Hellraisers Journal – Thursday June 9, 1904
Summary of Miners’ Strikes in Colorado and Utah for May 1904
From The Salt Lake Herald of May 06, 1904:
Mother Jones with Delegates at Utah State Convention of Western Federation of Miners
From the San Francisco Chronicle of May 1, 1904
Southern Coalfields of Colorado – Union Organizer Beaten, Not Expected to Live
The strike zone of the southern coalfields of Colorado continues to be a dangerous place for union organizers working for the United Mine Workers of America. Brother Wardjon was brutally assaulted there and was not expected to live. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on that assault and other news regarding the labor situation in Colorado:
ASSAULT ON A LABOR LEADER
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Mine Union Organizer Wardjon Beaten on Head
in Colorado So Severely That He May Die
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DENVER, (Col.). April 30.-W. M. Wardjon, national organizer of the United Mine Workers of America wasterribly beaten on the head and shoulders with revolvers by three unknown men at Sargent, Col., to-day and lies in a critical condition at the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Hospital at Salida. Wardjon was traveling eastward from Crested Butte, where he had been organizing the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company’s miners, and was attacked in a car while the train was standing at Sargent.
He is suffering from concussion of the brain, and the hospital physicians say his recovery is doubtful.
In a lengthy brief filed before the Supreme Court to-day by Attorney E. F. Richardson in the habeas corpus case of Charles H. Moyer, president of the Western Federation of Miners, who is held as a military prisoner at Telluride, Governor James H. Peabody is declared to be a usurper. Governor Peabody is compared by Richardson to a soldier drunk with power, and his acts in trying to suppress the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus compared to the acts of tyranny practiced on the people of England by the olden kings.
Richardson, in his brief, attacks the decision of the Supreme Court of Idaho in a similar case, and says it is the only court in the country that has said that the military was above the judiciary. He says that the decision does not follow precedent or commonsense, and that the Judges of the Supreme Court of Colorado should not consider it when deciding the present case.
The Legislature alone, Richardson says , has the authority to determine when the conditions require the suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus and then to suspend it.
PUEBLO (Col.).-April 30.-Because Charles Demolli, a former organizer of the United Mine Workers, failed to appear to-day as complaining witness against Oreste Pagnini, charged with being the ringleader of a gang whichassaulted the Italian labor leader several weeks ago, the case was dismissed by Justice McCallip. Pagnini, however, will be held on a complaint sworn to by William Gearhard, charging him with assaulting Demolli with intent to kill. Demolli is in the coal fields of Kansas and is in communication with friends here.
INDIANAPOLIS (Ind.), April 30.-The Colorado situation was again taken up at to-day’s session of the national executive board of the United Mine Workers of America……
President Mitchell has telegraphed to “Mother” Jones, who is being held in quarantine near Price, Utah, directing her to report to him in person in this city as soon as possible. He says that there is no significance attached to this, and that the order was issued because the work in the district 15 at the present time is scarcely suitable for a women.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 8, 1904
Telluride, Colorado – Brutality Against Striking Miners Continues
Guy Miller Reports From Telluride
From the Telluride strike zone comes this disturbing report from Guy Miller, President of the local miners’ union (W. F. of M.):
[On Tuesday, March 2nd] thirty-four men were arrested in the justice court on the charge of vagrancy, twenty-seven of them were fined $25 and costs and given until two o’clock [Wednesday] to pay their fines, leave the county or go to work. Sixteen reported for work…they were taken to the jail by Willard Runnels and put to work on the sewers of the town. One of the men, Harry Maki, refused to work. Runnels led him to a telephone pole, compelled him to put his arms around the pole, then fastened handcuffs on his wrists. The wind was blowing a gale and the snow filled the air. He was left standing chained like a beast for several hours. After many protests had been made against this cruel treatment Runnels took him to the jail….
Brother Maki remains in jail at this time and has not been given anything to eat since his ordeal began.
Brother Miller describes the type of men brought in by the mine owners to lead the fight against the Western Federation of Miners:
Runnels and Robert Meldrum were imported from Wyoming by the mine managers for the avowed purpose of discovering the murderer of Arthur Collins. But their only contact with the union was when some man was held up on his way to town and searched for stolen ore, without warrant or any process whatever. Runnels and Meldrum were pals of Tom Horn, the leader of a band of desperadoes who had been hired by the cattle ranchers to fight the sheep ranchers. Horn was hanged at Cheyenne, Wyoming, in November, 1903, for the murder of little Willie Nickell, the twelve-year-old son of a sheep rancher. The evidence indicated that he received $600 for the murder. It is characters like these who lead the “law and order” brigade for the Mine Owners and Citizens’ Alliance—men skilled and reckless in the use of the gun. When a corporation pays fancy prices for skilled labor of any kind—carpenters, electricians, engineers or man-killers—it expects the employe to give value received for the wages paid, and they never pay for anything they do not expect to need.
Striking Miner Harry Maki, Western Federation of Miners:
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 23, 1909
Washington, District of Columbia – U. S. Supreme Court Rules Against Moyer
From the Socialist Montana News of January 21, 1909:
Highest Court in the Land
Legalizes Bull Pen.
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Washington, Jan. 18.-The supreme court of the United States today decided against President Moyer, of the Western Federation of Miners, in the damage suit brought by him against former Governor Peabody, of Colorado, on account of Moyer’s imprisonment on the governor’s orders because of his alleged connection with riots at Telluride, Col., in 1904.
In the course of his opinion Justice Holmes said:
Right to Call Troops.
We must assume that the governor had a right under the state constitution and laws to call out troops, as was held by the supreme court of the state. The constitution is supplemented by an act providing that when an invasion of or insurrection in the state is made or threatened, the governor shall order the national guard to repel or suppress the same.
That means that he will make the ordinary use of the soldiers to that end; that he my kill persons who resist, and of course that he my use the milder methods of seizing the bodies of those whom he considers to stand in the way of restoration of peace. Such arrests are not necessarily for punishment, but are by way of precaution to prevent the exercise of hostile power; so long as each arrests are made in good faith and in the honest belief that they are needed in order to hold the insurrection off, the governor is the final judge and cannot be subjected to an action after he is out of office on the ground that he had no reasonable ground for his belief.
Individuals Must Yield.
When it comes to a decision by the head of the state upon a matter involving its life, the ordinary rights of individuals must yield to what he deems the necessities of the movement. Public danger warrants the substitution of executive process for judicial process.
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday February 8, 1908
From Wilshire’s Magazine: Photographs from the Haywood Trial
Following the sad news of the untimely death of Margherita Arlina Hamm, who, with her husband John R. McMahon, covered the trial of William D. Haywood in Boise for Wilshire’s Magazine, we took another look at the fine articles written by this husband-wife team and published in Wilshire’s from June until August of 1907. Those articles were accompanied by several photographs, some not found elsewhere, and those photographs we are happy to republish today.
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Friday June 21, 1907
Boise, Idaho – Orchard Breaks Down Under Cross-Examination
Ida Crouch-Hazlett, editor of the Socialist Montana News, is on the scene in Boise covering the Haywood murder trial, and gives the following account of the cross-examination of the prosecution’s star witness, Harry Orchard, by Edmund Richardson, Attorney for the Defense:
Orchard Weeps
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Breaks Down on Witness Stand-
McParland’s Methods Exposed
Under Richardson’s Fire
Boise, June 15.
The attitude of the Boise press towards this trial is a disgrace to the name of human freedom. The way the defense has riddled Orchard and shown his utter incompetency and reliability as a witness is potent to all observers. Even the judge looks disgusted at the revelations of this abandoned wretch, as he reluctantly makes admission after admission on the cross-examination to crimes be had not mentioned before. It is common comment that no jury could convict a man on such contaminated evidence. Yet the local papers, notably the “Statesman” [Idaho Daily Statesman of Boise] comes out with flaring articles about Richardson’s “blundering” ways, and his utter failure with the witness, how the friends of the defense are disgusted, and how the socialist reporters throw down their pencils in despair over his stupid efforts. It is needless to say that this is all fiction, pure and simple. Richardson’s work has been magnificent. He has held the strong, aggressive from the very beginning. Orchard has had to put forth a terrible defensive against him in order to bear up at all, and the tactics of the famous attorney have laid bare the very soul of the cringing and cowering murderer.
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday June 16, 1907
Boise, Idaho – The Great Trial from the Pen of C. N. Landon
C. N. Landon is our favorite illustrator, by far, on the scene, in Boise, at the trial of Big Bill Haywood. Today we offer several of his artistic representations which we were pleased to find in the Spokane Press, the Seattle Star and the Albuquerque Evening Citizen during the month of May.
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Saturday June 15, 1907
Boise, Idaho – Haywood Family Attend Murder Trial
In this week’s edition (June 13th) of the Socialist Montana News, Ida Crouch-Hazlett describes the family members of Big Bill Haywood who sit in regular attendance at the trial of the Secretary-Treasurer of the Western Federation of Miners, charged with conspiring to murder the ex-governor of Idaho. Harry Orchard has been on the stand telling his tale of murder and mayhem and accusing the leaders of the W. F. of M. of directing him in his trail of villainy (see below).
The Haywood Family in Court:
Mrs. Steve Adams and Mrs. Pettibone attend court together-two handsome women, handsomely dressed. Mrs. Moyer’s sister is usually with them, a charming and dainty young girl. Mrs. Moyer has not yet appeared in court. Haywood’s mother, Mrs Caruthers, has arrived from Salt Lake with her daughter, a very pretty young girl of about twenty. The mother is a handsome women who carries herself well, and has a sweet expression on her face. They do not seem unduly agitated over the situation. They are upheld by the idea that it is all simply the part of a play in a great conspiracy.
The Haywood family are in court every day. Mrs. Haywood’s father, Mr. Miner, is here from Nevada, also Mr. McKinon, one of the Federation boys, who married her sister Winnie.
There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Thursday June 6, 1907
Boise, Idaho – Prosecution Opens in Haywood Trial
From the Decatur Herald of June 2, 1907:
HAYWOOD’S ILLNESS DELAYS BOISE TRIAL
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Defendant Expected to Be Able to
Appear in Court Monday.
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Boise, Idaho, June 1.-The trial of William D. Haywood was interrupted today by the illness of the defendant who suffered an attack of intestinal poisoning early this morning. Physicians called to attend the prisoner found it necessary to administer opiates before the severe pain was relieved.
At the beginning of the morning session it was expected Haywood would be all right by afternoon, but when court reconvened the prisoner was too weak to be present. Adjournment was then taken until Monday [June 3rd].
Attorney Richardson said Haywood’s illness was not serious and there was no doubt of his ability to be ready Monday.
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