HAYWOOD, WILLIAM DUDLEY
Labor leader Bill Haywood was regarded as a radical in the growing labor movement in the
United States. A public figure throughout most of his life, Haywood was the central figure in two famous court cases.
Haywood was born in 1869 in Salt Lake City, Utah. In 1896, Haywood, a coal miner,
became an active participant in the Western Federation of Miners. He rapidly rose to prominence in the federation, securing offices of leadership by 1904. His tactics were militant in nature, as was evidenced by the violence of the Cripple Creek strike that occurred in Colorado in 1904.
In 1905, former Idaho Governor Frank Ste-
unenberg was killed by an explosion caused by a
bomb hidden in his home by Harry Orchard.
Orchard admitted his guilt and implicated three
leaders of the Western Federation of Miners:
President Charles H.Moyer, Secretary-Treasurer
Haywood, and retired leader George A. Petti-
bone. These men were abducted from Denver
and taken to Boise, Idaho, to stand trial. The
Haywood-Moyer-Pettibone case took on
national significance for two reasons: (1) it
involved a radical labor organization, and (2)
eminent attorney CLARENCE DARROW acted as
defense attorney. The three men were subse-
quently acquitted (Pettibone v. Nichols, 203 U.S.
192, 27 S. Ct. 111, 51 L. Ed. 148 [1906]).
The INDUSTRIAL WORKERS OF THE WORLD
(IWW) was established in 1905, and Haywood
was the founder and director of this labor
organization. He was a proponent of group
action and class struggle, and he abhorred com-
promise. He continued to use violence in his
