These mine owners have demonstrated by
their acts that they do not hesitate
to adopt any means to carry out
their avowed intention of crushing the
organization of the miners.
-U. S. Senator Teller of Colorado
Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 23, 1906
Wallace, Idaho – Adams Arrives to Face Charge of Murder
From The Idaho Daily Statesman of September 19, 1906:
ADAMS AND GUARDS ARRIVE IN WALLACE
—–
Prisoner Arraigned on Charge of Murder
and Preliminary Set for Thursday-
Newton Glover Arrested for Complicity in
Crime and Warrant Out for Others.
—–(Special Dispatch.)
WALLACE. Sept 18.-Sheriff Sutherland arrived in Wallace at noon today with Steve Adams, with whom he had driven across the country most of the way from Boise. The party left Moscow yesterday and drove to a small station east of Tekoa, where this morning they took the train for Wallace. The sheriff and Adams are considerably worn from the journey, but both are in good spirits. The sheriff succeeded in his undertaking of bringing Adams to Wallace from Boise without stepping outside the state. Adams was arraigned this afternoon on the charge of murdering John Doe Tyler in the St. Joe country. Newton Glover, an alleged accomplice of Adams and Jack Simpkins, was brought in on the same train. Mrs. Adams and children were also on the same train. They greeted Adams affectionately.
—–
(Associated Press.)
WALLACE, Sept. 18.-Sheriff Sutherland, Warden Whitney of the Idaho penitentiary, and Detective Johnson arrived here today with Steve Adams, one of the chief witnesses in the Steunenberg assassination case.
Adams was arraigned on the charge of murder of a man named Tyler in 1904, to which he confessed in Boise, implicating Newton Glover, “Jack” Simpkins and one Mason. Adams’ preliminary will be held Thursday. Glover was arrested today and warrants have been issued for the other two.
The trip from the penitentiary at Boise to Wallace was sensational. The 275 miles was covered by relays of teams to avoid going out of the state, although the party did make a secret stay at Tekoa, Wash., last night, owing to inability to find accommodations otherwise.
Deputy sheriffs are here from Denver to take Adams to Colorado to answer to a charge of murder in connection with the death of Lyte Gregory if they can get the proper papers.
[Photograph added.]
[Note: the article neglects to add that the attorney’s for the defense, Clarence Darrow and John Nugent, were in Wallace by September 18th, awaiting the arrival of Steve Adams.]
From the Appeal to Reason of September 22, 1906:
ADAMS IS ABDUCTED!
—–
Conspirators Spirit Away the Witness Who
Foiled Them in Order to Separate Him
From His Attorneys.
—–
Latest Outrage By Official Outlaws Has
Greatly Aroused the People and
Will Strengthen Case
for Defense.
—–Special to THE APPEAL TO REASON.
Denver, Colo., Sept. 13.-The latest information obtainable concerning Steve Adams is that he was taken from the Idaho penitentiary near Boise, and that he is being spirited away, presumably to the Coeur d’Alenes, it was learned early this morning that the penitentiary team was driven to Meridian last night and that Sheriff Sutherland of Wallace, Idaho, had him in charge. It is believed that the men took the train for Wallace.
Attorneys Darrow and Nugent had placed guards to watch the penitentiary, but these men, apparently, were outwitted. That Adams had departed was not discovered until late this morning.
New habeas corpus proceedings were begun this morning. The case comes up for hearing this afternoon, when it is understood that additional facts will then be revealed.
Attorneys Darrow and Nugent, counsel for Adams, will leave late this afternoon for Wallace, where other habeas corpus proceedings will be begun. It looks like the Denver authorities will have to return to Colorado without their prisoner.
Attorneys Turned Down.
This latest move by the prosecution has aroused the greatest indignation among the people of Boise, and throughout the states of Idaho and Colorado. The clandestine removal of Adams from the penitentiary savors of a carefully concocted plot to keep Attorneys Darrow and Richardson apart from their client. Yesterday morning when the attorneys tried to obtain an interview with Adams they were turned down by the warden. It was only after Darrow had pleaded some time with Attorney Hawley, of the prosecution, that he consented to let Adams see his lawyers, and then the interview was secured only on the condition that the warden should be present to overhear what might be said.
Denver lawyers declare this attitude of the prosecution is an outrage. They say it not only is unprofessional, but that it is directly subversive to all principles of law. One of the most prominent among Denver attorneys asserted that the Idaho Bar Association should take steps to disbar the men who are handling the prosecution of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone. It is not unlikely that a movement will be set on foot here in Denver to consider the advisability of ignoring the Pinkerton Detective Agency in the future when the services of detectives are required in handling legal cases. The popular clamor against this infamous agency is growing so great that the Denver bar will be compelled to openly denounce it in a series of resolutions that, it is understood, are being prepared to be presented at an early meeting of the Bar Association.
The last time Steve Adams talked with Harry Orchard was on August 24. The day following two men were to have been hanged, Fred Bond and Rudolph Wetter. Orchard had taken interest in Wetter’s case and said he was going to have the governor reprieve him. They asked to see Governor Gooding and he went to the penitentiary. Adams says he was present when the governor arrived and Orchard said:
“Governor, you are under obligations to me, and I want you to do something for Wetter. I do not think that he had a fair show and I want him reprieved for a couple of months so his lawyer can put his case to the pardon board.”
The governor said he would see what he could do and went away. The next day Bond was hanged in the prison yard and a reprieve was granted to Wetter.
Adams says he was working at Independence during the month of May and until June 7, 1904, the day following the explosion of the Independence depot. On the last-named day the militia was rounding up the union men to deport them. He learned what was going on, and, eluding the officers, he walked out of the camp ahead of the soldiers and went to Denver. Gregory was murdered May 14, 1904.
Public Is Pleased.
Not since the arrest of Moyer and his associates have the people of the West been more agreeably surprised than when the announcement of the confession of Adams was made public. This confession, unlike those McPartland alleges he has in his possession, is bona fide. It is duly signed by Adams and attested by his wife. Mrs. Adams vigorously asserts that her husband is innocent of any wrong-doing and that he has been used as a tool by Governor Gooding and Detective McPartland. It is now the well-established belief that Adams was jobbed by his first attorney, and that he was persuaded to sign the “Gooding confession” on promise of freedom and a heavy cash payment. It was intended by the prosecution that Adams should confirm and corroborate the confession alleged to have been made by Orchard.
This late revelation renders Adams useless to the prosecution. Even should he repudiate his late statement it would do McPartland no good. As the case now stands the state has not a scintilla of evidence against Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone except the Orchard confession, and that is uncorroborated. It is up to McPartland to devise some new frame-up.
Are the people getting tired of all this spectacular horseplay by Gooding and Borah and Hawley and McPartland? Well, rather. If there had ever been a suspicion in the minds of anybody in the intermountain region that Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone were guilty of the crime with which they are charged, it has been completely dissipated by recent developments. There is hardly a lawyer in Denver who believes the Federation officials are guilty of assassinating ex-Governor Steuenberg. The whole thing has degenerated into a political game, the object of which is to keep the republican party in power in the states of Idaho and Colorado. After election, many people say, the prisoners will be released.
—–
[Photograph added.]
More from the Appeal to Reason:
SENATOR TELLER DEFENDS THEM.
—–
Veteran Statesman From Colorado Declares
Belief in Innocence
of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone.
—–From the Colfax (Wash.) Commoner (Dem.)
United States Senator Teller, of Colorado, and his wife, spent Tuesday night at the Hotel Colfax on their way home from Lewiston, Idaho, where they had been enjoying an outing and visiting relatives. In an interview with the editor of the Commoner, Senator Teller said that among the respectable people of Colorado there is an overwhelming sentiment in favor of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone, who are now in jail in Idaho awaiting trial as accomplices in the murder of ex-governor Steunenberg.
[Said the senator:]
The fair-minded people of my state take no stock in the charges against these men because they know them and respect them for the self-control and law-abiding disposition which they manifested during the mining troubles in Colorado. Not only did they pursue a very conservative course themselves, but they controlled their followers to a remarkable extent under the circumstances.
Harry Orchard also is known in our state and the people who are familiar with his character and record place no reliance in his alleged confession. They place it on a par with the confession of a man who was arrested during the Cripple Creek troubles on a charge of attempting to wreck a train. He confessed his guilt and said he was paid $200 to do the job by a representative of the miners’ union. He was tried before Judge Lewis and repeated his story on the witness stand, but before the cross-examination was over admitted that he was hired to do the work by a private detective in the employ of the mine owners, instead of by the miners’ union. These mine owners have demonstrated by their acts that they do not hesitate to adopt any means to carry out their avowed intention of crushing the organization of the miners.
For these reasons the vast majority of the best people of Colorado believe that, if given the fair trial to which they are entitled, Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone will be acquitted.
—–
[Emphasis and photograph added.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCES
The Idaho Daily Statesman
(Boise, Idaho)
-Sept 19, 1906, page 1
http://www.genealogybank.com/
Appeal to Reason
(Girard, Kansas)
-Sept 22, 1906
https://www.newspapers.com/image/66994516/
IMAGES
Steve Adams, Haywood-Moyer-Pettibone Case of 1906-07, Darrow Collection
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/photo.php?pid=356
Senator Teller of Colorado, 1885-1909
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_M._Teller
Jack Simpkins, Search on, ab/ 1906
http://darrow.law.umn.edu/photo.php?pid=597
See also:
Hellraisers Journal: Adams Spirited Away from Boise by Shoshone County Sheriff; Darrow Awaits Arrival in Wallace
https://weneverforget.org/hellraisers-journal-adams-spirited-away-from-boise-by-shoshone-county-sheriff-darrow-awaits-arrival-in-wallace/
Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off
a Struggle for the Soul of America
-byJ. Anthony Lukas
Simon and Schuster, 1998
https://books.google.com/books?id=JvQAnQEACAAJ
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