Hellraisers Journal: UMWA Declares Strike of District 15’s Coal Miners Will Begin November 9th. Order Signed by President Mitchell So Instructs President Howells.

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Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday November 1, 1903
Indianapolis, Indiana – United Mine Workers Issues Strike Call for District 15

From The Rocky Mountain News of October 30, 1903:

CO etc District 15 Strike Declared by UMWA, Mother Jones Prominent, RMN p1, 9, Oct 30, 1903

Note error above: District 15 coal miners are members of the United Mine Workers of America, not the Western Federation of Miners (metal miners).

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: UMWA Declares Strike of District 15’s Coal Miners Will Begin November 9th. Order Signed by President Mitchell So Instructs President Howells.”

Hellraisers Journal: Governor Ammons Orders Troops Out Against Strikers in the Coalfields of Southern Colorado

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Quote John Lawson 1913, after October 17th Death Special attack on Forbes Tent Colony, Beshoar p74—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 29, 1913
Denver, Colorado – Governor Declares Martial Law in Southern Coalfields

From The Denver Post of October 27, 1913:

CO Gov Ammons, McLennan, Hayes, White, Last Try bf Troops, DP p2, Oct 27,1913

Officers of the United Mine Workers of America in conference with Governor Ammons regarding the strike situation in the Southern coal fields. Left to right are Governor Ammons, John McLennan, district president of the United Mine Workers of America and president of the Colorado State Federation of Labor; Vice President Frank J. Hayes and President John P. White of the United Mine Workers of America.

From The Rocky Mountain News of October 28, 1913:

Bnr HdLn CO Gov Orders Troops ag Strikers, RMN p1, Oct 28, 193

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Governor Ammons Orders Troops Out Against Strikers in the Coalfields of Southern Colorado”

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado: “These Women Ain’t Going to Bite You.”

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Quote re Mother Jones, Fighting Angel, Denver CO ULB p1, Sept 20, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 23, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Leads Mass Parade to Confront Governor Ammons

Trinidad CO Parade, Let the Public take over the Mines, CO Coal Field War Project, Protest, Possibly March Led by Mother Jones, Oct 21, 1913

Mother Jones Leads Parade v Colorado Gov Ammons, TCN p1, Oct 21, 1913
Trinidad Chronicle News
October 21, 1913

Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, arrived Tuesday, October 21st, in Southern Colorado to make a personal tour of the strike zone. He came accompanied by several state officials. Near Walsenburg, on the public highway leading into the C. F. & I. Company’s Ravenwood Mine, an Oklahoma gunthug refused to give a pass to the chief executive of the state of Colorado so that he could continue on his chosen route. The private company gunthug said to the Governor:

You may be the governor and again maybe you ain’t. I dunno. But you ain’t got no pass to get in here and you ain’t going in, see?

Governor Ammons and his party of state official were forced to turn back.

In Trinidad, Governor Ammons sojourned at the Hotel Cardenas. Imagine his surprise when he looked out the window to find Mother Jones leading a parade of 1500 women and children who were followed by 2500 more in a grand show of support. The Colorado & Southern railroad refused Mother’s request to carry the strikers and their families from Ludlow into Trinidad, and yet many of them managed to make their way into Trinidad to march in the parade. They were joined by the women, children, and miners from many of the other tent colonies as well.

They all came marching and singing, (especially “The Colorado Strike Song”) led by a brass band, and carrying signs of protest:

Has the Governor Any Respect for the State?

A Bunch of Mother Jones’ Children

We Want Freedom, Not Corporation Rules

If Uncle Sam Can Run the Post-Office, Why Not the Mines?

We Are Not Afraid of Your Gatling Guns, We Have To Die Anyway

Give Us Another Patrick Henry for Governor

The Democratic Party is on Trial

Do You Hear the Children Groaning, O Colorado

Mother, believing that the residents of the tent colonies deserve an encouraging word from their Governor, brought the women and children into the hotel and straight up to the door of the Governor’s room. According to reports, every hallway was packed. Mother called to the Governor, but he would not come out. She beat on the door and yelled:

Unlock that door and come out here. These women ain’t going to bite you.

The Governor remained barricaded in his room.

Governor Ammons will leave the strike zone today or early tomorrow. Reports indicate that he is unwilling to call out the National Guard at this time. He told reporters:

The strike is no Sunday school picnic, but conditions aren’t as bad as I had been led to believe.

—————

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado: “These Women Ain’t Going to Bite You.””

Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Forbes Tent Colony Attacked by Operators’ “Death Special”

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Let every miner wear his red bandanna
around his neck. It is our uniform.
-John Lawson
———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 19, 1913
News Round-Up from the Coal Miners’ Strike in Southern Colorado

Wednesday October 15, 1913 – Southern Coalfields, Colorado
-Coal Operators Provide Gunthugs with “Death Special.”

Baldwin-Felts Death Special

The coal operators have brought a new machine into the strike zone of Colorado. Called the “Death Special” by the miners, the machine is an automobile covered with armor and equipped with a search light and a machine gun. It is usually seen roaming about the various tent colonies filled with Baldwin-Felts gunthugs holding their rifles at the ready. Word has it that Mr. Felts, himself, had the large automobile delivered from Denver to Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron plant in Pueblo. There the sides were torn down and replaced with three-eights-inch steel plates. The machine gun was shipped in from West Virginia where it had served previous duty against the miners of that state.

—————-

Thursday October 17, 1913 – Trinidad, Colorado
-Death Special follows 48 Union Men from Starkville to Trinidad

Yesterday strikers engaged in peacefully picketing at the Starkville Mine. This mine is owned by James McLaughlin, brother-in-law of Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado. Forty-eight of these union men were rounded up, placed under arrest by company guards and county deputies and marched the three miles back to Trinidad. On either side of them were rows of armed gunthugs, and behind them came the Death Special with its spotlight and machine gun aimed at their backs.

The union men offered no resistance, but as they come down the hill into Trinidad, they began to shout. They are being held in the Las Animas County Jail.

G. C. Jones, organizer for the Western Federation of Miners, was beaten by Gunthug Belk and by A. C. Felts as he attempted to get a Kodak of the menacing machine. The young photographer, Lou Dold was more successful.

In the past few days other attacks upon the striking miners and their families have been perpetrated by the mine guards. The Sopris Tent Colony was shot up by company gunthugs as they sped by in an automobile. In Walsenburg, Gunthug Lou Miller and six of his companions, roamed the streets assaulting strikers and union sympathizers wherever they found them. The town of Segundo was sprayed with machine gun fire for a full ten minutes as punishment for the beating of guard who had insulted a woman there.

—————

Saturday October 18, 1913 – Forbes Tent Colony, Colorado
-Mine Guards Attack with Death Special, Striker Luca Vahernick Killed

Mine guards, yesterday, attacked the Forbes Tent Colony making use of  the machine gun from the Death Special. Guards on horseback also used their rifles in the attack. A miner, Luca Vahernick, was killed, and a boy, Marco Zamboni, was shot nine times in the legs. A young girl who was on her way home from school was shot in the face. She lives on a near-by farm. The attack began at 2 p.m. and continued until dusk. The miners had only seven rifles or shotguns, six revolvers, and very little ammunition, but they were able to defend the Colony and prevented the guards from entering.

John Lawson arrived at Forbes this morning. As Lawson approached the camp, he found the Gunthugs Belk and Belcher lurking about, and confronted them. These are the same guards who were involved in the murders of Brothers Lippiatt and Powell, and now it appears, they have murdered another union brother. Louie Tikas stepped between Lawson and Belk, in that quiet, calm way of his and eased them apart. And, in this way, he may have saved Brother Lawson’s life.

—————

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Forbes Tent Colony Attacked by Operators’ “Death Special””

Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Day Book: Don MacGregor at Ludlow: “Gunmen Always Ready to Open War on Families of Miners”

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The Exodus from Coal Camps to Ludlow, Don MacGregor, Dnv Exp Sept 24, 1913 per Beshoar p—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 15, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony, Colorado, Sunday September 28th
-Don MacGregor Visits Miner’s Tent, Describes Conditions

From the Chicago Day Book of October 4, 1913:

Don MacGregor re Ludlow and Gunthugs, Day Book p1, Oct Don MacGregor re Ludlow and Gunthugs 2, Day Book p1, Oct Don MacGregor re Ludlow and Gunthugs 3, Day Book p1, Oct

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Day Book: Don MacGregor at Ludlow: “Gunmen Always Ready to Open War on Families of Miners””

Hellraisers Journal: Ludlow Tent Colony Attacked by Gunthugs; Mack Powell Shot Off His Horse at Strikers Baseball Game

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Quote Mother Jones, Rise Up and Strike, UMW D15 Conv Sept 16 Trinidad CO, Dnv Exp Sept 17, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 14, 1913
Ludlow Colony, Colorado – Gunthugs Attack Strikers’ Tent Village 

Ludlow Tent Colony, CO Coal Field War ProjectThe Ludlow Tent Colony

Wednesday October 8, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire into tents, miners rally to defend the camp.

Several striking miners walked up to Hastings from Ludlow yesterday attempting to collect their mail from the U. S. Post Office there. When mine guards refused them their mail, they argued briefly, but then headed back toward Ludlow. The guards laughed and fired shots over their heads as they walked away.

A short while later, Walter Belk and George Belcher, the same Baldwin-Felts gunthugs who were involved in the murder of Brother Lippiatt, drove near to Ludlow and let loose with a volley of shots into the tents. When miners came running to defend the Colony, more guards began shooting. The miners took up their guns and returned fire.

Women and children ran from the tents and gathered at the fence on the west side of the camp. Seeing that they were exposed to fire, John Lawson ran along the fence urging the women and children back to the tents. As the miners forced the guards to retreat, the women and children, singing union songs, returned to camp.

There are reports that shots were fired at the camp again this morning. John Lawson urged the miners not to leave the camp in pursuit of the guards, but to stay close by:

While you fellows run down there a mile or so the Hastings guards will come down and take the tent colony.

The miners are taking Lawson’s advice. They remain in the camp with their rifles close at hand.

———-

Friday October 10, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire on baseball field, kill Mack Powell.

Yesterday morning gunthugs from Hastings fired upon the baseball field at the edge of the camp. Striking miners had been enjoying a friendly game, but, as bullets hit the dirt around them, they quickly ran for their rifles. They were able to drive the guards away from the camp. Mack Powell was sitting on his horse and watching from a distance when he was struck by a bullet and killed. Guards were later heard to brag that they had killed a miner.

Mack Powell was a union miner who had taken work as a cowboy on the near-by Green Ranch. Mack was married, and lived with his wife and his wife’s grandmother.

———-

Sunday October 12, 1913
Southern Coalfield – Operators ship in machine guns; Union prepares.

Should any American citizen believe that, surely, those mine guards who shot up the Ludlow Tent Colony and killed Mack Powell have been arrested, let them be, here and now, disabused of that naive notion of equal justice. In fact, the guards have not been arrested; they have had four machine guns added to their supply of weapons with which to continue their attacks on the tent colonies.

Vice President Hayes of the United Mine Workers of America said recently to John Lawson, “But they can’t conduct a war against us with machine guns. They wouldn’t turn machine guns on defenseless people.”

John Lawson believes that the operators are just that ruthless, and said, “We’ve got to protect the women and children at all costs.”

The colonies have been directed to put up breastworks and to dig pits under the tents. The women and children will be able to shelter there whenever the colonies are attacked. At this time, the Ludlow colony is the particular focus of the gunthugs, but all of the 20 or more colonies are considered to be at risk.

———-

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Ludlow Tent Colony Attacked by Gunthugs; Mack Powell Shot Off His Horse at Strikers Baseball Game”

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones in Southern Colorado; Delagua Coal Miners Discharged; Gunthugs Threaten Union Hall

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday September 7, 1913
Southern Colorado Coal Camps – Mother Jones Arrives; Union Miners 
Discharged

From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of September 6, 1913:

Mother Jones Arrives in So CO, Delagua Miners Discharged, Dnv ULB p1, Sept 6, 1913

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones in Southern Colorado; Delagua Coal Miners Discharged; Gunthugs Threaten Union Hall”

Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason’s Colorado Correspondent Under Constant Surveillance, Situation Serious

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Quote re Ludlow Monument, UMWJ June 21, 1917—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 31, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Correspondent G. Poe Montfort Under Surveillance

From the Appeal to Reason of August 30, 1913:

Article by G. Poe Montfort Colorado Strike Correspondent, AtR p1, Aug 30, 1913Article by G. Poe Montfort Colorado Strike Correspondent, AtR p1, Aug 30, 1913

———-

re Murder of Gerald Lippiatt, AtR p1, Aug 30, 1913

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Appeal to Reason’s Colorado Correspondent Under Constant Surveillance, Situation Serious”

WE NEVER FORGET: August 16, 1913, Gerald Lippiatt, Age 38, Shot Down by Gunthugs on the Streets of Trinidad

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WE NEVER FORGET

Gerald Lippiatt
Shot Down by Gunthugs at Age 38

Gerald Lippiatt, Scott Martelle Blog, Aug 16, 2013
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 when George Belcher and Walter Belk, 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.

The Colorado State Federation of Labor met for their yearly convention in Trinidad two days after the killing of Brother Lippiatt. The chair which would have been occupied by Lippiatt was draped in black. Perhaps, Brother Lippiatt was on their minds as they voted their support to District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America for any action deemed necessary with respect to conditions in the southern coalfields. Efforts were underway to avoid a strike against coal operators of southern coalfields, but the likelihood of avoiding that strike was fading with each passing day.

The coffin of Brother Lippiatt left Trinidad accompanied by the delegates from northern Colorado who were returning home from the C. F. of L. Convention. Gerald Lippiatt was brought home to Colorado Springs for burial. As the flag-draped coffin was taken from the baggage car and loaded onto the hearse, the delegates stood silently by, hats in hand, remembering who was responsible for his murder.

It was the sad duty of John McLennan, President of District 15 of the UMWA, to call John Lawson, International Board Member, at his home in Denver to inform him of Lippiatt’s death. Lawson related the conversation he had with Lippiatt three days before his death:

“I am leaving for Trinidad tonight, John, and I want to tell you goodbye. I think I am going to be killed”

“Killed? What do you mean?”

“The gunmen have been pressing me pretty hard down there, John, but I am going back. I’ve got a hunch they are going to get me this time.”

“Then you mustn’t go. Stay here and we’ll send someone else down; someone who isn’t so well known to them.”

“No, John, I’m going back. It is my job, and I want to go. But this is my last trip. Goodbye.”

Gerald Lippiatt was born in England in 1874, and came to America in 1891 with his parents and five siblings. The family settled in Ohio. He was survived by an older brother in Colorado Springs. He was engaged to be married to Edith Green of Rugby. He was likely a father as Martelle mentions a descendant. He had been Secretary of the UMWA local union in Frederick, Colorado, and was active in the northern coalfield strike before being sent to the southern field as an organizer.

Continue reading “WE NEVER FORGET: August 16, 1913, Gerald Lippiatt, Age 38, Shot Down by Gunthugs on the Streets of Trinidad”

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

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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:

Labor Martyr Gerald Lippiatt, Trinidad Chc Ns p1, Aug 18, 1913

From The San Francisco Call of August 18, 1913:

Labor Martyr Gerald Lippiatt, SF Call p2, Aug 18, 1913

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