workingclasshistory:

On this day, 10 July 1917 the Jerome deportation took place in Arizona, when dozens of members of the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union were deported to break a miners’ strike.
Mine bosses, local officials and the AFL-affiliated International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, which was scabbing on the strike, had organised a crew of 250 vigilantes. The vigilantes then raided the IWW office and stole its files, patrolled the streets, raided picket lines and kidnapped over 100 workers. A mine manager then worked with AFL union officials to examine each abducted worker and identify IWW members from the stolen union records. Between 63 and 67 workers were then identified as particular troublemakers, loaded onto a cattle car and taken 20 miles away before they were to be released. But other towns further down the line also dispatched armed guards to arrest IWW members and force the others to keep travelling further away.
More info about the IWW at that time in our podcast episode 6: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/05/23/wch-e6-the-industrial-workers-of-the-world-in-the-us-1905-1918/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2031600957025044/?type=3