Fictional characters

  • Aino, a Finnish miner.
  • Gene Baker, sheriff’s deputy.
  • Milo Blatnik, boarder in the Kovich boarding house.
  • Toivo Eskola, miner.
  • Susan Fletcher, sporting girl at Torelli’s Boarding House.
  • Ina, Maria, Leppe and Briana, sporting girls at Torelli’s Boarding House.
  • Moose Jackson, the bouncer at Torelli’s.
  • Old Joe, boarder in the Kovich boarding house.
  • Quincy Johnson, reporter, Duluth Labor News.
  • Johan Koski, strike committee member.
  • Anton Kovich, Katka’s uncle, who gives her a place to live.
  • Katka Kovich, a Slovenian immigrant who ends up living on the Iron Range in Minnesota.
  • Lily Kovich, Anton’s wife.
  • Andre Kristeva, a Bulgarian clerk for the mining company and strike committee member.
  • Andy Lamppi, soda pop peddler.
  • Harris Maki, heavy equipment operator at the mine and striker.
  • John Logan, a deputy
  • Avi Nurmi, wife of Hans Nurmi.
  • Hans Nurmi, victim of a beating and shooting by the sheriff’s men.
  • Dr. Payne, a doctor used by the miners.
  • Eli Sandinski, a deputy.
  • Paul Schmidt, International Workers of the World (IWW) organizer who accompanies Katka to America.
  • Adeline Sherek, the midwife.
  • Mr. Augustine Stone, an owner of the Oliver Mining Company.
  • Sheriff Archibald Turner, the town sheriff.
  • William Jarvi, member of the Finnish Socialist Hall.
  • Leo, Ana and Danko Zalar, immigrants who gave Milo Blatnik a place to live when he first arrived.
  • Mrs. Zalinsky, an immigrant mother who shares space in steerage with Katka.
  • Grete, Mrs. Zalinsky’s daughter.
  • Samo Zupitz, a miner.

 

Historical figures of the era, who appear in fictionalized roles

  •  
  • Arthur Boose, IWW organizer.
  •  
  • Gov. Joseph Burnquist, governor of Minnesota.
  • Eugene Debs, Socialist presidential candidate and labor leader.
  • Joseph Ettor, IWW organizer.
  • Emma Goldman, anarchist leader.
  • Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, IWW leader, suffragette and later chair of the Communist Party USA.
  • James “Joe” Gilday, IWW organizer.
  • Warren H. Greene, prosecuting attorney.
  • Dr. Andrea Hall, Iron Range doctor.
  • Big Bill Haywood, founding member of the IWW.
  • Arthur Le Sueur, defense attorney.
  • Frank Little, French-speaking Ojibwe IWW leader.
  • Sam Scarlett, IWW organizer.
  • Carlo Tresca, IWW organizer and anarchist.