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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday August 27, 1914
Denver, Colorado – Verdict of Court-Martial: All 21 Militiamen Are Acquitted
Governor Ammons has approved the findings of the general court-martial of the twenty-one officers and enlisted men who were charged with various crimes such as murder, manslaughter, arson, assault and larceny in connection with the Ludlow Massacre of April 20th.
Lieutenant Karl E. Linderfelt, the Butcher of Ludlow, was also acquitted. The Lieutenant’s assault upon Louis Tikas, while in military, custody was found to have been justified.
The governor will sign a formal order today approving the verdict of the court-martial.
From the Lincoln Evening Journal of August 25, 1914:
Nobody Guilty According to Court Martial
DENVER, Colo., Aug. 25.-Twenty-one officers and enlisted men of troop A and company B, of the Colorado National Guard, tried by general courtmartial on 63 charges, in connection with the battle of Ludlow last April were all acquitted and exonerated in the formal findings approved today by Governor Ammons. The charges included murder, manslaughter, arson, assault and larceny.
Even Lieutenant K. B. [sic] Linderfelt was vindicated. The courtmartial declared he had assaulted Louis Tikas, a Greek striker, with the butt of a rifle shortly before Tikas was slain by other militiamen, but that, “by reason of justification as shown in the evidence adduced before it, the court attaches no criminality thereto.”
A formal order will issue, signed by the governor, reporting the finding.
The courtmartial convened at the state rifle range at Golden, May 11, and finished its labors May 29.
A number of officers and men who were tried before the court have prepared claims alleging they are entitled to pay and commutation of rations, which means board at down town hotels, from the time they were ordered before the courtmartial until the publication of the verdict. If these are sustained the expense of the courtmartial to the state will be $15,000.
[Emphasis added.]
“General Court Martial, Military District of Colorado,
in the Matter of Karl E. Linderfelt…et al.,” from the findings:
And therefore after consideration of all the testimony introduced in the hearing of this case, the court finds the accused, Karl E, Linderfelt, 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, National Guard of Colorado..Not Guilty [of Arson, Murder, and Larceny] …1st specification, 6th charge-the Court finds the accused, Karl E. Linderfelt, 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, National Guard of Colorado, guilty of the facts so charged-that is to say, that part of Specification one (1) charge six (6) reading as follows: “* * * having then and there a certain deadly weapon, to-wit, a U. S. Springfield Rifle, did then and there, with said weapon, with said rifle…commit an assault upon and against one Luis Tikas…”
But attaches no criminality thereto…
AND THE COURT does therefore ACQUIT HIM the said Karl E. Linderfelt, 1st Lieutenant, 2nd Infantry, National Guard of Colorado, upon all the specifications and all the charges.
[Emphasis added.]
Louie Tikas, Hero of Ludlow
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SOURCES
Quote John Lawson 1913, shortly after October 17th Death Special
attack on Forbes Tent Colony, Beshoar p74
https://archive.org/details/outofdepths0000unse/page/74/mode/1up?q=bandanna
Lincoln Evening Journal
(Lincoln, Nebraska)
-Aug 25, 1914
https://www.newspapers.com/image/38757751/
Buried Unsung
Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre
-by Zeese Papanikolas
U of Nebraska Press, 1991
https://archive.org/details/buriedunsungloui0000papa/mode/1up?view=theater
(search: “testimony introduced”) -page 232
https://archive.org/details/buriedunsungloui0000papa/mode/1up?view=theater&q=%22testimony+introduced%22
IMAGES
Militiamen on Way to CO Strike Zone, ISR p708, June 1914
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v14n12-jun-1914-ISR-gog-ocr.pdf
Louie Tikas w Flag of Ludlow, RMN p3, Dec 19, 1913
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-147952D6CE243570@2420121-1477649DC4571D50@2
See also:
Hellraisers Journal: International Socialist Review: “The Class War in Colorado” by Leslie H. Marcy,
Part I
Part II
International Socialist Review
(Chicago, Illinois)
-June 1914
(see “Murder of Tikas”) -p717
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/isr/v14n12-jun-1914-ISR-gog-ocr.pdf
Out of the Depths
The Story of John R. Lawson, A Labor Leader
-Barron B. Beshoar
Colorado Labor Historical Committee
of the Denver Area Labor Federation, 1942
https://archive.org/details/outofdepths0000unse
(search: linderfelt tikas)
https://archive.org/details/outofdepths0000unse/page/75/mode/1up?q=linderfelt+tikas
Tag: Linderfelt Butcher of Ludlow
https://weneverforget.org/tag/linderfelt-butcher-of-ludlow/
Tag: Louie Tikas
https://weneverforget.org/tag/louie-tikas/
Tag: Ludlow Massacre
https://weneverforget.org/tag/ludlow-massacre/
Tag: Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/colorado-coalfield-strike-of-1913-1914/
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«Colorado Strike Song» (Το τραγούδι της Απεργίας του Κολοράντο)