The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-24
REIGN OF TERROR
GOV. STEUNENBERG SAYS 1T WOULD
FOLLOW REMOVAL OF THE
MILITARY
COEUR D'ALENE STRIKE CRISIS
SECRETARY OF WAR ROOT PRO
AS GUARDS
SAYS IDAHO IS TOO SLOW


Calls Attention to Fact That There
Have Been Several Sessions of
the Courts, and That None of the
Alleged Lawbreakers Have Been
Brought to TriaI-GOv. Steunen-
burg Pleads for Troops.
COLUMBUS, O., Oct. 2}.-Chairman
Dick, of the Republican state committee,
has received copy Of a letter written
by Gov. Steunenberg, Of Idaho, under
date of Oct IL, to Secretary of War Root,
in which the governor assumes for the
state full responsibility for all that las
been done in Shoshone county IN connec-
tion with the Occur d'Alene mining trou-
bes. The letter was written voluntarily
it is said, by the governor, on account
of the criticism which has been made Of
the federal government. Gov. Steunen-
berg says:
while it is not necessary to inform you
of the relative positions of the state OF
Idaho and the general government in this
y
by statute, still it may be proper for
purposes of general information, to add
that the state of Idaho is responsible for
all that has been done in Shoshonc toua-
ty relative to the call for troops, the ar
rest, detention and care of prisoners. the
regulations under which the mines can
and have been operated from the time of
the insurrection up to the present t.ma,
and the regulation of all matters con-
cerning the employment of men in the Sc
mines, all of the above matters having
been under the immediate supervision,
control and direction of the officers ard
representatives of the state of Idaho, and
not in any way of the federal troops I
further state that the state Of Idaho
assumes and acknowledges all response
bility for the manner in which affai, 3
are conducted in the Occur dAlene, so
long as martha. law, as proclaimed, pre-
walls.
1T should be stated here, however that
these men (the -prisoners) have not been
held under or by reason of indictm ents
upon the part of the stale. but because
they were men whom we could not permit
to be at large under the present condi-
ton of affairs in that section. The men
who were held under indictments found
by the state grand jury and whom we de-
sired to try, escaped prison few da
before the regular term of the court, at
which time all preparations had been
made to try them"
MR.. ROOTS COMPLAINT.
WASHINGTON, Oct 23-Secretary
70
berg protesting against the further en-
ployment Of United States troops to
guard the prisoners, saying:
II am informed that they are now be
ing used by the civil authorities of the
state and county as a guard for certain
prisOners-upward of a hundred in num-
ber-who have been arrested by the civil
authorities upon warrants issued by the
civil court, and are held under such war
rants or indictments, found by the grand
jury of the county; that these prisoners,
or most of them, have been held for
number of months and that during the
period of their detention the district court
of Shoshone county, which is the court
having jurisdiction to try indictments
found by the grand jury, has twice con-
vened and adjourned without bringing
these prisoners to trial; that the next
regular term of court will not be he'd
until January of next year, and, in the
meantime, unless something is done to
prevent it, these prisoners would remain
In prison under guard of the troops of
the United States"
GOVERNORS REPLY.
The reply of Gov. Steunenberg, under
date of Oct. TO- asserts that the with
drawal of the troops would surely result
In a great loss of property and of life in
that vicinity.
Covert threats" the governor adds,
'are constantly being made by those who
engaged in the riot of April 29 which re-
suited in the destruction of some $3.50, 900
worth of property and the assassination
of two men; that as soon as the troops
are removed they will crafty their re-
venge upon those citizens who have been
induced to assist the state in its attempS
to ferret out crime and the history of
that region conVinceS me that these are
not idle threats or the boasting of ire
sponsible parties, but are the expressions
of deliberate and well arranged purposes
and plans.
"It should be understood that it is
not a conflict between capital and labor,
nor a question of wages, but it is a con-
hict between the state Of Idaho and GER
tain criminal organizations which seek
to cloak themselves under the cover of
labor organizations. These organizations
were originally undoubtedly legal and
proper, and were organized for a COM
menGable purpose, but they have been
taken possession of by men who utterly
Ignore all law, who are anarchists in be-
lief and practice, and by such men trans
formed into criminal combinations We
do not concede for a moment that these
organizations in Shoshone county to
which we are referring have anything in
common with the great labor organiza-
tons throughout the country and they
are not to be considered in that light
We are not in conflict with organized
labor as such, in any manner whatever .
The governor then gives history of a
series Of crimes, consisting of murder
and arson and the blowing up of mines.
extending over period of six years, from
1882, no effort being made by the county
authorities to discover and prosecute the
guilty parties He continues:
FEARS FOR FUTURE
"At the present time, in the Coeur
d'Alene, quiet apparently prevails, but
1t is solely by reason of the presence OF
the federal troops. A large number Of
these parties who were In the riot of
April 20. it is true, have simply gone
across the line to Butte, Mont, and to
British Columbia, and will return imme-
diately upon the removal of the troops
Upon their return there will be inevitable
conflict which, In my judgment, will re-
s,,lt in much bloOdShed "