—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 13, 1914
Chicago, Illinois – Former Michigan Gunthug Testifies Before House Committee
From the Chicago Day Book of March 10, 1914:
Tag: Houghton County MI
Hellraisers Journal: Charles Tanner Testifies Regarding Attack on Charles Moyer by Citizens Alliance Mob
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 27, 1914
Hancock, Michigan – Charles Tanner Testifies Before House Sub-Committee
From The Milwaukee Leader of February 25, 1914:
Hellraisers Journal: From the Miners’ Bulletin (W. F. M.) of Michigan Copper Country: “Government by Gunmen”
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 14, 1913
Michigan Copper Country – Striking Copper Miners Governed by Gunmen
From the Miners’ Bulletin of November 11, 1913:
The Miners’ Bulletin is the official newspaper of the Western Federation of Miners in the strike zone of Michigan’s Copper Country. The latest issue contains a scathing indictment of the community’s indifference to the terror being spread through-out the strike zone by the Waddell-Mahon Company gunthugs, known as “Waddies.” The strikers maintain that these imported gunthugs have been deputized by Sheriff James Cruse of Houghton County, in defiance of state law, although the Sheriff continues to deny that the imported gunmen have actually been formally deputized. The article stated in part:
When the citizens of a community show such indifference as to permit any corporation of greed to import gunmen for the purpose of intimidating the working-class of said community in their peaceful demands for simple justice, it certainly is a sad commentary on the stability and integrity of the community. It seems the people of the copper region of this state would have profited by the experience of Idaho, Colorado, and South Dakota camps in the fight for justice by the working-class. There are thousands of good, loyal citizens who could have been deputized to keep the peace, and who would have done their duty without fear or favor, but the mine companies did not want this kind of policing: they wanted the thug, the crook, and the gunman in order to create as much trouble as possible: then comes the National Guard, and the trick is done. The mining officials can then sit home in their easy chairs while the troops guard their property and scabs imported by their agents from all the largest cities in the country. Regarding Government by Gunmen, the Omaha Daily News has the following to say: “The police power is supposed to be the arm of the government to uphold law and order and justice. In theory, policemen are public servants. YOUR employees, hired to execute YOUR will.”
What are the facts?
Throughout the 1,019 square miles of Houghton county, Michigan in the copper country the policing has been subjet to imported gunmen, recruited from the slums of the great cities by a corporation of strikebreakers under the pay of the mining companies: and this Michigan instance is not unique, but typical….
Be that as it may [the abdication of popular government in the Michigan copper country], this hiring out of the police power to disreputables in the interest of greed and oppression WILL HAVE TO BE STOPPED. The alternative is slavery.
[Emphasis added.]
Hellraisers Journal: Calumet, Michigan-Gunthugs Shoot into Strikers’ Parade; Thousands Attend Funeral for Manerich
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 18, 1913
Copper Country, Michigan – Strikers Ruled by Deputized Company Gunthugs
From the Chicago Day Book of October 13, 1913:
From the Miners’ Magazine of October 9, 1913:
Partial transcript:
In Houghton county, Michigan, where the copper miners are on strike, the sheriff hired imported gunmen from the Waddell-Mahon agency of New York and swore them in as deputy sheriffs, arming them with guns and official stars.
Sheriff Cruse told me he had 1,2000 of them on duty, and that 400 of them were “company” men-that is, gunmen sworn in as deputy sheriffs, but on the payroll and working under the direction of the mining companies.
James A. Waddell told Walter B. Palmer, government statistician, that he had 108 men on duty in the county and that the Burns Detective Agency had twelve “detectives.”
At the time I was there the state of Michigan had about 650 militiamen on duty. They were armed, of course.
While Waddell was not a citizen of Michigan and Sheriff Cruse had been elected by the people, Waddell was to all intents and purposes the actual sheriff and directed the work of the gunmen.
And the mine managers directed the work of Waddell. He was on their payroll.
[Emphasis added.]
Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: The Michigan Copper Miners’ Strike by Edward J. McGurty, Part I
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Monday September 1, 1913
“Copper Country” of Michigan – Western Federation of Miners Issues Strike Call
From the International Socialist Review of September 1913:
The Copper Miners’ Strike
By Edward J. McGurty[Part I of II]
THE territory known as the “Copper Country” of Michigan is a peaked peninsula lying to the north of the Upper Peninsula. It is washed on three sides by the waters of Lake Superior, embracing the counties of Keweenaw, Houghton and Ontonagon.
The country is rich in copper and has one of the deepest incline shafts in the world, the Calumet & Hecla No. 7, at Calumet, which goes down about 8,000 feet. The Calumet & Hecla Company, with its subsidiaries, owns and controls practically all the property up here. For the past thirty years there has been no labor trouble here of any consequence. In that time the C. & H. has paid out $125,000,000 in dividends on an original capitalization of $1,200,000. The employes, many of them Cornish miners, have not revolted for years. They have submitted to every injustice and to tremendous exploitation.
For a number of years it was impossible for the Western Federation to make any headway in the Upper Peninsula. Attempts at organization have been met by the sacking and firing of men. Little could be accomplished. Gradually the Federation formed organizations at various points along the range. The Finns were very zealous in keeping activity alive. This last year especial efforts have been made to organize the men of the various nationalities. Those working in the mines are Cornish, Finnish, Croatian, Italian and Austrian. Up to May first, about 7,000 men were taken into the union.
The companies have worked a pseudo-contract system and cheated the men outright. They have paid low wages, many of the men getting as low as a $1.00 a day and some even less. The shifts have been long, running as high as twelve and thirteen hours. Last year the companies installed what is known as a “one-man” drill which is a man-killer.
It was the straw that broke the camel’s back in the copper zone. On the night of July 22, men went from one end of the range to the other, on foot and in rigs rousing the miners and making known the strike order. The next day there were 15,000 mine-workers who had laid down their tools. Smelter-men, surface-men, under-ground-men, all were out and the copper mines were tied up as tight as a drum. Then the men who had not already joined the union began to make their way to the offices and in a few days 90 per cent of the miners were organized.
Directly the men went out the sheriff of Houghton county deputized about 500 men and sent them about to create trouble. They provoked the strikers to the breaking point and there were 500 deputies without stars or guns in a short time. There were also a few of them went to the hospitals.
The papers here, under the control of the companies, have, as usual, lied about the strike, slandered the strikers, burned the “locations” up in their columns; killed law-officers, etc. The second day of the strike the sheriff acting under orders from McNaughton, $85,000-a-year-manager of the Calumet & Hecla, requested troops from Governor Ferris. Without any investigation of the situation Ferris ordered the entire state militia dispatched here. Protest after protest has been made by the people here, because the presence of the troops is for the purpose of creating trouble. But Ferris stalwartly keeps them here.
The commander of the troops is a real, dyed-in-the-wool conservative. He says that the refusal of the union men to work the pumps and keep water from flowing into the mines amounts to the DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. Even in times of industrial war, the mine-owners are accustomed to meek wage slaves that pump the water out of the mines.
The troops have ridden up the streets of Calumet and Red Jacket at night on horse-back and have ruthlessly clubbed innocent men and women conversing on the side-walks. They knocked down an old man of 70, and threw a baby out of a buggy onto the pavement. They have shot at strikers all over the range when the strikers were doing picket duty.
Hellraisers Journal: From Miners Magazine: Mother Jones Visits Striking Michigan Copper Miners, Received with Open Arms
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 15, 1913
Mother Jones in Michigan’s Copper Country, Encourages Striking Miners and Families
From the Miners Magazine of August 14, 1913:
…..“Mother” Jones, that dauntless and fearless heroine who kept alive the courage of the strikers of West Virginia and who was held a prisoner by the military authorities for several months, entered the state of Michigan last week to cheer the strikers on to victory.
Though “Mother” Jones has passed the four-score mile-post, yet her heart still beats as strongly for the rights of man as when the fire of youth flashed from her eye, and ere the strike has become a matter of history the mine operators of Michigan will know that a woman with Spartan courage can keep alive within the breast of revolting slaves the glorious flame of freedom’s purest inspiration.
The battle in Michigan must be won.
Fifty thousand men, women and children are involved in the strike and the sinews of war are needed to care for the men, women and children who have rebelled against industrial slavery.
The fight in Michigan is not only the fight of every member of the Western Federation of miners but it is the fight of every man and woman who stands beneath the folds of labor’s flag……
[Emphasis added.]
From the Miner’s Bulletin of August 14, 1913:
GEMS FROM MOTHER JONES.
The nation was founded as the result of a strike. Lincoln brought us all on a strike against black slavery; we are out on a strike against wage slavery and feudal bonds.
Sweep away all differences of nationality. You are all Americans.
We are going to quit developing muscle and develop a brain for the working class.
Stick together! Wake up! The hour is here! The dawn has come!
[Emphasis added.]
