J. Anthony Lukas. Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Of a Struggle for the Soul of America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. 880 pp. $32.50, cloth, ISBN 978-0-684-80858-1.

Reviewed by Kenneth R. Dvorak

Published on H-PCAACA (January, 1998)

Interested in murder? Political conspiracies? plosion blows Steunenberg into eternity. The re‐ Social revolutionaries? Government repression? sulting uproar at the murder of Caldwell's leading High powered political and legal personalities? citizen leads to a series of events engulfng gov‐ Secret agents and double agents? Potential class ernment ofcials from Caldwell to the White warfare? A murder trial deemed the trial of the House. century? Big Trouble has this and more in J. An‐ Fraught with tension the investigation of Ste‐ thony Lukas expert examination of the 1905 mur‐ unenberg's murder takes on a life of its own. der of former governor . Within days the mysterious drifter, Harry Or‐ Following his Pulitzer Prize winning book Com‐ chard, is arrested for Steunenberg's murder. mon Ground, Lukas provides an excellent account Leading the investigation is the infamous Pinker‐ of how a small town murder sets of a "struggle ton detective, James McParland of Molly Maquire for the soul of America." fame, who insists that Orchard is a pawn of orga‐ In a riveting opening chapter the reader be‐ nized labor. In Orchard's confession he implicates comes introduced to rural Caldwell, Idaho, and its the leaders of the Western Federation of Miners, former state governor, now managing the fami‐ "Big Bill" Haywood, , and Charles lies local bank. Almost overnight, Steunenberg be‐ Moyer. Orchard tells his captors that the WFM comes associated with a new breed of Western pi‐ and its leaders were part of a conspiracy to kill oneers, the rising entrepreneurs of big business Steunenberg for his actions while governor in and fnance. As he concludes his fnal working stopping a miners insurrection in northern Idaho day, Frank leaves the bank for home, slowly walk‐ in 1899. ing through town. Later, witnesses said that the For McParland tracking down the WFM trio former governor seemed preoccupied seemingly posed a problem since neither of them were in uninterested in the upcoming Christmas holidays. Idaho at the time of Steunenberg's killing. To get Entering the front gate of his home a horrifc ex‐ them into Idaho to face punishment becomes the H-Net Reviews primary mission of McParland and a thrilling sto‐ Lukas also examines the role of the press at the ry of intrigue and mystery. Lukas is at his best in trial, examining in detail the famous reporters of describing the kidnapping and arrest of these the era, who traveled to Caldwell in search of the men, retelling in detail how McParland master‐ "big story." minded the entire operation. Spirited out of Den‐ The reader will enjoy Lukas' painstaking ver in the dead of night, on a private train, the recreation of the social and cultural turmoil trio arrives in Caldwell, their abduction almost America found itself in during the trial. Lukas completely unnoticed. chronicles these tensions that had begun in the Their formal arraignment in court began one late nineteenth century and now found expres‐ of the West's most famous criminal trials. On one sion in a small town in Idaho. Provided as vi‐ side stood organized labor, represented by the gnettes the author crafts an expansive view of WFM; standing opposite were wealthy capitalists American life at the turn of the century. One of supported by ofcials in the local courthouse to the best is Lukas' discussion and analysis of the the White House. It is here that the central theme mining turmoil of the 1880s and 1890s. of Big Trouble emerges as Lukas examines the po‐ The author provides a stunning portrayal of tential for open class warfare. hunger and exploitation met by the miners in the Big Trouble examines Steunenberg's murder Coeur d'Alene region of Washington state, in Col‐ from difering perspectives, allowing the author orado, Utah, and Idaho. The resulting bitter fght‐ to introduce a cast of characters and motives ri‐ ing between miners and strike breakers, the mur‐ valing that of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The ders of company men and the destruction of min‐ trial of Haywood, Pettibone and Moyer drew the ing equipment, fueled a hatred between economic interest of the powerful and famous. Lukas does classes little understood in other regions of the not disappoint, introducing a long list of personal‐ country. Government repression of the striking ities associated with the trial. , miners only increased the hatred between the the darling of the Socialists, is the lead defense at‐ miners, the mine owners and the federal govern‐ torney. Across the aisle was the prosecutor, ment. The use of the army's famous Twenty- William J. Borah, whose daring exploits in the Fourth Infantry Regiment (known as "The Bufalo courtroom rival those in the boardrooms and bed‐ Soldiers") heightened an already explosive situa‐ rooms of the socially prominent. James McPar‐ tion. These and many other stories are interwo‐ land, hidden out of sight, maneuvers behind the ven in this expertly researched book. scenes trying to infuence the outcome of the trial. As the trial neared its end, only in the fnal Others appear and disappear at the trial in‐ chapters does the reader encounter a list of possi‐ cluding President Theodore Roosevelt, Justice ble reasons for the trial of Big and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Giford Pinchot the na‐ his cohorts. Who was to blame for the murder of tion's frst "forester," Idaho governor Frank ex-governor Frank Steunenberg? Was it the fail‐ Robert Gooding, Ethel Barrymore the famous ac‐ ure of the state in not procuring enough evi‐ tress, and a young Walter Johnson just beginning dence? Did the WFM bribe the jury as many spec‐ his baseball career. William Allen White makes an ulated? Could other circumstances and motiva‐ appearance as does Eugene Debs the Socialist can‐ tions have had a bearing on the trial's outcome? didate for president. Also making appearances In his historical narrative, Lukas provides are Margaret Dreier Robins, head of the Womens thrilling answers to these questions. As the trial League, and Charles Siringo, the fa‐ played out in the nation's newspapers, board‐ mous " Cowboy Detective" and Pinkerton agent. rooms, labor halls, saloons, and legislative halls

2 H-Net Reviews the issues to surface in this small, western town foreshadowed the struggle for Americas soul. Copyright (c) 1998 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ tact [email protected].

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Citation: Kenneth R. Dvorak. Review of Lukas, J. Anthony. Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Of a Struggle for the Soul of America. H-PCAACA, H-Net Reviews. January, 1998.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=1610

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