X-Nico

6 unusual facts about Colorado Labor Wars


Colorado Labor Wars

Nonetheless, it is generally accepted that Harry Orchard, the WFM member who for one day acted as a bodyguard to WFM President Charles Moyer, and who would later assassinate former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg, may have been involved in the crime.

In 1875, some thirty years earlier, an agent for the Pinkerton detective agency infiltrated an organization of rebellious Pennsylvania coal miners called the Molly Maguires.

The coal miners were photographed like notorious criminals, by the Bertillon system.

After former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg was murdered and evidence pointed at Orchard, Pinkerton Detective James McParland obtained Orchard's confession by threatening him with immediate hanging, and said that he could avoid that fate only if he testified against leaders of the WFM.

After James McParland's testimony resulted in the execution of nineteen union men in the subsequent trials, he moved to Denver to run the regional Pinkerton office.

David Moffat

Mines belonging to David Moffat were involved in at least two significant strikes: the Cripple Creek strike of 1894, and the more widespread strikes of 1903.


1880 Michigan Wolverines football team

Chase later became a general and commander of the Colorado National Guard in two of the most significant confrontations between American military forces and organized labor – the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903–1904 and the Ludlow Massacre of April 1914.


see also