Boise's Trial of the 20th Century: Big Bill Haywood

Byron Johnson Explains it All For You

By Jill Kuraitis, 5-02-07

	Byron Johnson

Local historian and former Supreme Court Justice Byron Johnson will speak on “The Trial of Big Bill Haywood in Boise, 1907: The Trial of the Century,” at the May 3 Fettuccine Forum, co-sponsored by Boise State University. The free lecture series is in the Rose Room in the historic Union Block, 718 W. Idaho Street in Boise.  Doors open at 5 p.m. and the presentation begins at 5:30 p.m. Free appetizers will be served and fettuccine will be available for $5.

Johnson will explain how Idaho’s 1907 “trial of the century” shaped the future of American law. The eyes of the nation were on Boise when “Big Bill” Haywood was tried for the murder of former Gov. Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg was killed by a bomb just outside his Caldwell home in December 1905, purportedly at the direction of the Western Federation of Miners.

In addition, the Boise Tour Train will take interested Forum attendees on a narrated ride to the Old Pen and to the Idanha Hotel, which housed members of the press during the trial. Cost is $10 per person.

Johnson was justice of the Idaho Supreme Court from 1988-1999, serving as vice chief justice from 1993-1997. A Boise native, he graduated from Boise High School, where he was on the debate team. He went on to earn a history degree and later a law degree from Harvard, where he pitched for the varsity baseball team. A member of the Idaho Legal History Society, Johnson is in charge of efforts to commemorate the centennial of the trial that caught the attention of the world and involved such luminaries as famed Pinkerton detective James McParland and attorneys William Borah and Clarence Darrow.

The forum is co-sponsored by Boise State’s Center for Idaho History and Politics and the Boise City Office of the Mayor. The Fettuccine Forum is an educational forum about the history and cultural life of Boise and the Treasure Valley. Lively and informal, the monthly event invites the public to interact with politicians, artists, historians, activists, advocates and professionals who treasure life in our booming valley and strive to make it a better place.

Additional forum sponsors include the Idaho Legal History Society, Suzi Boyle of American Family Mortgage, Grape Escape, and the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs at Boise State.

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