order a new trial; Third, that a stay of sentence be granted pending a bill of exceptions. In a lengthy statement and detailed explanation Judge Flannigan denied the motions. Attorney Nichols for the people then moved that sentence be passed on the prisoners and four defendants were requested to stand up.
Before passing sentence Judge Flannigan stated that passing sentence on prisoners was one of the most unpleasant and harder duties the court had to perform during his term on the bench. The court then sentence Cooper, Groff, Davis and Polkinghorne to hard labor at the branch prison at Marquette for not more than 15 years, and not less than 7 and 1/2 years. The prisoners appeared very much downcast when they heard their doom. It is believed they looked for an acquittal or a very light sentence, and were greatly disappointed.
The prisoners were then taken to jail to await transfer to the penitentiary. Thomas Raleigh one of the accused men who was out on bonds of $10,000 left the country about one month ago forfeiting his bonds. If caught he will probably be given the maximum sentence.
The crime for which these men were convicted was the murder of Steve Putrich, a striker, on August 14th last at Seeberville, a small mining camp near Houghton [where] an altercation occurred in which the deputies drew their guns shooting [a boarding] house full of holes, killing Steve Putrich and Louis Tijan, two absolutely innocent men and injuring several others who were in the house.
[Newsclip, paragraph breaks and emphasis added]
The Judge made this statement before imposing his sentence:
I have tried to find mitigation if it existed. I have made an effort to find something, somewhere, in mitigation for your act. I know too that the jury sat through this trial hoping that from the lips of some witness might fall something that would put at least a drop of humanity into that awful transaction.
It is not right for a circuit judge to scold convicted men when passing sentence and I do not want to be looked upon as doing so. I have tried to give you boys a fair trial. It was impossible for it to be fairer. If the jury had found your plea of self defense true in this case it would have been a travesty of justice.
[Emphasis added]
On Tuesday, the convicted murderers were taken to the train station and shipped off to serve their sentences. The Daily Mining Gazette reported on that event:
NOT A DRY EYE AS CONVICTED MEN LEAVE FOR PRISON.
The Gazette further reported that a huge crowd of well-wishers gathered at the station to witness these fine but “luckless young men” being deported from Michigan’s copper country.
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, Stick Together, MI Mnrs Bltn p1, Aug 14, 1913 -Copy in possession of Janet Raye
Miners’ Bulletin “Published by authority of Western Federation of Miners to tell the truth regarding the strike of copper miners.” -of Feb 18, 1914 -Copy in possession of Janet Raye
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 5, 1914 News from the Michigan Copper Strike: Striker Shot, Seriously Wounded; Seeberville Murder Trial Begins; Congressmen on the Way
Raleigh-who was called “the ugly-faced one” by a witness-skipped bail and did not appear for trial. It was of no consequence to him; the $5,000 bond had been posted by the mine for which he worked. The $5,000 bond posted by the mine was equivalent to the salary of a miner for more than five years of labor at that time. It was a crazy proposition for the mine, knowing that the man was not a Michigan native and that the evidence against him was overwhelming. When it posted the bond, the mine must have known it would never get the money back…
The manger of a local mine, who was paying for the legal defense of the killers, fired the attorneys for being inept and hired another firm to handle their appeal….
[Rees, Robinson & Petermann] decided the best route was to simply appeal to the governor and ask for the four men to be pardoned. According to the new attorneys, the men were “trustworthy” as well as “handsome, fine-looking specimens of manhood.” Apparently what would pass today for a bad Internet-dating-service description was considered possible grounds for pardoning a murderer. The governor asked Judge Murphy what he thought of pardoning the men. Murphy had actually met with the men around the time of the inquest and confided to the governor: “They are scum.” Ferris denied the pardon.
[Emphasis added.]
SOURCE Death’s Door The Truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder -by Steve Lehto
And More on the Fugitive Waddell Gunthug, Thomas Raleigh:
For almost 100 years now people have wondered what happened to Thomas Raleigh, the man who was charged with murder in the deaths of Alois Tijan and Steven Putrich in the infamous Seeberville shootings. It was thought that he had fled the country, and even Houghton’s Special Prosecuting Attorney brought in to expedite cases during the strike opined that he was unable to be found.
Where did Tom Raleigh go? Well we’ve “found” him almost 100 years later in the historic record, and what we have uncovered is damning evidence against the Calumet & Hecla (C&H) mining company officials, the legal firm of Rees, Robinson, and Petermann, and the Waddell-Mahon detective agency.
It seems that Thomas Raleigh was working for C&H through Waddell-Mahon to spy on the WFM mineworkers union in New York City. Correspondence between C&H agent O.F. Bailey and a lawyer from Rees, Robinson, and Petermann–a firm representing C&H throughout the strike–gives documentary proof that C&H knew of Raleigh’s whereabouts and even employed him in subterfuge during the strike while he was wanted for murder in the Copper Country.
This is an amazing piece of research!! Congratulations to Gary Kaunonen and Aaron Goings, authors of:
Community in Conflict: A Working-Class History of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Mine Strike and the Italian Hall Tragedy MI State U Press, 2013 https://books.google.com/books?id=KRVwkQEACAAJ
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Inno dei scioperanti (Hymn of the Strikers) – 1913 Singers
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