———-
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 24, 1920
Butte, Montana – Statement of Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union
From The Butte Daily Bulletin of April 22, 1920:
—–
—–
Butte today was shrouded in grief, mixed with considerable awe, as the result of the unprovoked massacre of unarmed, peaceful striking miners by Roy Alley and his selected band of Anaconda Copper Mining company’s hired killers, which occurred on Anaconda Road about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon [April 21st]. All night and today, awed groups of men stood in clusters on the streets and discussed in quiet tones the facts of the outrage as they have developed and frequently the belief was openly expressed that the time has come when the rule of the Anaconda company in Butte and Montana through the use of its political crooks, backed by armed thugs must cease.
This morning in two of the city’s hospitals men are lying wounded and suffering, and several of them are expected to be relieved of their pains by merciful death. In various homes throughout the city other less seriously wounded men are being cared for. In all the homes of workers the topic of conversations and thoughts is yesterday’s massacre and, what may be expected as the aftermath, for few believe that the blood lust of the gunmen by yesterday’s tragedy and with the excepted arrival of regular troops, further assaults by armed thugs on peaceful workers are expected.
Prominent among the expressions heard on the streets and offices generally, was emphatic condemnation of the cowardly action of Sheriff John K. O’Rourke, who, according to scores of witnesses, stood calmly by and watched Roy Alley and his special horde of gun-fighters shoot down the defenseless miners without raising a hand in their defense, within a few minutes after he had promised “protection” to the strikers from the gunmen. O’Rourke’s published statement in this morning’s copper press to the effect that it all “happened so quickly and was over so rapidly” that he did not know who did the shooting, is characterized as at deliberate falsehood made for the purpose of assisting in alibis for the murderous gunmen-thugs of the copper companies.
It was pointed out that just previous to the giving of the order to shoot by Roy Alley, O’Rourke and Alley conferred and O’Rourke turned his buck and walked into the center of the group of gunmen. It is presumed that at that time Alley made known his intention to O’Rourke to attack the strikers.
O’Rourke’s statement that conditions in Butte today are “not a strike, but a revolution” are declared by impartial observers to be entirely correct, the only difference being in the intent, the public generally holding that the “revolution” is a revolt against all law and order by the mining companies and their murderous thugs, in which they are given the tacit backing of Sheriff O’Rourke and the other county and city authorities in the thrall of the copper combine.
Scores of witnesses are ready to testify under solemn oaths that it was Roy Alley that fired the first shot in yesterday’s massacre of workers; that no overt art had been committed either by the group of strikers’ pickets or by anyone else against the gunmen to warrant any assumption that they fired in self-defense as appears to be the excuse they are to make.
Dennis Lowney, whose mother operates the boarding house on the Anaconda road near the scene of the tragedy, and from whose home Alley and his gang of cutthroats, assert a shot was fired, precipitating the attack by the gunmen, this afternoon swore under oath that no shots were fired from his home unless they were fired after the gunmen had swarmed into the place in pursuit of many of the strikers who had sought refuge from the hail of bullets in the boarding house.
According to the sworn statement of the young man, there were only three other men in the house at the time of the tragedy. Two of them were in their rooms on the second floor; one in a room over-looking the tragedy, but who was in bed ill for some time, and the other in his room on the southwest side of the house, overlooking tile federal building and in the direction opposite from that where the wanton massacre of miners occurred. The third man was downstairs and was not in a position to shoot at the gunmen without shooting through the crowd of miners, who were massed between the boarding house and the group of gunmen.
One man, a member of the engineers’ union, who resides in a rooming house on East Broadway, near Arizona street, declared that almost simultaneously with the first volley of shots he heard emanating from the Anaconda road, the sound of bullets and slugs on a tin roof of a barn in back of his lodging place sounded like the rattle of a machine gun. He stated that the bullets fell on the roof in showers for some time.
Testimony of various members of the strikers’ committee which was attacked, and from persons who witnessed the first attack by the gunmen and the later events, were to the effect that after the miners were dispersed during the balance of the earlier of the evening every person who approached the vicinity, either to search for wounded or dead whose bodies might have been overlooked, were fired upon.
This morning for a time a bulletin posted in the windows of the copper company’s organ on West Broadway stated that the mines would be reopened tomorrow and that “full protection” would be furnished to all who appeared for work. It was presumed that the notice meant that since the company has been informed that troops were on their way to Butte, a determined effort to keep open the mining properties under guard of regular soldiers with machine guns to augment the hired company thugs would be made. For some unexplained reason, however, the notice was torn down sometime later.
Denial of the published story to the effect that Donald Delong, listed among the wounded in the company press this morning, had been wounded was made today by the father of the young man. He declared that his son neither was wounded, nor was at the scene of the tragedy.
Agent W. D. Bolling of the Butte office of the department of justice this morning visited Industrial hall on North Wyoming street to ascertain, as he said, “first hand information of the outrage.” He cautiously inquired who were the leaders of the pickets, and was informed there were no leaders. He also was informed that the miners themselves and the miners’ attorneys would be willing to give the department of justice all information possible in order that the blame may be placed where it belongs.
Reports from St. James hospital early this afternoon were that the condition of Thomas Manning, who was shot through the spine by Roy Alley or one of his thugs, was sinking rapidly. He is not expected to live but for a few hours. John McCarthy, who also is at St. James Hospital, who was shot through the lungs and who has suffered severe internal hemorrhage, and Rocco Lavus, at Columbia hospital with two body wounds and internal hemorrhage, are in a precarious condition. The condition of several more of the severely injured men is said by surgeons to be such as to not warrant any predictions in their cases until after several days.
In a statement made this morning to Bulletin representative, County Attorney Nick Rotering said that no arrests of company gunmen would be made this afternoon. He said the results of the injuries to some of the victims would be awaited, since in event of the expected deaths, it would be necessary for changes in the entire informations.
The Anaconda road, scene of the slaughter of innocent workers yesterday afternoon, today again swarmed with armed gunmen.
———-
———-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCE & IMAGES
The Butte Daily Bulletin
(Butte, Montana)
-Apr 22, 1920
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045085/1920-04-22/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045085/1920-04-22/ed-1/seq-2/
See also:
Tags: Anaconda Road Massacre of 1920
https://weneverforget.org/tag/anaconda-road-massacre-of-1920/:
“The Butte Labor Strike of 1920”
-by Rudolph Shutey
Carroll College, 1961
https://scholars.carroll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1083&context=history_theses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guerilla Radio – Rage Against The Machine
All hell can’t stop us now!
All hell can’t stop us now!
All hell can’t stop us now!
All hell can’t stop us now!
All hell can’t stop us now!
All hell can’t stop us now!