Frank
Steunenberg was born in Iowa in 1861. After leaving school at 16 he
became a printer's apprentice and in 1881 found work with the Des
Moines Register. He published his own newspaper in Knoxville
before working for the Caldwell Tribune.
Steunenberg was active in the Democratic
Party and in 1890 was elected to the state legislature and six
years later became governor of Idaho.
In 1899 Idaho was hit by a series of industrial disputes. Steunenberg
took a tough line and declared martial law and asked President William
McKinley to send federal troops to help him in his fight with
the trade union movement. Over a thousand
trade unionists and their supporters were rounded up and kept in stockades
without trial.
The unions felt betrayed as they had mainly supported his campaign
to become governor. Activists were particularly angry about Steunenberg's
attempts to justify his actions: "We have taken the monster by
the throat and we are going to choke the life out of it. No halfway
measures will be adopted. It is a plain case of the state or the union
winning, and we do not propose that the state shall be defeated."
Steunenberg retired from office and on 30th December, 1905, he went
out for a walk. On his return, when he pulled a wooden slide that
opened the gate to his side door, it triggered a bomb, that killed
him.
James McParland, from the Pinkerton
Detective Agency, was called in to investigate the murder. McParland
was convinced from the beginning that the leaders of the Western
Federation of Miners had arranged the killing of Steunenberg.
McParland arrested Harry Orchard, a stranger
who had been staying at a local hotel. In his room they found dynamite
and some wire.
McParland helped Orchard to write a confession that he had been a
contract killer for the WFM, assuring him this would help him get
a reduced sentence for the crime. In his statement, Orchard named
William Hayward (general secretary of
WFM) and Charles Moyer (president of WFM). He also claimed that a
union member from Caldwell, George Pettibone, had also been involved
in the plot. These three men were arrested and were charged with the
murder of Steunenberg.
Charles Darrow, a man who specialized
in defending trade union leaders, was employed
to defend Hayward, Moyer and Pettibone. The trial took place in Boise,
the state capital. It emerged that Harry
Orchard already had a motive for killing Steunenberg, blaming
the governor of Idaho, for destroying his chances of making a fortune
from a business he had started in the mining industry.
During the three month trial, the prosecutor was unable to present
any information against Hayward, Moyer and Pettibone except for the
testimony of Orchard. William Hayward,
Charles Moyer and George Pettibone were all acquitted.
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