Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 26, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – Young Gustav Yeskenski Tells of Soldier’s Brutality
From the Chicago Day Book of February 25, 1914:
Trinidad, Col., Feb.-25. A story told by a little child of the unthinkable, unprintable cruelty of soldiers wearing the uniform of the state of Colorado, brought horror into the faces of the congressmen who are investigating Colorado’s coal strike.
Gustav Yeskenski, 11, stammering in awe of the big men from Washington, gave in broken words the most impressive testimony the committee has heard.
The boy told how a citizen-soldier came on Feb. 10 to his home near Suffield.
Gustav’s father was crippled in a coal mine explosion and is helpless. His mother took in washing until she had saved money to buy a cow. She started a milk route and saved $200, with which she planned to buy a horse and wagon. One day she and her husband came to Trinidad.
While they were away from home the militiamen came.
[Little Gustav told the committee:]
There were two soldiers. One was a captain. He was so drunk that he just lay there in their buggy and never moved.
The other was not so drunk, and he came in our house where me and Mary and Elizabeth and the baby was. He said he was looking for guns, so he took my little twenty-two rifle what my mama gived me.
Then he begins breaking open my mama’s trunk with an axe, yes ma’am, that’s what he done. And I just cried and said for him please not to do that because my mama would whip me, sure, and he just kept on tearing the clothes out of that trunk.
Then I cried more, and all the little kids cried, yes ma’am, we cried hard. And that soldier got a mads at us and we got a ‘fraids on him.
And he kicked my little baby brother, what’s a year and a half old, and knocked him down on the floor and kicked him again. And he hit my little, sister Mary-7-with his gun, and he cut her face all up. And he kicked me, too, here in the side, and he hit my other sister, Elizabeth. She’s 9, yes ma’am.
And he just went on taking clothes out of my mama’s trunk, and pretty soon he found her coat what had her pocketbook in it and he sees my mama’s $200.
Then he took a bottle of whisky out of his pants’ pocket and stuffed that money down in there and then put the whisky back.
And I got an awful ‘fraid and I said “don’t take my mama’s money or she’ll whip me, sure,” and he called me a bad name and kicked me some more. And he went to the kitchen and found some eggs, and some he ate and the rest he threw down on the floor with the dish. Yes, ma’am, he threw the eggs all over my mama’s floor.
After kicking and beating the innocent children, according to little Gustav’s story, the soldier proceeded to still worse treatment, so awful that it is unprintable.
Complaints were made, after the visit of the soldiers, to Gen. Chase, commander of Colorado’s state troops. Chase made his usual indefinite promise to “investigate.”
But after the committee had been shocked by the fiendish story, Chase was stirred to new activity. There actually was prospect that the man responsible for one of the many outrages which have sickened the people of the strike zone might be arrested and punished.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday February 25, 1914 Margaret Fazekas Testifies Before House Subcommittee
Tuesday February 24, 1914 – Hancock, Michigan
Although only 14 years old, Margaret Fazekas appeared before the Congressional Investigating Committee this morning and held her own throughout the long interrogation. Margaret is the young girl who was shot in the back of the head last September as she performed her picket duty:
MARGARET FAZEKAS, a witness, sworn, testified on examination as follows: Mr. HILTON [Attorney for the Miners]. How old are you? The Witness. I was 14 in August. Mr. HILTON. Where do you live? The Witness. Wolverine. Mr. HILTON. Do you remember the 1st day of September last and what happened on that day? The Witness. Yes, sir. _ , Mr. HILTON. Tell what happened on the 1st day of September. The Witness. September 1 I went out on picket duty with the other women. We were marching back and forth on the streets, and there was about 13 deputies, and there was some more deputies on the other side to those that were close to us. There were about 13, and they were telling us—we weren’t doing any harm at all—they told us to go home for breakfast, and we said we had just as much— we can stay there just as well as they can. We weren’t doing any thing at all. Some of the ladies told them to go for breakfast, and then they turned back, and we thought they were going home for breakfast. But when they turned back toward us they had the revolvers in their hands, and they started shooting, and as soon as I saw the revolvers I turned back and started to run, and so I don’t know anything afterwards. Mr. HILTON. Were you shot? The Witness. Yes, sir. Mr. HILTON. Show the committee where you were shot. (The witness removed her hat and indicated to the committee the location of the wound on the side of her head.) The Witness. My hair is on top so it doesn’t show. The CHAIRMAN [Congressman Taylor]. Is it in the back of the head, just behind the left ear? The Witness. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Did the bullet enter your brain? The Witness. I don’t know. Dr. Roach said some of my brain came out, but he put it back in again, and he took a bone out of it—a small bone. Mr. HILTON. How long were you in the hospital? The Witness. Four weeks and a half. Mr. HILTON. Not expected to live? The Witness. No, sir; nobody expected it.
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday February 24, 1914 Hancock, Michigan – Deputized Company Gunthugs Brutalize Women
From the Detroit Evening Times of February 17, 1914:
From the Duluth Labor World of February 21, 1914:
BERGER TESTIFIES AT STRIKE INQUIRY ———- Says Socialist Party Had Nothing to Do With Strike Simply Contributed Money ———-
Victor Berger appeared before the congressional committee at Hancock [Michigan] Tuesday to tell what he knew about the copper strike. Mr. Berger appeared as a committee witness. He was not called by the Western Federation of Miners. He declared the Socialist party had nothing to do with calling the strike and nothing to do with fomenting it. “When the strikers got hard up” he said, “the Socialists gave them financial aid up to $25,000 in money and a greater quantity of clothing.”
Mr. Berger said the national flag of the Socialists was the Star Spangled Banner, but “the red flag is our international flag-the red flag of brotherhood.”
Women Were Assaulted.
The committee listened to a large number of women witnesses during the week. One woman said she was hit in the back by a rock thrown by a gunman. She was afterwards arrested and was taken to jail in an automobile carrying her 4-months-old baby with her. The baby died from exposure from the cold a few days later. She has not been able to find out why she was arrested…..
The woman whose baby died was Margaret Cibacca. Her testimony, describing how she was taken into custody along with her children and then dumped out into the cold, is disturbing. Mrs. Cibacca the wife of a striking copper miner, was at home with her five children, ages 3 months to six years, when the deputies came pounding at her door. They told her that they wanted her to come to the mining office to visit a sick woman.
She gathered up her five children and went with them in their automobile to the mining office of the Baltic Mine. They forced her to leave the three older children outside in the cold with only the six-year-old to watch them. The two littlest ones, they allowed her to take inside. Once they had her in the office, they locked the door. She was alone in there with three deputies. There was no sick woman.
She asked why she was there, what she had done, and they laughed at her and beat her, even as she held her little children. She begged them to let her go home and feed her children, and they laughed at her again and began to beat her with a club on her side and on her back as she attempted to ward off the blows and protect her tiny children. The bruises can still be seen on her back.
Finally, they forced her with her children into the automobile for the drive to Houghton to see Justice Little. On the way they told her that she would be locked up for six months. Justice Little questioned her for about a half hour and then told her she was free to go, but go where? There was no ride back to Baltic, eight miles away, the deputies were gone, and she had no money.
At last, her husband was able to come for her. He brought blankets for the children who were cold to the bone, especially the three-month-old baby, from waiting outside for their father. They were too late for the train back to Baltic, and the striking miner was forced to spend his meager strike benefit on a rented automobile to take his tired, hungry, and terrified family home.
The baby came down deathly ill the next day, and died shortly thereafter.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday February 22, 1914 Houghton, Michigan – Seeberville Gunthugs Found Guilty of Manslaughter
From the Michigan Miners’ Bulletin of February 18, 1914 -Jury Finds Waddell Men Guilty of Seeberville Slaying:
A jury in the strike zone of Michigan has found three Waddell men and a deputy sheriff guilty of manslaughter in the death of Steve Putrich. This report is from the latest edition of the Miners’ Bulletin:
The Milwaukee Leader February 16, 1914
FOUND GUILTY
———-
Arthur Davis, William Groff and James Cooper, Waddell gunmen and Ed Polkinghorne, a deputy sheriff were found guilty of manslaughter after a trial lasting two weeks in the circuit court. The case was turned over to the jury Saturday at 4 o’clock and after twenty hours deliberation the above verdict was reached. In its verdict Polkinghorne was recommended to the mercy of the court, probably on account of his being a deputy sheriff. Harry James, another deputy sheriff, who stood trial along with the others was not considered in the verdict in compliance with the instructions of Judge Flannigan to the jury. James, it was brought out by the testimony, did not take any part in the shooting but was merely in company with the others, he not firing a shot.
When the verdict was read in court Monday morning, Attorney Galbraith for the defense addressed the court, stating that he had three motions to make as follows,-First, that the court set aside the verdict and dismiss the respondents at the bar; Second, that the court set aside the verdict and order a new trial; Third, that a stay of sentence be granted pending a bill of exceptions. In a lengthy statement and detailed explanation Judge Flannigan denied the motions. Attorney Nichols for the people then moved that sentence be passed on the prisoners and four defendants were requested to stand up.
Before passing sentence Judge Flannigan stated that passing sentence on prisoners was one of the most unpleasant and harder duties the court had to perform during his term on the bench. The court then sentence Cooper, Groff, Davis and Polkinghorne to hard labor at the branch prison at Marquette for not more than 15 years, and not less than 7 and 1/2 years. The prisoners appeared very much downcast when they heard their doom. It is believed they looked for an acquittal or a very light sentence, and were greatly disappointed.
The prisoners were then taken to jail to await transfer to the penitentiary. Thomas Raleigh one of the accused men who was out on bonds of $10,000 left the country about one month ago forfeiting his bonds. If caught he will probably be given the maximum sentence.
The crime for which these men were convicted was the murder of Steve Putrich, a striker, on August 14th last at Seeberville, a small mining camp near Houghton [where] an altercation occurred in which the deputies drew their guns shooting [a boarding] house full of holes, killing Steve Putrich and Louis Tijan, two absolutely innocent men and injuring several others who were in the house.
[Newsclip, paragraph breaks and emphasis added]
The Judge made this statement before imposing his sentence:
I have tried to find mitigation if it existed. I have made an effort to find something, somewhere, in mitigation for your act. I know too that the jury sat through this trial hoping that from the lips of some witness might fall something that would put at least a drop of humanity into that awful transaction.
It is not right for a circuit judge to scold convicted men when passing sentence and I do not want to be looked upon as doing so. I have tried to give you boys a fair trial. It was impossible for it to be fairer. If the jury had found your plea of self defense true in this case it would have been a travesty of justice.
[Emphasis added]
On Tuesday, the convicted murderers were taken to the train station and shipped off to serve their sentences. The Daily Mining Gazette reported on that event:
NOT A DRY EYE AS CONVICTED MEN LEAVE FOR PRISON.
The Gazette further reported that a huge crowd of well-wishers gathered at the station to witness these fine but “luckless young men” being deported from Michigan’s copper country.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 21, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – Sarah Slator, Age 16, Kicked, Foot Smashed, Jailed
Miss Sarah Slator appeared before the Congressional Investigating Committee February 20th. She is the 16-year-old girl who was kicked in the breast and the shoulder by General Chase just before the brave old soldier order his troops to “Ride Down The Women,” thereby causing the so-called “Mother Jones Riot.” Miss Slator gives a vivid description of the events of that day and relates how she held her own against soldiers on horseback armed with swords, rifle butts and bayonets:
Sarah Slator, a witness produced and sworn before the committee, on oath testified as follows:
Examination by Mr. Brewster [Attorney for the Miners]:
Q. Your name is Sarah Slator ? — A. Yes.
Q. You spell your name S-l-a-y-t-o-r ? — A. S-l-a-t-o-r.
Q. S-l-a-t-o-r?— A. S-l-a-t-o-r.
Q. Where do you live, Miss Slator? — A. At — on 818 East Main
Q. In what city? — A. Trinidad.
Q. Colorado? — A. Colorado; yes, sir.
Q. How old are you? — A. I am 16.
Q. Were you born in Trinidad ? — A. Yes, air.
Q. Is your father living? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. What do you do ? — A. I attend school.
Q. And you have been to school this morning ? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Just got in ? —A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, do you remember the parade A. Yes, sir. Q. The women’s parade? -A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you see a man known as Gen. Chase on that day? — A. Yes,
Q. Now, begin and tell in your own way where you were when you first saw Gen. Chase, and what happened to you thereafter ?- A. Well, I was in front of Dr. Espey’s place when I first — – —
Q. Dr. Espey’s place is on the corner of what street ? — A. Of Main – and Walnut.
Q. Main and Walnut? As related to the post office, where is it? — A. It is a block east of the post office.
Q. A block east of the post office. That is, this way from the post office? — A. That way [pointing apparently north].
Q. Oh, Espey’s place is beyond the post office? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. I see. Now, tell where you were standing and what happened? — A. I was standing in the middle of the car tracks this side of Espey’s when I first saw Gen. Chase, and he was on horseback: and there was also another officer on horseback, and they were running through the ranks backward and forward, and trying to make the women return toward West Main; and I was standing alone watching the women go ; and then Gen. Chase came up on horseback, and he rushed right by me on his horse, and he said, “Get back there,” and I was somewhat dazed by the horse running up against me, and I stood there, and he kicked me and told me to get back.
Q. Now, where did he kick you? — A. He kicked — his foot went right up this way on me [indicating breast].
Q. Well, go on. — A. And then he told me to go back ; and then the other officer came to him to help him to make me go back. Q. Wait a minute. It needed two — was this Gen. Chase that you speak of a small man? — A. No, sir.
Q. Is he a pretty large man? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. And it needed another officer to help him — to make you get back? — A. Evidently; because the other officer came up to him.
Q. Well, what happened then ?— A. Well, then a good number of women had passed, and they gave a sort, of a triumphant yell as they passed ; so both the officers turned to attend to the other women, and got past; and then Gen. Chase’s horse became frightened at some thing — I don’t know what it was — and it ran into a horse and buggy that was there, and he fell off the horse.
Q. That is, Gen. Chase fell off the horse ? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Go ahead. — A. And he had been treating us so mean that everybody screamed and laughed at him, and that made him angry; and he gave the order that they were to “ride down the women.”
Q. What, precisely, were his words? — A. Well, I didn’t hear all of his order, but I heard that — “Ride down the women,” and “Make them get back.” So then the cavalry that were stationed in front of Maoluff’s place — that is a little bit beyond Walnut Street — they commenced to try to get the women to return to Main Street, or to Commercial Street.
Q. By the way, how did you know this was Gen. Chase ? — A. Well, I didn’t
Q. Describe him? — A. I didn’t know him then, but I met him afterwards.
Mr Brewster: Describe him also.
Chairman Foster [U. S. Representative, Chairman of Committee]: She needn’t do that.
Q. You met him afterwards ? — A. Yes, sir. So they then came up, and then when they started in I went — stepped on the sidewalk then — I had been in the middle of the street — and then I saw the soldiers take the flag from a woman — I don’t know who the woman was — and that made the women angry, and those that had banners, they tried to hit the militia that had the swords, and I saw several of the hats that the women had that were thrown in the mud in front of Maoluff’s place; and then I stepped up on that little platform in front of the printer’s place there, and of course the horses could not come up on the platform, and we stood there for a few minutes; and then they sent the infantry to make us get off the platform. And after that I attempted to try to go up Walnut Street to return home, and then they ordered me back to Main Street; one of the militia was on horseback — he tried to hit me with his sword.
Q. Now, what happened when he tried to hit you with his sword ? — A. He was just trying to order me back to Main Street, and I was standing there watching him, and he came up and he attempted to hit me with his sword, and I stepped behind a telephone post, and he hit the telephone post instead of me.
Q. Was it a light tap [tapping] ? — A. No ; he hit it pretty hard — if it had hit me. Then I said to him, “Break your sword ; I don’t care,” and he again attempted to hit me, and he hit the telephone post twice after that. And then I went across the street — that is, to the north — southwest corner of Walnut, and I was there met by a militiaman on horseback, who was talking to a woman, and he told them — she asked them what right they had to chase women away like cattle, and he said, “When the women sink beneath our respect, they need to be treated like cattle,” and I asked him how we had “sunk beneath his respect,” and he didn’t answer me. Then I went up Main Street, and I was left alone, practically, until I got to Kuver’s, and when I was in front of Kuver’s there, there was three militiamen came up to me and told me to move on. I had been going at a pretty slow rate; so I went on, and I got in front of the — in front of Zimmerman’s, I saw two militia — I mean four militia, with two women, taking them to prison; and I shamed them for having to take four militia to take two women.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday February 20, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – Mary Thomas Testifies Before Congressional Committee
Tuesday February 17, 1914 – Trinidad, Colorado Mrs. Mary Thomas, a resident of the Ludlow Tent Colony, was called before the Investigating Committee, and gave this testimony regarding her 11 days of confinement by the military:
Mary Thomas, called as a witness and duly sworn, testified as follows:
Examination by Mr. Clark [Attorney for the Miners]: Q. State your name. — A. My name is Mary Hannah Thomas. Q. Where do you live? —A. What is that? Q. Where do you five ? — A. Ludlow. Q. In the tent colony ? — A. In the tent colony. Q. Do you remember the date of the woman’s parade here in Trinidad ?— A. I do. Q. That was about — were you in town the day of that parade ? — A. I was, sir. Q. What time did you get to town? — A. About 15 minutes to 3, is the nearest I could think it was. Q. Were you in the parade at all? — A. I was not, sir. Q. State what happened to you that day. — A. I came down town to do some purchases that I wanted to — buy some things, and came down in an automobile, and I reached town, I guess, about 15 minutes to 3, and the parade and everything had passed over, and they were bringing the people back from the first block on West Main Street. I was about 20 yards farther away than the First National Bank. When I turned back — I saw a crowd coming back, and there was some militiamen pulling me over with a fixed bayonet, and told me to keep on moving, and I went on and reached Judge Bowers’s office here. I guess I walked about 30 or 40 yards when I went up three of the steps, and this militiaman said “Move on,” and I said, “I don’t have to.” He said, “You want to be pinched?” I said, “Please yourself,” and he pulled me down by my fur here and twisted me around until I nearly stumbled on my face. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, and he knocked again right back here [indicating her back with her right hand] until I stumbled on about 2 yards, and I stumbled, and then I tried to knock back on him until he knocked me again as if he was a pugilist, and he kept on knocking me and I tried to do the best I could with my muff, and some one came up and gave an order to have me arrested, and two soldiers took me a little farther down near the post office and kept me waiting there, I guess for about an hour, and Gen. Chase came along, and I heard one of them tell him that “there is Mrs. Thomas.” “Oh, that is her, is it,” he says, “from Ludlow, is it,” he says, and they marched me on with about 12 men up to the county jail. They kept me there 11 days, and I demanded to have my children with me, and they brought the children down. Q. Your children are small, are they? — A. Very, very small; one about 3 and the other 4. Q. How long did they keep you in there ? — A. Eleven days. Q. In the upstairs part of the jail ? — A. Upstairs part of the jail. Q. Was anyone else up there ? — A. Yes; there were other prisoners there. Q. Men and women there? — A. There was an old man there when I was taken first, about 82 years of age, I guess. Q. In the cell in which you were confined state whether there was any toilet there. — A. There was a toilet outside and I told him I wanted to go there, and there was a militiaman came up and gave me authority, and I went out to the toilet and then the militiaman came up and gave general orders to put me back in my cell. Mr. Clark. That is all.
By Capt. Danks [Representing the “military organization of the State of Colorado”]: Q. You were confined upstairs in the county jail ? — A. Upstairs. Q. All the time ?— A. All the time. Q. Do you remember looking out the window and hollering to the soldiers when they were bringing women up ? — A. Hollering ? Q. Yes. — A. I remember of singing the union song; that is all.
You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 19, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – Mary Petrucci Testifies on “Insults” to Women
Men, Women and Children at Ludlow Tent Colony
During the afternoon session of February 17th, the Congressional Investigating Committee heard testimony from Mary Petrucci, a resident of the Ludlow Tent Colony. Few, if any, newspapers seem interested in the plight of the women at the hands of soldiers, especially after their husbands are taken away by these very same militiamen. We, therefore, offer the entire testimony of Mrs. Petrucci as a small glimpse into the lives of the coal mining women as they cope with the military occupation authorized by Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado.
———-
Testimony of Mary Petrucci
-afternoon session, Tuesday February 17th, Trinidad.
Mary Petrucci was called as a witness, and having been first duly sworn testified as follows:
Direct examination by Mr. Clark [Attorney for the Miners]:
Q. State your name ? — A. Mary Petrucci.
Q. Where do you live ? — A. At Ludlow.
Q. In the tent colony?— A. Yes, sir.
Q. I will ask you if, at any time recently, and about when, you attempted to come to Trinidad on the 6.10 morning train — A. On the 1st day of February it was in the morning, and I come to take the train for Trinidad, and my sister was sick.
Q. You say your sister was sick ? — A. Yes, sir; my sister was sick.
Q. And who, if anyone, was with you, and did you have any children with you or not? — A. Yes; I had two babies.
Q. How old were they?— A. One 4 months, the other one 2 years old.
Q. Was your husband with you ? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. How many people tried to board the train that morning ? -A. There were two from the tent colony and they were stopped there by the soldiers.
Q. Was there a big crowd there that morning? — A. Not so very.
Q. How many? — A. Oh, about two.
Q. Two or three people besides yourself and your family ? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, what happened — you say you were stopped?— A. Yes, sir; we went to go to the depot and the soldiers told us that we couldn’t come to town this morning, and we asked them why, and they told us they didn’t know why; and the other woman asked them if they wanted to come to see the doctor, and they had to come to telephone to the headquarters of the militia here in Trinidad, and they let them pass and we had to turn back.
Q. Did you talk to the brakeman or the conductor about it? — A. When we were turning back, he asked us what was the matter, and I told him the soldiers would not let us go to the depot, and he asked us why and I told him I didn’t know, and he told me to get onto the last coach, and the soldier says, “Halt, before you get a bullet in you.”
Q. What was it he said ? — A. Before I got a bullet in me.
Q. Did you have your babies with you at that time ? — A. Yes, and my baby very nearly frozen.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 18, 1904
Cripple Creek, Colorado – District Court Dismisses Case Against John M. Glover
From the Moberly Evening Democrat of February 11, 1904 Colorado Militia’s Case Against Rep. John M. Glover Dismissed:
SECOND CASE DISMISSED.
The case against John M. Glover, formerly Congressman from Missouri, for having shot at Sergeant Smith, was dismissed at Cripple Creek, Colorado, yesterday in the District Court on the ground that the accused could not be tried twice for the same offense. Glover had already been found guilty of an assault upon Sergeant Dittmore.
Before sentence in the latter case is passed Mr. Glover will appeal to the Supreme Court.
The cases of General Sherman M. Bell and General Chase, charged with unlawfully imprisoning citizens in the bull pen while martial law was in effect, were then taken up.
[Newsclip from Salt Lake Tribune of Jan. 16, 1904, added.]
[Emphasis added.]
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