Tag: Steve Adams

Hellraisers Journal: Harper’s Magazine on the Moyer-Haywood Case: “The Murder Charge at a Labor Union’s Door”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Thursday May 30, 1907
Boise, Idaho – William D. Haywood on Trial for Murder

From Harper’s Weekly of May 25, 1907:


THE MURDER CHARGE AT A
LABOR UNION’S DOOR


BY THE CONFESSION OF ONE OF ITS MEMBERS, THE WESTERN
FEDERATION OF MINERS IS CHARGED WITH HAVING INSTIGATED
TWENTY-SEVEN MURDERS, INCLUDING THE ASSASSINATION, IN 1905,
OF FORMER GOVERNOR STEUNENBERG, OF IDAHO. FOR COMPLICITY
IN THIS CRIME, W. D. HAYWOOD, OF THE FEDERATION’S
“INNER CIRCLE,” IS ON TRIAL FOR HIS LIFE

HMP, Pettibone Moyer Haywood, AtR, Feb 16, 1907

AN attempt to learn the truth about the most serious charge that ever has been laid at the doors of organized labor is now being made at Boise City, Idaho. William D. Haywood, secretary-treasurer of the Western Federation of Miners, is on trial in the District Court, charged with the murder of Frank Steunenberg, former Governor of Idaho. Two other officers of the Federation are jointly accused, but they will be tried separately. One remarkable fact which provokes arguments for and against the organization is that the evidence upon which Haywood and his associates have been indicted is based upon the confession of a member of the Federation who is reported since to have lost his reason.

The three men charged with conspiracy and murder are Haywood, Charles H. Moyer, President of the Western Federation of Miners, and G. A. Pettibone, formerly a member of the supreme governing body of the organization. These three are men of unusual intelligence and high executive ability.

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Hellraisers Journal: Governor & Warden Invite Kept Press to “Grand Reception” with the Pious Assassin, Harry Orchard

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday May 25, 1907
From Boise, Idaho – Montana News Reports on Haywood Trial:

A Grand Reception
—–

Held in Idaho Penitentiary for the Purpose
of Creating a Sentiment in Favor of
a Self Confessed Murder

 

Boise, May 18.

HMP, Justice Boise, Spokane Press, May 9, 1907

When court closed at three o’clock this afternoon the state had used seven of its peremptory challenges and the defense six. The work of completing the jury still promises to be a long and tedious one. Today completed the sixth day of the trial. The weather is very warm. Not much interest in the case is manifested in Boise, only small crowds being in attendance.

It is evident even to a casual observer that a battle royal is on. Each side is contesting every step of the way. But the tilts between the attorneys have so far been conducted with uniform courtesy and good nature. It is interesting to watch the class feature figure in the selection of the jury. A man appearing right down common and plainly honest with no pretensions to belong to the confident side of society is unvaribly peremptorily rejected by the prosecution. While a self confident man owning considerable property and feeling a certain superiority and conscious respectability is promptly dismissed by the defense.

The reason for this unconscious action on the part of the contending forces at bar can be furnished only by the socialist philosophy.

The property possessing class and those that have means to live in a somewhat comfortable style find all their interests in conformity with maintaining the established order of things. The wage workers and those whose occupation has brought them no sense of security and established position in society feel no sympathy in maintaining the farce of established procedure. So the choosing of the jury proceeds as carefully as the chess player moves his pawns. Only in final resort the judge and the sheriff hold the deciding moves. Over half of the new panel of hundred men has been exhausted.

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Hellraisers Journal: “Scum rises to the top.” Ida Crouch-Hazlett Interviews Big Bill Haywood on “Disruption in I. W. W.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday March 31, 1907
From Caldwell, Idaho: Ida Crouch-Hazlett Reports

Haywood, Wilshire's Magazine, 1906

In this weeks edition of the Montana News, Ida Crouch-Hazlett reports her observations of the ongoing events in the case of our imprisoned comrades, Haywood, Moyer, and Pettibone. She first describes the mental anguish of the murderer, Harry Orchard, saved from despair and suicide by the application of good food and fine cigars. But most importantly, she reports that she was able to have a talk with Bill Haywood, just after the close of court one day in the town of Caldwell, wherein Big Bill gave his opinion of the current conflict now upsetting the unity of the Industrial Workers of the World. Big Bill stated that the “scum rises to the top,” and that the I. W. W. will be stronger once the scum is skimmed off.

Included in the report is an editorial from the March 16th edition of The Industrial Union Bulletin entitled “Why They Want Haywood.”

From the Montana News of March 28, 1907:

Side Lights on the Trial
—–

Orchard Contemplated Suicide-
Now Treated as a Prince-
Mine Owners After Haywood

Through the machinations of the capitalist press the public has almost forgotten the fiend who did the deed. Although implicating himself in the same crime, the admitted principal is relegated to the rear when it comes to punishment. This miserable wretch the tool of the Great Conspiracy that vibrates through this mountain air, of men against the labor that feeds and cloths them, this Judas already damned, as is well known to the real “inner circle,” a broadcloth one giving his star-chamber bosses the slip after all, from sheer physical and mental ability to carry on his part. He had become a prey to his own degenerate mental images, and had become so fearful and despondent, that existence was a misery to him, and he had decided on taking his life. He got hold of some arsenic and concealed it about his cell. He told Mrs. Steve Adams of his resolution. She plead with him not to think of such a thing, but he was obdurate. She then reported the matter to the guards, the cell was searched and the poison was found.

Warned in this way that they were liable to lose their most valuable asset, the conspirators saw that they would have to put heart into their dupe, so that now he has pleasant surroundings and accommodations, good food, cigars, and all things needful, and he’s getting braced up to meet the men on trial that he is trying to swear into eternity. Nice thought that. They might as well have let him die easy. His life does not amount to anything anyhow.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “Scum rises to the top.” Ida Crouch-Hazlett Interviews Big Bill Haywood on “Disruption in I. W. W.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Ida Crouch-Hazlett, Editor of Montana News, Has a Little Talk with Big Bill Haywood

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 22, 1907
Caldwell, Idaho – Socialist Editor Reports on Moyer-Haywood Case

From the Socialist Montana News of March 21, 1907:

Side Lights on the Trial
—–

Making Laws to Suit Prosecution-
Gooding and His Body Guard


by Ida Crouch-Hazlett.

HMP, Pettibone Moyer Haywood, AtR, Feb 16, 1907

Caldwell, Idaho, March 13.-Perhaps the chief feature that will make the Moyer-Haywood case historic is the part the government has played in the matter from the beginning. The governor of the state, supposed to be a disinterested party, is a prosecuting complainant. His boast that the men would never leave Idaho alive, before any trial, leaves no room for his recognition as an unprejudiced party. Senator Borah is one of the leading attorneys for the prosecution. Indeed, we have been informed privately that he is the real push behind Gooding, and that Gooding is a mere puppet in his hands. Borah tells Gooding what to do, makes all the plans, but he is skulking behind the governor so far as responsibility is concerned. The legislature is controlled entirely by Borah and Gooding. Its appropriation of $104,000 on this case has already been noted.

This session it has passed two measures altering the criminal code, with emergency clauses, showing that they were passed entirely for this case. One had to do with the selection of a judge according to the attorneys employed in a case. The prosecution at first had sixteen attorneys and the defense four. But the addition of the firm of Groffith Brothers at Caldwell, removed the advantage that the new law would have given, when another twist was made. Another case was the passage of a law making the number of peremptory challenges the prosecution was allowed equal to that of the defense. For forty years the statute has been that the defense should have the right of ten challenges and the prosecution five. That the change should have been made at this time with an emergency clause to equalize it immediately, can admit of but one interpretation for such unseemly haste as this at this time, which is unprecedented in the modification of the criminal code.

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Appeal to Reason: Clarence Darrow Speaks: “Adams’ Prosecution a Fraud and Humbug.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday March 17, 1907
From the Appeal to Reason: Clarence Darrow Speaks

In the this week’s edition of the Appeal, it is reported that the jury in the Steve Adams’ trial, which took place in Wallace, Idaho, could not reach agreement and was, therefore, discharged by Judge Woods. On the same page is published the closing argument of Clarence Darrow, counsel for the defense, which we are pleased to offer below:

DARROW SPEAKS
—–


Adams’ Prosecution a Fraud and Humbug
—–
A Manifestation of the Inevitable
War of the Classes.
—–

HMP, Steve Adams, Darrow Speaks, text, AtR, Mar 16, 1907

—–

HMP, Clarence Darrow, ab 1907

The merits of the Adams case and motives prompting the prosecution are strikingly set forth in the closing argument of Clarence Darrow, counsel for the defense, in the following clear and forceful presentation. Said Mr. Darrow:

It is the truth that much as I love justice, and much as I hate punishment of any sort, I have neither the time nor ability to defend every poor man charged with a crime. That is not the reason I am here.

Mr. Knight has said, and I do not deny it, that back of this man are the funds of a great organization, the small contributions of thousands of workingmen, and it is true that a great effort is being made to defend him, but it is also true that the state of Idaho never prosecuted a man before as this man is being prosecuted.

The officers of this county have been shoved aside and the greatest lawyer in the state has been employed. More than that, the state of Colorado has been called upon, months of the time of the greatest detective of the west have been given to bring him to the gallows, the state of Washington brought another who used his time without stint. It is a remarkable case, unprecedented in the annals of criminal proceedure.

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Hellraisers Journal: Ida Crouch-Hazlett, Editor of Montana News, Discovers a Socialist Local in Caldwell, Idaho

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday March 16, 1907
Caldwell, Idaho – Editor Crouch-Hazlett on the Scene

The editor of the Montana News is now reporting from the scene of the attempted frame-up of the officials of the Western Federation of Miners, and, to her surprise, she has found an active and effective Local of the Socialist Party in that small western town.

From the Caldwell Socialist of August 18, 1906:

HMP, Waiting by Ryan Walker, Caldwell Socialist of Aug 18, 1906

From the Montana News of March 14, 1907:

Socialist Activity in the Idaho Conspiracy.

[By Ida Crouch-Hazlett]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Ida Crouch-Hazlett, Editor of Montana News, Discovers a Socialist Local in Caldwell, Idaho” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Montana News: Ida Crouch-Hazlett in Caldwell, Idaho, Interviews Mrs. Steunenberg

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Friday March 15, 1907
From the Montana News: Ida Crouch-Hazlett Reports From Caldwell

GOV. STEUNENBERG’S WIDOW
—–
Interview by Ida Crouch-Hazlett

Ida Crouch-Hazlett, Socialist, Montana News, Aug 3, 1904

Since the kidnapping case has been put off till the close of Steve Adams’ trial, which is simply the preliminary skirmish of the same conflict, I took the time on March 5 to walk out to the Steunenberg residence, and have a talk with the widow of the bull-pen governor. The house stands at the extreme edge of the little country town of Caldwell, it is modest modern cottage with no signs of great wealth about it, but an air of comfort and indications of sufficient means to cover ample middle class wants. Mrs. Steunenberg is a pleasant-faced, portly woman, short in stature of those general characteristics that are ordinarily called “motherly.” She was not averse to giving any information asked for and indeed seemed to think it her duty to satisfy the public curiosity. She is an ardent adherent of the Adventist faith, and seems to reconcile everything with the idea that it is “God’s will.” She says she knows nothing of papers and politics.

A neighbor who sometimes did little chores about the house was at first arrested for the terrible crime. She always strenuously opposed any suspicion being laid upon this man. She showed me the fragments of clothing that were gathered up about the fatal spot. The largest one was not over six inches long. She said she had formed no opinion as to the perpetrators of the deed, that there were those whose business such matters were and she left everything to them.

The depth of the class struggle between the economic forces of society is nowhere more evident than in this calm, placid woman, who has no idea that her husband’s actions in the brutal Idaho war were anything but necessary and fully justified by the circumstances. The father is looked upon as a martyr to public service, and the young children of which there are four, have each full sets of his pictures. The entire forms of bourgeois thought must be shaken from their adamantine strongholds before even a suspicion of justice can find lodgment in the social consciousness.

The very fact that such a heinous, insensate, cowardly crime should have been laid at the doors of men banded together to better and uplift the conditions of the workers, who have nothing to gain by crimes, but everything to lose, that these men should have been followed so relentlessly by the iron hand of all the machinery that the employing class can use shows the desperate straits to which this robber class will go to maintain the prerogatives and retain the slave.

Men who work, awaken. There is no peace or security for you, except as you arise and give battle for the common rights of all human beings.

IDA CROUCH-HAZLETT.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Montana News: Ida Crouch-Hazlett in Caldwell, Idaho, Interviews Mrs. Steunenberg” →

Hellraisers Journal: Tories, Then & Now, Denounce “Incendiary” Speeches of Patrick Henry and Vincent St John

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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If the plutocrats begin the program,
we will end it.
-Eugene V. Debs

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 3, 1907
Goldfield, Nevada – Red Flags, Red Banners, Red Ribbons Rule!

WFM button

The kept press finds itself in a state of supreme outrage in view of the fact that the rabble of the nation are not conducting themselves in a calm and reasonable manner as the authorities of the states of Colorado and Idaho, acting in the interests of the Mine Owners Association, attempt a frame-up on Big Bill Haywood and Charles Moyer, officers of the Western Federation of Miners.

From the Appeal to Reason of February 2, 1907:

KING GEORGE AND CAPITAL
—–
The Words of Vincent St. John Have the
Same Effect on American Tories as
Those of Patrick Henry Had
Upon the British Tories.
—–

Vincent St John, New Castle (PA) Herald, Aug 11, 1906

TO illustrate the attitude invariably assumed by the conservators of the dominant order at various times in the world’s history, I herewith reprint two articles taken from papers published more than a hundred years apart. One refers to the demonstration of the Goldfield miners last Sunday, in behalf of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone, and is clipped from the Denver Republican; the other describes the scenes in the Virginia House of Burgesses, when Patrick Henry delivered his famous philippie against King George, and is selected from a history in which was copied the article as it was taken from an old English paper. The Denver Republican typically represents the cause of capitalism today; the old english paper typically represented the cause of toryism a century ago.

Read and observe the parallel:

HMP, St John Speech at Goldfield, AtR, Feb 2, 1907

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Hellraisers Journal: Correspondent for Montana News Reports on Pinkerton Plot to Murder Steve Adams

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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There are no limits to which
powers of privilege will not go
to keep the workers in slavery.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Saturday October 13, 1906
Wallace, Idaho – Steve Adams Fights Pinkerton Frame-Up

From Isaac Cowan in the October 11th edition of the Montana News:

Steve Adams On Trial
—–

Montana News Special Correspondent Reports
McPartland’s Murderous Schemes

Montana News, ed Ida Crouch-Hazlett, Oct 11, 1906

After a preliminary hearing before Probate Judge Boomer, Steve Adams is bound over to the district court, which meets Oct. 15. When I arrived in Wallace, Idaho, Sept. 26, the city was full of detectives, headed by the notorious James McPartland [McParland], alias Jim McKenna, of the Pinkerton-Mollie Maguirs [Molly Maguires] fame, who is now trying to railroad Haywood, Moyer and Pettibone, officials of the Western Federation of Miners, to the gallows. Steve Adams, who was arrested shortly after Harry Orchard’s alleged confession charging the miners’ officials with being implicated in the murder of ex-Governor Steunenburg, is now charged with the murder of an alleged claim jumper named Fred Tyler.

McPartland’s Sleuthing.

Adams had been relied upon by McPartland and Governor Gooding to corroborate Orchard’s confession, or the main part of it, and was being held in jail (with his wife, Mrs. Adams, being kept in the woman’s ward for that purpose.)

Adams denies that there was or is any truth in what McPartland and Gooding say he swore to, and says that the statements about his knowledge of the guilt of the officers of the miners was written up by McPartland or Gooding, or both; and he was compelled to swear to them by threats of Governor Gooding, who stated that if the people of Colorado got hold of him he would be mobbed and killed. All of this Adams has given out through signed documents, witnessed to by Mrs. Adams, his wife, and handed to J. W. Lillard, Adams’ uncle, a sick ranchman in Washington, and is now in the hands of Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone’s attorneys. On application Adams was immediately released on a writ of habeas corpus, but was at once arrested for the murder of Fred Tyler.

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Hellraisers Journal: Steve Adams Brought to Wallace, Idaho, in Custody of Sheriff Sutherland

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These mine owners have demonstrated by
their acts that they do not hesitate
to adopt any means to carry out
their avowed intention of crushing the
organization of the miners.
-U. S. Senator Teller of Colorado

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal, Sunday September 23, 1906
Wallace, Idaho – Adams Arrives to Face Charge of Murder

From The Idaho Daily Statesman of September 19, 1906:

ADAMS AND GUARDS ARRIVE IN WALLACE
—–
Prisoner Arraigned on Charge of Murder
and Preliminary Set for Thursday-
Newton Glover Arrested for Complicity in
Crime and Warrant Out for Others.
—–

(Special Dispatch.)

jack-simpkins-search-on-ab-1906

WALLACE. Sept 18.-Sheriff Sutherland arrived in Wallace at noon today with Steve Adams, with whom he had driven across the country most of the way from Boise. The party left Moscow yesterday and drove to a small station east of Tekoa, where this morning they took the train for Wallace. The sheriff and Adams are considerably worn from the journey, but both are in good spirits. The sheriff succeeded in his undertaking of bringing Adams to Wallace from Boise without stepping outside the state. Adams was arraigned this afternoon on the charge of murdering John Doe Tyler in the St. Joe country. Newton Glover, an alleged accomplice of Adams and Jack Simpkins, was brought in on the same train. Mrs. Adams and children were also on the same train. They greeted Adams affectionately.

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