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strike was the reduction of wages made by the mine owners, from three dollars and a half to three dollars per day. The miners claimed that all men working under ground should have three dollars and fifty cents per day, the mine owners offering that to actual miners, and three dollars to carmen and shovelers.

Up to July first, upwards of a million. dollars in wages alone had been lost to the community. During this time the unemployed men and their families were supported by voluntary contributions of provisions and remittances of money from the Butte Miners' Union. Several vain attempts at settlement of the questions at variance had been made.

The Miners' Union, as a retaliatory measure against the Mine Owners' Association, endeavored to have Congress pass an act abolishing the tariff on leadsilver ores.

The Mine Owners' Association, having in mind the valuable aid given the civil authorities in Pennsylvania, during the Mollie Maguire troubles by Pinkerton detectives, employed one of their men, who was known in the Coeur d'Alénes as Seringo, his real name was C. L. Allison. This man ingratiated himself with the miners and joined one of the Unions, - which in fact, was almost a necessity for every miner desirous of retaining work in the region. Seringo, who was an extremely adroit man, was soon elected Secretary of the Gem Miners' Union.

Thus the Mine Owners' Asso- . ciation was enabled to obtain records of the meetings and keep well posted upon the plans and actions of the Union.

In the spring the Association of Mine Owners decided to start work, but the members of the Miners' Union refused to work, saying they would be traitors to their mates if they resumed under the conditions offered. New men were then brought in from other mining sections, VOL. XXVI.-3.

even as far East as Michigan. Some of these new comers joined the different branch unions, and others were frightened away.

Early in April two men, William M. Pipkin and George L. Wolf, non-union men working at three dollars and a half a day at the Hidden Treasure Mine near Burke, were driven out of town by a party of which one John Tobin was said to be the leader. This gang was believed to be composed mainly of Union men. These unfortunates were marched up the gulch to the accompaniment of a tin can serenade, were refused provisions, and ordered to get over into Montana. They left the country by the Thompson Falls trail and were two days without food or shelter.

The mine owners were also threatened and the following copy cf a letter received by one of the most influential firms will give an excellent idea of the general tenor of the threats:

Cambell and Finch,

April 4, 1892.

You are standing on the edge of a precipice and if you dont look out you will go over it. You have done what we are agoing to prevent any capital doing in this man's country.

We are 17 strong and the miners' union are too slow for us. We have nothing to do with the union and are going to take the thing in our own hands. You had better pack your traps and go to some other country or you will find a hoter one. You want to put the working the miner down with the chinese and dagos. Your life is not worth 1 cent if you try it enny longer. look out for when we strike we strike hard. Your company dont know what you are doing the people are on the side of the miners. this is a warning the next will be destruction and the next hell.

When the hell is raised look out for your oficers and judges will do you no good

M- No. I.

We have made up our minds to wate a week. then we come

We will have no slaves in Idaho.

M- No. 2.

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The Mine Owners' Association on May 7th, obtained from Judge J. H. Beatty of the U. S. District Court for Idaho a temporary restraining order, restraining defendants from in any way interfering with the operation of plaintiff company, or from preventing any one entering the service of said company. Warrants were issued on May 10th. United States Marshal Joseph Pinkham, served them in person May 12th. The news created intense excitement. Some of the non-union men remained in the country, nerved by the action of the

Court, and started up work upon the Bunker Hill and Sullivan at Wardner, and the Gem and Frisco at Gem, about three miles from Wallace.

On June 4th, the governor of Idaho issued a warning proclamation :-

Whereas it has come to the knowledge of the Executive of this State by the affidavits and petition's of reputable citizens and property owners of the county of Shoshone, and from other well considered sources, that there now exist in the county of Shoshone, State of Idaho, combinations of men concerting and conspiring for unlawful purposes.

This proclamation of Governor Norman.

B. Willey was treated with contempt, and matters gradually drifted from bad to worse. On June 6, in the United States Circuit Court at Boise, (the Hon. Albert Hagan, in behalf of the mine owners,) Attorney Frank Ganahl, for respondents, argued that a virtual injunction had been issued under guise of an order to show cause, and that the Court at the time the injunction was issued had no authority for the proceeding. July 10, Judge Beatty declined to dissolve the injunction. This decision further incensed the Union miners.

The leaders of the Miners' Union and the representatives of the Butte Union. were informed at Wallace, by General James F. Curtis, Inspector General upon the staff of the Governor and acting in his behalf, that any overt act of violence would meet immediate attention and punishment at the hands of the State authorities. General Curtis, who had been sent to Shoshone County in May, to observe matters and to report such steps as might become necessary, was peculiarly well fitted for his duties by long experience in the West. Prior to the Rebellion he had served two years as chief of police of San Francisco, and through the Civil War was Colonel of the Fourth California Infantry. He had been brevetted Brigadier General in '65 by President Johnson.

It was well known that cases of rifles and ammunition had been received, addressed to the president of the Miners' Union at Wallace, and also that the mine owners had armed guards to protect their new men, so a collision was imminent. A reign of terrorism and ostracism had existed throughout Shoshone County for months. No Chinese were allowed in the Coeur d'Alénes. Respectable citizens suffered insult and intimidation, and the existing civil authority was powerless to check or punish ruffianism; in fact, the

Miners' Union, having the sympathy of the local peace officers and a majority of the people, acted as if they alone owned the country. So-called "scabs" were ordered to leave the country, owners of mines were threatened with violence and the destruction of their property, and a vendetta was pronounced upon nearly all of them.

In this emergency, General Curtis wired the Governor from Wallace, that only an armed force could cope with the conditions; that the militia was inadequate, and that a force of United States troops would be required without delay. These statements were rapidly verified within the next few days.

July 10, an altercation ending in a free fight occurred at Gem, and the impending crisis broke. On the morning of the 11th, an armed band of Miners' Union men collected at the Gem, attacked and destroyed the Frisco Mill, which was valued at $200,000, blowing it up with giant powder, which was exploded down the penstock. Killed, one employee; wounded, twenty; prisoners, seventy. From there the gang proceeded to the Gem Mill, half a mile distant, and demanded its surrender. The guard was armed with Winchesters, and though outnumbered, stood the rioters off, killing five and wounding fourteen. The owners. to save the lives of their workmen and their property from destruction surrendered to the mob, which was about four hundred strong. The terms of surrender were that the Winchesters and two thousand rounds of ammunition should be placed in the hands of disinterested parties, and that the non-union men should be shipped out of the country the next day. Within an hour thereafter, while endeavoring to move the arms to Wallace for safe keeping, the committee when opposite the Granite Mill was overpowered and the arms taken by the mob.

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There was a company of State troops, A, Second Regiment of Infantry, I.N.G., stationed at Wallace, under command of one Captain W. E. Hood. Ten stands of their arms had been stolen from the armory the previous Saturday night, July 9th. Captain Hood himself left town, and could not be found. The available strength of the company for the emergency was practically nil. General Curtis immediately reported the fact to the Governor by telegraph, and on the 11th telegraphed recommending the immediate disbanding of the company, upon the technical ground that it had fallen below the minimum authorized strength, and was utterly ineffective and unwilling to act. The remaining arms of the company in the meantime were locked up in the vault of the First National Bank, of Wallace.

The Sheriff of Shoshone County, R. A. Cunningham, reported to General Curtis in Wallace, that he could not raise sufficient civil posse to enforce law and order, had no arms, and must call on the Governor for the assistance of the State troops. It was altogether useless to

summon the power of the county, as most of the people were in sympathy with the strikers, the remainder practically unarmed and consequently afraid to act. In this emergency, General Curtis; C. W. O'Neil, District Attorney, First Judicial District; Sheriff R. A. Cunningham; and George T. Crane and John L. Livers, County Commissioners, all united in sending a telegram to this effect to Governor Willey, then in Boise City, six hundred miles away.

The mob in the meantime, inflated with its success over the non-union men, escorting one hundred and ten of them, and infuriated over the death of five of their own members, whose bodies they guarded, moved down the cañon from Gem three miles to Wallace, where they paraded the streets heavily armed.

General Curtis again telegraphed that Federal troops would be an absolute necessity, also that the telegraph wires were being cut by the strikers. W. B. Heyburn, attorney for the Mine Owners, telegraphed from Spokane City to the Governor for help, reporting that the armed Union men were preparing to at

tack Wardner that night, that the wires were cut below Wallace and a massacre might be anticipated. The rioters sent bogus telegrams, purporting to have been written by V. M. Clement, manager of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mining Company, urging the Governor not to send in troops, so as to avert unnecessary bloodshed. Judge Hagan and Heyburn, learning of this fact, telegraphed from Spokane City, to Attorney-General George H. Roberts at Boise, that the pretended telegrams from Clement were bogus, to forward the troops, and inform the authorities at once.

The strikers took a body of unarmed non-union miners, estimated at about a hundred and fifty, to the mouth of Fourth of July Cañon, near Cataldo, twelve miles below Wardner Junction,-where they were waiting for a steamboat to take them out of the country. At dusk a squad of armed men charged down the railroad track upon them, yelling and discharging their rifles. The refugees scattered, running for the brush along the river, swimming the stream, and hiding in the gulches. About three hours after this, the belated steamer came along and picked up all the refugees that could be

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On the night of the 12th, the mob moved down the cañon from Wallace, stealing hand cars en route, to Wardner Junction, twelve miles below, and under threats of attacking different mines and destroying the mills, obtained the surrender of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan, Sierra Nevada, and Last Chance mines. Great quantities of explosives were placed in the Bunker Hill and Sullivan concentrator, and under threats of its destruction non-union miners were discharged and work stopped.

'In camp at Wallace, Idaho.

found. They were wet, cold, and in a pitiable state of excitement.

Many had been driven down Fourth of July Canon, two were known to have been killed, many were robbed, and a number wounded. As to whether the Miners' Union, or a gang of thugs committed these acts of violence, has never been definitely ascertained. Grossly exaggerated stories of these atrocities were published in the press at the time.

Troop G, Fourth U. S. Cavalry, under command of Second Lieutenant E. A. Helmick, Fourth Infantry, marched from

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