The San Francisco call., 1899-04-30

T
deadly, property destroying riot
among the miners of the Coeur
~ d'Alene District in Idaho took
place to-day and adds a dark
page to the record of the district,
I'm which the memory Of the bloody days
of 1892 and 1894 still fingers This time
the property Of the Bunker Hill and
Sullivan mine at Wardner has suffered.
The mine is owned by D. O. Mills, the
Mccormack estate and others of San
Francisco 7. w. Bradley of that city
IS president Of the company. Ten mil
lion dollars is the value of the mine.
Governor Steunenberg of Idaho has
called on President Mckinley lor 500
Federal troops to aid in checking the
riots and preserving peace.
One thousand masked and heavily
armed miners reached Wardner I6aho'
at noon to-day on a Northern Pacific
train they had stolen at Burk- They
brought with them a ton ana nan
Of dynamite Three hours later they
departed ON the stolen train IeaVlns
the $500 600 mill, the office and the
boarding house Of the Buhhol Hin and
Sullivan mine a total wreck. The ma
chinery and brick building had been
shattered to bits by the explosions of
immense charges Of dynamite and the
frame buildings had been consumed by
fire. the miners having applied the torch
to them.
A startling incident was a short but
severe interchange Of shots between
two parties of the armed rioters, each
party believing the other was non
union miners. As a result Of the shoot
ing one of the rioters, Jack Smith,
was killed. Two other men, J. J. Rog-
ers. a stenographer, and James Cheyne,
Of the mill were wounded. Cheyne was
shot In the hip. a probably fatal wound.
Rogers was shot in the lip.
The leaders in the riot-in fact the
chief participants-were union miners
from Burke, Gem and other Canyon
Greek mining camps, who had no direct
interest in the difficulties between the
Wardner miners and the Bunker Hill
and Sullivan management The union
miners of Wardner, however, partici-
pated in the rioting and aided in de-
stroying the property which gave them
their living The destruction Of the mill
means the closing Of both the Bunker
Hin and Sullivan and the Last Chance
mines for months until new mill can
be erected. These are the chief mines
at Wardner and their closing viii throw
1000 men out Of employment.
The stolen train was that which car
ries passengers daily from Burke to
Wallace over the Northern 7acific. The
armed mob took possession at Burke.
At the point of pistols it compelled q
train crew to couple nine box ~ars to
the passenger coach, and then compell-
ed the engineer to start for Wallace
Every car was crowded with ~~~ed and
masked men. At Wallace a brief stor
was made. accessions being made to the
ranks of the rioters. Here the North
ern Pacific Joins the Oregon railroad
The train was switched TO the latter
tracks and proceeded to Wardner al
full speed, reaching that city at about
noon.
From the depot a small party was
sent toward the mine, two miles away
while the main body, after discussion
with the striking Wardner miners, pro
ceeded toward the mill, a half-milt
away. One of the advance party or
the hillside fired a shot as a signal that
the mill and mine were deserted. The
signal was misunderstood by the main
body of, strikers, who poured a volley
Of nearly 1000 rifle shots into the under
brush on the hiusides behind Which
the advance party was concealed. Be
fore the error was discovered Smith
fell, fatally shot in the throat. While
some of the rioters carried his body tC
the depot, others took to the mill sixty
fifty-pound kegs of powder the rioters
had brought on the train. Heavy
charges We're placed amid the mill ma
chinery and about the mill and under
the brick office building; fuses were af-
fixed and lighted the torch was ap-
piled TO the frame boarding house
buildings and then the rioters returned
to the hillsides, whence a view Of the
expected explosions could be had
Six terrific explosions soon followed
causing the earth TO tTemble for miles
and breaking windows in houses al
Wardner, two miles away. The work
Of destruction was thoroughly done, the
machinery being wrecked beyond re-
pair and the buildings totally de-
stroyed Just three hours after their
arrival the rioters returned to the train
and compelled the crew, which had
been kept under guard, to take them
back to Burke. Before leaving they