Tag: Burke Miners Union

Hellraisers Journal: The Railroad Telegrapher: “Idaho’s Disgrace”-U. S. House of Representatives Investigates

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 2, 1900
Washington, District of Columbia – House Investigates Coeur d’Alene Troubles

From The Railroad Telegrapher of April 1900:

IDAHO’S DISGRACE.
—–

WFM, Wardner Bull Pen of May 1899, Hutton photo 1, 1900—–

THE investigation before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, with reference to the charges made against the United States soldiers under Brigadier General Merriam, growing out of the labor troubles in the Coeur d’Alene mining district in Idaho, has been creating intense interest in labor circles and elsewhere for some time past. Even those who are callous to labor’s wrongs and pin their faith to the theory that the survival of the fittest is the prevailing law in heaven as well as on earth and the other place, have felt some qualms of conscience that such things should happen in “The land of the free and the home of the brave.”

After a strike and some riotous proceedings, which latter could easily have been quelled by the local authorities, the Governor of the State [Frank Steunenberg] suspended the writ of habeas corpus, an infringement of the liberties of the people not even within the prerogative of the President of the United States, without the sanction of Congress. Over eleven hundred citizens were arrested without warrant by this tyrannically-inclined “servant of the people” and confined in a place unfit for human habitation, and kept there for a period ranging from a few days to eight months.

By and through the courtesy of the Miner’s Magazine and the Pueblo Courier, we are enabled to present pictures of some of the men who have been made “Martyrs of the Bull Pen.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Ed Boyce, President of Western Federation of Miners, Pays His Respects to General Merriam

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 28, 1900
President Boyce on Gen. Merriam: “pusillanimous tool…of the mine operators…”

From the Kansas City Labor Record of January 25, 1900:

THE WARDNER TROUBLE
—–
General Merriam Censured for his Persecution
of Union Miners. Not a Union Man
Allowed to Work.
—–

New ID Bullpen of 1899, Miners Bunks, Hutton p56, 1900—–

In the initial issue of the Miners Magazine President Boyce pays his respects to General Merriam in the following caustic manner:

The following interview with General Merriam by a reporter of the Rocky Mountain News was published in that paper Dec. 13th:

You can say for me,” said the general yesterday to a News man, “that the more Congress investigates the Coeur d’Alene troubles the better it will please me. I am pleased to know that such a movement is on foot.

“The constitution speaks for itself,” continued General Merriam. “Martial law was proclaimed by Governor Stuenenberg May 3d last. Three days after I was ordered to the scene. Arrests were made by the stale authorities, but I do not care to discuss the question. The records speak for themselves.”

Had this pusillanimous tool in the hands of the mine operators, clothed in the uniform of a general bearing the U. S. brand, been animated with no other desire than to do his duty when he reached the Coeur d’Alenes, there would be no need of a congressional investigation.

Did he not arrest every man in the country at the suggestion of the mine operators without cause or provocation and confine them in a filthy barn unfit for habitation, with instructions to shoot any man who showed his head, and denied them the right to consult with counsel?

Did he not examine and approve over his signature one of the most infamous proclamations that ever emanated from the brain of man, which denied every man the right to seek employment in the mines of Shoshone county unless he denounced organized labor and obtained a permit from Dr. France, the Bunker Hill and Sullivan company doctor, noted for his extreme prejudice against organized labor?

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Hellraisers Journal: Paul Corcoran, Secretary of Burke Miners’ Union, Found Guilty, Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 30, 1899
Wallace, Idaho – Paul Corcoran Found Guilty of Second Degree Murder

From The Butte Miner of July 28, 1899:

IN THE SECOND DEGREE
—–
Paul Corcoran Found Guilty by
a Jury at Wallace.
—–

SEVENTEEN YEARS IN PRISON
—–
The Defense Will Trust to Executive Clemency Rather
Than Risk Another Jury Trial-
After Sentence Had Been Pronounced,
Court Adjourned Until September.
—–

Paul Corcoran, Sec Burke ID Miners WFM, Hutton p186, pubd 1900

Wallace, Idaho, July 27.-Paul Corcoran was this morning found guilty of murder in the second degree by a jury in the district court, for the killing of James Cheyne at Wardner on April 29 last, during the riots, when a mob of 1,000 miners blew up the Bunker Hill and Sullivan concentrator.

Judge Stewart this afternoon sentenced Corcoran to serve 17 years in the penitentiary. Corcoran’s case was considered a test one, and had he been acquitted it is not probable that any of the other 300 men who are under arrest would have been tried for participation in the riots and murders at Wardner. This afternoon, however, Judge Stewart set the trials of Graddock and Inman, on a charge of murdering Smith and Cheyne, for September 4.

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Hellraisers Journal: Witness at Corcoran Trial Will Not Make Positive Identification Despite Threat Made by Mine Owners

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday July 15, 1899
Wallace, Idaho – Trial of Paul Corcoran, Secretary Burke Miners’ Union

From The San Francisco Call of July 12, 1899:

CLARK CHANGES HIS TESTIMONY
—–
Cannot Positively Identify Corcoran.
—–

TELLS ABOUT WARDNER RIOT
—–

ONE SENSATION SPRUNG AT THE MURDER TRIAL.
—–
It Is the Attempt of One of the
Owners of the Standard Mine
to Compel the Witness to
Stick to His First Story.
—–

Special Dispatch to The Call.
—–

Paul Corcoran, Sec Burke ID Miners WFM, Hutton p186, pubd 1900

WALLACE, Idaho, July 11.—In the trial of Paul Corcoran for the killing of James Cheyne the prosecution this morning called John Clark as a witness. Clark testified that he had been recording secretary of the Burke union, but had not attended the two meetings prior to the day of the riot. On that day he was at Mace, where the Standard mine is located, and when the train bearing the men from Burke came along he boarded it and went to Wardner. He went up into the town of Wardner and did not witness the lawless acts perpetrated on that day, but returned to Burke on the train which bore the returning rioters.

Witness said that when the train was nearing Wallace on the return trip he believed he saw the defendant sitting on top of a boxcar. At the time the witness testified before the Coroners jury he swore positively to the identity of the defendant, but since that time he had come to believe that he might be mistaken, and could not now identify Corcoran as being the man he saw on the car, although he had been acquainted with the defendant for more than three years.

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WE NEVER FORGET Jack Smith Who Lost His Life in the Battle of Bunker Hill, Near Wardner, Idaho, April 29, 1899

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

 

WNF Jack Smith, Battle of Bunker Hill, ID Apr 29, 1899

—–

WE NEVER FORGET
Jack Smith, Member of Burke Miners Union (WFM)
Battle of Bunker Hill, Near Wardner, Idaho, April 29, 1899

Jack Smith, age about 28 years, was a member of the Burke Miners’ Union (Western Federation of Miners) who died in the Battle of Bunker Hill near Wardner, Idaho, on April 29, 1899. Newspaper accounts of the day tell the story.

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Hellraisers Journal: Letter from Miner to President Boyce of Western Federation of Miners Describes the Wardner Bullpen

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 21, 1899
Burke Miner Describes Suffering in the Wardner Bullpen of Idaho

From The Salt Lake Herald of May 17, 1899:

SUFFERINGS OF MINERS
—–
Imprisoned Miner Describes Experience In Bullpen
—–

WFM, Wardner Bull Pen of May 1899, Hutton photo 1, 1900

—–

President Edward Boyce of the Western Federation of Miners has received a letter from a friend who was among the miners rounded up after the Wardner (Ida.) riots and penned up for several days on suspicion of participation in those riots. The letter gives a graphic description of the treatment received by the miners at the hands of the Twenty-fourth infantry during the days of their imprisonment and is perhaps the first authentic description by one of the miners themselves.

It describes the arrival of the regulars at Burke and how the miners were made prisoners as they came up out of the mines off shift. Without being given the privilege of changing their clothes or of getting anything to eat they were herded into box cars and taken down the canyon to Wardner Junction. There they were kept standing in their wet clothes until midnight and then driven to a big barn called the bull pen.Between 350 and 400 men were here confined in a space about 40 by 50 feet all without food and some with wet clothes. Not until noon did the prisoners get anything to eat. Then they were divided into squads of twenty-five, and each squad was given a pail of what the author of the letter describes as “swill,” and told to eat it. Some had not had anything to eat for nearly thirty-six hours, and even then could hardly down the food.

[The letter goes on:]

We asked for soap and towels to clean ourselves a little, but the authorities did not seem to think the Canyon creek people needed such luxuries, for they would not give them to us, so, with grease and dirt sticking to us, we were driven back to our sty.

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Hellraisers Journal: 1000 Miners & Allies Herded into Bullpen at Wardner, Idaho; Includes Sheriff & Commissioner

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege, Ab Chp III———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 8, 1899
Wardner, Idaho – Bullpen Now Holds 1000 Men of Couer d’Alenes

From the San Francisco Examiner of May 7, 1899:

SHOSHONE’S SHERIFF IS HERDED IN
—–
Young Is Washing Dishes for
His Fellow-Prisoners.
—–
With Him in the Pen Is County
Commissioner Boyle.
—–

OFFICIALS TO BE IMPEACHED
—–
Nearly a Thousand Prisoners Gathered In
by the Troops at Wardner.
—–

WFM, Wardner Bull Pen of May 1899, Hutton photo 1, 1900
—–

WARDNER, May 6.-Bartlett Sinclair, the Governor’s representative, to-day called upon Sheriff Young and County Commissioner Boyles to tender their resignations, and when they refused, were placed under arrest and turned into the bull-pen with the hundreds of other prisoners. They protested vigorously against this proceeding, but to show them that they were no better than the rioters, both were assigned to the culinary department of the prisoner’s pen and made to wash dishes.

Impeachment proceedings will be brought against Young and Boyles on Monday before Judge Mayhew of the First Judicial District, to remove them from office.

Prosecuting Attorney Samuels will also be taken into custody should he show up at Wardner. He is not considered of sufficient importance by General Merriam to be sent after.

The inquest is proceeding slowly behind closed doors, and is more in the nature of a Grand Jury investigation than an inquest. From a reliable source it is learned that evidence of a most satisfactory nature is being obtained. Judge Lindley is conducting the prosecution, assisted by Attorney Beale.

[The Bullpen at Wardner.]

Considerable sickness has broken out among the prisoners. This is due to the fact that many were arrested at the mines, as they came out from under ground in their wet clothes, which they had no opportunity to change. Besides, the accommodations of the bull-pen requires herding the prisoners closely. More sanitary quarters will be provided as soon as possible.

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