USA > Idaho > History of Idaho, the gem of the mountains, Volume I > Part 28
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The acts of 1893 and 1899, providing for the establishment of a State Re- form School at Mountain Home had never become effective, and the Legislature of 1903 passed an act to establish the "Idaho Industrial Reform School" in Fremont County. The school was afterward located at St. Anthony.
One commission for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, to be held at St. Louis, Mo., in the summer of 1904, and the Lewis and Clark Exposition, at Portland, Ore., in 1905, was created, and an appropriation of $35,000 was made for the purpose of collecting materials for an exhibit of Idaho products at the two great fairs. Of this sum $15,000 was made available in the year 1903 for the St. Louis Exposition; $10,000 in 1904 for the same and re- moving the exhibit to Portland; and $10,000 in 1905 for maintaining the col- lection at Portland. An appropriation of $156 was made to pay Relf Bledsoe for curios loaned by him to the state and lost at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, N. Y., in 1901.
The seventh Legislature ordered the erection of a Supreme Court building at Lewiston and authorized a bond issue of $15,000 to pay for the same. Bonds
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to the amount of $30,000 were ordered for additional buildings for the Academy of Idaho at Pocatello; $12,000 for the improvement of the State Normal School at Albion ; $20,000 for improvements and providing a water supply for the penitentitary at Boise; and an appropriation of $2,500 was made to erect a monument to Gen. Edward McConville, who was killed while serving in the Philippine Islands in the Spanish-American war.
Three constitutional amendments were ordered to be submitted to the voters of the state at the general election in 1904, and also the question: "Shall there be a constitutional convention called by the eighth Legislature ?"
Seven memorials to Congress were adopted during the session, viz: I. Pro- testing against the enlargement of the Bitter Root forest reserve. 2. For the improvement of the Pend d'Oreille River between Albany Falls and the Priest River. 3. For the enactment of a law for the better control of trusts. 4. For the election of United States senators by a direct vote of the people. 5. For the adjustment of the boundary line between Idaho and Montana. 6. Protesting against the establishment of the Sawtooth forest reserve. 7. Asking for an appropriation of $50,000 for sinking artesian wells in the arid lands of Blaine County. The last memorial was accompanied by a petition signed by a large number of the residents and land owners of the Camas Prairie, who were de- sirous of obtaining water for irrigating purposes. The Legislature adjourned sine die on March 7, 1903.
ELECTION OF 1904
In the national campaign of 1904 the republican candidates for President and Vice President were Theodore Roosevelt, of New York, and Charles W. Fairbanks, of Indiana. The democratic national convention nominated Alton B. Parker, of New York, for President, and Henry G. Davis, of West Virginia, for Vice President. The candidates of the people's party were Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia, and Thomas H. Tibbles, of Nebraska, for President and Vice President, respectively. Silas C. Swallow, of Pennsylvania, was nominated by the prohibitionists for President, and George W. Carroll, of Texas, for Vice President. The socialist candidates for President and Vice President were Eu- gene V. Debs, of Indiana, and Benjamin Hanford, of New York.
The republicans of Idaho nominated for presidential electors Frank J. Hagen- barth, Henry W. Keifer and Erastus W. Oliver. Frank R. Gooding was nomi- nated for governor ; Burpee L. Steeves, lieutenant-governor ; Wilmot H. Gibson, secretary of state; Robert S. Bragaw, state auditor; Henry N. Coffin, state treasurer ; John J. Guheen, attorney-general; May L. Scott, superintendent of public instruction ; Robert N. Bell, inspector of mines; Burton L. French, rep- resentative in Congress; Isaac N. Sullivan, justice of the Supreme Court.
Henry Heitfeld, formerly United States senator, was nominated by the dem- ocratic state convention for governor; Frank Harris, lieutenant-governor ; Jesse J. Walling, secretary of state; Ashley Turner, state auditor; Timothy Regan. state treasurer; Alfred A. Fraser, attorney-general; Permeal French, superin- tendent of public instruction; Max J. Lincke, inspector of mines; Benjamin F. Clay, representative in Congress; Nathan H. Clark, justice of the Supreme Court. The democratic candidates for presidential electors were Aaron F. Parker, John G. Brown and William W. Woods.
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Only a partial ticket was nominated by the people's party. Frank Forbes, R. D. Jones and John C. Rummel were named for presidential electors; T. W. Bartley, for governor; A. E. Wright, for secretary of state; Levi J. Hammond, for state auditor; Horace E. Ostrander, for state treasurer; Edward Buchanan, for inspector of mines; and D. L. Badley, for representative in Congress.
The candidates for presidential electors on the prohibition ticket were Rebecca Mitchell, George E. Serber and Thomas G. Hodgson. No nominations were made by this party for the offices of attorney-general, superintendent of public instruction and justice of the Supreme Court. Edward R. Headley was nomi- nated for governor ; James H. Egbert, lieutenant-governor; William E. Talbott, secretary of state; Henry A. Crowell, state auditor; Robert Galbraith, state treasurer; George Klock, inspector of mines; Allen H. Wright, representative in Congress.
The socialist state convention nominated for presidential electors Joshua Reesor, John Senter and Arthur L. Freeman; Theo. B. Shaw, governor ; James Smith, lieutenant-governor; Edward L. Rigg, secretary of state; Thomas J. Coonrod, state auditor ; Herman R. Clark, state treasurer; Louis E. Workman, attorney-general; George W. Triplow, superintendent of public instruction ; John Benbow, inspector of mines; John C. Elder, justice of the Supreme Court; John H. Morrison, representative in Congress.
A great deal of ill feeling was developed in each of the two great political parties of the state growing out of the nominations for state officers. A better feeling existed in the republican party owing to the forced retirement of Gov- ernor Morrison and the selection in his place of Frank R. Gooding, who had acted for several years prior as the chairman of the republican state committee. The feeling was of such intensity that it probably would have resulted in the democrats being restored to political power in the state, had it not been for a contest of still greater intensity that developed in that party. Hon. Fred T. Dubois, who had been the prime mover in the anti-Mormon cursade in terri- torial days, had been re-elected to the United States Senate in 1900, and was still occupying that official position. For ten years there had been no political troubles growing out of the anti-Mormon feeling and it was generally supposed that issue had been relegated to the rear and would never again appear in Idaho ' politics. It became evident, however, before the meeting of the democratic nominating committee at Lewiston that Senator Dubois was attempting to re- vive the Mormon issue. His great influence in the party enabled him to ac- complish his purpose and although bitterly opposed by a majority of the leaders of that party, he induced the convention to formulate a platform which in effect revived the issue and was considered by the Mormon people a direct attack upon them.
Those who followed the leadership of Senator Dubois claimed that the lead- ing authorities of the Mormon Church, in spite of the declaration of President Woodruff in regard to plural marriages, were encouraging the practice and desired the renewal of the practice of polygamy in sections that they dominated. Such statements were strenuously denied by the church leaders and subsequent events proved them to be absolutely unfounded, but the ensuing campaign was fought to a great extent upon the anti-Mormon issue.
The Dubois forces obtained complete control of the party organization and
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insisted upon making this issue a paramount one in the campaign. As a con- sequence, many of the democratic leaders in different sections of the state repudiated the platform of their party in this respect and while supporting the nominees of the party for the various state offices, denounced the platform and those responsible for it. The mass of the Mormon citizens of the state lived in the southeastern counties and in many of these counties constituted a. ma- jority of the people there residing. Believing that their rights were being in- fringed upon and that the success of the party under the control of Senator Dubois and his followers would again mean their disenfranchisement, the mem- bers of the Mormon Church almost solidly voted against the democratic state ticket.
While there were many members of the republican party throughout the state that sympathized with Senator Dubois and his ideas, the votes derived from that source were far less than those cast by members of the Mormon Church formerly democrats, and by their sympathizers. In addition to this, it seemingly was a republican year all over the country.
Colonel Roosevelt, the republican nominee for President, was very popular throughout the West, and especially in Idaho, and when the votes of the elec- tion held on November 8, 1904, were counted, it was found that the presidential electors on the republican ticket had averaged 47,783 votes, and the democratic electors 18,480, the people's party candidates receiving 352, the socialists 4,949 and the prohibitionists 1,013. For governor, Gooding received 41,878 votes, Heitfeldt 24,252, Hartley 179, Headley 990, and Shaw 4,000. A very light vote was polled on the constitutional amendments and they, together with the proposi- tion to hold a constitutional convention, were defeated by the people.
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CHAPTER XV FROM GOODING TO BRADY
GOODING'S ADMINISTRATION-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE-TRIAL OF STEUNENBERG'S AS- SASSINS-ORCHARD'S SENTENCE-POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1906 -- GOODING RE-ELECTED-NINTH LEGISLATURE-STATE FLAG ADOPTED-HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE STATE OF IDAHO-RESOLUTIONS-FISH HATCHERIES-CAMPAIGN OF 1908-BRADY'S ADMINISTRATION-TENTH LEGISLATURE-DIRECT PRIMARY LAW -PUBLIC PARKS-ELECTION OF 1910.
Frank R. Gooding, seventh governor of the State of Idaho, is a native of England. In 1867 he came to the United States with his parents, who settled in Michigan, where the future governor received his education in the public schools. When about fifteen years of age he went to California, and soon after reaching his majority he came to Idaho. For several years after coming to the state he was a contractor for mining companies. He then engaged in farming and stock raising, becoming in the course of a few years one of the largest sheep men in the state. Mr. Gooding's first political office was that of state senator. For four years he was chairman of the republican state central com- mittee and in 1904 was elected governor. In 1906 he was reëlected, being the third man to hold the office for two successive terms. In 1918 he was nominated by the republicans at the primary election to fill the unexpired term in the United States Senate caused by the death of Senator James H. Brady, but was defeated by Hon. John F. Nugent.
EIGHTH LEGISLATURE
On Monday, January 2, 1905, the eighth session of the State Legislature was convened at Boise. Lieutenant-Governor Burpee L. Steeves presided over the Senate, and James F. Hunt, of Bannock County, who had served as speaker of the House in the preceding session, was again elected to that office.
Governor Gooding's administration began with the opening of this legisla- tive session. "There is a demand," said he in his message, "for a statute con- trolling state banks and for a state bank examiner," and suggested that the duties of bank examiner might be performed by the insurance commissioner. He recommended a law which would provide for the purchase of supplies for
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all state institutions and departments by contract, the establishment of juvenile courts, and the enactment of a law making polygamy a crime.
An additional appropriation of $25,000 was made for maintaining Idaho's exhibit at the Lewis and Clark Exposition at Portland in the summer of 1905. making the total appropriation for this purpose $35,000. The eighth Legisla- ture was very liberal in its treatment of the state institutions. Bond issues for the benefit of these institutions were authorized as follows:
Academy of Idaho. $ 45,500
Albion State Normal School
30,000
University of Idaho.
52,000
North Idaho Insane Asylum.
30,000
Lewiston State Normal School
30,000
Roads and trails. 50,000
State improvement bonds.
21,000
Soldiers' Home
14,000
For a land survey
30,000
Total
$302,500
The bonds designated as state improvement bonds were for establishing a library for the State University, to complete the gymnasium and improve the campus at that institution, for a library for the Lewiston State Normal and the Lewiston Law Library. The $50,000 for roads and trails were for the con- struction of highways in the intermountain region of the state. An appropria- tion of $300 was made to repair the George Washington statute presented to Idaho by Charles Ostner, and to place thereon an inscription showing the date when it was presented and the name of the donor.
All previous acts relating to the care of the deaf, dumb and blind were re- pealed and the state charitable institutions fund was created. The act provided that all moneys credited to the fund for the years 1905 and 1906 should be used for the education of the deaf, dumb and blind.
An act to abolish the County of Kootenai and create the counties of Lewis and Clark was passed. The boundaries of the new counties were described; the county seat of Lewis County was located at -Sand Point and that of Clark County at Coeur d'Alene. This act was afterward rendered void by a decision of the Supreme Court, on the grounds that it attempted to abolish an organized county without the consent of the inhabitants.
A "Capitol Building Board," to consist of the governor, secretary of state, state treasurer, and two competent citizens to be selected by the three officials mentioned. This board was authorized to enlarge the present capitol building, or to procure a new site in the City of Boise and erect a new building. If the board could not obtain a new site that was satisfactory, it was authorized to procure the block bounded by Seventh, State, Eighth and Jefferson streets, immediately west of the capitol. An appropriation of $1,000 was made to allow the members of the board to visit other states and examine capitol buildings, after which a public invitation should be issued to architects to submit plans in a competition for designs for a new building. The money then in the build- ing endowment fund, amounting to $66,003.35; was appropriated toward the cost of the new capitol and the board was authorized to spend the further
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sum of $283,996.65 (making $350,000 in all) from the proceeds of the sale of lands donated by the Admission Act of July 3, 1890, for the erection of public buildings. Or, if the capitol building board and the land commissioners thought it better to wait for the prices of lands to advance, then bonds to the amount of $100,000 might be issued for the erection of the new capitol. This act was approved by Governor Gooding on March 3, 1905.
· Other acts of the session provided for the establishment of a state banking department and the appointment of a bank commissioner; to prohibit the use of the United States flag for advertising purposes; to reorganize the state land department ; to care for delinquent children; fixing a penalty of from one to twenty years in the penitentiary for the destruction of property by dynamite ; defining polygamy and making it punishable by a fine of from $200 to $2,000 and imprisonment in a county jail for not more than six months or in the state penitentiary for not more than five years.
Five amendments to the constitution were ordered to be submitted to the voters at the general election of 1906, to wit: Limiting the indebtedness of counties, cities and towns; extending the powers of the county commissioners ; to permit the exemption from taxation of certain corporate property ; providing for biennial elections in counties; and to limit the taxation for state purposes to ten mills on the dollar.
TRIAL OF STEUNENBERG'S ASSASSINS
Near the close of the first year of Governor Gooding's administration oc- curred the assassination of Ex-Governor Frank Steunenberg, as told in the pre- ceding chapter-an event which caused general excitement and indignation, not only in the State of Idaho, but throughout the entire nation. The assassination occurred early on the evening of December 30, 1905, and as soon as the news reached Boise, Governor Gooding ordered a special train to convey him, the state officials and a number of prominent citizens of Boise to the scene of the tragedy. The train arrived in Caldwell about nine o'clock and steps were im- mediately taken to apprehend the assassin. Sheriff Nichols, of Canyon County, had already appointed a large number of deputies to watch the railroad station and the roads leading out of town, with orders to let no one leave Caldwell who could not give a satisfactory reason for his departure.
The next morning a council of prominent citizens, including the governor and the state and county officials, was held to formulate a plan for hunting down the murderer. Sheriff Nichols, Sheriff Moseley of Ada County, and Daniel Campbell, a former sheriff of Canyon County, were appointed to take charge of the work, and about one hundred citizens volunteered to act as deputies. The guard around the City of Caldwell was strengthened and the work of ferreting out all suspicious characters was commenced. Gov- ernor Gooding, on behalf of the State of Idaho, offered a reward 'of $5,000 for the arrest of the man who placed the deadly bomb at Mr. Steunenberg's gate. Shoshone County, where the riots occurred in 1899 that led to the assassina- tion, Canyon County, the home of Governor Steunenberg, and public spirited citizens added to the reward until the total amounted to $25,000.
On the 3Ist, the day following the dastardly murder, several suspicious characters were rounded up and examined, but all were able to give an ac-
.
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HISTORY OF IDAHO
count of themselves except one. This man had registered at the Saratoga Hotel on December 15, 1905, as "Thomas Hogan, Denver," and was assigned to room No. 19. He wore good clothes, seemed to have plenty of money, made some acquaintances in Caldwell during the two weeks preceding the assassina- tion, but no one had been able to learn anything of his business or occupation. Harvey K. Brown, sheriff of Baker County, Ore., who happened to be in Cald- well, recognized Hogan as a man who had at one time been employed in the mines of the Cracker Creek District of that state. He invited Hogan out for a walk and while they were absent from the hotel room No. 19 was searched by Joseph H. Hutchinson, who had been lieutenant-governor during Steunen- berg's second term. In Hogan's suit case he found a white powder that upon examination proved to be an explosive of high power, as well as other articles of a suspicious character.
Capt. W. S. Swain, of the Thiel Detective Agency in Spokane, Wash., as- sumed charge of the investigations on New Year's Day, 1906, and the next day Hogan was brought before Probate Judge Church for preliminary examination. Julian Steunenberg, son of the murdered man, identified the prisoner as one who had several times questioned him during his father's absence as to the time when he would return pretending that he had some important business with him. John C. Rice, afterwards a justice of the Supreme Court, lived near the late ex-governor's residence and testified that he had seen Hogan several times loitering in that vicinity. A trunk belonging to Hogan was found stored in the railroad station at Caldwell and when opened, was found to contain articles tending to incriminate him. Hogan was held without bail and shortly after- ward was identified at the county jail in Caldwell by Sheriff Bell of Teller County, as one of the men who had been charged with blowing up the railroad depot at Independence, Colo., in June, 1904; the explosion having killed fourteen and crippled a number of others.
While the evidence against Hogan was damaging, it was not of that con- vincing nature necessary to insure conviction upon a serious charge, and the authorities continued their efforts to obtain further information with reference to Hogan and his movements. O. M. Van Duyn, the prosecuting attorney of Canyon County assisted by W. A. Stone, one of the leading attorneys of that county who had been specially employed for the purpose, devoted much of their time to investigating conditions. It was found that Jack Simpkins, a member of the executive committee of the Western Federation of Miners and who was a resident of Wardner, Shoshone County, Idaho, had on several occasions been in Caldwell and was seen in company with Hogan a few days prior to the murder of Ex-Governor Steunenberg. It was also ascertained that Simpkins' where- abouts was then unknown.
James H. Hawley, of Boise, was specially employed by the state authorities to assist in the investigations and trials and James McFarland, head of the Pinkerton detective service in the West with headquarters at Denver, Colo., was employed by the state authorities to make complete investigation. Mr. Mc- Farland was a man who had grown old in the service of the Pinkertons. His first important employment being in the investigation of the "Mollie Maguires" troubles in the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania in 1877, wherein his well directed efforts brought the leading criminals of that organization to justice
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and made life and property secure in the coal mining sections of Pennsylvania. His succeeding career had been marked by successful conduct of many cases and he had the well earned reputation of being the most successful detector of criminals in the Pinkerton service.
On January 18, 1906 Hogan, under the direction of the court, was removed from the county jail at Caldwell to the state penitentiary at Boise for safe- keeping. Prior to this time he had admitted to Captain Swain that his real name was Harry Orchard and upon investigation of his record, it was found that he was under suspicion in Colorado in being interested in many of the criminal matters in that state, growing out of the disputes between the Western Federation of Miners and the mine owners during the four years preceding Steunenberg's murder. Orchard upon being brought to the penitentiary was immediately placed in solitary confinement in a cell, and a guard was placed night and day in the corridor of the cell to watch the prisoner, but with the instructions not to engage in conversation with him.
Mr. McFarland in the meantime had made a close study of Orchard and his characteristics, and his deep knowledge of human nature and of the motives impelling men to crime, had' convinced him that Orchard was of that peculiar temperament which sometimes compels man to commit monstrous crimes for the sake of what the criminal considers a righteous cause, but when satisfied that his ideas are wrong would go to any length to rectify the error made. Mc- Farland visited Orchard in the penitentiary on several succeeding days, and laid before him his record as he had obtained it with reference to his actions in Caldwell and earnestly talked to him in regard to his duty to himself and to the state to give full information in regard to the killing of Steunenberg and the various other crimes he had committed. Orchard finally broke down and made full confession with reference to not only the Steunenberg murder, but to his participation in various crimes that had been planned by leaders of the Western Federation of Miners.
William D. Haywood, the secretary-treasurer of the organization, Charles . H. Moyer, the president and George A. Pettibone, a member of the executive committee of that federation, all of whom were residents of Denver, Colo., were arrested on extradition warrants issued by Governor McDonald of Colorado and brought to Idaho for trial. Vincent St. Johns, a notorious labor agitator of the Coeur d'Alenes and a member of the miners' union at Burke, and Steve Adams, who had long been suspected as being one of the professional "killers" employed by Haywood and other criminal leaders of the Western Federation was arrested in Oregon, where he had taken up his residence.
After the employment of McFarland to take charge of the detective work in connection with the Steunenberg murder, the Board of Examiners of the State of Idaho, composed of the governor, attorney-general and the secretary of state, became satisfied that the murder of Ex-Governor Steunenberg was not an ordinary criminal case, but was a result of a conspiracy on the part of the criminal leaders of the Western Federation of Miners to revenge that or- ganization and its members upon Governor Steunenberg, for his efforts to main- tain law and order in the Coeur d'Alenes and to bring criminal offenders in the riots of 1899 in that locality to justice, and that the investigations in con- nection with the murder would take a wide range and large expenses would
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