LABOR STRIFE AFFECTS BELLEVUE AND THE INTERNATIONAL HOTEL

            The International Hotel was the center of the kind of labor violence that was seen throughout Idaho and the entire west in mining communities in the late 1800s.  The miners’ strikes of 1884 and 1885 involved the entire Wood River Valley and its residents, and are described in detail by McCloud in his History of Alturas and Blaine Counties, Idaho.

            Mine owners were facing economic problems due to a drop in the price of silver, and they tried to cut worker’s pay in response.  Management issues were also causing problems. The English group (Dent, Palmer and Co.) operated the Minnie Moore mine from 1884 to 1886.  The regime of Cecil Palmer, the general manager, “was marked by the most wasteful management.”  By 1885, the Minnie Moore was in desperate financial straits, had debts of a quarter of a million dollars, and its works were in the hands of the first mortgagee.  Superintendent Palmer left for England in late 1885, and was arrested for debt but later permitted to go home to arrange for financing.

            The Wood River Times sounded an early alarm about potential problems over pay, as hundreds of railroad construction workers were discharged in 1884 when the Oregon Short Line’s Wood River Branch was completed. Several key incidents happened at McFall’s International Hotel, which was a major part of life in Bellevue in the 1880s and was in the middle of the labor/management conflicts. 

            On July 20, 1884, a ten day miner’s strike was successful in preserving wages at $4.00 a day, as the mine owners sought to reduce the daily wage to $3.50 because of a decline in the price of silver.  The miners initially won the conflict and the higher wage was maintained, but the Queen of the Hills mine shut down.  In early 1885, the owners of the Minnie Moore and Queen of the Hills mines again sought a reduction in worker’s pay to $3.50, causing another strike which began on February 4, 1885.  There were many confrontations which went on for  weeks.  Governmental authorities, including the sheriff and representatives of the federal government, supported the mine owners.  They escorted strike breakers to work in the mines and filed charges of inciting a riot against a number of the miners.   The United States filed a complaint on February 25, 1885 against 12 named members of the Broadford Mining Union, alleging that they conspired with force and arms, feloniously and injuriously to trade, to prevent all persons from laboring for wages at the Queen of the Hills and Minnie Moore mines, in an attempt the preserve the $4 a day wage.  The complaint sought arrest warrants against the 12 named union officials.

            The Wood River Times of March 4, 1885, reported that men on their way to work at the Queen and the Minnie Moore were stopped by an angry crowd at Broadford, who declared that no work would be done until the mine owners guaranteed $4 a day.  Superintendent Palmer sought an arrest warrant for the disturbers of the peace on a conspiracy charge.  John Galbraith and others got through the crowd to go work, and the strikers said they would “be forcibly removed from the mines by the Miner’s Union.  If this is attempted, there undoubtedly be bloodshed, because Galbraith is as determined a man as there is in the world.”  It was reported that Galbraith was “beaten half to death on coming out for dinner.”  Galbraith lived at the International Hotel, in Bellevue, so the reporter rang the hotel and asked about Galbraith.  “He was just here, washing his head, replied the voice.  Then he was not half killed? No, has a few cuts above the head, neck and face...He had a regular rough and tumble with the crowd.”  Acting District Attorney James Hawley filled out 20 warrants to be served by Sheriff Furey.  Hawley and Furey planned to attend a Union meeting later in an attempt at conciliation.

            Work on a new mine shaft at the Queen of the Hills mine was set to start on March 17, 1885, which caused another major incident.  On March 18, 1885, the Wood River Times reported that Army troops escorted the workers to the Queen.  The Miners’ Union invited its members to a meeting in Broadford, and some 250 striking miners assembled from all over the Valley.  The president of the Union made a speech saying that if they did not get $4 per day, “blood would run in the streets of Broadford and Bellevue,” and he called on the union men to capture the mine.  Fifty armed union men assembled at the mines. All day long there were confrontations, and deputies armed with rifles guarded the mine, facing armed miners.  The Sheriff managed to defuse the situation for a while.   District Attorney Hawley and Sheriff Furey urged restraint, but trouble was brewing.

It being about time for the night shift to go on, a crowd collected in front of McFall’s Hotel to escort them out of town, the positive understanding being that not a hand should be laid on, or a threat uttered to one of them.  Unfortunately, Jack Haines, an old Bullion miner, who had persistently refused to join the Union, came out.  He was at once collared by two or there men, and kicked and beaten.  As soon as he could he ran into the [International] hotel, a dozen infuriated men followed.  Sheriff Furey interfered, but was brushed aside.  President McDevitt [of the miner’s union] rushed into the [International] hotel, to stop the row; and the men thereupon quit.  Jack Galbraith, a Queen contractor, stood in the door of an inner room with a brace of pistols, and supported by a partner with a Winchester.  They were not molested. (Emphasis added).

            The rest of the night shift had already left town, deciding not to work, so the miners left the hotel without further violence.  The International Hotel escaped from what could have been a major fight inside its lobby. 

            The next day, Acting Governor Curtis and General Brisbin of the U.S. Army arrived in Bellevue, and threatened to bring in federal troops from Boise.  General Brisbin said that he and the Governor “have come over to settle this thing, and we will not leave until it is definitely settled.”   He promised to “protect men who wish to work at any wages that they see fit, or if the process of the local courts is resisted.”  The local paper predicted that the Queen and the Minnie Moore would likely resume work the next day “with only half the force as some of the men employed were so badly scared yesterday that they will not return at any price.”  However, at 3:00 that afternoon, deputies accompanied some miners to Broadford to work, but they were stopped by a group of Union men who allowed the deputies to go on but ordered the men back.   

            The mine owners ultimately won.  In late March 1885, the superintendents of the Minnie Moore and the Queen of the Hills said the “mines were full-handed with miners working at $3.50 a day.

            A group of 21 miners were later charged with the crime of riot, and were prosecuted by Acting District Attorney (and later Governor) Hawley for their involvement in the March 17 incident.  At a hearing held in late March, 1884, witnessed described what they saw at McFall’s International Hotel on March 17.  Sheriff Furey said he saw

a man named Johnson pulled out of the [International] hotel.  I came to the conclusion, from their actions, that they were going to put him in front of them, to go up to the mine...When I got to the head of the crowd that was moving toward the works, I succeeded in stopping some of the front men, and the whole crowd stopped. (Emphasis added.)

Other witnesses testified that Matt McFall was almost taken hostage by the miners.  John Galbraith, a Queen contractor, said “I was standing on McFall’s stoop, and heard McDevitt say they wanted $4.00 a day, that they would go to the mine, and if any of their men were hurt that the streets of Bellevue would flow with blood.”  After Sheriff Furey ran into the crowd of miners, and got shoved back, “a group of about fifty of the crowd made a break for McFall’s house, to take McFall and Galbraith out.”  McFall had been with Galbraith on the porch of his hotel before going back inside. Galbraith armed himself with two pistols after Aleck McPhail came to the International Hotel “and told me that if I went outside they would kill me.”  Charles Foley told Galbraith that “if you come one step, I’ll kill you.”  Galbraith saw O’Neal standing in the hotel’s door armed with a rifle.

            A second incident occurred the following month, showing that the ill will over the strike continued to fester. Wood River Times, April 15, 1885 reported the incident, in an article called Shot through the Heart, William Thompkins Killed at McFall’s Hotel in Bellevue Last Night.   A miner working at the Queen of the Hills,  William Wardrop, who was carrying a gun because of the labor strife, shot and killed William Thompkins, the night clerk at “McFall’s Hotel” on April 14, 1885.  Wardrop had visited several saloons before going to the hotel.

            While there the strike was mentioned and Wardrop said he had no fear of any of them (the Miners’ Union men), and began telling what he would do if attacked.  In so doing, he pulled his revolver out of the front of his belt, and it was discharged accidently, with the fatal result above stated....He is of Mormon parentage, but known as a peaceable, law abiding man who never carried a gun until he went to work in the Queen, a few weeks ago...,Wardrop proclaimed his innocence of intentional wrong and continued his lamentations all night.

            The Wood River Valley’s labor strife was not nearly as serious as was later seen in other parts of Idaho.  There were major strikes in the silver mines in Coeur d’Alene Idaho in 1892 and again in 1898 -1899, which involved violent confrontations between labor and management.  As was true all over the country, the government and the police took the side of the mine owners against the unions and miners.