Editing Wallace, Idaho (section)

===Labor strife, 1892 and 1899===
In 1892, mine owners in the Coeur d'Alenes found the usual investor pressure for profits exacerbated by increased railroad freight rates. Their subsequent measures to cut costs sparked a strike by the mine workers, so the operators brought in replacements. The pressure finally sparked the [[Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892]], which ended in a union victory. The immediate costs were three men dead on each side and the total destruction of the Frisco ore mill, about four miles northeast of Wallace.

Unfortunately, the violence did not end there. An armed mob attacked the replacement workers as they waited for river transport out to Coeur d'Alene City.<ref name=North-ID/> No evidence was found that the union leadership sanctioned this brutality, but reports to Idaho Governor [[N. B. Willey|Willey]] said that a dozen bullet-riddled bodies had been found.<ref>"Wholesale Massacre of Defenseless." (July 14, 1892). Boise: ''Idaho Statesman''.</ref> Martial law was declared and lasted about four months, but none of the charges brought by authorities were upheld.

A similar, although not nearly so deadly, confrontation occurred in April 1899. It again began among the miners working northeast of Wallace. However, the union's target was the Bunker Hill & Sullivan Mining Company, which adamantly refused to recognize or deal with the miners' union. A huge force took over and blew up the company's mill at Wardner. During the [[Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899]] attackers murdered a non-union miner and killed one of their own by "friendly fire."

Alarmed by the size of attacking force – perhaps as many as a thousand men – Governor [[Frank Steunenberg]] imposed martial law. About a thousand men were rounded up and held in a crude prison, dubbed "the bullpen." But in the end, only one union man was convicted of a crime, and he was pardoned and released two years later.<ref name=North-ID/> But, again, there was a tragic aftermath. In 1905, union assassin [[Harry Orchard]] murdered ex-Governor Steunenberg.
<ref>[[J. Anthony Lukas|Lukas, J. Anthony]]. (1997). ''[[Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America]].'' New York: [[Simon & Schuster, Inc.]]</ref>