The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-01-01
BROUGHT PEACE
FROM DISORDER
How Governor Steunenberg Quelled
Riot and Murder in the Occur
d'Alenes.
STORY OF HARD FIGHT
COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS Off.
CIALLY APPROVED HIS ACTS.

Ex-Governor Frank Steunenberg of
Idaho, who was assassinated at his
home at Caldwell, Ida, Saturday night,
was one of the most widely known men
in the intermountain region. His name
is linked inseparably with the stamp
ing out of disorder in the Occur d'Alene
mining district in 1899, and upon that
his fame chiefly rests.
The course of Governor Steunenberg
and of the United States troops who
were sent into the Occur 'Alene dis
trict by President Mckinley was after
ward investigated by the COMPRESSION
al committee on military affairs, and
the efforts of the authorities to main
tain law and order were vindicated,
Notwithstanding a tremendous hue and
cry that the liberties of the people had
been infringed and the right of free
speech and free action invaded.
Elected In 1896.
Steunenberg was elected governor in
1896 by a combination of Democrats
and Populists, and reelected in 1898.
1t was in the early part of his second
term-in April, 1S99-that threats of
trouble in the Occur d'Alenes culmin-
ated in the destruction by dynamite OF
the Bunker Hill & Sullivan mine at
Wardner. The labor troubles grew out
of a demand for higher wages and a
recognition of the union. The mill was
blown up by miners employed in mines
other than the Bunker Hill & Sullivan.
They took fOrcible possession of train
and rode down the canyon to Wardner,
where they did their work of destruc-
ton.
For years there had been a reign of
terror in the Occur d'Alenes. Murder
was a common thing. In such a state
of affairs it is natural that many pr1-
vate grudges should be worked out,
and many crimes committed in the
name of the union for which it was not
responsible. In fact, it is probably true
T. at the union never officially plotted
y committed murder, but the fact that
by unpreJudiced observers to be due
to the fact that the union existed and
was a power in the district.
Prior to the blowing up of the
Bunker Hill & Sullivan mine and i'm
mediately following it several mine
owners and managers were forced to
flee from the district in terror of their
lives. One man, r. K. Neil1, now of
Spokane, was marched across the Mon
tana line under the armed escort Of a
bunch of miners and warned, upon
peril of his life, never to return.
steunenberg Starts Action.
For ten years sporadic attempts had
been made to quell the turbulence of
the miners, but II was not until May 4,
1899. when Governor Steunenberg de-
clared the Occur d'AIenes in a state of
insurrectiOn and established martial
law that the final successful movement
in behalf of peace and order was in
augurated.
In his proclamation the governor
cited the notorious fact that the peace
officers were both unable and unwiIl-
ing to enforce the law. 1t was we'll
known that the sheriff of Shoshone
county, where the mining district is
located, was in sympathy with the
mob; and one of the first acts of the
military was to remove him summar-
lily from office.
Governor Steunenberg followed his
proclamation of martial law with a
request to the president for the assist
ance Of the regular army. and trOOns