You ought to be out raising hell.
This is the fighting age.
Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Hellraisers Journal, Wednesday February 19, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Mary Petrucci Testifies on “Insults” to Women
During the afternoon session of February 17th, the Congressional Investigating Committee heard testimony from Mary Petrucci, a resident of the Ludlow Tent Colony. Few, if any, newspapers seem interested in the plight of the women at the hands of soldiers, especially after their husbands are taken away by these very same militiamen. We, therefore, offer the entire testimony of Mrs. Petrucci as a small glimpse into the lives of the coal mining women as they cope with the military occupation authorized by Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado.
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Testimony of Mary Petrucci
-afternoon session, Tuesday February 17th, Trinidad.
Mary Petrucci was called as a witness, and having been first duly sworn testified as follows:
Direct examination by Mr. Clark [Attorney for the Miners]:
Q. State your name ? — A. Mary Petrucci.
Q. Where do you live ? — A. At Ludlow.
Q. In the tent colony?— A. Yes, sir.
Q. I will ask you if, at any time recently, and about when, you attempted to come to Trinidad on the 6.10 morning train — A. On the 1st day of February it was in the morning, and I come to take the train for Trinidad, and my sister was sick.
Q. You say your sister was sick ? — A. Yes, sir; my sister was sick.
Q. And who, if anyone, was with you, and did you have any children with you or not? — A. Yes; I had two babies.
Q. How old were they?— A. One 4 months, the other one 2 years old.
Q. Was your husband with you ? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. How many people tried to board the train that morning ? -A. There were two from the tent colony and they were stopped there by the soldiers.
Q. Was there a big crowd there that morning? — A. Not so very.
Q. How many? — A. Oh, about two.
Q. Two or three people besides yourself and your family ? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, what happened — you say you were stopped?— A. Yes, sir; we went to go to the depot and the soldiers told us that we couldn’t come to town this morning, and we asked them why, and they told us they didn’t know why; and the other woman asked them if they wanted to come to see the doctor, and they had to come to telephone to the headquarters of the militia here in Trinidad, and they let them pass and we had to turn back.
Q. Did you talk to the brakeman or the conductor about it? — A. When we were turning back, he asked us what was the matter, and I told him the soldiers would not let us go to the depot, and he asked us why and I told him I didn’t know, and he told me to get onto the last coach, and the soldier says, “Halt, before you get a bullet in you.”
Q. What was it he said ? — A. Before I got a bullet in me.
Q. Did you have your babies with you at that time ? — A. Yes, and my baby very nearly frozen.
Q. Was it cold that morning?— A. Cold? I should say it was.
Q. The conductor told you to get on the train? — A. Yes, sir: and the soldiers didn’t want us to.
Q. Now, did you see that conductor that testified here, the rail road man? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was that the man you talked to about it? — A. No, sir; it was not.
Q. Or the brakeman, the second one? — A. It was not him.
Q. State whether or not there was anybody permitted to get on that train from the hacks, or anything? — A. They told us that no body could pass, and here after a while a hack came from Hastings and went to the depot and we told the soldiers, “Well, those people, they went right on and we had to turn back.” My sister
Q. Your sister was sick here in Trinidad at the time? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you get to come? — A. No; I didn’t get to come, I had to go back.
Q. Now then, before moving to Ludlow did you live up in the Forbes tent colony? — A. No, I lived at Ramey.
Q. Did you live in a tent or in a private house? — A. I lived in our own property.
Q. In your own property? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Did you own or lease that? — A. Leased it.
Q. That was not a tent colony? — A. No.
Q. Now, state to the committee what the soldiers did to you with reference to that property and where they made you go? — A. They come and took our husbands—they brought them down to the military colony and made them work like miners and us women was insulted at the place.
Q. You say they took your husbands and took them to the soldiers’ colony and left you women alone? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. What did they say or do to you while you were alone at the place ? — A. Well, one of them come in and insulted me.
Q. That is not a very nice thing, I know, but tell the committee what he said to you? — A. He asked me if I knew where he could spend $2.
Q. What did you say to him ? — A. I told him I didn’t know, but I told him he could go to the saloon.
O. What else did he say to you? — A. He stuck his hand in his pocket and got a handful of nickels out and told me if I could not do it.
Q. What did you say to him ? — A. I told him to go on.
Q. What did they do to your husband that day; what did they make him do? — A. They made him haul coal and go to the depot and carry in soda bottles, I think it was, down to the colony.
Q. And where did they make you folks go? — A. They made us go out of the house and we moved down to the colony.
Q. To the Ludlow tent colony ? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you know this Capt. Linderfelt when you see him that we have talked about to-day — this big man out there? — A. The captain
Q. Lieut. Linderfelt. — A. I don’t know the lieutenant, but I know the major and that Capt. Van Cise.
Q. Now, were you out there in the tent colony last Saturday, I believe it was, when a search was made of the tent colony?— A. Yes, sir.
Q. State whether or not the major or officer in charge afterwards marched the soldiers? — A. Well; first he searched the strikers and then they searched the soldiers.
Q. What did they find when they searched ? — A. One man lost his knife—that was the first they found—and then he says, “Oh, there is my watch.” The other one says, “There is my razor,” and then they found a money receipt, and the other man said, “There is my money, there is my receipt.By Mr. Byrnes [U. S. Representative]:
Q. What became of your husband ? — A. He is at home now.
Q. Did you say they took him off somewhere? — A. Yes; from the town that morning down to the soldiers’ camp and left him loose in the evening, because I had to move the next day.
Q. Where did you move? — A. At the Ludlow tent colony.
Q. Where were you before you moved to the tent colony? — A. I was in the house.
Q. In Ludlow? — A. No; up to Ramey’s camp.
Q. Now, when you left there where did you go? — A. When I left Ramey?
Q. Yes. — A. I went to the Ludlow tent colony.
Q. Why did you go there? — A. Because I had to.
Q. Who made you go ? — A. The soldiers.By Mr. Sutherland [U. S. Representative]:
Q. You mean they put you out of the house? — A. No; but they might just as well; they come and tore our house up and they was not searching for any guns, because if they was they was they would have acted better.
By Mr. Byrnes:
Q. Did they take anything from you? — A. No.
Q. Did they find any gun ? — A. Yes.
Q. They did find A. Yes; I got it for them.
Q. What did they find ?— A. The shotgun.
Q. How many ? — A. One.
Q. Where was your husband ? — A. He was at the Ludlow camp.
Q. How long had you had that shotgun? — A. How long?
Q. Yes. — A. I had it three years.
Q. When your husband came back you say—you say you were in a leased house— A. Sir?
Q. You say your house was leased? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then you went to the tent colony? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is your husband a member of the union? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long after you were down there before these men came and took your husband up there and made him work, as you say? — A. I wasn’t down there when they come and took my husband.
Q. Did they make you move out of that house before the lease expired? — A. No.By Mr. Austin [U. S. Representative]:
Q. Why didn’t you use this gun on that soldier that insulted you? — A. Because I didn’t have the nerve.
By Mr. Byrnes:
Q. Did you report that to the sergeant or the major there? — A. I reported it to the major.
Q. What did he say? — A. He put him in jail for that.
Q. Which major was that? — A. I don’t know their names—this Maj. Kennedy, I think it is.
Q. Do you know the name of the man that insulted you? — A. No, sir; but I know the man.
Q. Do you know him when you see him? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Have you seen him lately? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Where is he? — A. Over to the militia colony.
Q. Still wearing a uniform? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. How long did they put him in jail? — A. Well, he was to serve 30 days in jail; he is out already.
Q. Has he insulted anybody else since he got out? — A. I don’t know.
Q. You haven’t heard of it? — A. No, sir.By Mr. Sutherland:
Q. What do you mean by saying that the soldiers made you leave the house—by this searching? — A. Well, the searching, and they would come every day; some of them wanted to know if we had any eggs to sell; some wanted to know if we had milk or something to drink; they thought we had a saloon up there.
Q. They kept running to the house? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Who lived in the house besides you and your husband and children? — A. Nine other families.
Q. Nine families there? — A. Yes, sir; and we lived in different houses, you know.
Q. And how long did that continue before you moved? — A. Two or three weeks.
Q. And you finally decided that the only thing to do was to move to avoid these annoyances? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. And these insults? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. You were there until after these occurrences that you speak of – A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you moved how soon—how soon after that did you move? — A. The next day.
Q. You were afraid if you stayed there that they might renew these insults, and therefore you decided to get out? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. You moved yourself or did you have assistance in moving? — A. We moved ourselves.
Q. You took all your household effects up to the camp? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you and your husband are both living at the camp now? — A. Yes; at the colony.
Q. At the colony? — A. Yes, sir.By Mr. Byrnes:
Q. Where was it this soldier insulted you? — A. At the house.
Q. Before you moved? — A. Yes, sir.By Mr. Northcutt [Attorney for the Coal Operators]:
Q. Where did your husband work before the strike was called? — A. At Ramey.
Q. How long had he been working there? — A. Seven years.
Q. Where—when did he join the union? — A. He joined the union?
Q. Yes. — A. Well, before the strike.
Q. How long before? — A. About two or three months before.
Q. Did he want to strike? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. Anxious to get out, was he? — A. Yes, sir.By Mr. Sutherland:
Q. Do you know whether they offered any insults to any of the other women in those houses? — A. Yes, sir.
Q. They did?— A. Yes, sir.Chairman Foster [U. S. Representative]:
Q. Who are the women?
Mr. Sutherland.
Q. Do you know the names of the persons?
The Witness. Yes, sir.
Mr. Sutherland. Will you take them down — somebody?Chairman Foster. Give the names of such persons and where they are now living.
The Witness. Mary Melitella and Carmella Melitella.By Mr. Sutherland:
Q. Where are they living? — A. At Ramey.
Q. Still in the coal company’s camp? — A. It is in the camp, but it is a ranch.
Q. Not on the company ground? — A. No.By Mr. Northcutt:
Q. Have you ever made any complaint of these insults to the district attorney? — A. No, sir.
Q. Mr. Hendricks ? — A. No sir.By Mr. Sutherland:
Q. You complained to the major of the company, though, didn’t you? — A. Yes.
Q. You knew they were in control of that section there—the military? — A. Yes sir.
Q. And you complained to the major who seemed to be at the head of the military there? — A. Yes sir.(Witness excused.)
[Emphasis added]
SOURCE
Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado.
Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Mines and Mining
House of Representatives, Sixty-Third Congress, Second Session
Pursuant to H. Res. 387, a Resolution Authorizing and Directing
the Committee on Mines and Mining to Make an Investigation of
Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado.
Washington, DC, Government Printing Office, 1914
-Hearings of Feb. 9-April 23, 1914, Martin D. Foster, Chairman.
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/011159608
Part II: Feb 12-17 at Denver CO
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hj1e84&seq=401
List of Witnesses
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hj1e84&seq=403
Testimony of Mary Petrucci at Denver CO
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hj1e84&seq=783
Part III: Feb 17-20 at Trinidad CO
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hj1e84&seq=787
Testimony of Mary Petrucci Continued
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hj1e84&seq=791
IMAGE
Family at Ludlow Tent Colony, 1913-1914
https://www.du.edu/ludlow/
https://www.du.edu/ludlow/gallery1.html
See also:
Note: Mary Petrucci survived the Black Hole of Ludlow, the two children mentioned above did not. Mary Petrucci and her husband lost all of their little children at Ludlow, three to the Ludlow Massacre, and the eldest to illness before the Massacre.
See: Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 7, 1915
New York City – Mrs. Petrucci Tells Harrowing Story of Ludlow Massacre
Testimony of Mary Petrucci: She fled burning tent as militia fired upon her and her children.
Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 16, 1914
Denver, Colorado – John Lawson Testifies Before House Sub-Committee
Tag: Mary Petrucci
https://weneverforget.org/tag/mary-petrucci/
Tag: Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-1914
https://weneverforget.org/tag/colorado-coalfield-strike-of-1913-1914/
Song of Mary Petrucci at Ludlow – Tom Breiding