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WE NEVER FORGET
The Martyrs of the Wardner Bullpen
Who Lost Their Lives in Freedom’s Cause During June of 1899
Following the Battle of Bunker, Mike Devine, Mike Johnson, and Miles McMillan were rounded-up, along with about 1,000 men of the Coeur d’Alene District, most of them miners and members of the Western Federation of Miners. They were all herded into the military bullpen near Wardner, Idaho. Reports from those imprisoned with them indicate that Mike Divine and Mile McMillan died from the effects of exposure due to the brutal conditions of the bullpen. Mike Johnson was deemed a “lunatic” by his captors. He was killed while attempting to escape as he was being transferred from the bullpen to the “lunatic” asylum.
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The Death of Mike Devine
June 1, 1899
From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Sept 27, 1900:
In the course of the Congressional investigation [before the House Committee on Military Affairs: “in relation to the Cœur d’Alene labor troubles” of 1899] which was made last year the following testimony [of March 12, 1900] was taken:
[U. S. Representative William] Sulzer-During the time you were there (in the bullpen) was there much sickness?
Answer [Testimony of L. J. Simpkins]–
Yes sir; while I was there four or five men I knew died. The first three or four days they would not allow a doctor to come in; afterward they did.
Mr. Sulzer-Do you know of the death of Mike Devine?
Answer-
Yes, sir; I nursed him when he was sick. We had a little hospital, about 10 by 12 feet. It had no floor and the men laid on straw on the ground. it was raining and the water running through wet the straw and blankets. The night Mike Devine died it rained so that we had to keep moving his bed from place to place to keep him out of the water. it was so with the others there. The leaks from the roof and the water running on the floor kept them all saturated., The sides of the shed were so open that we had to put paper cones around the candles to keep the wind from blowing them out. Devine died about 8 o’clock in the morning.
I was giving him his medicine every hour and toward evening I noticed the rattle, in his throat that I have noticed in the cases of other dying men, and I told him I thought he was dying. He said he thought so himself, and asked me to do him a favor. I told him I would, and he asked me to go for a priest for him. I promised him to do so. I asked the guard to call the corporal, and told him I wanted to go to Captain Lavelle’s office. The corporal took me to the captain, and I told him Mike Devine was dying and wanted to see a priest, and asked permission to send for one. Captain Lavelle said, “Neither Mike Divine nor any of the rest can see a priest or anybody else. Those are my orders, and they must be strictly obeyed.” When I told Mike he could not see a priest, he wanted to see his partner, Bill Kennedy, who was also in the bull pen, as he wanted to tell him how to dispose of his property. Captain Lavelle refused this request also, and Devine died about 8 o’clock in the morning. He died of exposure; he was an old man, over 60, I should judge. His request was that he should be buried in the Miners’ Union Cemetery at Wallace. The women of Wallace took the body and buried it themselves-all the men of the village were in the bull pen.
Death of Mike Devine Described by May Arkwright Hutton, 1900:
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The Death of Mike Johnson
June 10, 1899
Testimony of L. J. Simpkins of March 12, 1900, continued:
Mr. Sulzer-Tell us what you know of the death of Johnson.
Answer-
Johnson’s mind had become unbalanced from the effect of the treatment he had received, and he believed that he was to be put to death. Johnson was ordered to be sent to the lunatic asylum, and Dr. France, with a guard of soldiers, took him to the depot. My attention was attracted by hearing some shots fired, and I went to the side of the building and looked through a crack. I could see the river quiet plain. I saw a man in the river, and heard two or three shots fired. I saw the negro soldiers on both sides of the river running one way and another, and saw them go to a clump of bushes and pull a man out. A soldier by the name of White, who did the shooting, told me afterward, when he came on guard, that when they got to the station Dr. France went into the depot and left Johnson with him. He said that he walked along the depot platform, and the first thing he knew someone called out, “There goes your man!” He said he looked up and Johnson was running across the street, and he followed him, and Johnson ran onto the bridge and jumped off into the river. He said Dr. France came running up and called out, “Shoot! shoot! and he shot. Johnson was taken out dead.
Death of Mike Johnson Described by May Arkwright Hutton, 1900:
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The Death of Miles McMillian
June 11, 1899
Testimony of L. J. Simpkins of March 12, 1900, continued:
Mr. Sulzer-Tell us of the death of McMillan, and what he said to you.
Answer-
McMillan died from the result of exposure; he took cold, and his death was the result. He said he never had believed that a being in the form of a man could treat his fellow-man as he had seen men treated there by United States soldiers. He attributed his death to the treatment he had received, to the want of clothing, shelter and decent food.
Death of Miles McMillan Described by May Arkwright Hutton, 1900:
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/6
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle
(New York, New York)
-Sept 27, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/50354291/
Sources for Dates of Deaths
Deaths of Bullpen Prisoners
-per Gen. Merriam, from report dated July 31, 1899
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d03409628k&view=2up&seq=338
June 1-M. L. Devine in hospital pneumonia
June 11-Miles McMillan in hospital typhoid fever
[June 10]-Mike Johnson, suicide by drowning
From
Report of Gen. Merriam to Adj. Gen. H. C. Corbin dated July 31, 1898:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d03409628k&view=2up&seq=326
From
Volume 2 of Proceedings before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives in relation to the Cœur d’Alene labor troubles.
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100671082
Note: Sadly Vol 1 of above cannot be located online, this would contain the testimony of L. J. Simpkins, but search of Vol. 2 with “simpkins” reveals that Simpkins gave the testimony above, as do news accounts of March 1900, for example:
Mar 12, 1900 – Camden NJ Courier-Post p2
“L. J. Simpkins…testified today…” re “cruel and inhuman” treatment leading to death of Mike Devine.
https://www.newspapers.com/image/478873107/
Re Representative William Sulzer of NY as member of House Committee on Military Affairs, see:
San Francisco Examiner of Apr 14, 1900
https://www.newspapers.com/image/457463047/
Re date of death of Mike Johnson, see:
San Francisco Examiner of June 17, 1899
https://www.newspapers.com/image/458097176/
Note: Sadly, it was thought necessary in reports of the day to specify that the soldiers committing acts of terror against the miners in the bullpen were “Negro soldiers” or “colored troops,” but whenever white soldiers and/or deputized company gunthugs committed acts of terror against strikers, their race was not mentioned, take, for example, the butchers of Ludlow, Calumet, Raleigh County WV, etc etc etc etc….
IMAGES
The Coeur d’Alenes
or, A tale of the Modern Inquisition in Idaho
by May Arkwright Hutton
Denver CO, 1900
https://archive.org/details/coeurdalenesorta00hutt/page/n5
“Chp XXIII Victims of Martial Law”
Death of Mike Devine
https://archive.org/details/coeurdalenesorta00hutt/page/214
Deaths of Mike Johnson & Miles McMillan
https://archive.org/details/coeurdalenesorta00hutt/page/216
See also:
Tag: Coeur d’ Alene Miner’s Struggle of 1899
https://weneverforget.org/tag/coeur-d-alene-miners-struggle-of-1899/
Tag: Wardner ID Bullpen of 1899
https://weneverforget.org/tag/wardner-id-bullpen-of-1899/
Mike Devine Wardner npc search
https://www.newspapers.com/search/#query=%22mike+devine+wardner&dr_year=1899-1907
Mike Johnson Wardner npc search
https://www.newspapers.com/search/#query=%22mike+johnson%22+wardner
Miles McMillan Wardner npc search
https://www.newspapers.com/search/#query=%22miles+mcmillan%22+wardner&offset=1
June 5, 1900
Coeur d’Alene Labor Troubles
Report by Mr Dick fr/ House Com on Military Affairs
http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/documents/Coeur_D_Alene_Labor_Trouble_HRept_1999.pdf
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The Red Flag – Socialist Victory Choir
Lyrics Jim Connell, 1889