The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1907-05-09

and honestly for what they considel
justice. 1t is a matter of grave douh
if any jury OF union worlxingmen car
be secured tnat will convict the defer
dant, no matter how strong the evi
dence against him; it is equally doubt
full if any twelve capitalists would &C
quit, regardless of any weakness OF
the prosecution. Such statements
have warrant in the disag greemeat OF
the jury in the case of Steve Adams.
The seven union wOrkmen listened
lcarefully to the evidence-and voted
lsolidly for acquittal. The two business
men and three non-union laborers
heard the same testimony-and stood
neys for both sides realize that the
selection of the jury is the vital poiat
in this issue of life and death. If a
jury of men opposed to the principles
and practices of organized labor can
! be secured, then will almost certainly
follow Haymarket, with the leaders
of the red mob sacrificed to appease
the blood lust of the mob in broad
| cloth.
| If Haywood, Meyer and Pettibone
conspired to bring about the foul as
| SaSSinatiOn of ex-go vernon Steunen-
| burg, as charged by the state; if they
caused the death of many other per-
so1s in Colorado, as Governor Butch
el of that state is alleged to have
charged; if they appear las guilty of
f1cftement to or apology for blood
shed and violence as asserted by
President Roosevelt, theirs were yet
no ordinary crimes of violence. No
commonplace motives of cupidity or
walton brutality are apparent. If they
killed, it was not for personal profit
Or revenge, but for the cause
The history OF the Idaho Labor War
extends back IA quarter of century
when silver and lead were discovered
in the Occur dAle1e mountains of
northern Idaho. For a time the mines
were worked by individual prospec
tors of the type of the hardy pioneers
who mad f1ocked to California and
Cripple Greek in quest of gold There
were no labor troubles, since every
man was his own employer with al
ways the possibility of great wealth
following the stroke of a pick.
A decade later Standard Oil came
to the district looking for invest
ments for the surplus wealth accu
mulated by means of secret rebates
and other devious practices of COM
mercial piracy. From that time forth
trouble loomed large on the horizon
of the CoeIur d'Alenes. The red flag
of socialism followed the black ban
ner of Industrial greed. All of the big
mines of the district were merged in
to the Federal Mining and Smelling
company, owned and controlled by the
Standard Oil company. The days of
independence for the miner were past
The trust had swallowed him.
With the advent of organized veal
tn came organized labor. In 1892 a
strike was declared by the workmen,
who demanded better conditions OF
labor ar,d more pay. Several of the
labor leaders were sent to Jail in Boise
and utilized their leisure by planning
an organiza tion that was to include |
all the mine and smelter workers in |
the western states. The Western Fed |
GRAFTON of Miners, which WIS organic
ed at a convention held in Butte, Mon
5ana, ON May Is, 1898, was the result |
In their first strike, the miners of the
Occur d. Alenes achieved victory. |
Every mine in the district was organ |
lied, with the exception of the Bunker |
& Sullivan mine near Wallace.
Peace reigned until 1899. Then the |
mine managers announced a reduction /
in wages, giving as the reason the |
fact that the Bunker & Sullivan mine |
was paying less than the union scale.
All attempts of the federation's organ /
izers to Ilnio1ize the workmen of this /
mine were futile. The men remained
obdurate in their determination to
keep clear of the federation. Then
the concentrator was blown up.
The explosion that wrecked the |
Bunker & Sullivan concentrator and
resulted in a declaration of martial
law for the district occurred on April
80 1899 A mob OF a thousand men
took part in the affair. Considerable
portion were union miners, although |
they afterward declared that they /
were not aware that an explosion was
planned and had no other purpose
than to make a peaceful demonstra-
ton. The mine managers declare |
that the explosion was deliberate al
tempt to prevent a reduction of wages /
as well as to gain revenge upon the
noa-union employees at the concentra-
tor. Union miners assert that the de-
struction of the concentration was ac-
complished by detectives in the en-
ploy of the Federal Mining and Smeh
ing company, which owned the Bunk 1
er & Sullivan property. AS proof OF
this they point to the apparent fact |
that the plant was old and almost use |
less and that new machinery had al
ready been ordered at the time ut was /
destroyed The dynamite used by the |
zine owned by the Federal concern
with the knowledge of the manager in /
charge.
Federal troops, most of them ne
groes, were Immediately sent to the
Couer d'Alenes and martial law was
declared by Governor Steunne1burg, |
VINO then occupied the executive chair /
This action is declared by the prose |
cution in the present murder trial |
to have furnished the motive for the |
assassination of Steunenberg by |
Haywood, Meyer and Pettibone- What |
ever the crimmes of the miners, they |
could furnish no possible excuse Tor
the brutalities that were inflicted up |
on them by the black brutes in blue. |
A bull pen was erected AID in this
noisome den of fifth a thousand min
ers were herded together for months. |
Dozens of outrages upon defenseless
women were reported, yet none of the
assailalts were ever punished. MIN
ers who remained defiant were tied