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Saturday January 27, 1906
Caldwell, Idaho - The Scene of the Cold-Blooded Assassination of Steunenberg

From Indiana's Fort Wayne Daily News of January 26th, comes a vivid description of the horrific murder of Ex-Governor Steunenberg:

Scene of Steunenberg Murder; Victim
and Suspected Assassin
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CALDWELL, Idaho, Jan 26,-Above are the first published pictures of the Steunenberg tragedy which occurred in this city, December 30, detectives excluding photographs from the scene until a few days ago.

The assassination of Idaho's former governor by an infernal machine attached to his own gate has stirred public sentiment to a boiling point which even a fortnight of reflection has not cooled, and has excited international comment.

Ex.-Gov. Frank Steunenberg was killed just as he reached the gate leading into the back yard of his home by the explosion of a bomb attached to the gate.

The terrific explosion lifted Steunenberg from the ground, throwing him 30 feet. The concussion was sufficient to break the windows of the houses in the vicinity, shattered the gate and fence into splinters and made a great hole in the frozen ground.

An examination showed that the shock had destroyed his ear drums, rendering him totally deaf. The right arm was crushed to a mass of flesh, both legs broken in several places, and the clothing stripped from his body to his shoes.

Within 20 minutes after he was carried into his home, Gov. Steunenberg was dead.

Police investigation revealed the fact that a metalic bomb, charged with some powerful explosive, had been fastened to the gate, with a waxed fish cord, attached to the trigger, extending over to a barn some 300 feet distant, where it is believed the assassin was concealed.

Gov. Gooding offered a reward of $5,000 on behalf of the state for the apprehension of the assassin. To this sum personal offers were added until the total rewards reached $25,000. Of more than 30 arrests but one prisoner was held, who gave his name as Thos. Hogan. A search of his room and baggage revealed several packages from which explosives are made together with a number of implements used for making metalic cartridges.

A description of the prisoner was telegraphed to different cities which resulted in his being identified as Harry Orchard, the man charged with having blown up the railroad depot at Independence, Colo., on the morning of June 6, 1904, in which 13 men were killed and as many more crippled for life,

Orchard was a prominent member of the Western Federation of Miners during the great Cripple Creek strike in 1904, disappearing immediately after the Independence depot disaster. He was a leading agitator during the riots following the strike of the miners at Coeur d'Alena, when the shaft house and mill of the Bunker Hill-Sullivan mine were wrecked by an explosion of dynamite.

The general belief is that Gov. Steunenberg was assassinated for sending the state militia to Coeur d'Alene and quelling the riots, at which time many miners were confined in the "bull pen," established at his direction.

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SOURCE
The Fort Wayne Daily News
(Fort Wayne, Indiana)
-Jan 26, 1906
https://www.newspapers.com/image/28894980/

IMAGE
Harry Orchard, Ex-Gov Steunenberg, Assassination,
-Fort Wayne (IN) Daily News, Jan 26, 1906
https://www.newspapers.com/image/28894980/

See also:

The Confessions and Autobiography of Harry Orchard
-with Webmaster's (Richard Myers) Introduction
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/wfmhall/harry_orchard_confession00.html
Richard Myers, RIP
http://www.dailykos.com/user/Richard%20Myers

"Hellraisers Journal: W. F. of M. Blamed for Horrific Loss of Life at Independence Station Explosion" by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/07/1305134/-Hellraisers-Journal-W-...

DK Tag: Cripple Creek Strike of 1903-04:
http://www.dailykos.com/news/CrippleCreekStrikeof1903-04

Coeur d'Alene miners' disputes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeur_d%27Alene_miners%27_dispute

Frank Steunenberg remembered by his great-grandson:
http://idahoptv.org/trial/commentary/hanging.cfm
http://steunenberg.blogspot.com/
Note: Let us stop a moment and remember that a man was brutally mudered,
and that man had a family who loved him.
We may differ in our beliefs regarding the Western Federation of Miners, but
not in the our view that this assassination was cold-blooded murder.

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Someday - Blue Highway