On The Bisbee Deportation Of 1917

Posted: 12/13/2015

Introduction

Recently, we visited Bisbee, Arizona for the first time. Inside the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum I discovered fairly comprehensive information about this infamous event of July 12, 1917. I also met an older gentlemen inside the museum who appeared to be a volunteer at the museum and with whom I had a long conversation. He was very knowledgeable about many things & details that I really thought he was perhaps a retired professor, but he was a self-taught small business owner.

Again, I do not have the time to research this topic in more depth. This story is not complete or finished! This is the caveat! E.g. I did not manage to read the important official, federal investigation into this event, i.e. the Report on the Bisbee Deportations. Made by the President's Mediation Commission to the President of the United States. Bisbee, Arizona. November 6, 1917. The counselor to this commission was none other than Felix Frankfurter, later U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Significance Of The Event

From reading about this event in the past, it was my impression that this event was one of those major events of the labor movement in the U.S. where according to the prevailing narrative poor labor was very unfairly treated by ruthless business owners. In brief, a labor/leftist/ biased view of this event seems to dominate.

Just look at the Arizona State University webpage of this event here (Source 1). The quote at the top of the page reads “How it could have happened in a civilized country I'll never know. ...” from the account of a deportee.

Notes

1. The event happened without much violence or very few death or serious injuries! Just this fact alone deserves more attention. This was probably no coincidence, but more a deliberate achievement. Therefore, this event is also quite different from other major labor strife events in the U.S.
2. It was a militant and extreme labor union, i.e. the Industrial Workers of the World, with communist affiliations and which also carried out acts of sabotage against employers  that tried to organize labor unrest etc. at the Bisbee mines. This fact is often conveniently omitted.
3. The U.S. entered World War I  on April 4, 1917, just three months before the deportation. Bisbee, at the time, was a major source of copper ore for weapons used in that war.
4. Germany asked Mexico in the Zimmermann Note to join a military alliance in January of 1917 and Germany offered to help Mexico to reconquer lost territory in the U.S. (e.g. Arizona). The U.S. learnt about this plot in February of 1917 and President Wilson released it to the media in late February of 1917.  Bisbee is only about 11 miles away from the Mexican border. Many of the miners in Bisbee were from Mexico. Mexican rebel bands had made incursions into the U.S.. Mexico was mired in coups and revolution for years.
5. At the time, the governor of Arizona (Arizona only became a state in 1912)  was a progressive, which made things certainly not easier for the mine management. If I remember correctly, the governor even refused to defuse the situation in Bisbee when the sheriff of Bisbee asked for help.
6. “A group of miners loyal to the mining companies also formed the Workman's Loyalty League.” (Source 1). Unfortunately, we do not learn how many workers were loyal to the company or even opposed to unionization.
7. “Tensions heightened when rumors spread asserting that the unions had been infiltrated by pro-Germans [Yes, there were significant numbers of pro-German Americans at the time]. Another rumor suggested that weapons and dynamite were cached around Bisbee for sabotage.” (Source 1)
8. “The vigilantes rounded up over 1,000 men, many of whom were not strikers -- or even miners -- and marched them two miles to the Warren Ballpark. There they were surrounded by armed Loyalty Leaguers and urged to quit the strike. Anyone willing to put on a white armband was released. At 11:00 a. m. a train arrived, and 1,186 men were loaded aboard boxcars inches deep in manure. Also boarding were 186 armed guards; a machine gun was mounted on the top of the train. The train traveled from Bisbee to Columbus, New Mexico, where it was turned back because there were no accommodations for so many men. On its return trip the train stopped at Hermanas, New Mexico, where the men were abandoned. A later train brought water and food rations, but the men were left without shelter until July 14th when U. S. troops arrived. The troops escorted the men to facilities in Columbus. Many were detained for several months.” (Source 1)
   So it was actually the U.S. government, which aggravated the deportation by detaining the mining workers for several month in New Mexico.
9. How many deported workers returned to Bisbee over time again to actually work for the mining company? These miners may have changed their identity to do that. I believe, it was the older gentlemen who told me about that.

To summarize, this was certainly a much more complicated situation as we are made to believe by the prevalent narrative of injustice against labor:

1. Given all the above circumstances, the management of the mining companies and the city officials of Bisbee were not seriously unjustified for their decision at the time.
2. The miners selected for deportation were asked before deportation to quit the strike and those who quit were let go. At that time this was quite an act of humanity!
3. A later train was sent to provide the deported with water and food rations. At that time this was quite another act of humanity!