Hellraisers Journal: From The Miners’ Magazine: The Smeltermen’s Strike in Colorado City, Led by WFM, Part III

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Quote BBH Corporation Soul, Oakland Tb p11, Mar 30, 1909—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday April 22, 1903
Colorado City, Colorado –
Mill and Smeltermen’s Union on Strike, Part III

From The Miners Magazine of April 1903:

THE STRIKE IN COLORADO CITY.

[Part III of V: Moyer Submits Terms for Arbitration]

WFM button

As soon as it became known throughout the state that the militia had been ordered to Colorado City, organized labor in every hamlet, village and city of the state, acted as a unit, in carrying out the instructions that were conveyed in the address that was issued by President Moyer and Secretary-Treasurer Haywood. The first petition that was presented to the legislature in condemnation of the governor, was laid upon the table by a vote of twenty-nine to nineteen. The members of the legislature did not seem to realize that organized labor throughout the state was thoroughly aroused, and when petition after petition came into the chambers of the law-makers, the corporation-owned lackeys of the Peabody administration felt “a change of heart.

The governor for a few days played the role of the parrot to Manager MacNeil, and echoed the slogan of the corporations: “There is nothing to arbitrate.” “Nothing to arbitrate,” exclaimed the governor, when the state militia, at an expense of $1,500 per day are located at Colorado City, to give assistance to the mill trust in binding the shackles of a more galling bondage on the limbs of the serfs, who rebelled against czarism in Colorado. Nothing to arbitrate, when mill managers ride in $14,000 automobiles, and their employes live in hovels, surrounded by squalor of the most abject poverty? Nothing to arbitrate while misery is the legacy of the mill workers, and fabulous dividends, for the trust? Governor, in the language of the street, “you are a corker.” The sentiment of the people of Colorado was expressed in the numerous petitions that poured into the state capitol, and the governor showed symptoms of receding from his former position.

* * *

Sherman Bell, the adjutant general, who was recently appointed by the governor, at the urgent request of the Mine Owners’ Association, and whose salary in the capacity of adjutant general is $1,800 per year, plus $3,200, which is to be appropriated by the Mine Owners’ Association, has assumed the attitude of a military autocrat. This imperial bum hero, who won a questionable reputation in the Spanish-American war, by crawling behind the breastworks of black men, who stormed San Juan hill, vomited the burning lava of his pent-up indignation in the following words to a correspondent of the Denver Post:

You may say for me, in the most emphatic and unqualified terms, that while President Moyer, of the Western Federation of Miners, is in Denver carrying a white flag of truce and asking for the good offices of Governor Peabody to relieve him and his factional Coeur d’Alene followers from their present embarrassing predicament, he is acting with a double purpose here by waving a red flag under a black flag and at the same time is endeavoring to be relieved of any and all responsibility for the firing at our sentries by Moyer’s assassins and forcing his ideas of arbitration. There is nothing to arbitrate with us on this matter, and everybody concerned might just as well understand it. That is all there is to that.

Sherman Bell is not supposed to assume the duties of adjutant general until Gardner of “Wrath of God” and “Snowslide Fame,” steps down and out at the expiration of his term in the month of April. But Bell is anxious to impress the mine owners with the fact that their princely donation of $3,200 per annum in conjunction with the regular salary is duly appreciated, and that no effort will be spared on his part to fully meet their expectations in serving the interests of the corporations.

President Moyer, in the same issue of the Denver Post, which quoted the belligerent verbosity of Bell, had the following to say to a Post correspondent:

The Mill and Smeltermen’s union agreed to submit their differences to a board of arbitration, and were willing to abide by the decision of such a board. The terms submitted for arbitration by the Federation are as follows:

First—That eight hours shall constitute a day’s work in and around the mills.

Second—That all men now on strike or who shall have been discharged by the different milling companies for no reason other than that they were members of Colorado City Mill and Smeltermen’s union, be reinstated.

Third—That members of organized labor be not discriminated against, but be privileged to affiliate with a labor organization, and that they be not discharged for said affiliation.

Fourth—That the scale of wages, as set forth in the demands of the Mill and Smeltermen’s union be paid.

FifthThe Colorado City Mill and Smeltermen’s union is willing to submit the above demands to a board of arbitration, selected as follows: The first member of the board to be selected by the governor or the mill managers; the second member to be selected by the Western Federation of Miners, and the third to be selected by the two; and the Colorado City Mill and Smeltermen’s Union No. 125, agrees to abide by the decision of the said board, providing that pending their deliberations, the state militia, armed guards, strike breakers and all pickets be withdrawn from in and around the above mentioned mills.

CHARLES MOYER,
Representing Mill and Smeltermen’s Union No. 125.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Miners’ Magazine: The Smeltermen’s Strike in Colorado City, Led by WFM, Part III”

Hellraisers Journal: Denver Conventions Close; Western Federation of Miners and American Labor Union Favor Socialism

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Quote Ed Boyce re Socialism f Workingman, WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday June 11, 1902
Denver, Colorado – W. F. of M. and A. L. U. Conventions Favor Socialism

From the Lead City Daily Tribune of June 10, 1902:

Big Bill Haywood, Sec Tre, WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p4, June 9, 1902

Moyer Elected President.
———-

Denver, June 9.-The annual convention of the Western Federation of Miners adjourned last night. Edward Boyce refused to serve as president and Charles Moyer of Lead, S. D., was elected in his stead. The other officers elected follow: Vice president, E. D. Hughes, Butte, Mont.; secretary and treasurer, W. D. Haywood, Silver, City, Ida.

—————

[Emphasis and photograph added.]

From the Butte Labor World of June 9, 1902
-Convention Number:

FEDERATION OF MINERS FAVORS SOCIALISM
———-
Charles Moyer, of Lead, S. D., Is Elected President
-Ed Hughes, of Butte, Vice President
-Edward Boyce Retires from Office
———-

Officers Elected WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902

[Highlights from article.]

President Boyce, after a number of years of successful service as president, has retired. His successor, Charles Moyer of Lead, S. D., is regarded as a strong man, and one who will judiciously administrate the affairs of the organization…..

Paul Corcoran of Idaho, whose pardon as one of the Coeur d’Alene miners was effected through the miners, sent a warm and appreciative letter to the federation thanking it for assisting in rescuing him from prison…..

For favoring the pardon of Paul Corcoran a vote of thanks was extended to Governor Hunt and Secretary of State Basset of Idaho……

While the delegates upstairs at the Western Labor Union convention were discussing socialism and adopting it, those downstairs were debating the question with great vigor. The matter came up on the report of the committee on President Boyce’s report. John M. O’Neill of Cripple Creek was chairman, and recommended that President Boyce’s socialistic program be carried out in its entirety…

[T]he resolution and its political plans was adopted Wednesday morning….

One of the most significant actions of the Western Federation of Miners’ convention was the turning down by a unanimous vote the proposition of the American Federation of Labor for a reaffiliation of the two big bodies…..

A Gentle Refusal.

Secretary-Treasurer W. D. Haywood was instructed to notify the American Federation of Labor that in view of the action of the convention’s new departure in espousing socialism the invitation is respectfully declined…..

Ed Boyce Pres n re Socialism, WFMC 1902, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902

—————

WESTERN LABOR UNION CHANGES ITS NAME
———-
Will Carry an Aggressive Fight into the Camp of
the American Federation of Labor
-President Dan McDonald is Re-elected
———-

[Highlights from article.]

Officers Elected ALUC Sec Tre Clarence Smith, Btt Lbr Wld p1, June 9, 1902

The American Labor union has closed its annual convention at Denver…..

The name of the organization has been changed from the Western Labor union to the American Labor union.

The gauntlet has been thrown down to the American Federation, and war will be waged all along the line.

The territory of the Western organization will be enlarged to take in great industrial bodies of the East…..

The union has been irrevocably pledged to socialism and independent political action [see resolution below, the platform of Socialist Party of America was adopted in its entirety]…..

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Denver Conventions Close; Western Federation of Miners and American Labor Union Favor Socialism”

Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Shame of San Diego” by Hartwell S. Shippey, Part I

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Quote EGF, re Spk FSF, ISR p618, Jan 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 3, 1912
“The Shame of San Diego” by Hartwell S. Shippey, Part I

From the International Socialist Review of May 1912:

The Shame of San Diego

by HARTWELL S. SHIPPEY

[Part I of II]

San Diego FSF Balz, Shippey, Gue, ISR p720, May 1912

SPAT upon, cursed, reviled; the victims of lying calumny and vile vituperation; the recipients of farcical indignities on the part of the legal lackeys of an organized oligarchy; beaten, kicked, clubbed, starved by brass-bound blue-coated Cossacks and vigilantes, the scorned and despised members of the I. W. W. hold San Diego-on-the-bay in their grasp.

Laughing, only passively resistant, singing their songs of solidarity, these homeless, propertyless, countryless “hoboes,” incarcerated in the iron-bound bastiles of smiling San Diego, are clamoring not for physical comforts or luxuries, but for mental food, the works of Marx, Spencer, Renan, Rousseau and Dietzgen.

Even without definite knowledge of the rhythmic tread of the thousands marching to their rescue, these modern Crusaders, buoyed up by their indomitable idealism, secure in the virtue of their cause, have that great faith in the loyalty of their kind to feel, if they cannot know, that theirs will be the victory.

Rivaling the Coeur d’Alene and Colorado, the San Diego fight for free speech and free press will enter the pages of revolutionary history as a stupendous example of red-blooded men heroically enduring every conceivable form of “Man’s [perfect?] self-control in the face of fiendishly inhumanity to man” and preserving brutal persecution.

San Diego may congratulate herself on being the instrument by which two socially valuable bits of education have been given to the world. First the world has come to know the extremes to which an overbearing despotism will go in its efforts to crush labor; and second, it is being demonstrated that, under certain conditions, revolutionary and conservative branches of the labor movement will line up together solidly and unitedly.

For, know ye, the battle is not primarily one fought for a short hundred yards of city street, nor yet for free speech and press alone. It is, at bottom, a struggle on the part of labor for the privilege of organizing and educating its kind to the end that the products of labor shall be rendered unto labor, and that better living conditions for the toilers shall make of this modern miasma of human misery a more fit state for human beings to occupy.

What precipitated this struggle in the non-commercial city nestling on the hills above a beautiful bay with the blue mountains rising in the distance?

California will, barring intervening preventatives, hold two great fairs in 1915, one at San Francisco and one at San Diego. A great amount of labor will be employed in instituting and conducting these fairs. Organized labor, as represented by the A. F. of L., insists on having a voice in determining the rate of wages it will receive and the conditions under which it will work. Organized capital, dominated by the M. and M., declares that IT shall be the sole arbiter in reference to these questions. Organized capital insists that the open shop shall prevail in California; while organized labor realizes that the closed shop is its life-principle. Knowing that it cannot prevail against the unions when there are no idle men to take their places, the M. and M., controlling the press of the country as it does, has systematically published misinformation throughout the country to the effect that jobs are plentiful in California-to the end that jobless men may flood the labor market of the coast and imperil the power of the unions.

The chief function of the Industrial Workers of the World on the coast has been, and is, an education of the unemployed to an understanding of the interests of labor that prevents the out-of-works from acting in the selfish and cowardly role of strike-breaker or scab. The M. and M. recognizes this menace to their plans and strikes at the vitals of this education by an attempted suppression of free speech and press, these forms of freedom being imperative to the educators of the floating population.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: “The Shame of San Diego” by Hartwell S. Shippey, Part I”

Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Eugene Debs Recalls Labor’s Battles in the “War for Freedom”

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SDH p2, Jan 11, 1902———————-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 12, 1902
Eugene Victor Debs Recalls Bloody Scenes of Battle in Class War

From the Social Democratic Herald of January 11, 1902:

The War for Freedom.

By Eugene V. Debs.

EVD crpd Nw Orln Tx Dem p3, Jan 26, 1900

The country we inhabit is generally supposed to have been in a state of peace since the close of the Civil War, excepting the brief period required to push the Spaniards off the western continent. And yet during this reign of so-called peace more than a score of bloody battles have been fought on American soil, in every one of which the working class were beaten to the earth, notwithstanding they outnumber their conquerors and despoilers at least ten to one, and notwithstanding in each case they asked but a modest concession that represented but a tithe of what they were justly entitled to.

To recall the bloody scenes in the Tennessee mountains, the horrors of Idaho, the tragedies of Virden, Pana, Buffalo, Chicago, Homestead, Lattimer, Leadville, and many others, is quite enough to chill the heart of a man who has such an organ, and yet above the cloud and smoke of battle there shines forever the bow of promise, and however fierce the struggle and gloomy the outlook, it is never obscured to the brave, self-reliant soul who knows that victory at last must crown the cause of labor.

Thousands have fallen before the fire of the enemy and thousands more are doubtless doomed to share the same fate, but

“Freedom’s battle once begun,
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son,
Though baffled oft, Is ever won.”

The struggle in this and other lands by the children of toil is a struggle between classes which in some form or other has been waged since primitive man first captured and enslaved his weaker fellow-being. Through the long, dark night of history the man who toiled has been in fetters, and though today they are invisible, yet they bind him as securely in wage slavery as if they were forged of steel.

How the millions toil and produce! How they suffer and are despised! Is the earth forever to be a dungeon to them? Are their offspring always to be food for misery? These are questions that confront the workingmen of our day and a few of them at least understand the nature of the struggle, are conscious of their class interests, and are striving with all their energy to close up the ranks and conquer their freedom by the solidarity of labor.

In this war for freedom the organized men in the Western states have borne a conspicuous and honorable part. They have, in fact, maintained better conditions on the whole than generally prevail, and this they have done under fire that would have reduced less courageous and determined men. But, notwithstanding their organized resistance, they must perceive that in common with all others who work for wages they are losing ground before the march of capitalism.

It requires no specially sensitive nature to feel the tightening of the coils, nor prophetic vision to see the doom of labor if the government is suffered to continue in control of the capitalist class. In every crisis the shotted guns of the government are aimed at the working class. They point in but one direction. In no other way could the capitalists maintain their class supremacy. Court injunctions paralyze but one class. In fact, the government of the ruling class today has but one vital function, and that is to keep the exploited class in subjection.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Social Democratic Herald: Eugene Debs Recalls Labor’s Battles in the “War for Freedom””

Hellraisers Journal: “The General Strike” by William D. Haywood -from Speech at New York City, March 1911, Part II

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Quote Make Cp Suffer Pocket Book, GS by BBh, ISR p681, May 1911—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 18, 1911
“The General Strike” -from Speech by Big Bill Haywood, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of May 1911:

HdLn General Strike GS by BBH, ISR p680, May 1911

[Part II of II]

BBH, ISR p68, Aug 1910And in Wales it was my good fortune to be there, not to theorize but to take part in the general strike among the coal miners. Previous to my coming, or in previous strikes, the Welsh miners had been in the habit of quitting work, carrying out their tools, permitting the mine managers to run the pumps, allowing the engine winders to remain at work, carrying food down to the horses, keeping the mines in good shape, while the miners themselves were marching from place to place singing their oldtime songs, gathering on the meeting grounds of the ancient Druids and listening to the speeches of the labor leaders; starving for weeks contentedly, and on all occasions acting most peaceably; going back to work when they were compelled to by starvation.

But this last strike was an entirely different one. It was like the shoemakers’ strike in Brooklyn. Some new methods had been injected into the strike. I had spoken there on a number of occasions previous to the strike being inaugurated, and I told them of the methods that we adopted in the west, where every man employed in and around the mine belongs to the same organization; where when we went on strike the mine closed down. They thought that that was a very excellent system. So the strike was declared. They at once notified the engine winders, who had a separate contract with the mine owners, that they would not be allowed to work. The engine winders passed a resolution saying that they would not work. The haulers took the same position. No one was allowed to approach the mines to run the machinery.

Well, the mine manager, like mine managers everywhere, taking unto himself the idea that the mines belonged to him, said, “Certainly the men won’t interfere with us. We will go up and run the machinery.” And they took along the office force. But the miners had a different notion and they said, “You can work in the office, but you can’t run this machinery. That isn’t your work. If you run that you will be scabbing; and we don’t permit you to scab-not in this section of the country, now.” They were compelled to go back to the office. There were 325 horses underground, which the manager, Llewellyn, complained about being in a starving condition. The officials of the union said, “We will hoist the horses out of the mine.” “Oh, no, we don’t want to bring them up. We will all be friends in a few days.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “The General Strike” by William D. Haywood -from Speech at New York City, March 1911, Part II”

Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: General Merriam Represents McKinley in War Against Idaho Miners

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 16, 1900
Washington, District of Columbia – General Merriam, Tool of President McKinley

From the Appeal to Reason of April 14, 1900:

Wardner ID Bullpen HdLn, Gen Merriam Lunatic, AtR p2, Apr 14, 1910—–

There is a long and interesting story in the Coeur d’ Alene mining troubles.

The strikers began by acting very badly-no doubt whatever of that. They or their friends unquestionably made mistakes, blowing up a mill with dynamite, etc.

Of course it is probable that the mine owners in their own way abused their power as wickedly. But a mine owner can always hire lawyers, or, if need be, government officials and the army-the strikers cannot. Therefore, the strikers should be careful.

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

You know that in that mining region men were arrested without warrant. United States troops, sent to obey mine owners’ orders, shut the men up in a “bull pen.” The district attorney was the legal advisor of the Standard Oil corporation. He suspended the habeas corpus idea entirely-said that if the courts had issued habeas corpus papers he would have ignored them.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Appeal to Reason: General Merriam Represents McKinley in War Against Idaho Miners”

Hellraisers Journal: The Railroad Telegrapher: “Idaho’s Disgrace”-U. S. House of Representatives Investigates

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 2, 1900
Washington, District of Columbia – House Investigates Coeur d’Alene Troubles

From The Railroad Telegrapher of April 1900:

IDAHO’S DISGRACE.
—–

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

THE investigation before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, with reference to the charges made against the United States soldiers under Brigadier General Merriam, growing out of the labor troubles in the Coeur d’Alene mining district in Idaho, has been creating intense interest in labor circles and elsewhere for some time past. Even those who are callous to labor’s wrongs and pin their faith to the theory that the survival of the fittest is the prevailing law in heaven as well as on earth and the other place, have felt some qualms of conscience that such things should happen in “The land of the free and the home of the brave.”

After a strike and some riotous proceedings, which latter could easily have been quelled by the local authorities, the Governor of the State [Frank Steunenberg] suspended the writ of habeas corpus, an infringement of the liberties of the people not even within the prerogative of the President of the United States, without the sanction of Congress. Over eleven hundred citizens were arrested without warrant by this tyrannically-inclined “servant of the people” and confined in a place unfit for human habitation, and kept there for a period ranging from a few days to eight months.

By and through the courtesy of the Miner’s Magazine and the Pueblo Courier, we are enabled to present pictures of some of the men who have been made “Martyrs of the Bull Pen.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: The Railroad Telegrapher: “Idaho’s Disgrace”-U. S. House of Representatives Investigates”

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?

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

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.

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

Hellraisers Journal: Paul Corcoran, Secretary of Burke Miners’ Union, Found Guilty, Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday July 30, 1899
Wallace, Idaho – Paul Corcoran Found Guilty of Second Degree Murder

From The Butte Miner of July 28, 1899:

IN THE SECOND DEGREE
—–
Paul Corcoran Found Guilty by
a Jury at Wallace.
—–

SEVENTEEN YEARS IN PRISON
—–
The Defense Will Trust to Executive Clemency Rather
Than Risk Another Jury Trial-
After Sentence Had Been Pronounced,
Court Adjourned Until September.
—–

Paul Corcoran, Sec Burke ID Miners WFM, Hutton p186, pubd 1900

Wallace, Idaho, July 27.-Paul Corcoran was this morning found guilty of murder in the second degree by a jury in the district court, for the killing of James Cheyne at Wardner on April 29 last, during the riots, when a mob of 1,000 miners blew up the Bunker Hill and Sullivan concentrator.

Judge Stewart this afternoon sentenced Corcoran to serve 17 years in the penitentiary. Corcoran’s case was considered a test one, and had he been acquitted it is not probable that any of the other 300 men who are under arrest would have been tried for participation in the riots and murders at Wardner. This afternoon, however, Judge Stewart set the trials of Graddock and Inman, on a charge of murdering Smith and Cheyne, for September 4.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Paul Corcoran, Secretary of Burke Miners’ Union, Found Guilty, Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison”