6/5/1904 and 9/11/2001

This is actually a flashback to a previous post that I thought was worth looking back at again today.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

"Harry Orchard Blows Up The Independence Colorado Train Depot"

As included in the above post, below is the link to an essay by Jennifer Karey that compares and contrasts the events of 1904 and 2001 as we see them in John Boak's painting. Whichever event you see in this painting, today is a good day, as the mastermind murderer of innocent thousands on 9/11/2001, and many others over the years, has met his well deserved demise. Thank you Navy Seals, President Obama and others for a job well done.

Flash: September 11th



This painting is still missing as far as I know. No doubt John Boak would still like it back.

Who Made Harry Orchard?

Just happened to run across this recent YouTube video while browsing the Internet this morning. Putting up for viewing without any comment for the time being. Orchard's book, The Man God Made Again, still plays a prominent role in Seventh Day Adventist teachings.

Other than saying "he is blown to pieces and he dies", Frank Steunenberg is relegated to merely a prop in the presentation and received no further mention. When commenting on Orchard's response after receiving the booklet Steps to Christ, from Belle Steunenberg, the young man commented, "it blew him away." An interesting way to phrase it in regards to Harry Orchard. I know he didn't mean anything by it and admit sensitivity to the mention of Orchard and being blown away. That is exactly what Orchard did to my great grandfather and numerous other people.

I am wondering if the presentation would be any different if we were talking about James Earl Ray, Sirhan Sirhan, Lee Harvey Oswald or a Charles Manson, David Berkowitz or Jeffrey Dahmer? Some of them and numerous others have allegedly found god in prison too.

More later. I guess a little commentary started to slip out!

Regardless of personal viewpoints, I commend this young man for a fine presentation relating to a piece of history that still impacts us today.



Somewhat related blog posts:

3/16/1905 - Letter from Governor Frank Steunenberg ("Pop") to son Julian

A cherished moment with mom: Brenda Steunenberg Richards-The Graduate-Class of 1936-Honorary Diploma September 2004

Letters from Assassin Harry Orchard

Mrs. Steunenberg Pardons Slayer of her Husband

Reflection on the Haywood Trial Verdict

Did the Steunenberg Children Favor Commuting Harry Orchard's Sentence?

Old Newpapers - Steunenberg name and Haywood Trial

Here is a link to a nice summary page from the Library of Congress with a sample of archived newspapers related to the Haywood trial.

Topics in Chronicling America - The Haywood Trial.

You can click here and go directly to the search page. A full search using the term "Haywood trial" comes up with 10,044 results. Using the name Steunenberg (having a name where you are related to anyone who has it sure helps!) turns up 2,802 results.

I use to collect old wood pulp newspapers about the trial and still have an archival box full. I might still pick up one here and there if the price is cheap and it has a great headline. However, preservation and display of large format wood pulp papers that are over 100 years old is quite challenging. With the prevalence of old papers now available on digital media, it is not worth the time and expense for a small collector. I have decided to enjoy the old papers I have, take modest preservation measures, and to read and peruse them without fear of further disintegration. I will even cut out and preserve relevant articles if the papers are showing rapid disintegration and flaking. With today's digital media, I can now relax with the knowledge that the same or similar articles are preserved for future reading and research.

Of course one website I use frequently is my footnote.com account which has many historical newspapers among its millions of other documents. Here is the link to my Footnote.com Spotlight pages that I recommend for viewing. Other links can be accessed below but are sometimes repetitive or are smaller bits and pieces of information that I have saved but may not be of general interest. You can view the items but of course access and search components will be limited by Footnote unless you are a paying customer. If you would like me to look for something specific...let me know.

www.fold3.com

Steunenberg Memorial Booklet

Here is an item that is not widely available, as a rather small number were printed by the Capital News Publishing Company that was housed in the Union Block Building. It is the Steunenberg Memorial booklet published in 1929 to document the December 11th, 1927 dedication of the Steunenberg Statue that sits across from the capitol building in Boise. From the forward.... "The monument was completed and dedicated December 11, 1927, with appropriate ceremonies, the oration on the life of Ex-Governor Steunenberg being delivered by Ex-Governor James Hawley. This book contains the complete dedicatory ceremonies, the oration delivered by Senator William E. Borah at the funeral of Ex-Governor Steunenberg, memorial services held by the legislature at its session following the tragic event, and the Final Report of the Association to the Governor."

The booklet has a faux alligator skin cover and is twenty-nine pages in length. For purposes here, I am providing only the text of the oration by Ex-Governor James Hawley. Interestingly, he not only eulogized the all too short a life of Ex-Governor Steunenberg, but gave an overview of the mining riots of 1899, the miner's unions, confession of Harry Orchard and the Haywood trial. No doubt Hawley, then some twenty years after the trial, still felt a bit of the sting from that verdict in 1907. If folks are interested, I will try and scan the rest of the booklet sometime soon. Click on the pages below to enlarge for reading.

Steunenberg

Not alone upon th'incarndine stage
Of brazen war and carnage gory
In born the theme for history's page,
Is found the ground for glory's story

The poet too his song shall sing,

The artist weave the colors bright,
The plaudits of the throng shall ring

For this sequestered martyred knight ;

The sculptor too his name shall grave
On shaft of majesty and beauty ;

Peace hath, not less than war, its brave―

A hero he, who dies for duty.

--Byron Defenbach (original poem recited by its author at the dedication. Defenbach was a writer and historian who in 1933 published the three-volume work, Idaho: The Place and Its People).































































































































































The two photographic panels are on a textured photographic paper with each protected by an overlay page.

No Neckties Allowed #5

Yes, I am still of this earth but have not been of computer or Internet over much of the past month. I won't give you all the sorry details except to say my computer was rendered nearly useless by a virus (but no data loss as far as we can tell) to go along with a concurrent, but unrelated, loss of our DSL line. Now I am typing on my new Dell laptop and accessing the Internet over a recently installed high speed cable connection (sorry AT&T). One of my sons, Josh, is cleaning up the desktop, recovering data and installing some higher-tech protection. Usually he is working with commercial accounts and not small penny ante stuff like mine. Josh has been after us for awhile to get better security measures installed but sometimes I have to suffer a bit before making the move...and so I have. Once I get my data transferred and this laptop all setup, I should be back in full swing.

With all the changes to a new computer, Internet provider and reformatting, I see some items on my blog have been knocked out of kilter a bit. And if I missed or haven't responded to an email, I should get there soon or feel free to send again just in case. For the moment, my email address remains the same. Bear with me.

Here is an informal smorgasbord of a few links--hence No Neckties Allowed.

The Steunenbergs - Idaho Historical Markers on Waymark.com

Steunenberg Memorial - Statues of Historic Figures

Celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the seat of government in the District of Columbia (1901)

Governor Steunenberg was at the celebration in Washington D.C.

Bureau of Investigations/FBI Files:

Harry Orchard

Steunenberg (Mostly George Steunenberg)

Steve Adams

William Haywood

Mining Pages:

Idaho Mines

California Mines

Colorado Mines

Arizona Mines

Nevada Mines

And more by state and country

Chicago's Clarence Darrow on the death penalty

Click on the above heading.



From: Death Penalty is Focus of Annual Clarence Darrow Event Sunday March 13

‘Clarence Darrow Revealed’ at Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship | Entertainment | Idaho Statesman

Click on the above link. You will want to catch Gary as Clarence Darrow anytime you get the chance. John

Gov. Steunenberg proclamation creating the Idaho Dept. of Fish & Game & naming Charles Arbuckle as the first director

Click on the images to enlarge for viewing.
The proclamation signed by Governor Steunenberg is shown in the background and a photograph of State Game Warden Charles Arbuckle in the foreground.

"Visitors can see historically significant items related to the infancy of the department, such as the 1899 proclamation by then-Gov. Frank Steunenberg appointing the first state game warden, Charles Arbuckle, and thus creating the department. A document embosser, more than 100 years old, shows the department's seal."

Click here for more info: 
A Hundred Years of Hatcheries on Display


My thanks and appreciation to Sharon Clark of the Idaho Fish & Game Department for leading me to this discovery and for providing a copy of the proclamation. Hopefully I can get a look at it in person someday and get a few more photographs or scans.

If anyone has more photographs and/or information on Charles Arbuckle, I would sure appreciate knowing about it and so would Sharon and the IDFG.

Website: Idaho Fish & Game

Ballad of Harry Orchard

Here is a version of the Ballad (or The Song) of Harry Orchard that you may have heard elsewhere. This link was provided by Idaho historical roots music affectionado Gary Eller.

Ballad of Harry Orchard

We see a nice web page with the audio file of the song, a few familiar photographs and some brief information. Included is a somewhat tainted view (as is mine) quoting Emma Langdon. Emma is a very interesting historical figure in her own right but certainly subject to the same misinformation that was (is) common to all sides in the battle between miners and mine owners and labor versus capital. Looking at the news and politics of today, it sometimes seems we haven't progressed very far at all in 100+ years.

In regards to Harry Orchard, the statement "he was later eligible for parole, but refused to leave the prison" is pure fiction. Yes, there were efforts to parole Harry but they were not successful and hence he never had the option to leave the prison. Harry was in the Idaho Pen until he died because he had to be.

Although I try, and sometimes fail, to be as factual as possible, the point here is to explore the great historical music that was born out of the important events and struggles of the 19th and 20th centuries. No matter what your point of view, we all need to listen to the music.

Related Blog links

The Song of Harry Orchard

We Sing of Idaho

Other links

Pacific Northwest Folklore Society

The Cripple Creek Strike by Emma Langdon

The Long Memory by Rosalie Sorrels and Utah Phillips

The Long Memory (webpage dedicated to Utah Phillip)

COI Archives Spotlight #2 - 1/12/1890 original letter - Frank Steunenberg to family in Iowa

Back on 11/27/2010, I posted the first page of this personal though politically pertinent letter written by Frank Steunenberg on 1/12/1890 to our family in Iowa. I am finally getting back with the original four page penned letter followed by a three page transcribed version. Frank had been elected as a representative to the Constitutional Convention for Idaho in early 1889. I think the letter gives you a flavor of his dry humor, lack of formality and down to earth nature (my interpretation of a few of his personality characteristics).

On November 5, 1899, the citizens voted to ratify the State Constitution and on July 3rd 1890, President Harrison signed it into law and Idaho became a state.

This letter comes courtesy of the COI Archives but is not yet available as a part of the online collection.

Transcribed version of letter from Frank Steunenberg to his family.

The original and transcribed version of the letter are in the COI Smylie Archives but not yet available online. However, you can view many other documents by clicking on: Crookham/Steunenberg collection (not currently online)

Portland Woman Celebrates 108 Years

Portland Woman Celebrates 108 Years. Loreen was the first wife of my great Uncle Frank W. Steunenberg, the youngest son of Governor Frank Steunenberg. Uncle Frank was about five years old at the time of the assassination of his father. The children of Frank W. and Loreen are Alice Steunenberg Willoughby of Portland, OR (I believe) and Beth Steunenberg Allen of Boise, ID. May we all make it to 108...or even a 100 would be good! There must be something to the vegan diet Loreen has followed all her life and that my 18 year old daughter strictly follows too. I eat pretty healthy but still need a little meat now and then. Related blog post: Sunday, February 24, 2008 - The Martyr of Idaho by Frank W. Steunenberg - Uncle Frank's White Book and The Beatles White Album

The Union Block Building, Boise, Idaho

A nice old original photograph I have of the Union Block Building. I provided a scan several years ago and it was posted to the Boise Architecture Project (BAP) website but credited incorrectly. However, go to the BAP website where you can read more about this historic structure.

No doubt Governor Steunenberg and other kinfolk moseyed on down there from time to time. So did I during my 2007 visit to Boise. I reckon the governor would have stopped in at the Capitol News office that began there in 1901.

Fortunately, the building survived the scourge of urban renewal and has found a new life in a revitalized downtown. Click on the pic to enlarge for viewing.

"The Union Block Building is a Richardsonian Romanesque-styled building. It was designed by architect John E. Tourellotte in 1899 and was completed in 1902 at a cost of approximately $35,000. The builder, J.W. Smith used brick and sandstone. The Sandstone was quarried locally at Tablerock." -- From: Union Block Building