Bill Haywood hanged in 1907

[OHC]

Big Bill Haywood and two other leaders of the Western Federation of Miners were indicted for conspiracy in the 1905 assassination of Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg, but they were ultimately exonerated after a sensational trial that made the careers of defense attorney Clarence Darrow and prosecutor William E. Borah. The jury decided for the defense because they felt that the prosecution's case rested too heavily on the uncorroborated word of the assassin, Harry Orchard. The Pinkerton detectives working on the case had previously coerced a confession from a supposed accomplice, Steve Adams, which incriminated Haywood and the WFM, but he later retracted.

Let's say the Pinkertons are able to force Adams not to retract his confession. The jury finds Haywood and his co-defendants guilty, and the WFM leaders are sentenced to hang. What happens then? Do Western state governments declare open season on the WFM, or is the union emboldened by their leaders' martyrdom?

IOTL Haywood was eventually elected to the national committee of the Socialist Party but then expelled, triggering a rift between the Socialists and the IWW. Does Haywood's absence lead to better relations between the two, or was a split over revolutionary industrial unionism versus electoral socialism inevitable?

Does the failure of the defense sink Clarence Darrow's career?

 

[I Saw A Red Sky]

Does Haywood's absence lead to better relations between the two, or was a split over revolutionary industrial unionism versus electoral socialism inevitable?

Half the Socialist Party's original founders left De Leon's party over industrial unionism, think the conflict is inevitable with or without Big Bill.

 

[Mumby]

Half the Socialist Party's original founders left De Leon's party over industrial unionism, think the conflict is inevitable with or without Big Bill.

I think you're confusing the Socialist Party and the Socialist Labor Party.

 

[OHC]

I think you're confusing the Socialist Party and the Socialist Labor Party.

The Socialist Party was in part founded by people who quit the SLP, is what I think he's trying to say.

 

[Mumby]

The Socialist Party was in part founded by people who quit the SLP, is what I think he's trying to say.

Ohhhhh, I understand now, sorry @SoldierOfChrist.