The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1906-11-02
THE DYNAMITE ALLIANCE

The Statesman Plainly Discusses
the Part Dubois Took With
Dynamiters in the Cam
A paisn Of 1900.
It is charged by the Salt Lake Tribune
that the Statesman has been guilty Of
falsehood in stating that Senator Dubois
entered into political alliance with the
dynamiters in this state in 1900. That
is subject that will bear some discus
sion and the Statesman proposes to dis
cuss it plainly.
It cannot be claimed by or for the
Tribune that it does not know the frcts,
for the history Of that transaction is too
recent for anybody to have forgotten IT,
and the manner in which that paper
winches and challenges the truthfulness
of the Statesman in connection with the
matter, shows that it is afraid to face
the naked truth.
That paper is engaged in an effort to
force the re- election Of Senator Dubois
upon the people Of the state, and it there
fore cries out in pain over the mere sug-
gestion Of the central fact Of that cam
paign in 1900. 1t goes too far, however,
When it charges this paper with false
hood, and it will have to submit to hay-
ing the facts reviewed and their signifi-
cance called again to the attention Of the
public.
In the campaign Of 1900 the fight in
the Democratic party was to overthrow
Frank Steunenberg as leader. There
were two elements at work against the
governor, one was the element primarily
4 llterested in bringing about the election
Of Fred T. Dubois to the senate, the
other the dynamite element, which was
primarily interested in discrediting and
defeating Governor .Steunenberg 5
The dynamiters had just been thru
period Of wild dsexcesses in the Occur
d'Alene, eliminating in the great riot Of
April. 1899, in which two men we're
murdered and great amount Of property
destroyed. Governor Steunenberg had
put down the insurrectlon with a firm
hand; he had restored order, and, thru
his efforts, one Of the murderers had
been sent to the penitentiary. Every.
'dynamiter in the state had resolved that
he should not retain leadership; every
one was aligned~against him-and every
one of them was invited into the Dubois
camp. .
In the convention that year there was
very narrow margin, and for some time
it was uncertain which element would
finally control the law and order men
IN the party or the combination formed
between the Dubois men and the dyna-
miters. 1t turned upon the disposition
of a contest from Shoshone county. The
law and order Democrats Of that county
had sent a delegation to the convention;
the dynamiters and their sympathizers
had sent another Senator Dubois, who
had taken every dynamite delegate in all
the other counties into his camp, made
the fight for the seating Of the dynamite
delegation from Shoshone county and
was successful. The alliance thereby
secured control of the convention, taking
control Of the party organization from
Governor Steunenberg and his friends
and nominating the state ticket from
top to bottom.
That ticket was elected and one Of the
fruits Of that election was the pardoning
of Paul Corcoran, the one man who had
been convicted for participation in the
murders in the Occur e'Alenes in April,
1895.
The legislature elected that year was
in full CONTROL Of the alliance. 1t elected
Mr.. Dubois senator and elected dyna-
mite sympathizer speaker Of the house.
The latter named dynamiter as chair
MAD of the finance committee, and thru
the two desperate effort was made to
defeat payment Of the expenses incurred
by the state in suppressing the insurrec-
tion. Tho that was the plan, it failed
because Of great public agitation that
occurred when the plot was exposed, but
it disclosed fully the dangers to which
the alliance exposed theSstate.
From the hour in which the ticket was
nominated by the alliance that year, it
was limited in certain quarters that
Corcoran would be pardoned if the ticket
were successful. The hints gradually
swelled into boasts very soon after the
candidates named at the convention were
elected and sworn into Office, and the
correctness Of the boasts was demon
strated in the subsequent pardoning Of
that man. ~