The Holly chieftain., 1898-12-16
IN TIME OF WAR AND ruMuLrs.

What occurred at Gem on the morn
ing of the 11th of July is part of the
history Of the labor troubles of the
year 1892. The hesitating disapproval
that divided the sentiment rather than
the judgment of the "order classes"
toward the Pittsburgh strikes had a
misleading effect in the Occur d'Alcne.
The demagogues who here represented
the power Of the miners unions were
not comparative thinkers; they did not
allow for the difference in the two stu
atoms. They beheld merely the fact
Of this doubtful verdict of the classes
that nre seldom in doubt which side to
take in struggles of this nature, and
they were enormously upliftcd by it..
Many of these men, to judge them by
their acts, should be called anarchists
rather than union men. If not self-de-
voted to the principle of destruction.
they devoted their fcllow-laborer to be
the victim Of that principle whenever
his sole proletarianism differed from
their own; and they took action &C.
cordingly.
The car loaded with dynamite, which
the strikers had sent down the tram
way for the demolishment Of the Frisco
mill, had hung fire. somehow, and disap-
pointed their expectations; but their
next scheme was more successful.
The water power for the Frisco crusher
was introduced from flume by means
of long. up-slanting iron pipe called
a "penstock." the upper hand Of which
was accessible from the hill above the
mill and beyond the mines defenses.
The strikers had turned of the water
the night before. and now they proceed
ed to load up the mill with combustibles
from the company's magazine. showing
the powder, wrapped in gunny sacks,
down the penstock till they judged the
charge was sufficient. They set 1t of
about four o'clock in the morning of the
.11th, and the mill was blown into ruins.
fits red boards scattered by that wind
of strife all over the startled country
side, and not unsatisfactory number
of "scabs" and their guards, who were
in or near the mill at the time, were
killed or injured. There was no pre-
tense of sparing life; the object was to
take it, that good service might be rem
dered to the cause Of unconditional al
legiance to the union by this awful re-
minder Of its power. The doctor re-
marked, when he carried the news to
the refugees In his ceilnr, that 1t was
like the fable Of the eagle wounded
with q shaft feathered from her own
wing-to ''blow up the bosses" with the
powder they themselves had paid for.
In the fight that ensucd the non
union men were overpowered by the
numbers Of their nssai.ants, and the
owners, having no defenscs and no de-
tenders left. surrendered their proper
" and the persons Of their employees to
the leaders Of tho strike. The non
union miners were disarmed. and
marched a. prisoners to the miners
hall, there to be guarded until the SEN
tence Of eviction from the country
whore they had presumed to earn Q liv-
ing independent Of labor organizations
ahould be executed. The agreement
which the managers were coerced into
signing admitted the right Of the union
to dictate what persons they should sole
~ employ and at what prices. This was
the famous ''union ultimatum," and
these the means taken to enforce 1t In
the Coeuf d'Alene.
That friend Of the workingmnn, Mr..
IBingham, was 70 impressed with the
Nature Of the crisis that he allowed
Lhimself to be influenced into tele-
graphing to the military authorities.
adjuring them to hold back the troops
lest their presence in the infamed dis
tricts might precipitate threatened acts
of violence. This, practically. was de-
mand from the union bosses. signed by
the manager Of an important mine. to
be ''let alone" with the implied threat
that. II not let alone, trouble would en-
sue-bridges be blown up, and mines
held down BY dynamite would be ex-
ploded, and the lives Of innocent psr-