Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-03-13
Testimony Accumulates Tending
to Show the Awful Condi-
tions ii, Idaho
During the enforcement Of Mar
tial Law Electrical Engi-
neer's Evidence.
Offered a Large Sum to Testify
Falsely, and Once Taken Out
If. to Be Shot.

WASHINGTON, March 13.-L. j. Simp-
kins, kins an electrical engineer at Wardner,
Ida, testified in the Coeur d'Alene in
Ivestigation before the house committee
on military affairs. He said he did not
participate in the riot, but soon after
that event he was arrested by q squad
OF United States troops who went about
the streets arresting those persons
pointed out by Bunker Hill mine .sspot-
ters." Two spectators on the streets
who stopped to see the soldiers and
their prisoners were promptly arrested
and put with the other prisoners The
witness said one Of the prisoners, a
Swede, was taken with fit, whereupon
q negro soldier struck him senseless
with the butt Of gun. The corporal
of the guard came up and turning over
the fallen man said: 5.
II guess you've fixed that fellow all
right
Made Ready to Execute Him.
Simpkins said one Of the prisoners
was robbed of 500. One Of Simpkins'
recitals caused something Of sensation.
He said he was taken from the ..bul]
PEI" by squad of four soldiers and
marched to an open enclosure, where he
was placed with his back against a
building The soldiers stepped back
and cooked their guns, apparently max.
ing ready to shoot him. At this point,
he said, a high official Of the Bunker
Hill mine appeared and said they had
evidence enough to hang the witness OF
send him up for many years, but If he
would tell who blew up the mill he
would be turned loose. Simpkins said
he protested that he did not know who
the guilty parties were, and the effort
to get evidence from him was finally
given up. >a :
Wanted to Convict Someone.
The witness stated that at another
time, while in the ssbuu pen, . a party
who said he was authorized by an Off
cia1, offered him $4,000 to impIicsaate sat
two persons ID the blowing mp of the
mill i The party said it did not matter
much p '11,elh who were implicated, but the
names Of certain miners and the county
assessor were given, whom it was most
desired to implicate, for the purpose,
the witness said, Of hanging them or
getting them out Of the country. He
said he afterward learned that the as
SCISSOR had trouble with the Bunker Hill
mine over their assessments. ,sf
The witness detailed an interview
with an army officer, in which the lat
ter declined to permit priest to be
summoned to one of the prisoners who
was dying, and also refused to allow
him to communicate with his partner
as to the disposition of his property. He
detailed many other instances of alleged
cruelty. One of his recitals was as to a
brief visit by General Merriam to the
tssbun pen and the refusal to allow
prisoners to commun unicate with him.
Took Orders From Mine officers.
In telling of the shooting Of johnson.
the prisoner who went insane, the wit
ness contributed the additional testi-
mony that while johnson was running
away, a certain mine official shouted
s..Shoot, shoot" and the soldiers accord
ingly shot. The witness said he helped
dig the tunnel, intended as a means of
escape, as he was stdying by inches.''
he also gave his experience on the
standing line, and while in solitary con-
fnement. n
q When Representative Sulzer, who di-
rected the examination, asked the wit
ness concerning this Siberia of horrors
objections were made to the characteri-
zation, but on a vote the committee per-
mittaf tha nnestinn .gs.8 sysEs .ss&I - E..