Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 25, 1914 Denver, Colorado – State Labor Leaders Issue Call to Arms
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of April 25, 1914 CALL TO ARMS:
Call to Arms, Denver, Colorado, April 22, 1914
Organize the men in your community in companies of volunteers to protect the workers of Colorado against the murder and cremation of men, women and children by armed assassins in the employ of coal corporations, serving under the guise of state militiamen.
Gather together for defensive purposes all arms and ammunition legally available. Send name of leader of your company and actual number of men enlisted at once by wire, phone or mail to W. T. Hickey, Secretary of State Federation of Labor.
Hold all companies subject to order.
People having arms to spare for these defensive measures are requested to furnish same to local companies, and, where no company exists, send them to the State Federation of Labor.
The state is furnishing us no protection and we must protect ourselves, our wives and children, from these murderous assassins. We seek no quarrel with the state and we expect to break no law; we intend to exercise our lawful right as citizens, to defend our homes and our constitutional rights.
John R. LAWSON JOHN McLENNAN E. L. DOYLE JOHN RAMSEY W. T. HICKEY E. R. HOAGE T. W. TAYLOR CLARENCE MOOREHOUSE ERNEST MILLS
[Emphasis added.]
-Lawson, International Organizers from U. M. W. District 15. -McLennan, President of District 15, U. M. W. and also President of Colorado State Federation of Labor. -Doyle, Secretary-Treasurer of District 15 U. M. W. -Ramsey of the U. M. W. of A. -Hickey, Secretary of Colorado State Federation of Labor. -Hoage of the Denver Printing Press Assistants’ Union No 14. -Taylor and Moorehouse of the Denver Trades and Labor Assembly. -Mills, Secretary-Treasurer of Western Federation of Miners.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 24, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – Mother of Slain Child Tells of Horror of Ludlow Massacre
From the Chicago Day Book of April 24, 1914:
the gunmen, and then the fire the savage murderers mercilessly started.
The shooting started, she says, when Louis Tikas, Greek leader at the tent colony, protested because the uniformed gunmen trained three machine’ guns on the tent colony.
[Mrs. Snyder said:]
Louis told them not to point their guns at the women and children.
Sunday they tried to break up a ball game our men were playing and some of the men got mad and chased them away. That is why they set up the guns and it was then that Louis objected.
Then they cursed him and fired at him. They must have fired 50 shots at him and he fell down dead. That was early Monday.
Our men all went mad then and got what guns they had and started after the gunmen. Our men were on one side of the tents and the gunmen on the other.
All of us women and children ran down into the cellars which were dug a long time ago when the gunmen first came down here and threatened us with rifles and machine guns.
All day long we lay down there without anything to eat or drink.
I had six children, the oldest eleven, and they all cried.
All through the camp we could hear women shrieking and calling to God and the Virgin to come and save their children. The firing continued and the bullets whistled over us hour after hour, and after a while I heard a woman cursing terribly. Later I heard that she had had her hand shot off at the wrist when she reached up from her cellar and tried to get a pail of water to give her children a drink.
My children begged me for water, and finally little William [Frankie] he was my oldest boy said he was going to get them a drink. So he climbed up out of the cellar and he never came back.
I know now that a bullet tore his head all away. I should have gone for the water myself, but I had to stay with the babies.
Just when it was beginning to get dark the gunmen dashed in among the tents and set fire to some of them. Our tents were all close together and the fire spread fast. All the time they kept shooting into the tents, although they knew our men, with their guns, were all away up in the hills.
I took my children and ran to a deep arroyo (gully) where there were about 50 other women and babies.
Lots of the others, though, were afraid to come out of their cellars and they suffocated under the burning floors side walls, which had been built up of boards.
I don’t see how any men could kill little children like my William and them other poor little things who were shot or burned.
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 23, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – City Officials Demand State Troops; Union to Issue Call to Arms
From The Denver Post of April 22, 1914:
Top: Ruins of the Ludlow Tent Colony of Striking Coal Miners, Destroyed by Fire Monday Night During the Battle Between Strikers and Troops. Bottom Left: Refugees from the Destroyed Ludlow Tent Colony, Seeking Shelter. Bottom Right: After the Battle of Ludlow-Scene at the Railroad Station Showing Nearly Every Man, Soldier or Civilian, Bearing arms.
Sunday April 19, 1914 – Ludlow Tent Colony, Colorado – Greek Easter, a Day of Celebration
Baseball Game at Ludlow Tent Colony
Sunday was a gala day in the Ludlow Tent Colony for the Greek Easter was celebrated, and the Greeks had declared that they would outdo the Catholics in their celebration of this Holy Day. The colony is made up of residents from many different nationalities, and, on this Holy Day, they came decked out in their various national costumes bringing the colony to life in a riot of color. Snow still covered the prairie here and there, but the sun was shining its warmth upon the strikers and their families on this glorious Easter Day.
Louie Tikas, leader of the colony, was resplendent in his traditional Cretan vraka. He walked through the colony greeting every one with a kiss and the joyful cry of “Christ Is Risen.” Louie’s bright smile was welcomed at every tent, well respected for his calm manner and steadfast courage.
Music filled the air and the children played around the tents. Later on, after church services, there was a feast in the main tent. A lamb had been put on the fire, and there were barrels of beer for the adults.
After the feast the colonist played a game of baseball in the ball park built next to the tents. American style gym bloomers had been provided as an Easter present for the women, and one of the games was played, men against the women, with the women wearing their new bloomers for the first time.
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 19, 1914 Washington, D. C. – John D. Rockefeller Jr. Pledges Millions to Crush Colorado Miners
From the Duluth Labor World of April 18, 1914:
YOUNG ROCKEFELLER CHIP OFF OLD BLOCK ———- Declares Before Industrial Commission He Has Millions to Crush Miners’ Union. ———-
SOME MORE “DIVINE RIGHT” PHILOSOPHY ———- Refused to Arbitrate Colorado Coal Strike -Trusts Everything to Managers. ———-
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., son of the world’s richest man, testified Monday [April 6th] before the House Mines Committee in Washington about the question of his moral responsibility for the industrial strife which has kept the coal fields of southern Colorado in turmoil for six months.
After more than for hours of cross-examination Rockefeller had told the committee:
That he and three other directors represented his father’s interest of about 40 per cent in the Colorado Fuel and Iron company, the central figure in the big coal strike.
That as a director he had fulfilled all his interest and responsibility in the company when he placed the officers, “competent and trusted men,” in charge of the company’s affairs.
That he knew nothing of conditions in the strike district except from reports of the officers of the company.
He “Protects” “Free” Labor.
That the strike had become a fight for the “principles” of freedom of labor, and that he and his associates would rather the present violence continue and that “they lose all their millions invested in the coal fields than that American working men should be deprived of their right under the constitution to work for whom they pleased.”
This was accepted as an indication that the Rockefeller millions are opposed to the unions in Colorado.
That he favored arbitration in Industrial disputes-generally, but that in the present instance he supported the officers of the company in their refusal to submit the question of unionizing the mines to arbitration.
In support of these conclusions Rockefeller was kept busy for hours explaining defending and arguing. He asserted that employer and employe were “fellow men and should treat each other as such,” but could see no analogy between the unionization of workmen and the combination of capital….
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
WILL DEFEND OPEN SHOP AT ANY COST, PROPERTY OR LIVES
During his testimony this exchange took place between Rockefeller and the Chairman of the Subcommittee, M. D. Foster:
The CHAIRMAN. And you are willing to go on and let these killings take place—men losing their lives on either side, the expenditure of large sums of money, and all this disturbance of labor—rather than to go out there and see if you might do something to settle those conditions?
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. There is just one thing, Mr. Chairman, so far as I understand it, which can be done, as things are at present, to settle this strike, and that is to unionize the camps; and our interest in labor is so profound and we believe so sincerely that that interest demands that the camps shall be open camps, that we expect to stand by the officers at any cost. It is not an accident that this is our position.
The CHAIRMAN. And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. It is a great principle.
[Emphasis added.]
From the Rocky Mountain News of April 19, 1914 -Mother Jones Makes Statement Before Leaving Denver for Washington:
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 18 1914 Denver, Colorado – Mother Jones Resting After Release from Cold Cellar Cell
From the Rocky Mountain News of April 17, 1914:
From The Indianapolis Star of April 18, 1914:
MINERS WOULD REOPEN CASE TO PRESENT ‘MOTHER’ JONES ———-
DENVER, Col, April 17-A movement was started here tonight by the policy committee of District No. 15 of the United Mine Workers of America, to reopen in Washington the congressional investigation of the Colorado coal miners’ strike by seeking to place before the committee the testimony of “Mother” Mary Jones, the aged strike leader who was released from military imprisonment at Walsenburg on Thursday.
“Mother” Jones who came to Denver immediately on her discharge, probably will leave tomorrow for Washington.
Telegrams were sent tonight to Representative M. D. Foster, chairman of the recent investigating House mines committee, and to Representative Keating of Colorado, urging a hearing for “Mother” Jones.
Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 17, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Released from Cold Cellar Cell
Mother Jones is in Denver today after her release yesterday from the cold damp cellar cell which served as the Military Bastille in Walsenburg, Colorado. Newspapers around the country are reporting the news.
From El Paso Herald of April 16, 1914:
Walsenburg, Colo., April 16.-“Mother” Mary Jones, who has been a military prisoner in the hospital ward of the county jail since March 22, was released this morning upon orders of Gen. John Chase. The aged strike leader was offered transportation to any point in the state, but the offer was refused.
The appearance of “Mother” Jones at the door of the jail was the signal for a demonstration by a large crowd of strikers and the strike sympathizers that had gathered in anticipation of her release. The aged leader appeared in good health and declared she was feeling well.
Will Lay Woes Before Wilson.
“Mother” Jones was escorted to union headquarters, where she conferred with a number of strike leaders. She announced her intention of speaking at a mass meeting late today after which she plans to go to Trinidad and speak. Later she intends to go to Washington.
“Mother” Jones said:
“You’ll know soon enough why I go to Washington.” Later she intimated that she proposed to tell the story of her experiences in the Colorado coal strike to president Wilson and to the congressional strike investigating committee.
[Emphasis added.]
Note: the cellar cell where she was held for 26 days is hardly a “hospital ward.” It is, in fact, the same cold damp cell which claimed the life of striker Kostas Markos earlier this year.
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