Willmar tribune., 1900-10-20

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:: =IiEsllHE5> i| >gRY FROM I tplBo: j d.:
'A!s :; Fsass R;sS:i &s:sss!j asls; i
First E;ssasa and; Glory When that
Wealth., Vice, co.ruphsaop; phsaop ;-despotism at last.
aaa ane, Hbis.9Eg b,'s isa Ra an vast
'*Ehee refusal Of :the1hause5., et5.S5t b. repre- =
sentatfves tozpermit the printing of
the testimony given before is >Coeur
d'Alen Investigating. committee, was,
from every standpoint, cowardly! and
iine4cnsable. The honest min is not
afraid of daylight. In view of the
fact that the investigation committee.
reported against the people of Idaho
and endorsedsthe actions of Brfgadier
General Merriam. and Governor
Steunenburg i; in simprisoning men
whose only crime was their member-
ship in labor organizations, it is due
the American people that the testi-
mony which. caused this verdict be
published. Why did the ma ajority in
congress wish this testimony kept
from the eyes: Of the American work.
ingmen?' If his position was a just
one,.> as !. the verdict would Indicate,
certainly it could not injure the name
and fame Of General Merriam to have
his actions and the reasons for them
made public. Why are all proceed
lings of the peoples representatives(?)
printed for publicity save the recital
of labor's crucifxion in idaho? The
reasons were many, and from the
standpoint Of the Standard Oil Co.
and its cohorts in Idaho, in congress
and in. the army, they We're good rea-
sons. -
The testimony showed many things
the publication off, which would have
made the people mad, and their ene-
mics uncomfortable. The testimony
showed: a 'r',~ -:
That 1000 men. were taken from
their employment without due process
Of law, and imprisoned without COM
Emitment OF, trial by jury and not be-
ing charged with any offence.
l. That5tfe s"bull pen'' or prison in
which they were confined repeated the
horrors. OF Andersonville and the
"black hole'' Of Calcutta, and
wrecked forever the constitutions of
many unfortunate inmates.
That. for long, weary months these
innocent@men were forced at the point
of the: ;bayonet to lie on the damp
ground, in the, filth that the absence of
sanitary provisions made ever pres
'ent, and to endure vermin OF every
kind. s., 49,,
That the food served to the inmates
was not properly prepared, and so re-
pulsiye. in character as to ruin a
human stomach
That one of these men was denied
the ministering, Of the Catholic priest,
to whose church he: belonged--a les
son in inhumanity without parallel
in the history OF civilized races. :,
That the secretary of the Burke
Miners, Union, Paul Corcoran, was
ruthlessly taken from his home and is
now serving a seventeen years. SEN
tence in the Idaho penitentiary for the
commission of a. crime from the scene
of which he was twenty miles distant
at the time it occurred, and that the
jury which convicted him was COM
posed of employees, of the Standard
That in one of the dark canons of
Inaho there is a sad-faced woman to
whose skirts are clinging four hungry
children Iu::the loved ones of this Paul
Corcoran, who is now paying the
price the, Standard Oil Co. demands
of men who are loyal to their fellow
That General Merriam has said: "I
would suggest a law making the
formation Of labor unions crime.''
That the wives and daughters of
these miners homes, whose protectors
were helpless before the guns of Gen.
eral Merriam IS. troops, were despoiled
by the*colored soldiers without inter-
ference from their superior officers,
and to the delight of the Standard Oil
Co.'s agents. ,E.r.. -@
That a poor fellow by the name of
Johnson was arrested and ordered to
perjure his soul by revealing certain
things against the miners union that
he knew nothing about. That the
tortures infected while trying to exact
this information, dethroned the mans
reason, and that he was shot dead by
the soldiers because he had, in his de-
lirium, jumped into a river. .ss::... s 81. J.
'<%That'no man was permitted, nor is