Bisbee Deportation (1917)
Thu Jul 12, 1917
Image: Striking miners and others being deported from Bisbee on the morning of July 12th, 1917. The men are boarding cattle cars provided by the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad. [Wikipedia]
On this day in 1917, a deputized posse in Bisbee, Arizona kidnapped more than 1,300 striking miners, their supporters, and bystanders, deporting them to New Mexico, more than 200 miles away. The miners were organized by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and had been on strike since June 26th.
The action was orchestrated by Phelps Dodge, the major mining company in the area, which provided lists of workers and others who were to be arrested to the Cochise County sheriff, Harry C. Wheeler.
The 16-hour journey was through desert without food and with little water. Once unloaded, the deportees, most without money or transportation, were warned against returning to Bisbee. The U.S. government soon brought in members of the US Army to assist with relocating the deportees to Columbus, New Mexico.
Phelps Dodge, in collusion with the sheriff, had closed down access to outside communications, so the story was not well reported at the time.
Although a federal commission concluded the kidnapping was done "wholly illegal and without authority in law, either State or Federal" and the U.S. Department of Justice ordered the arrest of 21 Phelps Dodge executives, no individual, company, or agency was ever convicted in connection with the deportations.
- Date: 1917-07-12
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, azlibrary.gov.
- Tags: #Labor, #IWW.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org