In the summer 1917, as the U.S. entered World War One, the ‘gloves came off’ with laws changed or ignored as large-scale extra-legal violence confronted the radical labor movement. Exemplary of the reaction was one of the largest vigilante actions ever committed in the U.S. 2200 gunmen organized by the Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation, deputized and led by Cochise County Sheriff Harry Wheeler descended on the town of Bisbee, Arizona at 3 a.m on July 12, 1917 rounding up a list of 1200 striking miners led by I.W.W. Metal Mine Workers Union No. 80. Also held were many who refused to work in the mines as scabs. In the morning the workers were marched through the desert sun to a baseball field. Under mounted machine guns, they were loaded onto cattle cars and driven 200 miles away to be dropped in the desert town of Hermanas, New Mexico. There they stayed until September, housed in the tents meant for refugees from the U.S. invasion of northern Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa. One striker and one gun thug were killed in a shootout during the sweep.

‘More Details of the Bisbee Atrocity’ from Solidarity. Vol. 8 No. 395. August 4, 1917.

MORE “FRIGHTFULNESS”–Attorney Fred Moore Deported From Bisbee Where He Had Gone to Look After Cases of Wives and Children of Exiled Miners–MORE DETAILS OF THE ATROCITY OF THE 12th OF JULY

Attorney Fred H. Moore, who was sent by the general office of the I.W.W. to Bisbee to look after the interests of the wives and children of the miners who were driven from their homes by the armed thugs of the Copper Trust, was deported almost as soon as he arrived in Bisbee.

This culminating act of corporation lawlessness took place on the night of July 30th, Moore was sent from the General Office for the purpose of looking after the conditions of the families of the deported miners, but this was resented by the henchmen of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation, and they took immediate steps to drive him out of town.

Not content with having deported the miners at the point of machine guns and rifles, with beating them and shooting one of their number, as well as robbing them of their valuables and attempting, to violate the wives of the men who were torn from their homes, the merciless Hessians have even seen fit to deny their families, the legal assistance furnished by their union to their families.

Democracy a la Gunman.

Attorney Moore was taken before that bunch of corporation cut-throats known as the “Loyalty League” as soon as he was dis- covered to be in the sacred precincts of Bisbee. This body of prostituted hirelings immediately took it upon themselves to give Moore the third degree in order to find out just what his purpose was in visiting Bisbee. Upon learning that he was there to look after the wives and children of the deported strikers he was immediately rushed down to a waiting automobile, his belongings piled in after him. Then, together with a squad of armed thugs, he was rushed away to Douglas where he was put on board a train and accompanied with an armed deputy sheriff.

Moore’s Story.

While in Douglas, Moore gave out the following statement to the press:

“I was told my presence in Bisbee was highly undesirable; that they feared my presence would give moral support to the men and women who sympathized with the deported men. The committee before which I was called was very frank, one member saying my very presence was a menace to them.

“I went to the telephone office and called the governor. I told him of developments and asked that he call the committee before which I was appearing.

“On reaching my hotel I was met by Mrs. Rosa McKay, a member of the state legislature, who was waiting for me, I talked with her only two or three minutes when three men, one of them armed, entered the hotel and again informed me I would have to go. They shoved me toward my room and after I had packed my suit case accompanied me downstairs. As I passed through the lobby I called the attention of the clerk to the fact that I was a guest and being forcibly ejected without reason. He made no comment I then was taken to Osborn, where I bought a ticket for Douglas. A Mr. Loomis accompanied me as far as Douglas, saying his instructions were to turn me over to the Douglas committee.”

Moore said he had decided upon a course of action, but refused to make any statement concerning his plans.

The Governor Helpless.

It is a noteworthy fact that the deportation of Attorney Moore were perpetrated over the protest of the Governor of the state of Arizona. As soon as it was learned in Governor Campbell’s office that Moore was on his way to Bisbee, the chief executive of the state called up the all powerful Citizens’ League of that city and “requested that the attorney from the I.W.W. be “allowed” to enter and transact the business he had undertaken.

The governor, upon learning of the inexorable determination of the corporation gunmen to refuse to admit Moore, called up the “Loyalty League” and then “requested” this noble body not to carry out their plan of deporting the legal defense of the helpless wives and children of the deported miners. His “request” was completely ignored. The officials of the all-powerful Copper Trust did not see fit to let a little thing like the “law” or the governor of the state stand between themselves and the object of their hatred.

The Hideous Recital.

The utter horror and wantonness of the deportation is revealed in the statements of some of the refugees who reached the safety of outside cities from the zone of frightfulness. It is a grewsome story a story of shocking brutality by armed strike breakers in the little Arizona mining town of Bisbee that was told by refugees.

Men torn from the arms of their families, women knocked senseless with blows from revolver butts, and little children punched by armed members of the Citizens’ Protective League were a few of the experiences related by 14 men and women who escaped here. from Bisbee.

The Storm Center.

Bisbee was the storm center of the so-called I.W.W. trouble which stirred the United States on Thursday, July 12, when 1,600 striking miners were seized and deported from that city. Two men were killed.

Mrs. Zella Griffin, wife of an insurance agent of Bisbee, acted as spokeswoman for the refugees who reached Los Angeles.

“Citizens” at Work.

A modest, retiring woman of about 30 years, Mrs. Griffin declared she was willing to make herself “conspicuous” if she could only arouse the American people to realization that “American troops, and not strikebreakers, are needed to preserve order and justice in instances like the one we went through at Bisbee.” “You’re a fine-looking woman; come down town with me.” Mrs. Griffin says a rough-looking man hurled these words at her. She says he was a gunman imported by the capitalists to down the I.W.W. uprising.

When Mrs. Griffin took to her heels and barricaded herself in her home, the gunman at the head of a rough party forced an entrance, seized her and her husband and threw them into the bull pen.

“If it had not been that the miners were unarmed, there would have been another Ludlow,” she exclaimed, bitterly, “The least show of resistance on the part of the unfortunate miners would have brought on a slaughter of women and children.

Ask for Raise.

“The miners employed by the Copper Queen Co. struck for a slight raise, but principally to better working conditions. One of their main objects was to abolish the compulsory physical examination of applicants for positions. This practice had been used many times to reject men with pronounced union ideas. The Arizona law prohibits any employer from asking references, or discriminating against union men.

The Strike.

“The strike took effect on June 26, and was a peaceful one. Not an act of violence was committed. Only 400 of the 3,700 men employed by the Copper Queen remained in the mines, yet not one of these men was molested.

“Then came the ultimatum of the company that the men must go back to work by Friday, July 13, or be discharged. The strikers answered by adopting a resolution to walk in a body to the mines, secure their clothes and leave the city.

The Crime of July 12th.

“The memorable morning of Thursday, July 12, will never be forgotten in Bisbee. Hundreds of armed men, who had sneaked into the city, broke down the doors of miners’ homes, and made them prisoners. Every home and rooming house in the city was entered.

“Only one man, a miner named Brew, resisted. Brew shot and killed a member of the raiding party–McRae–and was himself killed a second later.

“I saw an aged woman pleading for the release of her son. He was bustled off, and one of the guards struck her on the neck with the butt end of his gun as he passed. The white-haired woman fell in the gutter. When she came to she seemed crazed.

“I saw a little girl struck down in the middle of a street with a revolver butt, because she plead with a gun man to release her aged father, a Finn, who couldn’t understand English.

“I rushed to pick up the baby girl, whose face was a stream of blood, but I was seized in the grip of a woman of the underworld.

“She drove her nails into my chest.”

Mrs. Griffin bared her shoulder to prove this statement.

Scarlet Vampires.

Scarlet vampires who roamed the streets by night, now come brazenly forth in sunlight to cheer the victors. They don’t care which side wins, but applaud every crime, according to the Bisbee refugee, and insult every respectable woman who falls into the clutch of the shooting men.

“I don’t know of a single woman being outraged in Bisbee,” said Mrs. Griffin, “but I do know of dozens of attempts. The only reason the demands of the ruffians were not enforced is, because the women rushed to their husbands and the girls to their fathers. I know of three men being killed. One was an imported shooter.”

Knocked Down.

“Mrs. Rosa McKay, who represents Cochise County in the Arizona legislature, tried to send a message to President Wilson for troops, and people who saw the incident told me she was knocked down, and her telegram torn up!

“The Arizona law prohibits any man being made a deputy sheriff unless he be a citizen of the state, and a resident of the county in which he is deputized.

Imported Thugs.

“I saw a man who arrived in Bisbee only three days before the strike wearing a badge. I knew he was from Butte, Montana, because my husband sold him an insurance policy, and had his record. It was reported that 12 detectives from Los Angeles also wore badges.

“The city jail was a shambles, according to some of the men who saw it. The miners were thrown in, bruised and bloody, packed like sardines.

Box Cars.

“Then the strikers were herded to the railroad station, and forced into box cars, 80 to a car. Some were imprisoned in cattle cars, which had been used for hauling steers the day before.

“The men were taken to the government camp at Columbus, New Mexico.

“Bisbee today houses 2,600 unprotected women and children, who are absolutely dependent upon their husbands and fathers for support. What will become of them, no one knows, but the citizens of that town are certainly in a position to appreciate with full force the feelings of Belgians in 1914.”

Governor Campbell Willing but Helpless.

Such are the actual conditions that prevailed in the city of Bisbee during the unprecedented atrocity of July the 12th in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and seventeen, and in the free and independent United States of America.

Realizing the condition in which the wives and children of the deported miners must have been left in, Wm. D. Haywood, general secretary of the I.W.W., wired the following to Governor Camp—

“July 25th.

“Families of deported miners are in dire distress. Will you provide for their subsistence until men return?

“WM. D. HAYWOOD.”

The reply to this wire came back promptly:

“July 25th.

“Your telegram reporting the distress of the families of the deported miners received. Have been continually advised by Citizens’ Protective League that families are being cared for properly. Am wiring and will advise fully when I learn.

“THOMAS E. CAMPBELL.”

In answer to this Haywood replied:

“July 26th.

“Destitute families of the miners who have made Arizona should not be left to the charity of Citizens’ Protective League. The honor of the state is involved in the protection of these women and children and the immediate return of their husbands and fathers.

“WM. D. HAYWOOD.”

President Wilson Indifferent.

At the time the first telegram was sent by Haywood to Governor Campbell, on July 25th, the following wire was sent to President Wilson:

“President Wilson, Washington, D.C.

“Families of men deported from Bisbee are in desperate straits. Men must be returned at once or provision made for women and children.

“WM. D. HAYWOOD.”

There was no reply to this telegram, His Excellency, the Presi dent, evidently being too busy at the time trying to “save the world for democracy.”

And all the while the wives and children of the deported miners are suffering want, privation and insult in the burg of Bisbee, the deported miners are sweltering in the foul detention camp on the desert near Columbus, N.M. The sun is beating down upon them with merciless intensity. They are herded like wild animals behind a wire inclosure and no one is permitted to go near them. Full well they know that their families afar off are suffering, and full well they realize their helplessness to go to their assistance.

What Is to Be Done?

In spite of the unparalleled injustice of which they are the victims, in spite of the fact that they are the victims of an atrocity that would disgrace the blackest autocracy the world has ever seen. still the governor of their native state is unable to force the perpetrators of the dastardly crime to permit an attorney to look after the welfare of their loved ones in Bisbee. And the President of the nation that brazenly stands before the world and calls itself “the land of the free,” even he has completely ignored both the crime of the deportation and the pitiable plight of the men who were torn from their families by a lawless mob of corporation gun thugs and dumped, on to the inhospitable deserts of New Mexico.

The Outraged Miners.

In the face of all this would it be surprising if the outraged miners should decide to take the law into their own hands, and if they meet opposition from the plug-uglies of the mining corporations put it down with a hand at least as ruthless as was used against them?

The most widely read of I.W.W. newspapers, Solidarity was published by the Industrial Workers of the World from 1909 until 1917. First produced in New Castle, Pennsylvania, and born during the McKees Rocks strike, Solidarity later moved to Cleveland, Ohio until 1917 then spent its last months in Chicago. With a circulation of around 12,000 and a readership many times that, Solidarity was instrumental in defining the Wobbly world-view at the height of their influence in the working class. It was edited over its life by A.M. Stirton, H.A. Goff, Ben H. Williams, Ralph Chaplin who also provided much of the paper’s color, and others. Like nearly all the left press it fell victim to federal repression in 1917.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/solidarity-iww/1917/v8-w395-aug-04-1917-solidarity-10pgs-f-Little-Lynched.pdf