Tag: Coeur d’ Alene Miner’s Struggle of 1899

Hellraisers Journal: “Treason and Sedition” of Editor Stewart Leads to Suppression in Idaho of the Mullen Mirror

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 16, 1899
“Treasonous and Seditious” Speech Sends Editor Stewart to Wardner Bullpen

From the Duluth Labor World of July 15, 1899:

Free Speech Mullen Mirror Editor Stewart, LW p1, July 15, 1899

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Writing of the imprisonment of Editor Stewart of the Mullen (Idaho) Mirror and the suppression of his paper on the charge of treason and sedition, J. J. Noll says in the People’s Paper:

His criticism was an honest objection, honestly expressed, to Gen. Merriam’s shutting men up in box cars and cattle pens, and imposing such indignities and sufferings on them that four of them died outright and a number are on the verge of the grave. Is this governor and this general made of such stuff that one may not voice an objection to their methods of treating human beings. Can it be that a uniform and a majority vote converts ordinary mortals into gods?

Here is some of the treason and sedition uttered by Editor Stewart:

The “authorities” are declaring that they are handling the affair at Wardner as expeditiously as possible. That may be true. They say that the men are being examined as fast as they can be reached. That may be true. But what compensation will be made to the hundreds of men who have been falsely imprisoned in box cars and a vile filthy barn for from five days to four weeks, herded like sheep in a pen; taken from their work in the mines and mills with no chance to change their wet, heavy mine and mill garments for dry ones? How will the state compensates these men arrested at the bayonet point, while in the peaceful pursuit of their daily toil, given no chance to show whether or not there was any reason why they should be arrested at all? What excuse or compensation will the state make to those men who are released after being subjected for weeks to indignities, insults and abuses such as are said to be accorded political prisoners in Russian Siberia.

* * *

But why were they imprisoned at all? and why treated as convicts before they were given a hearing? The governor may be a hero in the dollar blinded eyes of the Spokane Review, and in “American official life” heroes are scarce, but heroes of the Review stripe are easily procurable for money—and the Standard Oil company has lots of money. Steunenburg has acted the paltroon in the matter from the start. He sent a fool to spy out the situation and bind the state to the oil company and hasn’t the courage to break the fetters that bind him.

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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
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Cannot Positively Identify Corcoran.
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TELLS ABOUT WARDNER RIOT
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ONE SENSATION SPRUNG AT THE MURDER TRIAL.
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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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Hellraisers Journal: Four Part Series from San Francisco Examiner: E. H. Hamilton on Tyranny in Idaho, Parts III & IV

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

Hellraisers Journal – Friday June 30, 1899
Edward H. Hamilton Reports from the Coeur d’Alene Country, Parts III & IV of IV

From the San Francisco Examiner of June 28 & 29, 1899:

ID Bullpen, EHH No Free Speech, Tyranny Runs Riot, SF Exmr p1, June 28, 29, 1899

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Hellraisers Journal: Four Part Series from San Francisco Examiner: Edward H. Hamilton on Tyranny in Idaho, Part II

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 29, 1899
Edward H. Hamilton Reports from the Coeur d’Alene Country, Part II of IV

From the San Francisco Examiner of June 27, 1899:

Note: Sadly, it was thought necessary by The Examiner to specify that the soldiers committing acts of terror against the miners in the bullpen are “Blacks” or “Negro troopers,” but whenever white soldiers and/or deputized company gunthugs commit acts of terror against strikers, the race of those perpetrators of despotism is never mentioned.

ID Bullpen, Edward H Hamilton, SF Exmr p1, June 27, 1899

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Hellraisers Journal: Military Rule at Wardner, Idaho, Denounced at Mass-Meeting by San Francisco Labor Council

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Quote Ed Boyce re Manly Blood per Gaboury 1967———-

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 19, 1899
San Francisco, California – Trade Unionists Protest Horrors of Idaho Bullpen

From The San Francisco Call of June 15, 1899:

Idaho Bullpen Kellogg Wardner, SF Call p1, June 15, 1899
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MILITARY RULE IN IDAHO IS DENOUNCED
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BIG MASS-MEETING AT METROPOLITAN HALL.
—–
Labor and Building Trades Councils
Adopt Strong Resolutions-
Prominent Speakers Voice Their Sentiments.
—–

Metropolitan Temple was crowded last night in response to a call for a mass-meeting held under the auspices of the Labor Council, Building Trades Council and Affiliated Unions. The object of the meeting was to voice a strong protest against the establishment of military rule at Wardner, Idaho, the scene of the recent miners’ troubles.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Martyrs of the Wardner Bullpen, June 1899-Mike Devine, Mike Johnson, & Miles McMillan

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

WNF Labor Martyrs, Wardner ID Bullpen, June 1899———-

WE NEVER FORGET
The Martyrs of the Wardner Bullpen
Who Lost Their Lives in Freedom’s Cause During June of 1899

Following the Battle of Bunker, Mike Devine, Mike Johnson, and Miles McMillan were rounded-up, along with about 1,000 men of the Coeur d’Alene District, most of them miners and members of the Western Federation of Miners. They were all herded into the military bullpen near Wardner, Idaho. Reports from those imprisoned with them indicate that Mike Divine and Mile McMillan died from the effects of exposure due to the brutal conditions of the bullpen. Mike Johnson was deemed a “lunatic” by his captors. He was killed while attempting to escape as he was being transferred from the bullpen to the “lunatic” asylum.

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Hellraisers Journal: Editor of Spokane Freeman’s Labor Journal Tells of Barbarities Practiced at Wardner Bullpen

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday June 10, 1899
Wardner, Idaho – Cruelties Committed Against Miners Under Military Government

From The San Francisco Call of June 8, 1899:

BARBARITIES PRACTICED AT WARDNER
—–
Editor Walker Alleges Great Cruelties
Under Military Government.
—–

INQUEST ON A DUMMY
—–
Soldiers Ordered to Shoot Down
Prisoners in the “Bull Pen”
if They Flee From Fire.
—–

Special Dispatch to The Call.
—–

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

Despite the military censorship something that has rather more the semblance of truth than anything that has been sent out so far, is beginning to come from the Coeur d Alenes.

There are two sides to the story of the mining troubles there. It appears labor leaders assert that the Miners’ Union has not been always and altogether to blame. General Merriam, according to the labor side of the story, has gone greatly beyond even what military necessity would mandate in the suppression of riot. A general order to shoot down men if they should seek to escape death by fire can hardly be justified by anything that has occurred in Idaho so far.

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BOISE. Idaho, June 7.—W. J. Walker, editor of the Freeman’s labor journal and an organizer fur Western labor, tells a pretty tough story concerning General Merriam and Governor Steunenberg’s military rule in the Coeur d’Alene country. Mr. Walker, being one of the principal leaders in labor matters in the Northwest, is kept posted on the progress of affairs in the Coeur d’Alenes, and he says he knows whereof he speaks in the assertions he makes.

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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

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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

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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

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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
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Imprisoned Miner Describes Experience In Bullpen
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WFM, Wardner Bull Pen of May 1899, Hutton photo 1, 1900

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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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