The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-30
MINERS DEMOLISHED A MILL.
PROPERTY VALUED AT $3.50, 900
WAS BLOWN TO ATOMS.

scended Upon Wardner, Idaho,
and Blew Up the Bunker Hill and
Sullivan MiII-MistOok "a Signal
From One of Their PicISets and
Shot Him Dead-RiOt Caused by the |
Employment of NOn-uniOn Men.
Wardner, Idaho, April 29-Wardner to- !
day has been the scene of the worst riots
since the deadly labor war of 1892. One
man is dead, another Is thought to be
mortally- wounded and property valued at
900 has been destroyed by giant pow
der and ere.
The damage was done by union miners
and sympathlzers from Canyon Greek,
| about twenty miles from Wardner.
! This morning a mob of from 800 to 1000
| men, all of them armed, and many of
them masked, seized train at Burke, the
| head of Canyon Creek. There were nine
box cars and passenger coach and rney
were black with the mob. The visitors
brought with them 5000 pounds of giant
powder
After a parley Of two hours, 140 masked
men armed with Winchester rifles, the
| Burke men in the lead and those from
| Wardner following started with yells for
the Bunker Hill and Sullivan min and 9TH
er buildings a third of a mile from the
depot
They sent pickets ahead and one of the
pickets fired a shot as a signal that the
mill was abandoned. This was misunder-
stood by the main body of the mob. who
imagined that non-union miners in the
hills had opened fire on them. and they
| began to fire upon their own pickets.
shot One of Their PicI1ets.
About 1000 shots were then exchanged
between the rioters and their pickets. f.
H. Smith, one of the pickets, formerly of
British Columbia, and a noted figure in
drill contests, was shot dead.
BY this time the strikers had taken pos
session of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan
MILL which they found deserted, the man.
| ager having directed his employees not to
risk their lives by battling with the mob.
Powder was called for, and sixty fifty
pound boxes were carried from the depot
to the mill The heaviest charge was
placed under the brick office building.
Other charges were placed around the
mill. Then the boarding house, frame
structure was burned Fuses leading to
the charges We're lighted, and the strikers
carrying the dead body of the picket, re-
tired to a safe distance.
Blasts Shook the Ground.
At 2:36 o'clock p. M the first blast went
off, 1t shook the ground for miles, and
buildings in Wardner, two miles away,
trembed. At intervals of about sixty sec
onds four other charges went off, the fifth
being the largest, and completely demol-
ishng the mill. The loss to the Bunker
Hill and Sullivan Company is estimated
at from $250000 to SS00,000
In a few minutes the strikers went back
to the station the whistle was blown for
stragglers the mob climbed abroad and al
8 O'Clock, just three hours after Its arrival,
the train started for Canyon creek.
Carried or by Strikers.
During the fusillade from the guns of
the mob, Jim Chain, a Bunker Hill and
Sullivan mine man, was severely shot
through the hips. 1t Is reported that he
was carried off by the strikers and that
his wound is probably fatal. j. ]. Rogers,
a stenographer in the employ of the COM
pany. was shot through the lip, but his
wound is trivial
This morning the 230 non-union miners at
the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mill had
warning of the coming of the mob, and
left the mill and took to the hills. They
have not been seen since. Union men
working the Last Chance, left the mine
this afternoon, presumably to take part in
the riot.
How the Strike Began.
The present strike in tine Couer d Aene
mining district began about ten days ago,
and is directed principally against the
Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine at Ward
ner. where non-union men are employed.
The demands of the miners for increased
wages were met by the mine owners, but
the miners demand that the union be rec
ognized and that non-union men be dis
charged.
This the mine owners refused TO do and
the Last Chance mine closed to-day. The
Bunker Hill and Sullivan however con-
tnued to run with non-union men until
to-day, when they were driven out
Mills Had to Shut Down.
Tonight the Bunker H!ll and Sullivan
mine is closed indefinitely. with the mill
wrecked it is impossible to handle ore
produced at the mines.
The Last Chance Is likewise closed
down. 1t has been getting power from
the Bunker Hill mine and the destruc-
ton of those works will prevent the Last
Chance from working for the next thr, ,e
months, or unth its own compress is com
pieted
Meanwhile the total working force of the
town is laid off. The wreSking of the
mill plant involves the livelihood of GOO
men. The Bunker Hill mine up to the
time of the strike had been working 800
men and the mill 90 while the Last Chance
altogether employed 150.