Operative #1 quickly made his way into the daily activities of the WFM in Calumet. His cover as a socialist journalist served him well. He also seemed to possibly be an immigrant. Though he does well with English, various reports back to his handlers suggest that English was not his first language.

In this communique on January 6, the operative indicates that the strikers were not enamored with Michigan's Governor Woodbridge N. Ferris. His report also indicates that he was being followed by 2 men, but who were they working for? Could be men from the WFM checking up on this "journalist," but equally possible is that these were 2 C&H company men checking up on C&H's investment in a labor spy. As we write in Community in Conflict, in the aftermath of the terrible events at Italian Hall, intrigue in the area was at an all-time high, especially for the man who was tasked with finding the person who cried fire in Italian Hall. Suspicion on all sides, was inescapable. 

Regarding the scene at the time; from Community in Conflict:

"This investigator hired by C&H through Petermann, “Operative #1,” assumed
the guise of a socialist journalist hailing from Denver. From his written reports, there
are small but noticeable variations in English attributed to Germanic speakers; the
operative was likely a German immigrant or a second-generation German American
whose parents spoke German in the home. Denver was also the headquarters of the
WFM, and with that set of credentials, Operative #1 had almost complete access
to union aff airs in Calumet. His first day of “work” was likely January 5, 1914, about
two weeks after the terrible events at Italian Hall. Like any other fellow starting a
new job, he was nervous, but he also had good reason to be downright terrified.
His first contact with the union was a tense one: 'Today in the afternoon, I went to
the ‘Union Hall’ . . . every man looked at me suspiciously. . . . Later on a fellow came
to me asking if I belonged to that Union. I said, ‘No, I am a correspondent for two
Socialist newspapers in Denver, Colo.’ and showed him my card.'"

"Intrigue was high. If caught in his ruse, who knows what the union men would
have done to the operative. Th e operative’s reports back to his handler, Captain
Foster, read like some of the best cloak-and-dagger fiction ever imagined, but one
indisputable fact remained: he was in Calumet to detect, discover, and identify the
man who yelled “Fire!” at Italian Hall. Captain Foster’s description of Operative #1’s
job in relation to Italian Hall was explicit: 'He is making his headquarters around
union headquarters and McNally’s office and is working along the lines laid down by
me to find one responsible for the panic Christmas eve.' This was the grim reality
of his subterfuge.

Operative 1 in Calumet

There were a number of spies or as the mining companies termed them, "Operatives," in the Copper Country during the strike. After the fateful events of the Italian Hall, one operative, appropriately named Operative 1, was sent to Calumet with the express mission, "Find the one responsible for Italian Hall." Operative 1, who was posing as a journalist from Denver working for a socialist newspaper, quickly gained access to the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and was even invited to their meetings. His letters back to his handlers give an intimate portrait of the WFM while they were attempting to pick up the pieces after the tragic events at Italian Hall.

This letter, dated January 5, 1914, gives readers an idea of how this operative skillfully inserted himself into the business of the union in this critical time. Not much is known regarding this labor spy and his private life, but from his dastardly work infiltrating the union this much is certain: he was really good at his work!

More from Operative 1 to come...

Spies, Spies, Spies

We'll shift our focus now to December of 1913. Some of the most unique material in Community in Conflict comes from research into spy reports from this period of the strike. There were a number of spies in the Copper Country during the strike and the Calumet and Hecla Mining Company collection of archival materials at the Copper Country Historical Collections (Michigan Tech) has a rich account of their activities during the Strike.

The following document, dated Dec. 22, 1913, discusses the deployment of a female agent being deployed in the Calumet area. The spy or "Operative" is from the Foster's Detective Agency and the letter writer, Walter Drew (not 100% sure on the name), is sending this letter from New York to the Calumet offices of C&H attorney A.E. Petermann. Drew writes in glowing terms regarding the female spy, noting that she is much smarter than Foster himself.

While hiring a female labor spy was perhaps really interesting in-and-of-itself, this spy's reason for being Calumet must be considered in a critical manner. This document is incredibly interesting for what it could imply. In the first paragraph, last sentence, the document's author writes, "...and also that she can rest assured that whatever she accomplishes is for the real and best interests of the miners themselves, that no one will be injured by whatever she does except a group of criminal and lawless labor agitators."

Was this writer perhaps implying that some type of action against the strikers was about to happen? Rather an ominous thought given that the Italian Hall tragedy happened just days later. The letter becomes more ominous when we find that after the Italian Hall tragedy this labor spy was put in charge of a clothing and supplies drive for the families of those affected by events at Italian Hall.

More on this operative later, but for now a digital copy of the original letter is below: