Steve Adams (Western Federation of Miners)
Encyclopedia
Steve Adams, sometimes known as Stephen Adams, played a minor, but particularly revealing, role in events surrounding the murder trial of Harry Orchard
, and the trials of Western Federation of Miners
(WFM) leaders Bill Haywood
, Charles Moyer
, and George Pettibone
, all charged with conspiring to murder former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg
, allegedly relating to a miner uprising in Coeur d'Alene
, and in the aftermath of the Colorado Labor Wars
. The investigations were led by famed Pinkerton
agent James McParland
. As a witness for the state who recanted, Adams is particularly notable for his comments about the methods used by agent McParland to turn defendants against each other.
. However, McParland knew that he needed more than the confession of one man to convict Bill Haywood, who was being tried first among the trio of WFM leaders. Steve Adams was "a thirty-nine-year-old former Kansas City butcher and Cripple Creek miner with heavy, drooping eyelids and a booze-blotched complexion." Harry Orchard had described Adams as an accomplice in several crimes. As in the cases of Haywood, Moyer, and Pettibone, McParland relied upon a perjured warrant to cross state lines and grab Adams. The prisoner wasn't charged with any crime, but was held at the penitentiary in Idaho with Orchard. This was not according to McParland's plans:
Together in the cell, Orchard described his own confession to Adams, and urged Adams to also confess. In spite of the missed instruction about isolation, McParland reportedly later obtained such a confession from Adams.
Although Steve Adams wasn't allowed to know anything about his wife and children, they weren't far away:
Adams' family was brought to the prison "as a means to 'sweat' him."
passed the word that he would defend Adams, and the prisoner immediately recanted. This provoked the prosecution to try Adams in an old murder case for which there was only flimsy evidence. In fact the only significant evidence against Adams was his now-repudiated confession which appeared to have been coerced, as Harry Orchard's confession was coerced. The difference appeared to be that there was clear evidence of Orchard's guilt in the Steunenberg murder, and perhaps in a string of crimes, but little or no evidence linking the others.
Adams had been dining well and provided with fine cigars since signing his confession, as had Harry Orchard. The note announcing that Adams recanted that confession was passed secretly from his jail cell via his wife, Annie, during a visit. The note "delivered a lightning bolt" to the prosecution. It declared,
McParland's own reports to Idaho Governor Gooding confirm Steve Adams' courtroom statements.
Adams described how information from the question and answer session with McParland, with the Pinkerton detective guiding him from "notes in his pocket," had been typed and returned to him in the form of a narrative document which he was required to sign. The narrative was written in a form that was not consistent with Adams' manner of speech. The document ended with, "I hope that the reign of terror inaugurated by Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone...will cease."
Adams also claimed that Orchard had colluded with McParland to rewrite his own confession because "he could not repeat it the second time anything at all like the first one."
It was L.J. "Jack" Simpkins, also known as J. Simmons, who accompanied Harry Orchard to Caldwell
, but left before former governor Stuenenberg was assassinated. Simpkins was the WFM executive board member with responsibility for Idaho. The Pinkerton Agency produced a poster offering a two thousand dollar reward for his arrest, but "some skeptics believed that he was actually a Pinkerton agent provocateur
." The allegations appear to have been unfounded.
Haywood and Pettibone were found not guilty of the Steunenberg assassination in separate trials. Moyer was released.
Harry Orchard was found guilty of the murder of Frank Steunenberg and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted. Orchard would spend the rest of his life in prison.
In the Colorado trial of Steve Adams, attorney Orrin N. Hilton
challenged the legality of Adams' confession. McParland testified, and so did the Pinkerton stenographer who took down the confession. The stenographer admitted that McParland directed him what to take down, and what to leave out. The stenographer also confirmed that the confession was not written in language attributable to the defendant, and that sometimes "the substance of the conversation" was added in at a later time. The judge considered the issue overnight. In court the next day, he cited McParland's own testimony about the threat of hanging, and the promise of reward — freedom in return for a confession — which McParland routinely used in obtaining confessions. The judge ruled that the confession was gained illicitly, and the confession itself was barred. The judge ruled, however, that witnesses could attest to what Steve Adams had admitted in their presence. The information provided by the witnesses was contradictory, incomplete, and in some cases appeared to come from newspaper accounts.
In fact, Steve Adams had been accused of involvement in two murders in Colorado, one of which never happened.
In her research for the book The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor 1899-1908, MaryJoy Martin uncovered an elaborate scheme by mine owners and their supporters to blame the Telluride, Colorado
, local of the Western Federation of Miners
with a string of murders for which there was no evidence. Newspapers printed articles about how the murders allegedly occurred, and named union officials who had committed the crimes. The mine owners, the local sheriff, and James McParland of the Pinkerton Agency used the accusations of murder to publicize an alleged "reign of terror" as a means of destroying the union. One allegedly deceased victim, William J. Barney
, was a mine guard who simply had disappeared from his job. In spite of elaborate and detailed chronologies of the murder that were printed in the local newspapers, Barney was still alive. However, this fact wasn't known to the jury sitting in judgment of Steve Adams.
Even so, it wasn't long before the jury decided that testimony by Bulkeley Wells
, manager of the Smuggler-Union Mining Company, who had sought the conviction and execution of Western Federation of Miners leaders for years, was not credible. Wells had constructed a scenario under which Steve Adams committed the murder with a shotgun. The jury, mostly area farmers, were intimately familiar with shotguns. The murder scenario, in their judgment, was impossible.
The jury deliberated for an hour before taking a straw poll. They were unanimous; the defendant was not guilty. After three years in prison, Steve Adams was set free.
Albert Horsley
Albert Edward Horsley , best known by the pseudonym Harry Orchard, was a miner convicted of the 1905 political assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg...
, and the trials of Western Federation of Miners
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
(WFM) leaders Bill Haywood
Bill Haywood
William Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...
, Charles Moyer
Charles Moyer
Charles Moyer was an American labor leader and president of the Western Federation of Miners from 1902 to 1926. He led the union through the Colorado Labor Wars, was kidnapped and accused of murdering an ex-governor of the state of Idaho, and shot in the back during a bitter copper mine strike...
, and George Pettibone
George Pettibone
George Pettibone was an Idaho miner. He was convicted of contempt of court and criminal conspiracy in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899....
, all charged with conspiring to murder former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg
Frank Steunenberg
Frank Steunenberg was the fourth Governor of the State of Idaho, serving from 1897 until 1901. He is perhaps best known for his 1905 assassination by one-time union member Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association...
, allegedly relating to a miner uprising in Coeur d'Alene
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899
There were two related incidents between miners and mine owners in Coeur d'Alene: the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892, and the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899....
, and in the aftermath of the Colorado Labor Wars
Colorado Labor Wars
Colorado's most significant battles between labor and capital occurred primarily between miners and mine operators. In these battles the state government, with one clear exception, always took the side of the mine operators....
. The investigations were led by famed Pinkerton
Pinkerton National Detective Agency
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency, usually shortened to the Pinkertons, is a private U.S. security guard and detective agency established by Allan Pinkerton in 1850. Pinkerton became famous when he claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln, who later hired...
agent James McParland
James McParland
James McParland,There are various spellings of James McParland's name. His stenographer, Morris Friedman, wrote a book about him — as "McParland." The Pinkerton Labor Spy, New York, Wilshire Book Co., 1907). also known as James McParlan,The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor...
. As a witness for the state who recanted, Adams is particularly notable for his comments about the methods used by agent McParland to turn defendants against each other.
The Haywood trial
McParland had WFM member Harry Orchard in custody, and had obtained an elaborate confessionJames McParland
James McParland,There are various spellings of James McParland's name. His stenographer, Morris Friedman, wrote a book about him — as "McParland." The Pinkerton Labor Spy, New York, Wilshire Book Co., 1907). also known as James McParlan,The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor...
. However, McParland knew that he needed more than the confession of one man to convict Bill Haywood, who was being tried first among the trio of WFM leaders. Steve Adams was "a thirty-nine-year-old former Kansas City butcher and Cripple Creek miner with heavy, drooping eyelids and a booze-blotched complexion." Harry Orchard had described Adams as an accomplice in several crimes. As in the cases of Haywood, Moyer, and Pettibone, McParland relied upon a perjured warrant to cross state lines and grab Adams. The prisoner wasn't charged with any crime, but was held at the penitentiary in Idaho with Orchard. This was not according to McParland's plans:
If arrested, Adams was supposed to be kept in a separate cell away from Orchard as McParland explicitly spelled out to the warden. To prime a man for confessing, McParland required solitary confinement, a penetrating silence, the watchful presence of a stony guard, and as few contacts as possible. Adams was to be denied access to an attorney, knowledge of his wife and children, and no information on the charges against him.
Together in the cell, Orchard described his own confession to Adams, and urged Adams to also confess. In spite of the missed instruction about isolation, McParland reportedly later obtained such a confession from Adams.
Although Steve Adams wasn't allowed to know anything about his wife and children, they weren't far away:
His wife, Annie, and their small children had also been locked in the penitentiary shortly after his arrest for "their own protection," McParland had assured him, hinting that something dreadful might befall them.
Adams' family was brought to the prison "as a means to 'sweat' him."
Clarence Darrow intervenes
However, Haywood defense attorney Clarence DarrowClarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
passed the word that he would defend Adams, and the prisoner immediately recanted. This provoked the prosecution to try Adams in an old murder case for which there was only flimsy evidence. In fact the only significant evidence against Adams was his now-repudiated confession which appeared to have been coerced, as Harry Orchard's confession was coerced. The difference appeared to be that there was clear evidence of Orchard's guilt in the Steunenberg murder, and perhaps in a string of crimes, but little or no evidence linking the others.
Adams had been dining well and provided with fine cigars since signing his confession, as had Harry Orchard. The note announcing that Adams recanted that confession was passed secretly from his jail cell via his wife, Annie, during a visit. The note "delivered a lightning bolt" to the prosecution. It declared,
This is to certify that the statement that I signed was made up by James McParland, detective, and Harry Orchard, alias Tom Hogan. I signed it because I was threatened by Governor GoodingFrank R. GoodingFrank Robert Gooding was a Republican United States Senator and the seventh Governor of Idaho. The city of Gooding and Gooding County, both in southern Idaho, are named for him....
, saying I would be hanged if I did not corroborate Orchard's story against the officers of the federation union of miners. Stephen Adams. Witness: Annie Adams.
Steve Adams testifies
Adams took the witness stand in his own murder trial and testified, in part,
I was taken to the office of the penitentiary and introduced to detective McParland. He told me about "Kelly the Bum" [from McParland's Molly MaguiresMolly MaguiresThe Molly Maguires were members of an Irish-American secret society, whose members consisted mainly of coal miners. Many historians believe the "Mollies" were present in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania in the United States from approximately the time of the American Civil War until a...
case] and other men who had turned state's evidence and had been set free. ... McParland told me he wanted to convict [WFM leaders] Moyer, Haywood, Pettibone, St. JohnVincent Saint JohnVincent Saint John was an American labor leader and a prominent Wobbly.-Biography:He was born in Newport, Kentucky and was the only son of New York native Silas St. John and Irish immigrant Marian "Mary" Cecilia Magee...
, and Simpkins, whom he called 'cut-throats.' If I did not help to convict them, he said, I would be taken back to Colorado and either hanged or mobbed. If I did help, I would only be taken to Colorado as a witness. ... When the confession was made, McParland led me on a step-by-step and showed me all they wanted me to say. ... He wanted the names of the officers of the Federation used as much as possible all through the confession.
McParland's own reports to Idaho Governor Gooding confirm Steve Adams' courtroom statements.
Adams described how information from the question and answer session with McParland, with the Pinkerton detective guiding him from "notes in his pocket," had been typed and returned to him in the form of a narrative document which he was required to sign. The narrative was written in a form that was not consistent with Adams' manner of speech. The document ended with, "I hope that the reign of terror inaugurated by Moyer, Haywood and Pettibone...will cease."
Adams also claimed that Orchard had colluded with McParland to rewrite his own confession because "he could not repeat it the second time anything at all like the first one."
It was L.J. "Jack" Simpkins, also known as J. Simmons, who accompanied Harry Orchard to Caldwell
Caldwell, Idaho
Caldwell is a city in and the county seat of Canyon County, Idaho, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population to be 43,281, as of July 2009.Caldwell is the home of the College of Idaho. It is considered part of the Boise metropolitan area....
, but left before former governor Stuenenberg was assassinated. Simpkins was the WFM executive board member with responsibility for Idaho. The Pinkerton Agency produced a poster offering a two thousand dollar reward for his arrest, but "some skeptics believed that he was actually a Pinkerton agent provocateur
Agent provocateur
Traditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
." The allegations appear to have been unfounded.
Other McParland schemes involving Steve Adams
At one point in the trial of Bill Haywood, McParland concocted a scheme that would seek to frighten Moyer into testifying against Haywood and Pettibone by alleging that Pettibone had urged Orchard and Adams to kill Moyer. The plan was not carried out because McParland came up with an alternative scheme. But the alternative scheme failed when Moyer refused to accept the bait.Results of the trials
Adams was not found guilty of the murder. He was tried three times altogether, and both trials in Idaho ended in hung juries. Yet he would still face a trial for his life in Colorado.Haywood and Pettibone were found not guilty of the Steunenberg assassination in separate trials. Moyer was released.
Harry Orchard was found guilty of the murder of Frank Steunenberg and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted. Orchard would spend the rest of his life in prison.
In the Colorado trial of Steve Adams, attorney Orrin N. Hilton
Orrin N. Hilton
Orrin N. Hilton was a Denver judge and attorney who participated for the defense in several famous court cases. Judge Hilton successfully defended George Pettibone of the Western Federation of Miners when Pinkerton detective James McParland accused him of conspiracy to murder former Idaho governor...
challenged the legality of Adams' confession. McParland testified, and so did the Pinkerton stenographer who took down the confession. The stenographer admitted that McParland directed him what to take down, and what to leave out. The stenographer also confirmed that the confession was not written in language attributable to the defendant, and that sometimes "the substance of the conversation" was added in at a later time. The judge considered the issue overnight. In court the next day, he cited McParland's own testimony about the threat of hanging, and the promise of reward — freedom in return for a confession — which McParland routinely used in obtaining confessions. The judge ruled that the confession was gained illicitly, and the confession itself was barred. The judge ruled, however, that witnesses could attest to what Steve Adams had admitted in their presence. The information provided by the witnesses was contradictory, incomplete, and in some cases appeared to come from newspaper accounts.
In fact, Steve Adams had been accused of involvement in two murders in Colorado, one of which never happened.
In her research for the book The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor 1899-1908, MaryJoy Martin uncovered an elaborate scheme by mine owners and their supporters to blame the Telluride, Colorado
Telluride, Colorado
The town of Telluride is the county seat and most populous town of San Miguel County in the southwestern portion of the U.S. state of Colorado. The town is a former silver mining camp on the San Miguel River in the western San Juan Mountains...
, local of the Western Federation of Miners
Western Federation of Miners
The Western Federation of Miners was a radical labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into sharp conflicts – and often pitched battles...
with a string of murders for which there was no evidence. Newspapers printed articles about how the murders allegedly occurred, and named union officials who had committed the crimes. The mine owners, the local sheriff, and James McParland of the Pinkerton Agency used the accusations of murder to publicize an alleged "reign of terror" as a means of destroying the union. One allegedly deceased victim, William J. Barney
William J. Barney
William Julius Barney was born to William Miles Barney and Millison J. "Melissa" Rannells, on August 14, 1867. William J. may have led a normal life, conducting normal business and living as a member of a normal family, but for one act: he quit a job as a Telluride, Colorado mine guard during a...
, was a mine guard who simply had disappeared from his job. In spite of elaborate and detailed chronologies of the murder that were printed in the local newspapers, Barney was still alive. However, this fact wasn't known to the jury sitting in judgment of Steve Adams.
Even so, it wasn't long before the jury decided that testimony by Bulkeley Wells
Bulkeley Wells
Bulkeley Wells was born in Chicago on March 10, 1872, to businessman Samuel Edgar Wells and Marry Agnes Bulkeley. He was educated at Roxbury Latin School and at Harvard University. He married into the wealthy family of Colonel Thomas L. Livermore, to daughter Grace Livermore...
, manager of the Smuggler-Union Mining Company, who had sought the conviction and execution of Western Federation of Miners leaders for years, was not credible. Wells had constructed a scenario under which Steve Adams committed the murder with a shotgun. The jury, mostly area farmers, were intimately familiar with shotguns. The murder scenario, in their judgment, was impossible.
The jury deliberated for an hour before taking a straw poll. They were unanimous; the defendant was not guilty. After three years in prison, Steve Adams was set free.
See also
- Harry OrchardAlbert HorsleyAlbert Edward Horsley , best known by the pseudonym Harry Orchard, was a miner convicted of the 1905 political assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg...
, convicted murderer - Frank SteunenbergFrank SteunenbergFrank Steunenberg was the fourth Governor of the State of Idaho, serving from 1897 until 1901. He is perhaps best known for his 1905 assassination by one-time union member Harry Orchard, who was also a paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners' Association...
, murdered ex-governor of Idaho - James McParlandJames McParlandJames McParland,There are various spellings of James McParland's name. His stenographer, Morris Friedman, wrote a book about him — as "McParland." The Pinkerton Labor Spy, New York, Wilshire Book Co., 1907). also known as James McParlan,The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor...
, Pinkerton Detective responsible for investigation - Bill HaywoodBill HaywoodWilliam Dudley Haywood , better known as "Big Bill" Haywood, was a founding member and leader of the Industrial Workers of the World , and a member of the Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of America...
, union leader accused of conspiracy - Frank R. GoodingFrank R. GoodingFrank Robert Gooding was a Republican United States Senator and the seventh Governor of Idaho. The city of Gooding and Gooding County, both in southern Idaho, are named for him....
, Idaho Governor during murder and trials - Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899There were two related incidents between miners and mine owners in Coeur d'Alene: the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor strike of 1892, and the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho labor confrontation of 1899....
, alleged reason for the murder - William J. BarneyWilliam J. BarneyWilliam Julius Barney was born to William Miles Barney and Millison J. "Melissa" Rannells, on August 14, 1867. William J. may have led a normal life, conducting normal business and living as a member of a normal family, but for one act: he quit a job as a Telluride, Colorado mine guard during a...
, alleged murder victim