Pray for the dead
And fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fellow Worker Frank Thornton
Organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World
Fellow Worker James Rowan, in his work entitled “The I. W. W. in the Lumber Industry,” described the death of Frank Thornton:
Near the end of July there occurred at Troy, Montana, an incident of shocking barbarity. A man named Frank Thornton was arrested in a saloon after a quarrel with the bartender, and the constable took him to the jail, a small wooden structure. According to the statements of by-standers who witnessed the arrest, two Lumber Trust gunmen followed them, and the sound of blows was heard coming from the jail, as if they were giving Thornton a terrible beating. That night the jail was burned down and Thornton, the only prisoner, was burned in it. It is thought by some that Thornton was beaten to death by the constable and gunmen on the afternoon of his arrest, and that the jail was purposely set on fire to cover up the crime. Others claimed that while the jail was burning, they could see Thornton writhing in agony among the flames. This much is certain: the jail burned and either Thornton or his dead body was burned with it. Thornton was beaten to death or burned alive in the jail, and the authorities who arrested him and put him in that jail are responsible for his death.
To put a man in a firetrap of that kind, and leave him without any possible chance of escape in case of fire, is in itself a criminal act. There are thousands of these wooden firetrap jails in this country, and many men have met a fate similar to that of Thornton; but because they were working men without money or influence, little publicity has ever been given to these atrocities.
To enumerate all the instances of violence and lawlessness practiced on strikers by Lumber Trust gunmen and subservient officers of the law would fill volumes.
[Spirit of the Strikers Unbroken]
All this hounding, persecuting, arresting, beating, and jailing could not crush the strike or the undaunted spirit of the strikers. Every fresh outrage only seemed to increase their determination; when pickets were arrested others took their places and, as the weeks dragged along, the fight was carried on with intensified bitterness. The lumber industry remained paralyzed…
[Paragraph break added.]
—–
General Strike in Lumber!
The Industrial Worker of July 14, 1917 stated that there was a general lumber strike ongoing across Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Solidarity of July 21, 1917, stated that the Lumber Workers Industrial Union No. 500 had announced a general strike from Seattle, Washington.
Soon the I. W. W. could claim that between 40,000 to 50,000 lumber workers were involved in the strike. The demands included an eight-hour day, clean bunks, sanitary kitchens, and payment of wages by bank check (rather than in company srip).
The lumber trust reacted with their usual campaign of terror and hatred perpetrated against anyone who fought against the inhumane conditions existing in the lumber camps.
—–
The rebuilt Troy jail is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Troy, Montana. The registration form describes the death of Fellow Worker Frank Thornton:
In 1917, the I.W.W. was a radical labor organization dedicated to combating what it perceived as the obvious inequities of the capitalistic system. Methods employed by the I.W.W. included intimidation, sabotage and strikes that aroused fear and anger in many communities, including Troy. The I.W.W. worked to organize sawyers, miners and rail works throughout the northwest, including Troy. Pushing for the so-called “one big union,” I.W.W. was involved in a violent incident in Troy which led to 50 local citizens being deputized. The local newspaper reported that the goal of locals was “to have the I.W.W. behave or back out of Troy pronto.”
One month later, Troy police officer Bert Coffman arrested Frank Thornton for creating a disturbance. Thornton was incarcerated in the original, wood-frame city jail and killed when a suspicious fire broke out at the jail. Coffman, who was injured trying to rescue Thornton, later said that the inmate had papers in his possession that identified him as an I.W.W. organizer from Butte. The official determination was that Thornton had started the fire himself, but many believed that the fire was intentionally set to kill Thornton as a consequence of his I.W.W. status.
—–
From the Great Falls Tribune of June 18, 1917:
ALLEGED I. W. W. AGITATORS BUSY
—–
Alleged Industrial Workers Are Reported
to Have Over-Run Troy.
—–Helena, June 17.-A Troy, Mont., dispatch to the [Helena] Independent says alleged members of the Industrial Workers of the World “have over-run that city.” The Snowstorm mine, railway construction work and work on the city water works are threatened by agitators and that the federal government will be asked to send troops. A number of men have already quit work in the mines and on the railway. The alleged I. W. W. are said to be the same who recently were driven from Eureka, which is also in Lincoln county and where troops finally were sent.
—–
Note: The Helena Independent was the very same newspaper whose editor declared after the lynching of Frank Little: “Good Work: Let them continue to hang every I. W. W. in the state.” And yet it was the hardworking men and women fighting for their rights as workers who were demonized as advocating violence!
See:
Montana: A Bicentennial History
-by Clark C. Spence
W. W. Norton & Company, Jun 17, 1978
(Search: good work helena independent aug 2 1917.)
https://books.google.com/books?id=6bzwAAAAQBAJ
From the Great Falls Tribune of July 20, 1917:
BURNS TO DEATH
—–
Man in Jail in Troy Sets Fire to
the Building in Some Way.
—–Special to The Daily Tribune.
Whitefish. July 19-Word has been received here from Troy, near the Idaho state line, that the jail at that place is a heap of ashes and that the solitary inmate of the place was burned to death.The victim of the fire was put in the jail to sober up and it is supposed that he started the fire unwittingly, while trying to light a cigarette, or with some other idea in his muddled head-possibly that he might escape during the disturbance over the fire. Anyhow, when the fire was discovered it was too late either to do anything to save the building or rescue the man. Nothing is known of the victim’s identity.
———-
Note: Within my old notes I find this information: that the fire was started by an explosion at 4 AM on July 17, 1917, which caused the jail to burn down around the imprisoned Wobbly; that FW Thornton had been arrest for shouting “scab,” presumably at men who had crossed a picket line; and that the coroner’s jury found that the fire was “undoubtedly cause by [the prisoner] himself.”
I believe this note is 20 or 30 years old, and, sadly, I was not as careful then as I am now to record the sources for my information. Despite much searching throughout my many books on the IWW, I have been unable to find the source for this note. More research needed.
SOURCES
The IWW in the Lumber Industry
-by James Rowan
Re: Lumber Workers Industrial Union No. 500
Seattle, Washington, 1920
Chapter 5-The Lumber Workers’ Struggle for Freedom and the Lumber Trusts’ Struggle for Profits
(Scroll to page 39)
https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/images/publications/SL_RowanIWWLumberIndustry/SL_RowanIWWLumberIndustry.pdf
IWW Strikes 1905-1920
(Scroll down to July 14 and July 21 of 1917.)
http://depts.washington.edu/iww/strikes.shtml
Labor and World War I, 1914-1918
-by Philip S Foner
International Publishers, 1987
Chapter 12: IWW Organizing During the War: The Lumber Industry
https://books.google.com/books?id=RzHyAAAAMAAJ
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
For: Troy Jail at Troy, Montana
Section 7, pages 6-7
https://npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/06001179.pdf
The Troy Echo, vol. 1, no. 2 to vol. 12, no. 52.
(Used as source for information re Frank Thornton on the above Registration Form.)
http://roadsidethoughts.com/mt/troy-xx-lincoln-localpapers.htm#local_newspapers
http://www.worldcat.org/title/troy-echo/oclc/12576661/
Great Falls Tribune
(Great Falls, Montana)
-June 18, 1917
https://www.newspapers.com/image/237977156/
-July 20, 1917
https://www.newspapers.com/image/237988751/
IMAGES
IWW LWIU 500 Stickerette
http://peopleshistoryarchive.org/content/iww-lwiu-no-500
LWIU, IWW Label, Lumber Rowan, ab 1920
LWIU, Doodle, IWW Lumber Rowan, ab 1920
https://www.sos.wa.gov/legacy/images/publications/SL_RowanIWWLumberIndustry/SL_RowanIWWLumberIndustry.pdf
See also:
Troy Jail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Jail
The IWW in the Lumber Industry
-by James Rowan
Re: Lumber Workers Industrial Union No. 500-IWW
Seattle, Washington, 1920
https://www.iww.org/history/library/Rowan/lumberindustry
Chapter 5-The Lumber Workers’ Struggle for Freedom and the Lumber Trusts’ Struggle for Profits
https://www.iww.org/history/library/Rowan/lumberindustry/5
50,000 Lumberjacks – Joe Glazer