Butte, Montana, was no stranger to violence in the early 1900s. It was a hard mining city, crowded with saloons, laborers, gamblers, detectives, and men who lived close to the edge of the law.
But on a May night in 1907, the city came dangerously close to open bloodshed after the shooting death of Harry Cole, a man already suspected in several serious crimes.
Cole had been arrested on forgery charges and was also believed by officers to know something about the recent hold-up of the North Coast Limited, a Northern Pacific train robbery in which Engineer Frank Clow had been murdered and Fireman Thomas Sullivan wounded.
While being questioned at the police station, Cole reportedly admitted he knew about the train robbery, then suddenly bolted from the room and tried to escape down an alley.
Patrol Driver Charles Jackson fired at the fleeing man, striking him in the back and killing him almost instantly.
What happened next turned a police shooting into a citywide crisis. Word spread through Butte that Detective McGarvey, the officer who had arrested Cole, had shot down an innocent drunken man. Within moments, thousands gathered in the streets. Cole’s brothers helped lead the crowd, and the cry went up to hang McGarvey.
The mob surged toward the county jail, searched for the detective, seized a rope, and later forced its way into a gun store in search of weapons.
Officers stood with revolvers and rifles ready, knowing that any attempt to storm the jail or police station could end in a massacre.
Butte Mob Wildly Seeks to Avenge Death of Bad Man Wanted on Several Charges
BUTTE, Montana. — Patrol Driver Charles Jackson tonight shot and killed Harry Cole while the latter was attempting to escape, and an incensed mob of five thousand, led by the brothers of Cole, made an ineffectual attempt to lynch Detective McGarvey, the crowd laboring under the impression that it was that officer who had done the shooting.
Cole had been arrested by McGarvey on forgery charges and was suspected of being one of the two bandits who several days ago held up the North Coast Limited on the Northern Pacific at Welch’s spur, murdering Engineer Frank Clow and wounding Fireman Thomas Sullivan.
Cole is a brother of George Cole, who is now serving a 14-year sentence in Deer Lodge Penitentiary, for the robbery of the Burlington Flyer near this city two years ago. Harry Cole has been under surveillance of the officers since the hold-up of the North Coast Limited and this evening was taken into custody by the officers.
While he was being sweated by the police, Cole, it is stated, definitely said that he knew all about the hold-up of the limited and made a dash from the room and ran down an alley leading from the police station. An officer started for Cole, but tripped over the threshold of the door and fell. McGarvey followed, and fell over the other policeman. Patrol Driver Jackson, seeing that Cole was about to escape, fired and hit the fleeing man in the back, killing him almost instantly.
An immense crows immediately gathered and the impression gaining around that McGarvey had killed an innocent drunken man, and the cry went up, “Hang McGarvey.”
Timothy Cole and another brother and cousin of the dead man tool the leadership of the mob and with more than 2,000 men, hastened to the county jail, where they thought McGarvey was hiding. They attempted to force their way through the line of officers with drawn guns. Inside the jail were more officers armed with rifles.
The mob secured a long rope from a derrick used in the construction of a building near by, and a start was made to down the officers. At this point, Deputy Sheriff Jack Wyman stopped the leaders of the mob and told them that McGarvey had left the jail and that they were welcome to search the building. This was done, no trace of the detective being found.
Mounting the steps in front of the court house Timothy made an impassioned extortion to the crowd to avenge the death of his brother, who, he declared, had been shot down by McGarvey in cold blood. As the dead man had worked in the mines and many of the miners knew him personally, there were loud cried or approval with shouts of “Hang him to a pole” and “shoot him.”
Cole addressed the mob until he became so hoarse he could talk hardly above a whisper and telling the mob to follow, made his way to the police station with a rapidly augmenting crowd following him. The mob soon reached at least 5,000 in number, packing the streets for two blocks about the station.
With revolvers drawn, the officers prevented the mob from searching the police station, and the crowd then made its way to the gun store of Carl Engle on West Park Street, and despite the attempts of the police to guard the store, forced their way into that place and secured a number of shot guns, but for some reason, apparently were unable to locate the ammunition stores.
The mob leaders declared, however, they would have the life of the slayer of Cole and if an attempt is made to raid the city or county jails, blood will be spilled judging from the temper of the officers.
Cole, it is stated, had also been suspected of robbing the trunk of his roommate of two checks, which it is alleged, he cashed and the officers wanted him for his act.
Source: Bismarck Daily Tribune. Bismarck, N.D. May 11, 1907.
