Fired Railroad Workers Were Paid in Paper—So Their Lawyer Sued
After the Idaho Washington Northern let go 26 men, it handed them orders for time certificates instead of cash. Newport's courts became the battleground.
On Friday last the Idaho Washington Northern Railroad discharged 26 workmen on one of the extra gangs working out of here, and the timekeeper handed the men orders for the certificates to be presented to the auditor of the road, W. T. Hireen, at headquarters. M. M. Sammons, as attorney for the men, began civil proceedings against the road for the collection of the money, beginning proceedings in the name of each individual, and in addition began four criminal proceedings against the railroad and its timekeeper, charging them with having paid off discharged men with non-negotiable or non-transferable evidences of debt, contrary to the laws of the state. The warrants were secured from Judge D. R. Lusher, and the case will be heard before the judge Friday, Nov. 29. In the meantime the men have spent the past week at local hotels, living on the fat of the land and their expected judgments against the railroad, their board bills having been guaranteed them.
Some of the claims are for as small a sum as $1.50, and the railroad company offered the men cash and authorized the First National Bank to pay them, so as to avoid trouble. But payment was refused on advice of counsel, and the case will be fought out to the end, the company claiming that the order issued the men does not come within the meaning of the law.
On Monday Garret Linden, the timekeeper who issued the order for time certificates, was arrested and taken before Judge Lusher on the criminal charge. He was released on $1500 bail, furnished by C. F. Craig to appear on Friday to answer to the charge. It looks like another attempt to make trouble for a corporation which has been liberal in its treatment of all who have done business with it. In fact, so frequent have been these occurrences that the head officials of the road never know when it is safe to come to Newport, and always have the fear of meeting a process server. For a road that has been hailed as a good thing for Newport and surrounding country they have certainly had a large share of grief handed them, and it is about time to ease up and enter into a little co-operation for the common good.
“Some of the claims are for as small a sum as $1.50, and the railroad company offered the men cash ... But payment was refused on advice of counsel, and the case will be fought out to the end.”
Paying workers in company scrip or paper orders was a common Gilded Age practice that states increasingly outlawed—exactly the fight here over whether a time certificate was lawful wages. The details echo modern arguments over wage theft, misclassification and delayed paychecks, down to the small $1.50 claims that can still decide whether a worker makes rent.
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