![Haywood, Moyer, Pettibone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Haywood%2C_Moyer%2C_Pettibone.jpg)
Charles H. "Charlie" Moyer (1866 – June 2, 1929) was an American
labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
leader and president of the
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into s ...
(WFM) from 1902 to 1926. He led the union through the
Colorado Labor Wars
The Colorado Labor Wars were a series of labor strikes in 1903 and 1904 in the U.S. state of Colorado, by gold and silver miners and mill workers represented by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Opposing the WFM were associations of mi ...
, was accused of murdering an ex-governor of the state of
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
, and was shot in the back during a bitter
copper mine strike. He also was a leading force in founding the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
, although he later denounced the organization.
Early life
Little is known about Moyer prior to 1893.
[Fink, ''Biographical Dictionary of American Labor,'' 1984.] He was born near
Ames, Iowa
Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medici ...
.
Moyer's parents, William and Maria Drew Moyer, were natives of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
who migrated to
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
by 1852 and on to
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
by 1860. Charles was the youngest of five brothers and two sisters who survived their mother who died at the age of thirty-nine-years-old in 1870. In 1870, one of the sisters, a sixteen-year-old, had assumed the task of housekeeping for the family and care of Charles who was a sickly infant and youth. He attended public school but left after the fourth grade.
["Glossary," in ''Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 7,'' 1998.]
Moyer headed
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
in 1872 and found work as a cowboy in
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
. He returned East in 1885 and settled in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. He committed
robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
, and served a year in the
Illinois State Penitentiary. After his release, Moyer became a miner at the
Homestake Mine Homestake Mine is the name for several mines in the United States:
* Homestake Mine (Nevada), listed in the National Register of Historic Places
* Homestake Mine (South Dakota)
The Homestake Mine was a deep underground gold mine (8,000 feet or 2, ...
in
Lead, South Dakota
Lead ( ) is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,982 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Lead is located in western South Dakota, in the Black Hills near the Wyomi ...
, and joined the Lead City Miners' Union. In 1893, the Lead City Miners' Union was one of several unions which formed the Western Federation of Miners.
Moyer was elected to the Executive Board of the WFM in 1900. After President
Ed Boyce
Edward "Ed" Boyce (November 8, 1862 – December 24, 1941) was president of the Western Federation of Miners, a radical American labor organizer, socialist and hard rock mine owner.
Early life
Edward Boyce was born in County Donegal, Irelan ...
declined to run again in 1902, Moyer was elected his successor.
WFM presidency
Moyer was strongly committed to
industrial unionism
Industrial unionism is a trade union organizing method through which all workers in the same industry are organized into the same union, regardless of skill or trade, thus giving workers in one industry, or in all industries, more leverage in ...
, and pushed the WFM to organize both
underground
Underground most commonly refers to:
* Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth
Underground may also refer to:
Places
* The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston
* The Underground (S ...
and
surface
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is t ...
miners as well as all ancillary mine workers.
[Jensen, ''Heritage of Conflict: Labor Relations in the Nonferrous Metals Industry Up to 1930,'' 1950.]
Colorado Labor Wars
![Is Colorado in America](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Is_Colorado_in_America.jpg)
Moyer's push for industrial union organizing involved the union in what came to be known as the Colorado Labor Wars. In August 1902, the WFM organized mill workers in
Colorado City, Colorado
Colorado City is a census-designated place (CDP) and post office in and governed by Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Pueblo, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Colorado City post office has the ZIP Code 8101 ...
. The employers planted a
labor spy
Labor spying in the United States had involved people recruited or employed for the purpose of gathering intelligence, committing sabotage, sowing dissent, or engaging in other similar activities, in the context of an employer/labor organization r ...
in the union, and 42 union members were fired. Negotiations over the dismissals dragged on into 1903. On February 14, 1903, the WFM
struck. The employers claimed a riot was in progress, and
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
James Peabody called out the
Colorado militia to suppress the strike. Miners in
Cripple Creek and
Telluride also struck, and the militia was deployed in those cities as well. Mass arrests began in September 1903 which finally broke the strike.
[Suggs, ''Colorado's War on Militant Unionism: James H. Peabody and the Western Federation of Miners,'' 1972.]
One of those arrested was Moyer. He had gone to Telluride to protest the mass arrests and deportation of miners. While there, he lent his signature to a WFM poster decrying the arrests. Moyer was arrested on March 28, 1904, for desecrating the American flag. He was released on bail, but re-arrested the following day on the orders of Adjutant General
Sherman Bell of the state militia on charges of "military necessity". When Moyer successfully petitioned for a
writ
In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...
of
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
, the Colorado
State Attorney General
The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney genera ...
and the local
district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
refused to release him. Moyer appealed to the
Colorado Supreme Court
The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices.
Powers and duties
Appellate jurisdiction
Discretionary appeals
The Court p ...
On June 6, 1904, the court ruled in ''
In re Moyer,'' 35 Colo. 163, that it could not question the governor's finding that insurrection existed in Colorado and that Moyer had not been arrested or imprisoned in violation of his rights. Moyer appealed to the
U.S. District Court for the District of Missouri, and obtained a writ of habeas corpus on July 5, 1904. Alarmed by the writ, Governor Peabody revoked the finding of insurrection the same day and ordered Moyer released by 3:45 p.m. (before the federal writ could be served). Moyer was released, but his case continued to the
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. On January 18, 1909, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court in ''
Moyer v. Peabody,'' 212 U.S. 78. Writing for the majority,
Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...
refused to question the governor's assertion of facts which led to the declaration of martial law or grounds for Moyer's arrest. Concluding that the governor's good faith would protect a person's constitutional rights, Holmes held that Moyer's civil liberties had not been infringed.
Radicalization
The state's use of military power to crush union organizing drives convinced Moyer that no single union could be effective or successful. He concluded that only "
one big union" linked to a strong political party could effectively counteract the anti-union power of the state and employers. Moyer subsequently became a strong supporter of the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
.
In January 1905, Moyer participated in a conference in Chicago to consider whether the Socialist Party would be an effective vehicle for labor's goals. It was at this conference that the delegates decided to form a new union, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). When the IWW was formed in Chicago on June 27, 1905, Moyer immediately affiliated the WFM with the new labor federation.
[Dubofsky, ''We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World,'' 2000.]
The Haywood trial
In 1906, Moyer was implicated in the assassination of
Frank Steunenberg
Frank Steunenberg (August 8, 1861December 30, 1905) was the fourth governor of the State of Idaho, serving from 1897 until 1901. He was assassinated in 1905 by one-time union member Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple C ...
, ex-Governor of Idaho. On December 30, 1905, Steunenberg, who had clashed with the WFM during several strikes, was killed by an explosion at his home in
Caldwell, Idaho
Caldwell (locally CALL-dwel) is a city in and the county seat of Canyon County, Idaho. The population was 59,996 at the time of the 2020 United States census.
Caldwell is considered part of the Boise metropolitan area. Caldwell is the location of ...
.
Harry Orchard
Albert Edward Horsley (March 18, 1866 – April 13, 1954), best known by the pseudonym Harry Orchard, was a miner convicted of the 1905 political assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. The case was one of the most sensational an ...
, a former WFM member who had once acted as Moyer's bodyguard, was arrested for the crime. Using coercion and intimidation (including restricted food rations and threats of immediate execution),
Pinkerton
Pinkerton may refer to:
Places
* Pinkerton, Ontario, named after surveyor and early settler Matthew Pinkerton
* Pinkerton's Landing Bridge, railroad bridge in Pennsylvania
People
* Allan Pinkerton (18191884), Scottish detective and spy
* Bill ...
agent
James McParland
James McParland (''né'' McParlan; 1844, County Armagh, Ireland – 18 May 1919, Denver, Colorado) was an American private detective and Pinkerton agent.
McParland arrived in New York in 1867. He worked as a laborer, policeman and then in Chica ...
wrung a 64-page confession from Orchard. The confession named Moyer and other WFM leaders as the instigators of the bombing plot.
[Carlson, ''Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood,'' 1983.]
But Moyer was in Colorado, not Idaho. Idaho authorities were concerned that Orchard's confession would not be enough to persuade a judge to issue extradition papers. Acting in concert with law enforcement leaders, McParland perjured himself to convince a judge to issue the extradition papers against Moyer, falsely representing that Moyer had been in Idaho at the time of the murder, and was a fugitive from justice (under Idaho law, conspirators were considered to be present at the scene of the crime.) McParland arrived in Denver on Thursday, February 15, and presented the extradition papers to Colorado Governor McDonald, who, by prior arrangement with the governor of Idaho, accepted them immediately. But they waited until Saturday evening to arrest Haywood, Pettigrew, and Moyer, then held the three overnight in the Denver Jail, and refused requests by the three to contact lawyers and family. Early Sunday morning the prisoners were put on a special train, and guarded by Colorado militia, were sped to Idaho. Although the events were very controversial, the extradition was ultimately upheld by the US Supreme Court.
Haywood and Pettibone were acquitted in separate trials, after which charges against Moyer were dropped.
Conservatism
His experiences with the IWW led Moyer to the conclusion that the federation was too radical. Moyer was especially disturbed by the IWW's refusal to ally with or endorse any political party, which had been the key to Moyer's support for the creation of the IWW. In 1908,
Moyer led the WFM out of the IWW, taking most of the IWW's membership (which belonged to the WFM) with him. Concerned that the WFM's reputation for radicalism was making it difficult to reach
collective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and rights for workers. The i ...
agreements, Moyer re-affiliated his union with the conservative
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
(AFL) in 1911.
Moyer pushed for more traditional labor union policies in his last decade in office. He forced the union's locals to agree to contracts which expired after a set period of time. He pushed resolutions through the WFM convention committing the union to the same limited legislative goals favored by the AFL such as the
eight-hour day
The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses.
An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 16 ...
, a ban on
child labor
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such e ...
, and controls on immigration.
He also withdrew his support for the Socialist Party and adopted the policy of nonpartisanship advocated by
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...
.
WFM membership declined sharply from 1911 to 1916. In part, this was due to the continuing intense opposition from mine owners in the West. But conflict with the IWW also led to significant membership losses. Historian Vernon H. Jensen has asserted that the IWW had a "rule or ruin" policy, under which it attempted to wreck local unions which it could not control. From 1908 to 1921, Jensen and others have written, the IWW attempted to win power in WFM locals which had once formed the federation's backbone. When it could not do so, IWW agitators undermined WFM locals, which caused the national union to shed nearly half its membership.
["Mine Federation in West Doomed by Faction's War," ''Chicago Daily Tribune,'' June 27, 1914; "Paid Moyer's Gunmen." ''Los Angeles Times.'' February 21, 1915; "Armed Guards Posted in Stores of Butte," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 28, 1914; "Butte Unions Back Rebels," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 23, 1914; "Disrupted by I.W.W.," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 22, 1914.] Paul Brissenden noted WFM dissatisfaction with the IWW in
Jerome, Arizona
Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, Jerome is located more than above sea level. It is about north of Phoenix alon ...
in 1913, attributing some of the friction to the fact that the WFM was becoming more conservative,
accepting contracts with employers and affiliating with the
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
, while the IWW was becoming more revolutionary. (The IWW would not begin to accept contracts with employers until 1938.)
The greatest animosity between the two organizations occurred in
Butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word mea ...
, and resulted in the
Butte, Montana labor riots of 1914
The Butte, Montana labor riots of 1914 were a series of violent clashes between copper miners at Butte, Montana. The opposing factions were the miners dissatisfied with the Western Federation of Miners local at Butte, on the one hand, and those lo ...
. When Moyer went to Butte to mediate differences between the WFM loyalists and a dissident faction sympathetic to the IWW, he barely escaped from the WFM union hall before dissidents destroyed the building with dynamite. Moyer hid from the mob until he left town before dawn the next morning.
Historian Melvyn Dubofsky, however, offers a different perspective. In Minnesota, for example, the miners went on strike in 1916 to abolish the contract system, to secure a minimum wage, and to end exploitation by the company. They approached the
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
and the WFM, both of which failed to respond. Dubofsky notes, "IWW headquarters had been advised of employee discontent on the eve of the
trike... and the IWW instantly had organizers on the spot." Dubofsky states that the walkout occurred without IWW involvement, and he describes the evidence for this as "incontrovertible". The IWW was approached for help and, according to Dubofsky, the IWW "achieved its aims not by coercion but by giving the striking miners leadership, funds, and publicity."
With the companies and the press accusing the IWW of sending "
outside agitators
Outside agitator is a term that has been used to discount political unrest as being driven by outsiders, rather than by internal discontent. The term was popularized during the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, when So ...
", M.E. Shusterich, one of the Mesabi Range strike leaders, attempted to "set the record straight":
This strike was not started by the I.W.W., but has been underway the past six years. We have appealed to every labor official in Minnesota to have the miners on the range organized, but we have been shuttled back and forth between the Western Federation of Miners and other organizations who passed us on again until finally the miners took things into their own hands and went out without organization.
According to Marxist historian Philip S. Foner, the issues of socialism and industrial unionism — and more specifically, the AFL vs. the IWW — had been debated by the Minnesota miners since the WFM's Mesabi Range strike of 1907. Foner concluded that in the 1916 strike, "Most of the Range Finns ... backed the I.W.W."
Whatever the reasons for the decline, the WFM was particularly hard hit in the copper mining industries of Michigan and Arizona, and in the WFM's stronghold around
Butte, Montana
Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...
.
In 1916, Moyer led a successful movement to change the union's name to the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (colloquially known as "Mine Mill").
Copper Country Strike of 1913-1914
Organization of workers
The Western Federation of Miners began to heavily increase its presence in the
Copper Country
The Copper Country is an area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States, including Keweenaw County, Michigan, Houghton, Baraga and Ontonagon counties as well as part of Marquette County. The area is so named as copper mining was ...
in 1912. Moyer warned WFM organizer Thomas Strizich on March 25, 1913, against calling a strike prematurely:
I was much pleased to hear of the progress being made in the way of organizing in Michigan and sincerely trust that the men there will realize the importance, in fact the absolute necessity, of deferring action that may precipitate a conflict with the employers until they have practically a thorough organization.
Initial involvement in the strike
When the
Copper Country miners went out on strike on July 23, 1913, Moyer was at a conference in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, and so Vice President
Charles E. Mahoney had to assume control of the strike until his return to the Copper Country.
On August 22, soon after Moyer returned to Denver, he asked
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutu ...
(AFL) President
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...
for financial aid for the Michigan strikers. Six days later the AFL Executive Council endorsed the strike; it did not assess affiliates but suggested an immediate appropriation of at least five cents per member. On that same day on which Moyer wrote to Gompers, the WFM sent $25,000 to Michigan, bringing the total to only $36,000 which had to suffice until September 12.
On Sunday afternoon, August 31, a crowd of 2,700, 800 of them women and children, marched in sweltering heat to pack the Palestra, a "colossal oven," where Moyer encouraged them to continue early morning picketing, telling them they had the right to peacefully persuade men to stay away from work. The WFM Executive Board fully sanctioned their strike, he told them. He had told reporters that the WFM had all kinds of money, piles and stacks of it. He assured the strikers that benefits would be forthcoming: the WFM had $161,000 "in cash here"; an assessment of $2 had been levied for September on each WFM member—90,000 of them, Moyer had said, doubling the actual membership figure. The $161,000 had included the loans he hoped to procure, but he did not tell them that. Rather, he depicted a financially secure WFM, ready and able to finance the strike, a characterization that was most unreal. The strikers passed resolutions calling for a Senate investigation, protesting the militia, and denouncing the deputies.
A ''
Mining Gazette'' reporter termed Moyer's speech a refreshing change from the "radical . . . viciously inflammatory" oratory of Miller and Mahoney. Were there "a few more conservative talkers such as Moyer there might be a chance, many people believe, for the federation to accomplish something, for the other class of verbal bombs is reacting against the organization," the reporter stated. Moyer was long-winded and not an effective orator, he continued, but he really made "a nice little argument from the WFM point of view." Moyer said that he favored having the militia in the district but that "the governor should order them to disarm all these thugs and gunmen, load them on trains and dump them without the confines of the state." The reporter commented that "in this statement Moyer has the approval of a great many people on both sides of the strike question."
Meeting with Ferris and Darrow
Moyer cut short his visit to the strike zone to confer with Governor
Woodbridge N. Ferris
Woodbridge Nathan Ferris (January 6, 1853March 23, 1928) was an American educator from New York, Illinois and Michigan who served as the 28th governor of Michigan and in the United States Senate as a Democrat.
Early life in New York, Michigan a ...
on September 3. Joining him was
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...
, who had previously defended Moyer,
Haywood Haywood may refer to:
Places Canada
* Haywood, Manitoba
United Kingdom
* Haywood, Herefordshire
* Great Haywood, Staffordshire
* Little Haywood, Staffordshire
United States
* Hayward, California, formerly Haywood
* Haywood, Kentucky
* Haywood, ...
, and
Pettibone in the
Steunenberg murder case. Moyer and Darrow asked the governor to again try to arbitrate the strike. The strikers would not insist on mentioning the WFM in any settlement, but would insist on the right to organize and select representatives. Ferris was skeptical, saying it resembled his earlier rejected proposals: "When
James MacNaughton says that he will let grass grow in the streets before he will ever treat with the Western Federation of Miners or its representatives, I believe what he says." Moyer countered: "I'm not willing to admit yet that James MacNaughton will not recognize organized labor before he dies."
[Unidentified newspaper clipping in Ferris Scrapbook No. 4, Michigan Historical Collections][Darrow to Ferris, Sept. 8, 1913, Ferris Records, RG-46, B1, F1]
Moyer and Darrow gave Ferris affidavits claiming Waddell men were serving as deputies. He read the telegram he had sent
James A. Cruse reminding him of the residency requirement for deputies, and he said: "Cruse knows what the law is but in
Keweenaw County
Keweenaw County (, ; , ) is a county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan, the state's northernmost county. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 2,046, making it Michigan's least populous county. It is also the ...
we have a sheriff that can take care of absolutely nothing.
Sheriff Hepping iccannot even take care of his cat."
Neither Moyer nor Darrow had criticized Ferris for sending in the militia. Moyer claimed to the governor that ''almost all'' "of the 16,000 men on strike now belong to the WFM."
At Ferris's urging, Darrow accompanied Moyer back to
Calumet
Calumet may refer to:
Places United States
*Calumet Region, in northern Illinois and Indiana
**Calumet River
**Calumet Trail, Indiana
** Calumet (East Chicago)
* Calumet, Colorado
*Calumet, Iowa
* Calumet, Michigan
*Calumet, Minnesota
* Calumet ...
.
Return to Michigan's Copper district
Moyer returned to the district for a day with Darrow and then went to
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
to confer with
Duncan McDonald of the Illinois division of the
United Mine Workers of America
The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...
about a $100,000 loan. It was approved by the union's executive board and the money was made available in late September. Moyer also obtained a $25,000 loan from the
United Brewery Workers of America, and contributions to the WFM's Michigan Defense Fund rose to $18,074 in September.
In mid-September Moyer returned to the district once more, to confer with the
Department of Labor
The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...
investigators. He and
John Brown Lennon
John Brown Lennon (October 12, 1850 - January 17, 1923) was an American labor union leader and general-secretary of the Journeymen Tailors Union of America (JTU). In 1890, he was elected treasurer of the American Federation of Labor and served i ...
, AFL treasurer, spoke to a crowd of 2,000 at the Palestra on September 14. Moyer emphasized that any proposal for ending the strike must recognize the WFM.
December of 1913
Tensions grew following the
Jane-Dally murders. Special Houghton County Prosecutor
George E. Nichols warned Moyer that he would hold him accountable if strikers attacked the Alliance parades. Moyer was said to have acted "promptly and creditably in joining with the prosecutor in an effort to prevent anything of that kind." The night before the meetings, Moyer told strikers at Red Jacket to avoid violence, and that the Alliance was looking for any opportunity to make trouble. Organizers Thomas Strizich, Yanko Terzich, Mor Oppman and Ben Goggin translated his message to the strikers.
Moyer notified U.S. Representative
William Josiah MacDonald and AFL officials that mine operators and the Alliance had announced on December 10 that they would give all representatives of organized labor from outside the state twenty-four hours to leave and that "if they fail to do so, they
ould Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames.
Notable p ...
be sent out of the district in a manner most convenient and effective." Moyer urged the AFL to give this the greatest publicity and call it to the immediate attention of President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
. Moyer also wired Governor Ferris that "operators and others, calling themselves law and order citizens, threaten to deport from this district or remove by the quickest possible means of citizens of other states against whom no charges have been made other than that they dare to represent labor." Ferris then advised Nichols at once that "citizens must not commit violence on any citizen of Michigan or of any other state . . . protection must be given to all alike." He commanded him to consult with military authorities and to see that peace and dignity were maintained.
Moyer's return to the Michigan copper district in the wake of the Jane-Dally murders marked his fifth trip to the Copper Country during the strike and his first since October. It would be his longest stay. Local newspapers printed names of "outside labor agitators" still within the district. As the grand jury started its work, Judge
Orrin N. Hilton of
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
arrived to reinforce the WFM's legal staff. Moyer, one of the first witnesses before the jury, testified for two days. The jury got possession of the books and records of the Calumet WFM local, but the
Ahmeek leaders, alike those over at
South Range, claimed that their books had been sent to Denver.
Sheriff Cruse placed notices in the local newspapers reviewing lawlessness, disorder, and intimidation and stating that Moyer had been notified that the right to work must be respected, and that every man who wanted to work would be protected. Law officers appeared to be especially vigilant of activities of the strike leaders. Goggin was "run out of
Laurium
Laurium or Lavrio ( ell, Λαύριο; grc, Λαύρειον (later ); before early 11th century BC: Θορικός ''Thorikos''; from Middle Ages until 1908: Εργαστήρια ''Ergastiria'') is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greec ...
" after witnesses identified him as being involved in the beating of Calumet men in Laurium some time previous. On December 10 Judge
Patrick Henry O'Brien granted a writ of injunction to WFM attorneys restraining members of the Alliance from interfering with WFM organizers, members, or officers. The Houghton Trades and Labor Council wired Ferris on December 11 saying that it feared bloodshed from the Alliance and asked for an immediate federal investigation of the situation.
After the Italian Hall disaster
Moyer was in
Hancock, Michigan
Hancock is a city in Houghton County, Michigan, Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is across the Keweenaw Waterway from the city of Houghton, Michigan, Houghton on the Keweenaw Peninsula. The population was 4,634 at the 2010 United ...
when he learned by telephone of the
Italian Hall disaster,
He summoned a meeting of the WFM on
Christmas Day
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...
, where he set up a multilingual committee to consult with families of victims of the disaster about the funeral arrangements. Moyer announced that "the Western Federation of Miners will bury its own dead . . . the American labor movement will take care of the relatives of the deceased. No aid will be accepted from any of these citizens who a short time ago denounced these people as undesirable citizens."
The women of the Citizens' Alliance found themselves rejected in home after home.
In one household where distress was acute, the family accepted money only to return it the next day. In most of the homes the people said that they had been told to accept aid only from union members. Moyer later denied making such recommendations but the evidence was unmistakable.
"Deportation"
The Citizens' Alliance relief committee subsequently decided to appeal to Moyer to come before them and explain the situation. Sheriff Cruse rejected that proposal. The feelings at Calumet were running so high that Cruse believed if Moyer "appeared there even under my protection he would be lynched." Headlines in the ''Mining Gazette'' epitomized the feeling: WHILE COPPER COUNTRY MOURNS FOR ITS DEAD, MOYER TRIED TO MAKE CAPITAL OF DISASTER and USES CHILDREN'S DEATHS TO BENEFIT HIS STRIKE. Cruse telephoned Moyer and arranged for a small committee to meet with him the evening of December 26 in Hancock. Cruse wanted a small group so that he could control it if anger got out of hand.
![Charles Moyer under X-ray](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Charles_Moyer_under_X-ray.jpg)
Moyer was assaulted — beaten and shot in the back by men in the employ of the mine owners. That evening, detectives from the city of
Calumet
Calumet may refer to:
Places United States
*Calumet Region, in northern Illinois and Indiana
**Calumet River
**Calumet Trail, Indiana
** Calumet (East Chicago)
* Calumet, Colorado
*Calumet, Iowa
* Calumet, Michigan
*Calumet, Minnesota
* Calumet ...
escorted him, still bleeding, to a local train and "
deported
Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...
him" (e.g., ran him out of town). Moyer sought medical treatment in Chicago. State and
Congressional investigations were unable to prove the identity of his assailants, and the crime went unsolved.
["Moyer Tells of His Deportation," ''Chicago Daily Tribune,'' March 11, 1914; "Moyer, Wounded, Sticks to Battle," ''Chicago Daily Tribune,'' December 28, 1913.]
Retirement and death
Moyer was unable to reverse the decline in Mine Mill's membership. After a bitter internal struggle, Moyer and his entire executive board resigned in 1926.
Moyer lived in relative obscurity until his death. He died in
Pomona, California
Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyte ...
, on June 2, 1929.
Notes
References
* "Armed Guards Posted in Stores of Butte." ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
.'' June 28, 1914.
* "Butte Unions Back Rebels." ''Los Angeles Times.'' June 23, 1914.
* Carlson, Peter. ''Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood.'' New York:
W. W. Norton & Company, 1983.
* "Disrupted by I.W.W." ''Los Angeles Times.'' June 22, 1914.
* Dubofsky, Melvyn. ''
We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World.'' Champaign, Ill.:
University of Illinois Press
The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic project ...
, 2000.
* Fink, Gary. ''Biographical Dictionary of American Labor.'' Westport, Conn.:
Greenwood Press
Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG), also known as ABC-Clio/Greenwood (stylized ABC-CLIO/Greenwood), is an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which is today part of ABC-Clio. Established in 1967 as Gr ...
, 1984.
* "Glossary." In ''Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 7: The American Federation of Labor Under Siege, 1906-09.'' Stuart B. Kaufman, Grace Palladino, Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1998.
* Jensen, Vernon H. ''Heritage of Conflict: Labor Relations in the Nonferrous Metals Industry Up to 1930.'' Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell University Press
The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in th ...
, 1950.
* "Mine Federation in West Doomed by Faction's War." ''
Chicago Daily Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are ...
.'' June 27, 1914.
* "Moyer Tells of His Deportation." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' March 11, 1914.
* "Moyer, Wounded, Sticks to Battle." ''Chicago Daily Tribune.'' December 28, 1913.
* "Paid Moyer's Gunmen." ''Los Angeles Times.'' February 21, 1915.
* Suggs, Jr. George S. ''Colorado's War on Militant Unionism: James H. Peabody and the Western Federation of Miners.'' Tulsa, Okla.:
University of Oklahoma Press
The University of Oklahoma Press (OU Press) is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. Founded in 1929 by the fifth president of the University of Oklahoma, William Bennett Bizzell, it was the first university press to be established i ...
, 1972.
External links
Western Federation of Miners/ International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers International, District, and Local Records. University Library, University of Colorado-Boulder.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moyer, Charles
American trade union leaders
American miners
Industrial Workers of the World members
1866 births
1929 deaths
People from Ames, Iowa
People from the San Gabriel Valley
People from Lead, South Dakota
Western Federation of Miners people