The Houghton County Brotherhood (so named in this wiki) was a group of rogue men from the Western Federation of Miners (WFM), who were responsible for the murders of several innocent people.
History[]
See main article: Jane-Dally Murders Verbanac, an Austrian, and Huhta, a Finn, were friends for some period of time and, at one time, roommates. Huhta was the local WFM secretary, earning $75 a month, while Verbanac was a union organizer and made $125 a month. These were considered decent jobs, and the pay was commensurate with working full time in the mine and a lot less backbreaking than toiling underground term hours a day. They were angry with those who supported the mining companies by going back to work. For the most part, it was the English immigrant miners (Cousin Jacks) who wanted to work, regardless of the strike. The English were experienced miners in that many had worked in the coal mines in their homeland of Cornwall, England. In the Copper Country mines, the English had better jobs; they were the captains and shift managers. The Dally Household had five English immigrant miners, making it an easy mark for the angry unionists.
The Murders[]
That infamous evening, the four plotters armed with .30-30 rifles, walked three miles to the Dally house and stealthily concealed themselves in the woods not more than fifty yards away. In the early morning hours they rested their rifles on tree branches, took aim and unleashed a volley of bullets into the home.
Aftermath[]
The mining community was outraged at this turn of events. They blamed the WFM for putting Huhta up to the killings. The locals felt that the union was controlled by outside agitators, primarily communists and socialists who created an "assassin squad". In addition it pitted ethnic group against ethnic group. Animosity among English, Slavs and Finns was already a problem, and the killings exacerbated an already potentially explosive condition. Huhta was arrested and sentenced to prison (see Huhta's page for full story). Murder charges were dropped against Verbanac, Jallonen and Juuntunen, as were conspiracy charges against the WFM.
Members[]
Leader: John Huhta (deceased).
Lieutenant: Nick Verbanac (deceased).
Followers:
- Hjalimer Jallonen (deceased)
- John Juuntunen