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Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 15, 1914
Forbes Tent Colony of Las Animas County, Colorado, Destroyed by Militia
From The Indianapolis Star of March 12, 1914:
ASK FEDERAL INTERVENTION
IN COLORADO MINE STRIKE
WASHINGTON., March 10-Chairman Foster, of the House mines committee, which investigated the Colorado coal mine strike, today received the following telegram from officers of the United Mine Workers’ Union in Colorado:
“Twenty-three militiamen, under orders of Adj. Gen. John Chase, this morning demolished strikers’ tent colony at Forbes, Col. Men, Women and children are homeless in a blinding snowstorm. Inhabitants of the upper tent colony ordered by militiamen to leave their home within forty-eight hours or be deported.”
Chairman Foster said the committee stood ready to report drastic recommendations to Congress as soon as it could assemble its data.
———-
Declaring that Federal intervention is sorely needed in Colorado, officers of the United Mine Workers of America sent a telegram to President Wilson yesterday demanding the release of Mother Mary Jones. The telegram follows:
“We again protest against the outrageous treatment accorded Mother Jones and demand her release from Colorado military prison, where she has been confined for more than two months.
“Federal intervention is sorely needed in Colorado. We can ill afford to talk about protecting the rights of American citizens in Mexico, as long as a woman, 80 years old, can be confined in prison by military authorities without any charge being placed against her, denied trial and refused bond, her friends prevented from communicating with her, her request for proper medical attendance denied and every right guaranteed by the constitution of the United States set aside.
“Colorado militia yesterday tore down tents of striking miners at Forbes, leaving miners and families without shelter and causing great suffering. Let us hear from you.”
The telegram is signed by John P. White, president of the miners; Frank J. Hayes, vice president , and William Green, secretary-treasurer.
[Photographs and emphasis added.]
[Caption to Photographs: “Views of the tent colony at Forbes, Colo., destroyed by order of General Chase last Tuesday [March 10th] in the Trinidad coal strike district. The lower photograph is a view of a tent and the strikers and their families before the soldiers took charge. The upper is a view of the colony dwellers and their destroyed homes, showing the strikers and their children eating the food found in their wrecked tents.]
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SOURCES
Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/3
The Indianapolis Star
(Indianapolis, Indian)
-Mar. 12, 1914
https://www.newspapers.com/image/7384180/
IMAGE
Mar 12, 1914, Denver Post p2
-Photos taken at Forbes Tent Colony
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C7581AC4BD0728@GB3NEWS-136C729DDD5097C8@2420204-136C6040406A3B50@1-136C6040406A3B50
Zanetell tent at Forbes tent colony, with info on Zanetell family.
https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll22/id/35204
See also:
More on the Destruction of the Forbes Tent Colony:
Now it was bitter cold. Emma [Zanetell] was pregnant. Her time came two months early, and there was trouble. She was carrying twins, and they would not come out right. They phoned the camp doctor at Forbes but he refused to come down. Then they called the union doctor, Ben Beshoar. They waited, the women running in and out out of the tent, scared, not knowing what to do. It was hours before Doctor Beshoar arrived from Trinidad. When he got there he was soaking wet. The deputies had shot up his car and he’d had to abandon it and crawl up the creek bed. When the babies came, they were dead.
The next day the people of the Forbes colony went to Trinidad to bury the stillborn twins. They left Emma and a woman to sit with her in the tents. It was then the militia came down out of the hills. They stormed into one of the abandoned tents, broke open a cupboard and made themselves a breakfast of ham, eggs, bread-the kind of meal they had not eaten in a while. Then they set to work cutting the guy lines of the tents and scattering the goods. One of the soldiers came into Emma’s tent and asked who she was and what she was ding there. She told him about the twins and he said that in that case they weren’t going to tear her tent down, they’d just light a match to it. Just then another militiaman stepped in. “I’ll kill you before you hurt her,” he said. “She’s there sick in bed and they’re burying her twins. You’re not going to hurt her.” Emma always remembered that boy. For a long time she said prayers for him.
[Emphasis added.]
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
Feb 27– Gov Ammons removes most troops; leaves in place company-subsidized troops, infiltrated with company gunthugs. 1913-1914-Dold takes photographs. Mar 10-Destruction of Forbes, Emma Zanatell (Zanetell) gives birth to twins, twins buried at Trinidad.
See esp pages 186-187
https://archive.org/details/buriedunsungloui0000papa/page/185/mode/1up?view=theater&q=ammons+
https://archive.org/details/buriedunsungloui0000papa/page/186/mode/1up?view=theater&q=forbes+1914
Note: There are variations on the spelling of her name in other accounts- Zanetelli, Zacanelli, etc.
Find a Grave = Zanetell
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59119786/leonard-joseph-zanetell
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142250828/emma_zanetell
Colorado History Collection = Zanetell with info on family.
https://5008.sydneyplus.com/HistoryColorado_ArgusNet_Final/Portal/Portal.aspx?component=AAFW&record=cdc8c518-aca3-42f4-bc7a-45b82fb85ccc
Louis R Dold Photos
(Search: “dold”)-see for photos of Zanetell family items and Forbes Colony.
https://5008.sydneyplus.com/HistoryColorado_ArgusNet_Final/Portal/Portal.aspx?component=BasicSearchResults&record=facca16e-1a75-404a-82df-96a048c85257&lang=en-US
Mar 10, 1914, Trinidad Chronicle News
-Militia destroys Forbes Tent Colony
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1914-03-10/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1914-03-10/ed-1/seq-3/
Mar 10, 1914, Denver Post
-Strikers of Forbes Held Due to Death of Strikebreaker
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C7581AC4BD0728@GB3NEWS-136C729767BE4548@2420202-136C6040273D6518@1
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C7581AC4BD0728@GB3NEWS-136C729767BE4548@2420202-136C60402D3E2B28@10-136C60402D3E2B2
Mar 10, 1914, Rocky Mountain News
-Sixteen Strikers at Forbes Under Military Arrest
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-147A0A4527D77A68@2420202-1477B8E3C729A228@13-1477B8E3C729A228
Mar 11, 1914, Rocky Mountain News
-UMW Leaders Advise Strikers to Arm Themselves in Order to Protect Their Homes and Families per signed statement by Lawson, McLennan and Doyle.
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-147A0A460EE0C2F8@2420203-1477B8E3C98E6940@0
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-147A0A460EE0C2F8@2420203-1477B8E3CA5D4E18@1
Mar 12, 1914, Trinidad Chronicle News
-More Strikers Arrested at Forbes, including Joseph Gill, president of the Forbes local union.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1914-03-12/ed-1/seq-1/
Mar 13, 1914, Rocky Mountain News
-Gen Chase Wires Pres. Wilson; States He Can Handle Strike Without Federal Interference
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-147A0A47EE9C2CB8@2420205-1477B8E3F684B210@0
https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2:12C601A5C4B97518@GB3NEWS-147A0A47EE9C2CB8@2420205-1477B8E3FA214190@3-1477B8E3FA214190
Mar 14, Denver United Labor Bulletin
-“Militiamen Raid Colony at Forbes; Tents Razed and Strikers Ordered to Decamp; Union Officials Issue Ultimatum and Warn Governor Miners Will Protect Themselves” Statement signed by Lawson, M’Lennan, and Doyle.
-Gen Chase Refuses to Refute Charges made Against His Troops
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1914-03-14/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1914-03-14/ed-1/seq-6/
Saturday October 18, 1913 – Forbes Tent Colony, Colorado
-Mine Guards Attack with Death Special, Striker Luca Vahernick Killed
Tag: Forbes Tent Colony CO
https://weneverforget.org/tag/forbes-tent-colony-co/
Tag: Military Despotism Colorado 1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/military-despotism-colorado-1914/
Tag: Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/colorado-coalfield-strike-of-1913-1914/
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The Union Forever, γνωστό και σαν
«Colorado Strike Song» (Το τραγούδι της Απεργίας του Κολοράντο)