in 1892. The Mineowners' Association had secured an injunction restraining the striking miners from interfering with the Association's imported strike-breakers. The Governor issued a proclamation warning the men against even using moral suasion to keep others from working, and threatened martial law. The Frisco mine and mill were shortly after destroyed and several men were killed. Martial law was then declared, the troops arriving the next day. It was claimed that the sheriff and marshals, having been elected by the striking miners would not act against them. General Curtis of the national guard removed them from office and by “Special Order, No. 3” said:

Dr. U.S. Sims, of Wallace, Idaho, is hereby appointed acting sheriff of the county of Shoshone, and is empowered with all the authority of that office under martial law now in force in said county. Dr. Sims was the physician employed by the mine-owners …. Immediately more than $00 men were arrested and thrown into the “Bull Pen”—one at Kellogg and one at Wallace…. Of the $00 some were released on parole, some on bonds, and about 75 were held for two months against most of whom no charges had been made…. Of all who were tried only sixteen were convicted … and those for contempt of court. They would not refrain from moral suasion. The decisions were all reversed by the United States Supreme Court….⁴¹

The idea of a military officer appointing a civil officer like a sheriff shows that the only law was armed force.

Seven years later in the second Coeur d' Alenes strike, the military went even further. The trouble arose over a demand for recognition of the miners' union; and the sheriff underestimated the danger. The leaders organized about 1,000 miners, seized powder, put it on a commandeered train, ran it over a different railroad, and blew up the Bunker Hill concentrator. Four days later, federal troops arrived. Governor Steunenberg proclaimed Shoshone County in a state