On August 1, 1917, a union organizer named Frank Little was abducted and brutally murdered in the wild, high-mountain mining town of Butte, Montana. Though the forces behind the death seemed obvious, no one was ever arrested. The mystery around Little's killing has swirled for more than 100 years. On season one of Death in the West, we're reopening the case. Full episodes coming in early 2020.
After two years of interviewing the people closest to the case, visiting the sites and sifting through the archives, season one of Death In The West is (almost) ready. We're excited to announce episodes will start hitting the airwaves on Sept. 29, 2020. Time to subscribe to the show at iTunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
In episode one, we re-open the case of Frank Little, a union organizer whose brutal unsolved murder shocked the nation during the tumultuous summer of 1917. Our team travels to the mining city of Butte, Montana and reconstructs the night of the crime, including using vintage maps to pinpoint the secluded site of Little's murder.
In episode two, the wildest city in the West gives Frank Little a grand funeral, but making the man a martyr leaves his real life largely unexplored. Meanwhile, what do a high-powered corporate attorney, a thuggish police detective and a hook-handed gunman have in common? They've all been implicated in Little's murder over the years.
In episode three, the DITW team visits a vintage, prohibition-era speakeasy and learns how Butte, Montana's massive underground copper deposits transformed it from a mining camp to an urbanized center of wealth and power. In Oklahoma, the Little's family's dream of homesteading hits rock bottom.
In episode four, a brazen bombing kills Idaho's ex-governor, and the ensuing rift in the labor movement puts Frank Little on a collision course with history. Plus, Zach and Leif go 100 feet down a mine called Orphan Girl to see what life was like for Butte, Montana's underground workers.
In episode five, Montana's Copper Kings do battle in court, the state legislature, the press and even the underground tunnels of Butte's mines. Frank Little assumes a leadership role during the IWW's free speech fight in towns across the West.
In episode six, America dives into WWI and conflicts between workers and their bosses reach a fever pitch across the West. The physical toll of multiple beatings begins to weigh on Frank Little as he travels from Arizona to Chicago and finally to Butte, Montana during the final days of his life.
In episode seven, Frank Little arrives in Butte, Montana where, after 13 days of hell-raising speeches and furious organizing, he's murdered by unknown assassins. The Death in the West team invades the sixth floor of the Hennessy Building and reports from what was once the nerve center of the Anaconda Company.
In episode eight, we begin to comb through the many theories surrounding Frank Little's unsolved murder and meet some of the case's most colorful researchers. Plus, after Little's death, the federal government cracks down on the IWW.