Tag: Wardner ID

Hellraisers Journal: Ed Boyce, President of Western Federation of Miners, Pays His Respects to General Merriam

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 28, 1900
President Boyce on Gen. Merriam: “pusillanimous tool…of the mine operators…”

From the Kansas City Labor Record of January 25, 1900:

THE WARDNER TROUBLE
—–
General Merriam Censured for his Persecution
of Union Miners. Not a Union Man
Allowed to Work.
—–

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

In the initial issue of the Miners Magazine President Boyce pays his respects to General Merriam in the following caustic manner:

The following interview with General Merriam by a reporter of the Rocky Mountain News was published in that paper Dec. 13th:

You can say for me,” said the general yesterday to a News man, “that the more Congress investigates the Coeur d’Alene troubles the better it will please me. I am pleased to know that such a movement is on foot.

“The constitution speaks for itself,” continued General Merriam. “Martial law was proclaimed by Governor Stuenenberg May 3d last. Three days after I was ordered to the scene. Arrests were made by the stale authorities, but I do not care to discuss the question. The records speak for themselves.”

Had this pusillanimous tool in the hands of the mine operators, clothed in the uniform of a general bearing the U. S. brand, been animated with no other desire than to do his duty when he reached the Coeur d’Alenes, there would be no need of a congressional investigation.

Did he not arrest every man in the country at the suggestion of the mine operators without cause or provocation and confine them in a filthy barn unfit for habitation, with instructions to shoot any man who showed his head, and denied them the right to consult with counsel?

Did he not examine and approve over his signature one of the most infamous proclamations that ever emanated from the brain of man, which denied every man the right to seek employment in the mines of Shoshone county unless he denounced organized labor and obtained a permit from Dr. France, the Bunker Hill and Sullivan company doctor, noted for his extreme prejudice against organized labor?

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Hellraisers Journal: New York World: “Congress to Probe Standard Oil War on Idaho Miners” – Wardner Bullpen to Close

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 2, 1899
Wardner, Idaho – Bullpen to Close; Congress to Investigate

From the New York World of December 1, 1899:

CONGRESS TO PROBE STANDARD OIL WAR
ON IDAHO MINERS.

Wardner Bullpen, NY Wld p17, Dec 1, 1899

Gen. Merriam’s “Bull Pen,”
Which Once Held 2,000 Prisoners,
Is to Be Closed Next Week.
—–
NATION AND TRUST VS. UNION.
—–
Trouble Started Seven Years Ago
—Life and Property Have Been Lost
—Both Sides Welcome Inquiry.
—–
MARTIAL LAW TO CONTINUE AWHILE.
—–
Cases of Mine-Owners and Miners Ready for Congress
-Bitterness Against Standard Oil.
—–

(Special to The World.)

WALLACE, Idaho, Nov. 30.—Congress is to investigate Idaho’s seven-year war in which the Standard Oil Company, owner of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mines in the Coeur d’Alene district, has, aided by the Federal and State authorities, opposed the Miners’ Union. Senator Carter, of Montana, and Senator Heitfeld, of Idaho, champions o the miners, will move for such an investigation early in the session.

Already State Auditor Bartlett Sinclair announces that the famous or infamous Wardner “bull pen,” in which at one time the military authorities had as many as 2,000 prisoners, is to be closed next week—coincident with the meeting of Congress.

Of the total number o£ men incarcerated there only eighteen had a trial before a court or before a jury of their peers. Others were arrested and held at the pleasure of the military or state authorities. Terms of imprisonment ranged from three weeks to three months. Martial law had been proclaimed.

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Hellraisers Journal: Edward Boyce and Samuel Gompers Denounce Militarism and Treatment of Coeur D’Alene Miners

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday October 28, 1899
Cincinnati, Ohio – Presidents Samuel Gompers and Edward Boyce Speak

From The Indianapolis Journal of October 27, 1899:

MILITARISM DENOUNCED
—–

PROTEST AGAINST THE TREATMENT OF
COEUR D’ALENE MINERS.
—–
Mass Meeting at Which Samuel Gompers Spoke,
and Strong Resolution Were Adopted.
—–

Edward Boyce, Prz WFM, SL Hld p5, May 6, 1899

CINCINNATI, Oct. 26.-An enormous meeting was held to-night at Music Hall, the officers of which were of the Central Labor Council of Cincinnati and the speakers were Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, and Edward Boyce, of Butt Mont., president of the Western Federation of Miners. Fully 6,O00 men remained during the two long speeches. The announced purpose of the meeting was to protest against the treatment of prisoners held in the Couer d’Alene region in the “bull pen.”

Before the speaking began the resolutions were read. The first resolution was a demand of the President of the United States to enforce the Constitution, especially in the sixth section, which, they claim, has been violated. The second resolution demanded of the President the withdrawal of the United States troops from Shoshone county. The next resolution demanded a court-martial of General Merriam and his subordinate officers. The last resolution was that all the federal, the military and civil officers responsible for the alleged illegal acts committed by them should be held to the strictest accountability.

President Gompers said the present afforded a great opportunity for laboring people. He said this enormous attendance and the passage of these resolutions would have a far-reaching effect and would do much to relieve the oppressed in Idaho and to bring the oppressors to Justice. President Gompers said that he was in the mountain region near the scene of the uprising in Shoshone county but a few days before it occurred. He said that by conversation with men who knew about the situation he learned the condition of affairs at Wardner, Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines. He vehemently denied that labor organizations had anything whatever to do with that uprising. The labor unions had been locked out by the operators, who went outside and brought in inferior and dangerous nonunion men and set them to work in the mines. These ignorant miners, unused to the ways of the union, demanded union prices and were denied.

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Hellraisers Journal: “Free America!” – Reign of Terror Continues Against Miners of Shoshone County, Part II

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday August 21, 1899
Wardner, Idaho – Hundreds of miners have been in bullpen for over two months.

From the Appeal to Reason of August 19, 1899:

Free America!

Washington Times, [July 18, 1899].
(Part II)

WFM, Wardner Bull Pen of May 1899, Hutton photo 1, 1900

General Merriam had been instructed to go to Wardner to quell disturbances and to keep order, but according to the affidavits these were the last of the duties he imposed upon himself. It is sworn that immediately upon his arrival he began a wholesale carnival of arrests, which continued for several weeks. Every man who was known to have been connected in any way with a labor union was arrested without any charge being made, and as the county jail was considered too soft a place, the prisoners were placed in a large barn known as the “bull pen,” and were strongly guarded.

THROWN INTO A BULL PEN.

In a short time over 700 men were packed into this pen and forced to sleep on a filthy floor, and were given no attention. Nearly all of these men were charged with no crime, and were arrested by order of Governor Steunenburg because they had at some time belonged to labor unions. The sheriff of the county and two members of the board of county commissioners were arrested among others, because, as the governor said, they were “sympathizers.” The county attorney attempted to secure the release of the sheriff and was threatened with arrest if he dared offer a protest. The prisoners were cut off from all communication with the outside world and were allowed to see nobody. Their wives and children were allowed to starve and were subjected to the most revolting outrages by the colored troops and the lawless hangers-on who had sworn that they believed that labor unions to be criminal organizations.

The conditions inside the pen were sickening, according to the statements of those who have been imprisoned there. Scurvy and slime were everywhere, and several cases of insanity were developed among the prisoners. Every able-bodied man in the town of Wardner had some experience in this place and every miner who refused to sign an application for a permit to work was arrested as a “sympathizer.”

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Hellraisers Journal: “Free America!” – Reign of Terror Continues Against Miners of Shoshone County, Part I

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 20, 1899
Wardner, Idaho – 300 Miners and Sympathizers Remain in Bullpen

From the Appeal to Reason of August 19, 1899:

Free America!

 

Wardner ID Bullpen, Terror Reigns, WDC Tx p1, July 18, 1899

Washington Times, [July 18, 1899].
(Part I)

ACCORDING to the affidavits and sworn statements presented to the president [William McKinley] yesterday by Senator Heitfeld, [Populist] of Idaho, a reign of terror and brutality has been established in Shoshone county in that state and an American Siberia has been inaugurated by the Standard Oil Trust, aided and abetted by Brig. Gen. H. O. Merriam and a regiment of colored regulars. The testimony now in the possession of the president contains the sworn statements of representative business men who describe such a round of brutal torture and barbarity as makes the rule of Spanish tyranny in Cuba seems merciful and humane in comparison.

The testimony shows that the Coeur d’Alene district has been under martial law for nearly three months, and the county has been absolutely cut off from the rest of the world. More than 300 innocent men, the testimony shows, have been imprisoned in a filthy “bull pen” during the three months, and have been subjected to such outrageous treatment that twenty-four deaths have occurred and the living are physical wrecks. Every sympathizer has been imprisoned or driven out of the county, and even now eight men are being tried for their lives without counsel. The county attorney is guarded and threatened with arrest should he dare to enter a protest, and over 100 witnesses for the defense have been driven out and warned not to return.

PAYING ALL EXPENSES.

The Standard Oil Trust is paying all expenses of prosecution to insure conviction. A rigid press censorship has been established and no man’s life is worth a word of sympathy. Men have been murdered and woman outraged by the colored troops and no heed has been given these things by the military rulers. The governor of the state is charged with being in the employ of the Standard Oil Trust, and the accusations are backed up by his own defy, in which he states that “the large mine owners will run the state in the future and that he (the governor) will keep the country under martial law during the balance of his term.”

All this, and more, it is claimed, has been proven, and President McKinley has promised to begin an investigation at once.

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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

—–

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: 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

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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
—–

MILITARY RULE IN IDAHO IS DENOUNCED
—–

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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