Baltic Mining Co. v. Houghton Circuit Judge

144 N.W. 209, 177 Mich. 632, 1913 Mich. LEXIS 754
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 10, 1913
DocketCalendar No. 25,905
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 144 N.W. 209 (Baltic Mining Co. v. Houghton Circuit Judge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baltic Mining Co. v. Houghton Circuit Judge, 144 N.W. 209, 177 Mich. 632, 1913 Mich. LEXIS 754 (Mich. 1913).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

On October 7, 1913, relators filed in this court their petition for a mandamus to the circuit judge of Houghton county directing him to set aside and vacate an order made September 29, 1913, dissolving a preliminary writ of injunction previously granted by him and issued from his court restraining certain acts of violence and intimidation charged in the bill of complaint; also asking in said petition that pending these proceedings this, court suspend such order of dissolution and continue said injunction in force. On October 8, 1913, an order to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not issue was granted, returnable November 4th ensuing, and the order of the lower court dissolving said injunction was stayed and suspended pendente lite, with the provision that peaceable meeting and parading be not restrained.

The bill of complaint, pursuant to which the temporary injunction in question issued, was filed by re[635]*635lators in Houghton county against the Western Federation of Miners, a voluntary, unincorporated society known as a labor union, its district and local unions, their officers and members. Said bill, after stating the organization and situation of the parties and averring that a general strike was called and inaugurated by defendants in the copper mining district of Lake Superior, on July 23, 1913; that upward of 4,000 miners in complainants’ employ not allied with defendants refused to participate in the strike, and endeavored to continue at work; that defendants by threats and violence interfered with and .drove them from their work, stopped the pumps at the mines, causing the latter to partially fill with water, and thus forcing, suspension of work in many places; that a condition of violence and lawlessness developed in the district where the strike prevailed beyond the power of the civil authorities to control, resulting in the governor of the State sending there the entire military force of the Commonwealth to preserve order, and protect persons and property, but, nevertheless, the acts of violence, disorder, and intimidation of those desirous of work continued — further charges, amongst other things—

“That from the day of the inception of the said strike the said defendants * * * did unlawfully combine and conspire together * * * with the illegal intent and unlawful purpose and by illegal and unlawful means, to prevent the employees of your orators, and of each of them from working at the mines and other operations of your orators, * * * and to force the cessation of all operations of your orators,” * * • * and * * * “the said defendants, members of said federation, at the several mines and premises of your orators and in the vicinity or neighborhood thereof, have assaulted and beaten many of the employees of your orators in cases far too numerous to mention or set forth, and that such assaults and beatings, threats of bodily harm, intimidations, violence, and riotous conduct continue daily [636]*636to the time of the filing of this bill” * * * and that members of the said federation “have systematically and do now systematically, unlawfully by threats, intimidations, force, violence, assaults, picketing, threatening parades, riotous and threatening gatherings in large numbers, and by other unlawful means, interfere with and molest and disturb, without authority of law, the mechanics and laborers who are employees of your orators in the quiet and peaceable pursuit of their respective lawful avocations, contrary to the statute in such case made and provided;” * * * and “that in such furtherance of said unlawful combination and conspiracy, the said defendants * * * from day to day, with great force and violence, do attack various of the employees of your orators and do throw rocks and stonés and other missiles at them, and do gather in threatening numbers, and with threats of violence and of injury to the persons of said employees and their families, about the dwellings and residences of said employees, and do threaten violence and injury to said employees and their families and destruction of their homes, unless they, the said employees, refrain and desist from working for your orators. And they, the said defendants, members of said federation, with their wives and others conspiring with them, do gather in numbers on and along the highways and other ways by which said employees pass to and from their work, and do threaten and attempt to intimidate the said employees, and in instances too numerous to mention or specifically set forth, have attacked, assaulted, and beaten the employees of your orators and endeavored from day to day to forcibly and by violence and by threats and intimidations to prevent the employees of your orators from going to their work;” * * * “have in large numbers picketed the localities of the homes and residences of the said employees of your orators, and also the highways and other ways by which they pass to and from their work, and in many instances too numerous to mention, have done this with their wives and other women of their families, and have attacked and assaulted the said employees with brooms dipped in filth of the worst description, and have thrown such filth at the said employees, and thereby, and by other means of violence, have from [637]*637day to day and continuously endeavored forcibly to prevent the said employees from working for your orators; * * * that the said illegal acts and doings of the said defendants still continue from day to day, and that the said defendants threaten and intend to continue the same, whereby your orators aver that they and each of them are from day to day subject to the same and to the great and irreparable damage to their respective properties and business, as well as to the great financial losses resulting therefrom, and that the said defendants are wholly financially irresponsible, and could not in any degree respond' to your orators or either or any of them in damages.”

In conclusión, an injunction to restrain such alleged unlawful acts is asked for in a proper prayer for relief.

The bill is sworn to by seven officers and employees of complainants who depose and say that they are authorized to sign and verify said bill; that they know the contents thereof, and that the same and the several allegations thereof are true of their own knowledge, “except as to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to such matters they believe them to be true.” In that connection it is to be noted that the charges just quoted from the bill, and others of like import, are stated positively, without qualification, and not upon information and belief.

Defendants, through counsel, entered their appearance in said suit, and were served with a copy of the bill. They filed no answer, but moved the court to dissolve the injunction as improvidently issued because the allegations in complainants’ bill are too general in their nature, not properly verified, and not supported by any showing on which a temporary injunction should or could have been granted. No contrary showing was made. The motion was stated to be “based upon the alleged insufficiency of the bill,” under which it was urged and argued that the court had no power to grant an injunction. The court [638]*638adopted this view and dissolved the injunction in toto, giving complainants leave to make further application supported by affidavits on not less than 10 days’ notice to defendants, saying in his opinion;

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Stone Age Properties LLC v. 800 Golf Drive LLC
Michigan Court of Appeals, 2024
Michigan State Employees Ass'n v. Department of Mental Health
328 N.W.2d 11 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1982)
Hanson v. Hall
279 N.W. 227 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1938)
Gleichman v. Wayne Circuit Judge
191 N.W. 3 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1922)
Schwartz v. Cigar Makers International Union
189 N.W. 55 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1922)
Detroit United Railway v. Wayne Circuit Judge
180 N.W. 488 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1920)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 N.W. 209, 177 Mich. 632, 1913 Mich. LEXIS 754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baltic-mining-co-v-houghton-circuit-judge-mich-1913.