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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.]