Follow the Fire in the Hole script and accompanying images to rediscover the shocking un-American acts that take place in Butte, Montana -- including the lynching of Frank Little -- from 1912-1917.

Narrator:

By the summer of 1917 the copper mines of Butte, Montana were booming with war-time production. The price of copper soared, and companies were making record profits. But miners felt they were being left out of the boom. . .losing ground as they dealt with skyrocketing inflation. A few years before, Butte had been considered the very heart of the miners union -- the birthplace of the Western Federation of Miners.

But while unions like the I.W.W. pushed for radical confrontation, the federation had followed a conservative path. And a subsequent Butte miners union was considered outright docile. Frustration grew to the point that miners dynamited their own union hall in butte in 1914. By 1917 the Gibralter of unionism was in fractured pieces.

But one of the worst mine disasters of the West would rekindle the union movement. On the evening of june 8th, 1917 a fire broke out as workers, ironically, were trying to install a fire prevention system at the Speculator Mine near Butte. Over four hundred men were underground as flame and smoke filled the shafts. A rescue crew was lowered into the mine. Minutes later they were hauled back to the surface.

The Butte Miner:

"An appalling site that caused the strongest hearts to quail was the cremation of two men who were trapped like rats in a double-decked cage about 20 feet above the collar of the shaft, with flames flying from the shaft like a gigantic torch around them."

Narrator:

Hundreds of men were trapped below ground. . .and soon were suffocating from toxic gas in the mine. twenty-four hundred feet down, a young irish miner named Mannus Duggan had his crew wall-off a tunnel to keep the gas and fire out. He took out a pencil and started writing to his wife.

Mannus Duggan:

"We have rapped on the air pipe continuously since four o'clock Saturday morning. No answer. Must be some fire. I realize the hard work ahead of the rescue men. Have not confided my fears to anyone, but have looked and looked for hope only."

Narrator:

Duggan's men held out for thirty-eight hours underground. But Duggan died when he left the hideout looking for rescue teams. One hundred and sixty-seven men died along with Manus Duggan in the Speculator Mine – the worst metal mining disaster in American history. After the fact, the speculator mine was found to be full of safety violations – including the fact that escape routes had been blocked. Miner complaints about safety had been ignored.

Montana Labor Commissioner:

"Butte for some time has been a volcano on the point of eruption, and the heavy toll of life in the speculator catastrophe proved to be the flaming torch."

Jerry Calvert/Political Scientist:

"It was a catalyst, providing an opportunity for those who have been waiting–many of the same leaders of the I.W.W. and the abortive Butte Mine Workers Union – to try once again to re-establish labor unionism in the mines of Butte."

Narrator:

Three days after the Speculator Mine disaster. . .while funerals were still taking place. . .the miners of Butte walked off the job and called a strike. They demanded an end to blacklisting – the firing of workers for union membership. . .and demanded that Montana's mine safety laws be honored. The mine owners rejected the demands.

William Clark:

"As far as the Clark Mines are concerned, I will close them down. . .flood them, and not raise a pound of copper before I will recognize the anarchist leaders of the union."

Narrator:

Facing a wall of mine company opposition, the miners started to splinter into small groups. . .with some miners returning to work out of fear of retribution.

Calvert:

"And when they didn't stick with the strike, the strike began to collapse on itself. ‘Cause you need everybody. . .as the I.W.W. said. . . everybody in solidarity, everybody out on strike, for a strike to be successful. And of course they were right. At that moment in mid-to late July, 1917, as the strike effort was beginning to peter out, Frank Little came to Butte.

Narrator:

On July 18th, Frank Little – a frail, small, one-eyed former miner nursing a recently broken leg– rode into Butte. Looks were deceiving, for Little was a fiery union organizer determined to infuse the faltering Butte strike with the passion of the Industrial Workers of the World.

Frank Little:

"An injury to one is an injury to all! So all together, you diggers and muckers. Force the bosses off your back. Put them down to work in the hole with the producers. Hand them their muck sticks and make them earn a living for a change!" – Frank Little

The Butte Miner:

"In seditious remarks which were short of treason, little displayed maniacal fury, talked of worker's solidarity. . .a worldwide revolution." – The Butte Miner

Narrator:

Years later the writer Dashiell Hammett would recall his days in Butte as an armed mercenary being paid by the Pinkerton detective agency and the mine companies. One night, as he sat in a Butte bar, Hammett said he was approached by a mine company representative who offered him five-thousand dollars to kill Frank Little. Beating Wobblies with clubs was one thing. . .murder was another, and Hammett said he quit on the spot.

But five thousand dollars was a lot of money.

Early in the morning of August 1st, less than two weeks after he arrived in Butte, Frank Little was dragged from his bed in a rooming house by six masked men. A rope was thrown around Little, and he was dragged behind a car to the edge of town. Little's already bloody body was beaten to pulp. The rope was tied around his neck, and he was hung from a railroad trestle. The next morning, as workers crossed the trestle to begin their workday, the body of Frank Little was discovered with a sign around the neck. "Others take notice. . .first and last warning. . .3-7-77" It was an old Montana vigilante warning. . .3-7-77 were the required measurements for a gravesite.

Helena Independent:

"Good work! Let them continue to hang every I.W.W. in the state. The time has come. It is beyond the comprehension of the average citizen why the war department has not ordered certain leaders arrested and shot. The people will not stand for much more."

Narrator:

But more than three thousand people turned out for Frank Little's funeral. Much like Joe Hill two years before, little was elevated as a martyr to the cause championed by the I.W.W.

Calvert:

"He became a martyr like all martyrs. Not for what he was, but because of what he represented. You know, the victim. . . the working man murdered by the capitalist bosses. He became a symbol of that. . and he remains so today."

Narrator:

Angered by Little's murder, the Butte miners briefly rallied to press their strike against the copper mines. But federal troops soon arrived to occupy Butte. . .and in the process, drove the I.W.W. from the mines. Soon, federal and state laws were cracking down on any activities that were deemed detrimental to the nation's war effort. Strikes and anti-war speeches were specifically targeted.

Calvert:

"The war was a splendid opportunity for capitalists to really stomp on labor unionism in general, and militant labor unionism in particular."

Narrator:

Just how far that campaign was prepared to go was already playing out in the nation's newest state.