Hellraisers Journal: Gerald Lippiatt, Union Miner, Shot Down by Deputized Company Gunthugs on Streets of Trinidad, Colorado

Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III —————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 19, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Brother Gerald Lippiatt Shot Down by Gunthugs

From the Trinidad Chronicle-News of August 18, 1913:

From The San Francisco Call of August 18, 1913:

Saturday August 16, 1913
Trinadad, Colorado – Gunthugs Arriving as U.M.W. of A. Organizes Southern Field
As the U.M.W. of A. ramps up it’s organizing drive in the Colorado Southern Coalfield, the mine owners have been preparing for fight. Recently new arrivals have appeared on the streets of Trinidad, gunmen from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency of West Virginia. Two of these gunthugs are especially hated by the union men, George Belcher and Walter Belk. They like to swagger along Commercial Street with their hands swinging loose next to their guns. When union miners come to town, they can expect to be butted about and cursed at should they need pass these two on the street. The goal, it seems, is to provoke a fight which the professional gunthug is sure to win

Sunday August 17, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Gunthugs Kill U.M.W. Organizer, Gerald Lippiatt
Gerald Lippiatt did not come into Trinidad looking for fight. He was a striker from the northern field who was in the southern field working as an organizer. But, sadly, he took the bait, yesterday, when Belcher and Beck, two well-known Baldwin-Felts gunthugs, began to butt him with their elbows as he attempted to walk around them on Commercial Street. Other gunmen joined in, cursing him as they lurked about on the sidewalk, smoking their cigarettes.

Brother Lippiatt headed to the Packer block for his gun. Several of his fellow organizers in the union office tried to stop him to no avail.

“All right, you rat, let’s have it out,” Lippiatt shouted at Belk. The professional gunthug knew his business, and Lippiatt was soon lying dead in the center of the street.

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SOURCES & IMAGES

Quote Mother Jones, Powers of Privilege ed, Ab Chp III
https://www.iww.org/history/library/MotherJones/autobiography/3

The Chronicle-News
(Trinidad, Colorado)
-Aug 18, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1913-08-18/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90051521/1913-08-18/ed-1/seq-2/

The San Francisco Call
(San Francisco, California)
-Aug 18, 1913
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1913-08-18/ed-1/seq-2/

Out of the Depths
-by Barron B Beshoar
(1st ed 1942)
CO, 1980

See also:

United Labor Bulletin
(Denver, Colorado)
-Aug 16, 1913
“State Federation of Labor Convention Meets Monday in Trinidad”
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1913-08-16/ed-1/seq-1/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn91052295/1913-08-16/ed-1/seq-5/