Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1885-03-30
THE RIOT OF THE .l7th.
THE INQUIRY INTO II CON(l.UDED
TO-DAY.

Judge Street Holds that There Was a
Riot, ana Holds Fifteen Of the De.
PENDANTS 10 Appear Before the Grand
Jury.
FRIDAY EVENINGS PROCEEDINGS.
Fat. furey sworn: Is deputy Sher-
1T. The 18th of March was in Broad.
ford about 80 o'clock and remained
there till after dark. Had heard so
much, in Bellevue and Broadford, he
anticipated trouble in Broadford that
day. When the Sheriff came to
Bellevue l had to come to HALEY. on
important business. About a mile
this side of Bellevue l met several
wagons going down, each wagon
heavily loaded with men; l think
men principally from Bullion. I also
met Colonel Wall, and he said these
men went down. Objected to.
Sustained. went back to Broad
ford as fast as l could, and had been
there about an hour when saw some
men coming over from the Queen
jlggers. l heard someone say they
could come to no settlement with re-
gard to wages. l think Mr.. O'Brien
made this remark. Someone else said
there was no use talking it around
through the crowd, to go and an
nouncc it properly. The committee
went on to the O'Connor saloon, and
man named Gum got up on chair
or platform and spoke to the crowd.
The general tenor of his remarks was
that they han tried to Get 81 per day
for miners, he thought that miners
here were entitled to 81 per day, but
that they had failed to secure it. He
was followed by Mr.. ~McDevitt, l
think, who repeated the same talk as
MIR. Gum, in substance. and that the
mine-owncrs would have to pay 81
per day. tie insisted on the miners
going to the mines and taking the
men that were at work there out.
The crowd seemed to coincide very
forcibly with Mr.. McDcvitt's views.
The crowd at that time seemed very
much excited and made q move to
start toward the Queen mine, but
before they made this move Mr. But
Ter and several others had spoken.
Mr.. Butler followed in about the
same strain as Mr.. McDevitt. lie
wanted 81 per day for miners, said
they had come there to get it, eau.
toned the men in his talk to keep
within the bounds of the law-I
heard him make that remark twice
but to be determined in their pur-
pose. Mr.. OCallaghan came after
Mr.. Butler, believe; there was moth
ing inccndiary about his talk. He
counseled the men to be careful
about what he was doing, to try and
attain their object, lfpossible, but to
make no bad breaks. Mr.. Atkinson
then took the stand. At that time
the crowd was very much excited;
they wanted to go to the mine, to
take the men out. Quite number
of iireal ms were exhibited, in the
crowd. Mr.. Atkinson insisted, as
President Of the Bullion Miners
Union, upon the men going to their
hall and celebrating on this ques-
ton, and commanded the Bullion
miners not to take step before re-
tlring to their hall to deliberate. The
men seemed to waver in their pur-
pose for a moment. and l saw Mr..
McDevitt run upstairs to the Union
hall door; don't know whether the
door was locked, but he didn't 90 in.
He came down the stairs, got on the
stand again, talked few moments,
when somebody called to bring out
the flag; it was brought out, and
while that was doing Mr.. Hawley
was called upon. He tried to reason
with and threaten the men Of what
the consequences might be, but did
not seem to scare them bit. saw
somebody carry the flag down to
where Mr.. Butler was, with some
sort Of a leather collar on him. Then
| think Charles O'Brien was the last
speaker. His talk was "ery short
| think remember all that he said;
he says "Fellow miners, what
brought You here today A yell
went up, saying We've come to
take the men out of the mines," or,
"to take possession of the m,nes."
OBrien said: "Wcll, 60 and do it,
then - And about that time they
began to move pretty lively. The
mass of the men seemed to be mov-
ing up Main street; the flag moved
with the crowd. When they began
going toward the Queen mine, l sec
quite number of the men in the
crowd try to reason with the hotter
ones and get them to desist from
that mode approaching, but it didn't
seem to do much good. l was try
ing to keep the crowd from going to-
ward the mine. About that time
saw some trouble over toward Nc
Falls. 4 great many Of the crowd
went toward the hotel. l saw quite
number of guns (six- shooters or
pistols) in that crowd, and think
there were some rifles, too. AS the