Century of Butte Stories

1912 Gregson Picnic Turns Violent

By John Astle

(Stories celebrating the millennium and featuring stories from Butte's newspapers during the past 100 years.)

The 34th annual Butte Miners Union picnic was held at Gregson Hot Springs on Sunday, August 11, 1912. Over 14,000 from Butte and Anaconda attended, many traveling in open cars on the Butte, Anaconda, & Pacific railroad, enjoying the bright, warm summer sunshine. Those who did not participate in the sporting events could visit friends, swim in the pool, or dance to the music of the Boston & Montana Band. Many brought lunches to picnic in the shaded groves.

Major events of the day were the drilling contest and the tug-of-war. Thousands watched the drilling teams drill into solid blocks of granite from the Welch quarries. The team of Pickens and Page from Globe, Arizona won the first prize of $600 for drilling 43 3/8 inches in the allotted time limit. Second place of $300 went to Bradshaw and Kinsella, of Butte, with a depth of 41 11/16 inches. $500 was added to the winnings of all Montana teams by John D. Ryan, president of the Anaconda Co.

A tug-of-war contest between teams representing the St. Lawrence mine and the Buffalo mine started innocently enough. Most of the St. Lawrence miners were Irish, and the most on the Buffalo miners were Austrian. The Buffalo team started to gain the upper hand and were inching the St. Lawrence miners across the ditch when friends of the St. Lawrence team jumped in to help. A fight started, turning quickly into a free-for-all.

The Buffalo miners were greatly outnumbered and soon they were being pelted with bottles and rocks. One of them ran to the front of the Gregson Hotel and began firing a pistol into the air, causing a panic. He and his team members ran for the hills towards Anaconda with a crowd of over a hundred in hot pursuit. Both sides had guns and began shooting at each other. As they ran, some of the Buffalo miners would turn and shoot, than try to hide behind trees as they neared the woods.

At the height of the chase, a cowboy on horseback from the nearby Rafferty ranch, Bill Gray, came riding by with his dogs. At first he thought it was some sort of foot-race, until he found himself in a cross-fire. He yelled at two of the men, Marko Nikolich and John Garvasevich, who were about 25 yards away, to stop shooting and drop their guns. They ignored him and continued firing, coming dangerously close to Gray and his horse. He jumped from his horse and grabbed his rifle and again told them to quit shooting. Garvasevich said he would stop if Gray would keep the crowd off, but continued shooting. His next shot hit at Gray's feet. Gray raised his rifle, took aim, and shot Garvasevich. As Garvasevich fell he threw his gun to Nikolich who fired two or three shots at the pursuing crowd. Gray then shot Nikolich in the leg.

What followed next could best be described as chaotic bedlam. Most of the Buffalo miners ran and hid at the Rafferty ranch barn and outbuildings with Mr. Rafferty, fearing for the lives of his family, standing armed guard.

Friends of the two victims called for medical help and police and sheriff's deputies came from Anaconda. Nikolich died while being transported to Butte on the BA&P train. A make-shift tourniquet around his leg was too loose to stop the bleeding. The doctors said he died from hemorrhage and if the rope had been tied more tightly the shot would have not been fatal although he might have lost his leg. Garvasevich died the next day at the Murray Hospital.

An inquest, which lasted three days, was held the following week. Witnesses for the Buffalo miners said the Nikolich and Garvasevich were not shooting at Gray but only firing in the air to keep the crowd away. They said the crowd was yelling for Gray to shoot, and after the two were hit the crowd began to cheer.

Gray testified that he fired in self defense, that he was afraid for his life. He was asked at the coroner's hearing if he could have got away without shooting. He said, "Well, they were shooting at me and I had to stop them."

The coroner's jury ruled that, ". . . said gunshots were fired under such circumstances that Bill Gray was justified in fearing that he was in great danger of bodily harm from the deceased."

The Miners Union declared no winner in the tug-of-war contest and the $100 prize money was returned to the union treasury.

Copyright © 2000 John Astle