The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1915-08-06
SENATOR w. e. BORAH
PRESIDENTIAL POSSIBILITY
Continued from page three

1
had cost the cattlemen $4,000.
Then came the beginnings of those
prosecutions which brought Boral
fame outside of dIaho.
The Bunker Hill and Sullivan mine
in the northern part of Idaho II
famous in the mining history of the
west. 1t is probably the only mining
claim in the United States of which
a donkey was by judicial decree de.
clared to be one of the discoveries
and part owners. The donkey had
been shanghaied by two miners and
was with them when the mine was
discovered, and the owner set up the
claim that his donkey was entitled to
a one-third interest.
When They SCOT Steunenberg
! John Harys Hammond was the first
Superintendent of the Bunker Hill
and Sullivan. He resigned in disgust,
owing to labor troubles, and went to
South Africa, where he took part in
the Jameson raid and was sentenced
to death by the Boer government. 1t
took $4,000 of American money to
ransom him. Hammond had jumped
from the frying pan of Idaho into the
fire of South Africa.
| The miners always had grievances
against the Bunker Hill and Sullivan,
and the management was not by any
means without grievances against the
unions. Other mine owners in Idaho
were unfriendly to the company, and
probably encouraged violence on the
part of the miners toward the Bunker
Hill corporation.
In any event, on the morning of
April 20, 1899, about 500 miners
took possession of combination
freight and passenger train on the
Northern Pacific railroad. They
covered the engineer and fireman
with rifles, placed two tons of dyna-
lIltC dpOdl VI LHS LId1A,
the services of a surgeon with his in
strument case on his way from pro-
fessional call, and with full COM
plement of arms moved rapidly on
the Bunker Hill and Sullivan prop
erty, % miles away. The mill was
blown up and two nonunion miners
were killed. These nonunion men
had been warned the train was COM
ing, but they didn't believe it or
didn't count upon its speed.
On being advised of the destruction
of the mill, Governor Frank Steunen-
berg declared martial law and called
on the federal government for troops.
For this, six years later, he was killed
by bomb set at his gate by Harry
Orchard, now serving life sentence
in the Idaho penitentiary.
Paul Corcoran, secretary of the
local miners union, was prosecuted
for murder in connection with the de-
struction of the mill Borah and
James H. Hawley, since governor of
Idaho, were the special prosecutors
in this case, as they were seven years
later in the case of Haywood and
Meyer, indicted for the murder of
Steunenberg. They were
assisted by J. H. Forney another
prominent Idaho lawyer.
The defense was an alibi. Corcor-
an contended that he was not at the
mill at all; that he was % miles
away. at Burke, the point where the |
miners had taken forcible possession
Of the train.
Witnesses for the state swore that
they had seen Corcoran riding on the |
top Of box car with his feet hanging
over the edge and a rife across his
knee. When the train returned to
Burke, Corcoran had jumped from
The top of the car to the platform,
landed squarely on his feet, and
walked leisurely off.
To Offset this testimony, railroad
men swore for the defense that is
vas impossible for any man to ride |.
hat train on top of box car; that
The railroad through the mountain
pass was as crooked as grapevine;
that the lurch of the train, running
At high speed, would throw him off;
md that no man could jump from
he top of one of those box cars to |.
he platform, with rifle in hand, and
Keep his balance
Outmoving the Movies
This testimony apparently had an
impressive effect on the jury There
vas no good reason why the jury
hould believe the trainmen had lied. i
1t was their train that had been {
tolen. True, they were members of &
mother union, but that fact alone
vas not sufficient to offset the effect
f their testimony There was only II
ne thing to do. Somebody must ride I
IN top of box car with the train /
as fast as steam could trail /