Morris Friedman was, until 1905,Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 1997, page 687. the private stenographer for Pinkerton detective

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 ...

. Friedman came to the attention of the public when he published an exposé of anti-union actions by the private detective industry which was called ''

The Pinkerton Labor Spy ''The Pinkerton Labor Spy'' (alternately, ''The Pinkerton's Labor Spy'') is a nonfiction book published in 1907 as an exposé of intrigue and abuses by the Pinkerton Detective Agency in general, and by chief agent James McParland in particular.Fu ...

''. The book focused in particular on how mining and ore milling companies used spies during 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 ...

. Friedman was called as a witness at the trial of the Secretary-Treasurer 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),

Big Bill Haywood William Dudley "Big Bill" Haywood (February 4, 1869 – May 18, 1928) was an American labor organizer and founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and a member of the executive committee of the Socialist Party of ...

. The ''Idaho Daily Statesman'' described the Russian-born Friedman as,

... a striking looking young fellow, rather languid ... with a shock of black hair, and his features of the marked Hebrew type. Heavy, thick glasses magnify his naturally large eyes and his smooth shaven face is very pale. He was slow and deliberate in his actions, like the railway conductor who knew the train wouldn't leave without him.

Friedman "described dirty tricks used by the Pinkertons to subvert the WFM, including the use of undercover operatives within the WFM who padded bills to drain the Federation treasury and reduced payments to miners to build dissatisfaction with Haywood." Friedman described the Pinkertons as a secret police force. Under questioning by

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 ...

, defense attorney for Bill Haywood, Friedman identified Pinkerton agents who had infiltrated the Western Federation of Miners:

Charlie Siringo Charles Angelo Siringo (February 7, 1855 – October 18, 1928) was an American lawman, detective, bounty hunter, and agent for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early life Siringo was born on ...

, who became recording secretary of the miners' union in

Burke, Idaho Burke is a ghost town in Shoshone County, Idaho, United States, established in 1887. Once a thriving silver, lead and zinc mining community, the town saw significant decline in the mid-twentieth century after the closure of several mines. In its ...

; A. H. Crane, secretary of the

Cripple Creek, Colorado Cripple Creek is a statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,155 at the 2020 United States Census. Cripple Creek is a former gold mining camp located southwest of Colorado Sprin ...

union; C. J. Connibear, president of the

Florence, Colorado The City of Florence is a Statutory City located in Fremont County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,822 at the 2020 United States Census. Florence is a part of the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area and the Front ...

union; R. P. Bailey, a member of the

Victor, Colorado The City of Victor is a Statutory City in Teller County, Colorado, United States. Gold was discovered in Victor in the late 19th century, an omen of the future of the town. With Cripple Creek, the mining district became the second largest gold ...

union; and A. W. Gratias, president of the union at Globeville. Pinkerton Agent George W. Riddell, former president of the

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

miners union in Utah, was forced to resign when Friedman published the book. Friedman provided the attorneys with a stack of documents which had been signed by McParland, attesting to the authenticity of his observations. Many reporters thought that the witness's testimony indicated "...that many of the infiltrators were actually

agents provocateurs An agent provocateur () is a person who commits, or who acts to entice another person to commit, an illegal or rash act or falsely implicate them in partaking in an illegal act, so as to ruin the reputation of, or entice legal action against, the ...

who'd committed crimes to bring the unions into disrepute."Anthony Lukas, Big Trouble, 1997, page 688.

References

Pinkerton (detective agency) Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub