The semi-weekly miner., 1886-01-23
4 MANAGERS SUDDEN EXIT.
It Is Much More Hasty Than
Was Expected.
RUDE AWAKENING
Bodies OF Masked Men Gail Upon
Him and He Takes the
First Tram

several days past. there has been trouble
brewing in Meaderville over the conduct o
the Montana Copper Company's affairs al
that place. and on Sunday night it culmi
mated in the capture of II. A. Balm, the
general manager OF the company's bust
business, and his expulsion from the camp
by body of masked men. The causes
which led to the transactions and the de-
tails Of the proceedings are somewhat
lengthy, but in viw Of the feeling in the com
munity, their recital will undoubtedly be o
great interest to everybody in Butte. To
this end representative of The MINEB
spent the greater portion Of yesterday af
ternoon in investigating it, and as a result
has cleaned the following from those who
have been more or less interested in the
district. and it isgiven as nearly as posi-
BILE as it was picked up from the various
sources:
THE CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE.
H. A. Balm came to Butte in September
or October last, while Max j. Mayer was
acting as general manager of the Montana
Copper Company, as he stated, upon a
special mission. He was not conservative
in his talk at the time, and it soon leaked
out that he came here to bring about a
union of all the companies to effect gen.
eral reduction in the price Of labor. His
own talk conveyed the impression that
after partially completing arrangements
with the companies, as represented here at
the time, lin which there was no truth), he
| went to San Francisco for the purpose OF
! interviewing j. B. Haggin, in order to OBJ
| tain the consent OF the Anaconda Com
pany in furthering the movement, which,
however, he could not accomplish. When
he was in Butte he talked very freely about
this reduction to any and every one whom
he CHANGED to come across, and even con-
versed with few of the men who were
working in the smelter of the Montana Cop
per Company as to the reduction of both
the wages and the general expenses OF the
corporation. Shortly after this he re-
turned to New York. Suddenly the gen.
eral manager, Max ]. Mayer. was called to
the same city, and the conduct and full
charge Of the company's affairs were put
into the hands of Edward Mueller an able
and experienced mining and smelling man,
who is widely known and respected by
business and working men alike.
.-s,z - BA1N's NEW POSITION.
On January 4 Mr.. Rain again appeared
in Butte on what he again called specific
mission. During the first few days of his
stay here very little was either known Or
surmised of his orders from the New York
Office, other than that he was to take
Manager Mayors position. He at once
tried to make himself conspicuous, which
he fully succeeded in doing, as will be seen
by later events. Not being familiar with
The mode in which the affairs of the COM
psny ought to be conducted, and being un-
acquainted with the country and it's GUS
toms, he at once proceeded to measure IT,
with the foot rule only to be adapted to
the working classes of the East. He freely
and without provocatiOn talked of exor-
bitant wages and the unnecessary luxuries
INDUCED in by the working classes of the
West, and through that created an ILL.,
feeling throughout the camp. Then he fol-
lowed up his nonsensical talk by various
actions at the works of the Montana Copper
Company, which were made easy by the
full authority gwen to him by the COM
pany IN New York, as published in The
MINER of a recent date. He at once over
ruled any and every order of Superintend-
ent Mueller, and made changes in every de
partment, which were not q saving to the
company. He discharged the former fore
man of the smelter, Thomas Fox, who
had been employed as a night watchman
in accordance with special agreement
with the insurance companies, thus saving
the entire amount of the insurance (about
$11O,OOO) on the works. He then pro-
ceeded, without consulting the Superintend-
ent, to discharge the man who was wheel
ing wood to the boilers at the Colusa mines.
and ordered the few hundred cords of wood
in the yards Of the smelter to be hauled
over to the mines. 1t is stated that the
company bought it's wood, to be delivered
at the mines at the rate OF 81. 50 per cord,
while the wood so hauled over from the
furnaces was bought and paid for several
months ago at the rate of SIS per cord, and
being hauled over by the company's team,
it raises the cost at the mines to $3.50 per
cord. He also changed the hours Of the
miners from eight hours in wet ground to
ten hours per day, and the ten-hour men,
that they were paid too high wages.
Through his insolent conduct, as it is
generally understood, Mr.. Mueller, the SUI
perintendent, rather than be a superinten-
dent in name only, telegrap phed his resigna-
tion to the New York office of the compa
ny which, upon Mr.. Bain's advice, accord
ing to his own conversation, was promptly
accepted, and it is believed furthermore
that none of the officials of the corpora
tion at Butte will remain after February Is.
HIS LAST ACT.
Probably the last straw which broke the
camel's back was that, in consequence OF
the discharge Of the wood wheeler at the
mine, early on Sunday night, the miners
had to be hoisted from the warm drifts out
into the snowy and frosty atmosphere 200
below zero, to wheel in wood for two hours
in order to keep up steam with which to run
the pumps. 1t was only a short time after
this that Mr.. Balm was called upon in d. man.
ne rmoreforcible than polite. Between and
2 O'Clock yesterday morning q number OF
men-about fifty-forced open his bedroom
door, pulled him out of bed and told him
to put on his clothes. The men were all
masked. and had every appearance OF be-
ing determined to accomplish their ends.
Mr.. Balm, under the pretext of looking for
an article OF wearing apparel, made dive
for the window, breaking out two panes Of
glass and wrecking the sash, at the same
time screaming Murder" He would have
fallen head foremost to the ground had not
the men caught him, gagged him, and put
ROPE AROUND HIS NECK.
At this juncture Mr.. Muller, aroused by
the noise, was in the act of passing into
the hallway, and was intercepted at the
door by men armed with revolvers, and
told that there was no harm intended for
either him or his family, but that on pain
of death they must all remain in their
rooms until daylight. In the meantime
Balm Was taken out to the smelter building
and given to understand that his presence
was no longer required in the camp of
Butte, and he, under the peculiar circum-
stances. found it in order to promise faith
fully that the next train from the depot
would carry him eastward, and that agree
ment he has faithfully kept.
About daylight DR.. Charles P. Hough was
summoned to the company's Office to see
MIR. Balm, whose feet were said to have been
frozen during the time he was in the hands
of the angry men, but upon arriving there
the Doctor found that the Managers left
foot showed signs Of being slightly FROST
bitter. there being no evidence of any in
jury which would in the least Inconvenience
him.
OFF ON THE MORNING TRAIN.
Mr.. Balm was seen by some friends at the
depot just prior to the departure of the
$50 o'clock train for Garrison, and re-
lated the story OF his capture by the Vigi-
lantes, adding that he had quite a struggle
with them and that there were four men in