Frank Ganahl

WHAT WAS INTENDED TO BE a peaceful visit to the Elftman Lease at Clifford, forty-five miles east of Tonopah, by a party of unarmed union miners ended in bloodshed when a dispute over wages culminated in gunfire.

On January 27, 1906, Frank Ganahl, a union miner, and George Cole, president of the local miners’ union at Clifford and a member of the Nevada State Legislature, proceeded to the Elftman lease in response to reports that Max Elftman, the lessee, was not paying the established wage scale, which fixed compensation at $4.50 per day for top men and $5 per day for underground miners.

Cole, Ganahl, and Walter Fancher, composing a committee of the union, approached an Italian laborer who was then at work and inquired as to the wages he was receiving. The man replied that he was being paid $5 per day. He was informed that if this statement were true, it was satisfactory, but that if he were receiving less, he would be regarded as a “scab.”

The three committeemen were unarmed and dressed only in their shirt sleeves, Ganahl entertaining no apprehension of trouble and at the time was carrying a kitten in his arms. Upon the conclusion of their conversation with the laborer, who insisted he was being paid union wages, Elftman himself called out, “What is your definition of a scab?” Cole replied by denouncing all scabs, whereupon Elftman retorted by cursing all union men. As he flung back this insult, Elftman attempted to strike Cole, but Ganahl seized him about the waist and restrained him.

John Hennessy, a non-union man who was not employed at the Elftman property, stood nearby observing the altercation. As the exchange grew more heated, Hennessy suddenly drew a revolver and fired, the bullet striking Ganahl in the back. He then discharged a second shot at Cole, the bullet passing harmlessly through the latter’s hat. Cole thereupon attempted to seize Hennessy and disarm him, but was shot in the hand during the struggle. Hennessy was finally overpowered by a number of miners and relieved of his weapon as he was in the act of firing a fourth shot.

Both Hennessy and Elftman were subsequently jailed, with Elftman, who was being charged as an accessory to the crime, posting bail immediately. Hennessy, however, was held without bail in the Nye County jail in Tonopah.

The bullet fired at Frank Ganahl passed through his right lung and exited near the left nipple. He and Cole were placed in a wagon and taken to the Miners’ Hospital at Tonopah, where Ganahl lingered for four days before succumbing to pneumonia at 3 a.m. on January 31, 1906. Ganahl was but twenty-four years of age and was the son of Judge Ganahl of Spokane, Washington, and a nephew of Judge E. P. McDaniel of Marysville, California. His death aroused intense feeling throughout the district, with union men declaring their intention to return to work armed and vowing to organize every mine in the Clifford section.

John Hennessy was placed on trial for the murder of Frank Ganahl, the prosecution being conducted by Nye County District Attorney W. B. Pittman. The defense was entrusted to Judge J. F. O’Brien, the case marking his first appearance in the Tonopah courts. Judge Peter Breen, before whom the proceedings were held, overruled the defense upon nearly every point raised during the trial. Hennessy was thereupon found guilty of manslaughter with the jury recommending he be given the minimum sentence under the law. He was subsequently sentenced to five years, six months in the state prison at Carson City.

An appeal was taken to the Nevada Supreme Court, which, one year later, handed down a sweeping reversal of every ruling made by Judge Breen. Under the decision of the high court, Hennessy could no longer be tried for murder, manslaughter being the gravest offense for which he might be prosecuted. As this was a bailable charge, he was released within a few days.

In a letter dated March 3, 1906, and addressed to Judge Sawle, the president of the Order of Eagles—a fraternal organization of which Frank was a member—his mother wrote: “My Dear Sir: Through you, allow me to express to you and each member of your order my profound thanks for your great kindness to your brother, Frank Ganahl, my son, in his last moments in Tonopah. His dreadful murder has filled my soul with anguish and I feel that such a dastardly deed will not go unpunished and that you, as an order, will see to it that justice is done this memory of your brother. Frank Ganahl died as he lived, worthy of his father’s memory, and my great mother’s love, a brave man, defending a principle and a friend’s life. He was working so hard to assist me and his sick brother, and it is so cruel and so hard to be brave, but as the mother of such a son I must take up my cross and say, ‘Thy will be done.’ Hoping success may attend your order, I am, respectfully yours, Mrs. Mary E. Ganahl.”