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.

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  • Frank [he/him, he/him]
    ·
    1 year ago

    I seriously think that tracking stats across games was when things started to go to shit. That's when you could "win" for the first time. That's when you were "punished" for doing an all knives round or getting the hole team to hide in a corner with paras waiting for the first guy to run around the corner. That's when people stopped caring about the game they were playing and started caring about their "stats". It stopped being pick-up street hockey and started to turn in to something else.