Tag: Commission on Industrial Relations

Hellraisers Journal: District 15, Colorado: “We recognize no surrender and shall continue..our humanitarian movement.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Babes of Ludlow, Speech at Trinidad CO UMW District 15 Special Convention, ES1 p154 (176 of 360)—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 10, 1914
Denver, Colorado – District 15 Calls Off Long Strike, Recognizes “No Surrender”

Meeting in convention in Denver, delegates of District No. 15 of the United Mine Workers of America unanimously voted to call off all strikes in the coal fields of Colorado, this decision to be effective on December 10th in both the northern and southern regions of the state.

The striking miners and their families endured through the long Colorado winter, living in tents after being evicted from the company towns. They faced hundreds of armed company guards who were deputized by the local sheriffs, a state militia infested with such company gunthugs, mass imprisonment, search lights that terrorized them in their tents at night. And yet their determination and solidarity remained unbroken.

Finally, with the spring, came the Ludlow Massacre followed by the ten day war. And still they remained determined to endure to the end. Now, many months later, that great strikebreaker, hunger, haunts them as they face another winter in the tents.

Their hopes for justice now depend on yet another committee and yet another investigation. This time, the committee is appointed by President Wilson. There is no agreement from the coal operators, led by Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, to abide by the findings of said committee.

In announcing the termination of the strike, the United Mine Workers of America recognized no surrender:

We recognize no surrender and shall continue to propagate the principles of our humanitarian movement throughout the coal fields of Colorado.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer of December 9, 1914:

 

STRIKE
———-
Ended in Colorado.
———-
Miners Act Favorably on
Advice of Executives.
———-
Troops May Be Called Off
Immediately.
———-
Order For Return of Men
To Pits Marks Finish
———-
Of Industrial Struggle That Has Cost Millions
and Lives of Scores of Combatants
———-

Federal Troops to be wd fr CO, Cnc Enq p16, Dec 9, 1914

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER.

Denver, Colo., December 8.-The coal miners’ strike in both the Northern and Southern Colorado coal fields was called off to-night. the miners voted to end the strike on December 10. This action was taken by the the convention of District No. 15 of the United Mine Workers of America by a unanimous vote late to-night after an all-day session, and ratifies the report of the International Executive Board introduced to-day recommending the termination of the strike.

The Executive Committee recommended ending the strike on the ground that such action would strengthen the union’s position in view of the appointment by President Wilson of a permanent commission, headed by Seth Low, to consider future differences in the coal fields.

Frank J. Hayes, International Vice President, in a statement to the convention explained in detail the reasons which impelled the International Board to make its recommendations, and there followed in executive session a lengthy and spirited discussion.

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Hellraisers Journal: Welborn Claims That “Press Agent” From Outside State Prepared Operators’ Pamphlets Defaming UMWA

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones re Miners Org Real Power of Labor Mv, Speech UMW D14 Conv, Apr 30, 1914, Ptt KS, Steel Speeches p134—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 8, 1914
Denver, Colorado – J. F. Welborn Testifies Before Walsh Commission

Jesse F. Welborn
J. F. Welborn

The testimony of J. F. Welborn, President of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, before the Commission on Industrial Relations, which was begun on Friday afternoon, continued all day Saturday. Welborn was grilled by Chairman Walsh regarding telegrams he had received from John D. Rockefeller, Jr, concerning the conduct of the strike and was requested to bring such telegrams forward.

The telegram from Mr. Rockefeller to Mr. Welborn, released by John R. Lawson to the press on the Friday, was identified by Welborn and entered into the record of the Commission by Chairman Walsh.

Pamphlets issued by the “Committee of Coal Mine Managers,” which contain errors regarding the salaries of U. M. W. of A. officials, including that of Mother Jones, were discussed. Welborn admitted that the pamphlets were prepared for the coal operators by a hired “press agent” whose identity has not, thus far, been revealed.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer of December 6, 1914:

ADVICE
———-
On Strike in Colorado
————

Received From Rockefeller in New York,
Welborn Testifies.
———-
Coal Company Says “Press Agent” From Outside State
Prepared Operators’ Pamphlets.
———-

SPECIAL DISPATCH TO THE ENQUIRER.

Frank P Walsh
Frank P. Walsh

Denver, Colo., December 5.-“Is there anyone you communicate with in New York except John D. Rockefeller, Jr.?” Chairman Walsh, of the Federal Industrial Relations Commission, asked J. F. Welborn, President of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, who resumed his testimony to-day in the investigation of the Colorado mine strike.

Welborn said he had heard from George J. Gould and others of the seven New York Directors of the company.

“To save time I shall ask you to file with us all the telegrams you have received from Rockefeller, Star J. Murphy and Jerome Green,” said the Chairman.

“I will bring all the telegrams I have,” replied Welborn.

The witness then identified a telegram from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., made public yesterday by John R. Lawson of the United Mine Workers. “But I should not care to have the telegrams given out as this was yesterday,” he said.

[Note: the telegram, from Rockefeller to Welborn, was entered into the record by Chairman Walsh during his grilling of Mr. Welborn.]

Welborn said the company had thirteen Directors, seven living in New York, and six in Denver, that the meetings were held in Denver, and communication held with the Rockefeller interests as represented by Rockefeller, Murphy and Green.

Welborn was questioned regarding pamphlets entitled “The Truth About Colorado,” and “Facts About the Colorado Struggle.” He said he would assume responsibility for the document, the writer of which did not wish his name known.

The company, he said, had spent about $12,000 printing the bulletins, and had distributed about 40,000 copies to educators, legislators, ministers and the general public.

Questioned by Walsh, the witness admitted that some statements in the bulletin might not be strictly accurate.

The writer, Welborn said, was not in Colorado.

“Does he expect compensation for his work?”

“I don’t know,” said Welborn, “when his work is completed, I shall have to audit his bill.”

“Who contracted his employment?”

“There was no contract. There was an oral understanding that he was to be compensated later. He is still making statements for us. His work is not finished. I don’t know whether the company or some one interested in the company is going to pay him.”

Walsh called the attention of the witness to a table appearing in a pamphlet, giving the sums alleged to have been paid to national officers of the United Mine Workers. According to this table sums paid out in nine weeks were as follows:

Frank J. Hayes $4,502, plus $1,667 for expenses.
John McLennan $2,683, plus $1,469 for expenses.
John R. Lawson, $1,773.
Mary Jones, $2,668.

“Do you accept the personal responsibility for this?” asked Walsh.

“For as much of the published statement as has not been denied,” replied Welborn.

“If it is true that McLennan gets $4 a day will you correct it?”

“Just as soon as I believe it is wrong.”

Commissioner O’Connell said that the figures given were from the report of William Green, secretary of the United Mine Workers, and covered total salary and expenses for one year, not nine weeks. The statement in the pamphlet, which alleged that the delegates to the Trinidad convention that called the strike were selected and sent there by the officers of the union, Welborn declared he could not substantiate.

The total loss to the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company caused by the strike was $800,000, Welborn said.

———-

[Photographs and emphasis added]

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Hellraisers Journal: It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of corporations that is silent, not noisy like the violence they promote.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado

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Quote KE Linderfelt re Damn Red Neck Bitches of Ludlow Massacre, Apr 20, 1914, CIR p7378—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 8, 1914
New York City – Judge Lindsey Continues Before Commission on Industrial Relations

From the Washington Evening Star of May 21, 1914:

Rep Keating Judge Lindsey, Rep Kent, Mrs Lindsey, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas, Mrs Lee Champion, Rachel Thomas, Olga Thomas
Rep. Keating, Judge Ben Lindsey, Rep. Kent, Mrs. Lindsey,
Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas,
Mrs. Lee Champion, Rachel and Olga Thomas
—————

TESTIMONY OF JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY, Part II
New York, New York, May 28, 1914

Judge Lindsey testified before the Commission on Industrial Relations during the afternoon session of May 28th. Present were Chairman Walsh, and Commissioners Ballard, O’Connell, Lennon, Garretson, and Harriman.

[Judge Lindsey continues:] It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of capital, the violence of corporations, that is silent, if you please, and not noisy like the violence they promote. I think, therefore, that they owe it to our people to consent to the appointment by the President of a board of arbitration, who will go out there and investigate those conditions and listen to both sides, and both sides being willing, assuming, of course, the board is fair and just and acceptable to both sides, to abide by the decision they may come to. And I think a great mistake is being made by the powers that control the industrial government of this country, the seat of which is here in New York, and is as superior to the President of the United States, unless he is willing to exert himself in spite of it, as the boss over the employee in a factory. That is my view of it.

And being in that position, knowing that they have said, or claimed, to have the Constitution back of them, certain laws back of them that were primarily designed for property, they owe it to our people to concede, to give, if you please, some of this terrific power by consenting to this board, and letting them, so far as it is possible, at least, for temporary purposes, to adjust the difficulties up there and to relieve our people of the passion into which they have been plunged, but the fact that when these Federal troops were withdrawn, if they are, because of this condition that has grown up for years and years, beginning with the corporations themselves, their own lawlessness, will be too much, and there is a possibility of the repetition of Ludlow unless the President will keep the Federal troops there, and to bring about any sort of settlement, go a step further and appoint this industrial commission, and if both sides do not consent to this arbitration, then it is our contention, in the interests of peace, because of the military necessities of the case, because a republican form of government, with the confession of the governor of the State, has broken down in Colorado and the Constitution says the Federal Government shall guarantee us a republican form of government, that he would be justified in taking some means, even though they be forcible, to compel those who refuse to arbitrate to consent to arbitration.

Now, that is the feeling of many of our people and I speak that feeling. I am not here to speak on behalf of the militia, I am not here to speak on behalf of the mine owners. I am not here to-day to speak on behalf of the mine workers. I am simply here to voice my feelings, after years of experience, being down in the midst, knowing both sides, understanding their viewpoint, to make clear to you, as an industrial commission, in a general way, some of the conditions that have existed in our State and that exist in other States, that have brought about these results, in order that, in time if not now, there may be one result—an investigation like this, and that will begin to tackle conditions and tackle causes that make for these effects, and I would feel false in my duty to the children of my State and the children of this country if I did not take a bigger opportunity for this problem than merely sitting behind a desk and trying the immediate troubles of children. I have done that for 14 years, and I have looked into the faces of these children, and I have tried to think and find out why do boys do bad things? Why do girls do bad things? And I think I have found out. And I look at it and then I ask myself, why do men do bad things? And the reason in the one case is largely the reason in the other; it is the condition, in a large measure, not altogether, say, the environment, their viewpoint.

My plea is for a better understanding of these questions. Therefore I thought if I came over to New York after the President of the United States had given us a most courteous hearing, that Mr. Rockefeller himself would be willing to see me and permit me to present this phase of the situation. But after a courteous request for that privilege he has refused, not only to see me, but while I am of no particular consequence perhaps, I think it is of great consequence that he should have heard the miners’ wives whom you courteously and kindly and considerately heard here yesterday, whom the President of United States heard, because, I contend that when men receive profits or have possessions that promise profits, they haven’t any right to take the impersonal view that he takes, and deny any responsibility. Kings have gone down among their people, even in the days of the old feudalists, or even in modern conditions, we have known of kings going among their people and lending them succor and help and not being so impersonal and above them that they would not listen to their woes and troubles and miseries, and be willing to lend something of themselves to really find the cause of these things, and help to solve them, and surely Mr. Rockefeller is no bigger than the President of the United States. He isn’t any bigger than kings, who have done it.

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Hellraisers Journal: It is not an act of civilized warfare to turn machine guns upon women and children.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Next Time, Women Will Fight, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday June 7, 1914
New York City – Judge Lindsey Testifies Before Commission on Industrial Relations

LoC, Lindsey and Ludlow Women 1, WDC May 21, 1914
Mrs. Lindsey, Judge Lindsey, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly,
Mrs. Lee Champion, Olga and Rachael Thomas
On Thursday May 28th, Judge Lindsey of Colorado appeared before the Commission on Industrial Relations. The previous week, Judge Lindsey had escorted miners’ wives, survivors of the Ludlow Massacre, to the White House for an interview with President Wilson.

In his testimony before the Commission, the Judge spoke about the plight of women and children when their husbands and fathers die on the job. He describe how the “industrial government” of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company dictates to every branch of the state and county governments in Colorado, and, that that “industrial government” is dictated to from the federal “industrial government” in New York City.

Of the Ludlow Massacre, Judge Lindsey stated:

It is not an act of civilized warfare, if you please, to turn machine  guns and rifles upon a tent colony in which it is known by those who are responsible  and those who do the deed that there are defenseless women and children.

Judge Lindsey testified during the afternoon session of May 28th. Present were Chairman Walsh, and Commissioners Ballard, O’Connell, Lennon, Garretson, and Harriman.  We present the first part of the testimony below, and will publish the rest of the testimony tomorrow.

TESTIMONY OF JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY.

Mr. Thompson. Now, just for the purpose of making our record, l will ask you a few preliminary questions. Your name?
Judge Lindsey. My name is Ben B. Lindsey.
Mr. Thompson. Your address?
Judge Lindsey. Denver, Colo.
Mr. Thompson. And your profession or-
Judge Lindsey. l am a lawyer, a judge on the bench, and have been for 15 years or thereabouts, in the city of Denver.
Mr. Thompson. Now, you may go on with your story.
Judge Lindsey. l will try, Mr. Chairman, to make my story as connected as possible; but unless l should be misunderstood, I first wish to make a statement as to the statement made by the gentleman who has preceded me [Major Boughton], which l think is a good illustration of much of the misunderstanding which grows out of an unfortunate situation like that which you are asked to hear some evidence about. He read from a newspaper saying that a Mr. Lord, representing the miners, had stated that there were 2.000 men, miners, and if necessary there would be 50,000 more ready to resist the militia. The gentleman did not state what Mr. Lord said, neither did the newspapers that he read from state what Mr. Lord said. Mr. Lord said, for l was present when he said, that if the tactics pursued by certain men in the militia that brought about the murders, as he expressed it and claimed, of women and children were repeated in Colorado that there were in that case 2,000 men who had red blood enough in their veins to resist that sort of encroachment under whatever name it might be called, and that there were 50,000 men in this country who were willing to join.

Now, that is an entirely different statement from that which the gentleman read and the statement which he would have this commission to believe is true. I merely mention it as a good illustration of how Mr. Lawson could have been misquoted and misrepresented by the paper from which he [the witness BoughtonJ read.

l have talked personally with Mr. Lawson within the last fortnight or so,  just before I left Denver. I have talked with Mr. Lawson in the presence of men of the most radical type, who proposed or suggested things that I have heard Mr. Lawson fight against and talk against, and the statements made to me by Mr. Lawson are quite contradictory of the statement the gentleman read from the newspaper purporting to be made by Mr. Lawson. Since I left Denver and since I have been in this city I  have found myself misquoted on several different occasions and things put into my mouth that l never said, things put into my mouth that I could not have said; and I wish to state to this commission, because of this fact of which I am a witness, having heard Mr. Lord, that it go very slow in accepting statements made in the newspapers.

I  have a statement in the Pueblo Chieftain of May 3 that I could offer to this commission, two or three columns, in which it is stated that a certain prominent citizen, of Colorado said that the thing to be done with men like myself was that they should be killed—k-i-l-l-e-d-. I am not going to claim that those men who are making inflammatory statements of that kind are trying to stir up a sentiment among certain individuals that will bring about my own murder, yet that will be found in the Pueblo Chieftain of May 3, which is supposed to be the official organ, in so far as they have any official organ, of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. Now, so much for that. Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: It is not an act of civilized warfare to turn machine guns upon women and children.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado” →

Hellraisers Journal: New York City-Vivid Testimony of Pearl Jolly and Mary Thomas Counters Claim of Major Boughton That Gov. Ammons Has “Neutral Attitude”

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Quote Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Next Time, Women Will Fight, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 29, 1914
New York City- Testimony of Ludlow Survivors Describe Actions of “Neutral” Militia

Judge Lindsey, M Thomas, P Jolly, M Petrucci, Thomas Girls, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914
Judge Lindsey with (left to right) Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly,
Mary Petrucci, and daughters of Mrs. Thomas
Dear Reader: We will leave it to you decide just how neutral has been the attitude of Governor Ammons during the ongoing conflict in Colorado between the Coal Operators, led by Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, and the strikers, lead by the United Mine Workers of America. Read the following article in which Major Boughton, in his position as Judge Advocate of the Colorado National Guard, indicates the testimony that he will present today before the U. S. Commission on Industrial Relations. Then read the testimony of Pearl Jolly and Mary Thomas, both of them miners’ wives who withstood the machine-gun fire from that “neutral” militia all throughout that terrible day of the Ludlow Massacre.

We only ask that our readers remember that it is ultimately Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, who is in command of the Colorado National Guard. And, we might add, we know of no instance when those machine guns were ever aimed at the homes of Rockefeller or of his managers in Colorado, and, to our knowledge, none of them have ever been arrested and held incommunicado in spite of having, year after year, ignored the labor and safety laws of the state of Colorado:

From the New York Sun of May 28, 1914:

WILL TELL OTHER SIDE OF
COLORADO RIOTING
———-
Major Boughton of National Guard to Appear
before Industrial Commission
———

“AMMONS WAS NEUTRAL”
———-
Judge Lindsey Leaves Without Getting
to See J. D. Rockefeller, Jr.
———-

Major Edward J. Boughton, who commanded a battalion of the Colorado National Guard during the fights with the striking miners at Trinidad, arrived yesterday to give testimony before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations now sitting here in the matter of the coal strike. His presentation of the incidents of the strike will supplement the testimony given yesterday before the commission by Mrs. Pearl Jolly arid Mrs. Mary Hannah Thomas, wives of striking miners.

While Mrs. Jolly and Mrs. Thomas denounced the militia, Major Boughton will present the situation in a new light. He would not go into details when seen at the Waldorf-Astoria, but he admitted he had come here in answer to a subpoena that he might “tell the people of New York of the real conditions In Colorado.”“I want to correct,” he said, “the erroneous impression that prevails here regarding the part taken by the State troops.”

Major Boughton was an important factor during the strike trouble. On October 28, when the troops were called out, he served as Field Major. On November 20 he was made Judge Advocate for the military district. While he was Judge Advocate there were 172 cases presented lo the military commission.

“In this controversy between capital and labor,” said the Major, “Gov. Ammons has maintained a neutral attitude toward both parties. He did all he could to avert the bloodshed. He did not leave a stone upturned in his effort to have the matter settled amicably by arbitration. He is still doing all he can in this direction.”

Mrs. Jolly and Mrs. Thomas asked to be heard by the Commission and there was some objection, Whereupon Mrs. J. Borden Harriman of the commission, said: “I believe that if there has been gross wrongs committed against these women, they ought to be heard and I represent the women and children of the country on this commission.”

There was no further demur. Mrs. Jolly told practically the same story which she gave on Sunday in the Manhattan Lyceum, as did Mrs. Thomas…

Judge Ben B. Lindsey, who has been trying to see John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in an effort to get him to use his influence toward having the Colorado difficulty submitted to a Federal arbitration board, will leave this afternoon for Colorado without having seen Mr. Rockefeller.

“Although I did not see Mr. Rockefeller personally,” said Judge Lindsey, “we have communicated. From what I have learned I have reason to hope that Mr. Rockefeller’s attitude has changed in regard to the situation and that he will help toward having the matter arbitrated.”

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Note: Mrs. Mary Petrucci, who lost her children in the Ludlow Massacre, has returned to Colorado. According to Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Petrucci has been “grieving herself to death.”

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Hellraisers Journal: John D. Jr. Safe at Last! Miners’ Wives Tell Wilson of Ludlow Horror

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Quote Ludlow Mary Petrucci, Children all dead, ed, Trinidad Las Animas Co CO Affidavit, May 11, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 25, 1914
Rockefeller Safe in New York; Ludlow Survivors with President at White House

From The Washington Times of May 21, 1914:

Judge Lindsey, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Thomas Girls. Mrs Lindsey, Frank Hayes, Mrs Lee Champion, WDC p1, May 21, 1914
Upper left to right: Judge Lindsey, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly,
Mary Petrucci, Thomas Daughters. Lower left to right:
Mrs. Lindsey, Frank Hayes, Mrs. Lee Champion
In Trinidad, Colorado, 1200 men, women and children, the Ludlow refugees, left homeless and with all of their earthly possessions destroyed, are being cared for by the United Mine Workers of America. While in New York City, we are pleased to report, Mr. John D. Rockefeller Jr. is, at long last, safely back at work, his “tormenters” vanquished.
 

From The Fort Wayne Sentinel of May 20, 1914:

JOHN D. JR., IS BACK AT HIS JOB
———-

He Emerges from Retirement to Find Tormenters Silenced.
———-
THE COLORADO CASE
———-

New York, May 20.-John D. Rockefeller, jr., has returned to work after twenty days spent at the country estates of his father at Pocantico Hills. Since May first when he went into retirement most of his tormenters under the leadership of Upton Sinclair, have been silenced, several by being sent to jail.

Sinclair is in Colorado and Marie Ganz and the Rev. Bouch [Bouck] White are serving sentences on Blackwell’s Island, the latter for having broken up the services at the Calvary Baptist church ten days ago.

“Mother” Jones alone remains in the lecture field and denounces the Rockefeller interests in the Colorado coal district. Mr. Rockefeller’s secretary said yesterday that he was making no investigation of the conditions in Colorado. He was only a minority stockholder in the Colorado Fuel and Iron company, it was said, and whatever recommendations he could offer might not influence the officials of the company in dealing with the miners.

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Women and Babes From Ludlow Visit Chicago, Leave for Washington to Visit with President

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Quote Ludlow Mary Petrucci, Children all dead, ed, Trinidad Las Animas Co CO Affidavit, May 11, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 24, 1914
Chicago, Illinois – Judge Lindsey and Survivors of Ludlow Speak at Hull House

From The Fort Wayne Sentinel of May 20, 1914:

Judge Lindsey, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Thomas Girls, Ft Wayne Sent p6, May 20, 1914
Judge Ben Lindsey; Women left to right: Mary Thomas,
Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci; Thomas Daughters.
Five survivors of the Ludlow Massacre stopped off in Chicago, as guests of Miss Jane Addams of Hull House, on their way to Washington D. C. where they met with President Wilson. Mary Petrucci whose children were all killed in the fire, Mary Thomas and her two little daughters who hid from machine gun bullets throughout that terrible day, and Pearl Jolly, the heroine of Ludlow, who spent the day under fire as she assisted the women and children to escape: they are all being escorted to Washington by Judge Lindsey and Mrs. Lee Champion. The Judge’s wife was, unfortunately, hospitalized yesterday soon after their arrival in Chicago, and will not be able to accompanied the party further.
 
From The Daily Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon) of May 19, 1914:

LUDLOW’S STORY IS

TOO HORRIBLE TO PUT IN PRINT
———-

Details Equaled Only by the Burning and Sacking of Ancient Rome
———-
COLORADO SITTING ON VOLCANO’S EDGE
———-
Father Saluted with Child’s Corpse When He Went to Militia’s Camp
———-

Chicago, May 19,-“The true story of what transpired at Ludlow is too horrible to print.” said Judge Ben Lindsey here today. The famous Denver jurist is en route to Washington, accompanied by Mrs. Pearl Jolly, Mrs. Mary Petrucci and Mrs. M. Thomas, all Ludlow survivors.

“The details of the Ludlow affair are almost unbelievable,” said Judge Lindsey. “They are equaled only in the stories of the sacking of Rome, the pillaging of Carthage and the inhumanities of the Balkan war.

“We are going to Washington to beg President Wilson to not withdraw the federal troops. My own interests are neutral. I want law and order and the citizens of Denver have asked me to help get order.

“The Ludlow story is a black mark on the nation’s history. I can only suggest it and fill in the outlines with the direct testimony of these women who have suffered. As one instance of what occurred-and I have affidavits to back it up-a father went to a militia camp for his boy who had been missing. He was saluted with the child’s corpse. The boys’ head had been shot off and the body half burned. A soldier threw it over a tent to the father, saying: ‘Here, take the _ thing.’

“Mothers who went to rescue their babies were shot down and mutilated. Children only a few years old were killed. Barbarians in even the most unholy days could not have been more cruel than some of the militiamen at Ludlow.”

The party visited Hull House and related the story to Jane Addams. The latter broke down as the women told of the cruelties practiced on helpless women and children by the militiamen. Mrs. Lindsey, a victim of nervous prostration as a result of Denver’s high altitude, was taken to a Chicago hospital and will await her husband’s return from Washington.

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Hellraisers Journal: Court-Martial Witness: Miners Stored Dynamite in Pits Dug for Families to Seek Shelter in Case of Attack

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Quote KE Linderfelt re Damn Red Neck Bitches of Ludlow Massacre, Apr 20, 1914, CIR p7378—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 17, 1914
State of Colorado Charges Guardsmen with Arson and Larceny at Ludlow Tent Colony

Hamrock and Linderfelt Butchers of Ludlow, 1913, 1914, CO Coal Field War Project

As the Court-Martial of members of the Colorado militia commences, The New York Times continues to publish the claim, made by Colorado’s militia of gunthugs, that dynamite stored in the safety pits of the strikers exploded during the battle, and that that is what started the fire that burned the Ludlow Tent Colony to the ground, killing two women and eleven children and destroying the homes and all of the earthly possessions of the 1200 residents. This claim was made by the Times two days after the Massacre along with the claim that the battle took place on the property of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

In fact, the Ludlow Tent Colony was established on land rented by the United Mine Workers of America. The strikers had every right to be there. Their tents were their homes which they were determined to protect, just as anyone anywhere would.

To our knowledge, the Times has never corrected that wildly inaccurate reporting.

The idea that miners-knowing the dangers of dynamite-would dig pits for the safety of their wives and children, fill them with dynamite, and then tell their loved ones to hide amongst the sticks of dynamite in case of attack, is the height of absurdity.

Readers of Hellraisers are aware of the many affidavits sworn out by those men and women who were in the Colony during the attack. To our knowledge the Times has not printed even one of these affidavits, at least we have not found a single one printed within pages of The New York Times.

There is no mystery as to the cause of the fire: The soldiers entered the colony at about 7 p. m. as the strikers ran out of ammunition. They first lit a match to Mrs. Petrucci’s tent, shot at her and the children as she ran to tent #58, and then, not long after she entered that cellar, they lit tent #58 on fire also, even as Cedi Costa begged for mercy. No mercy was shown. The gunthug militiamen then moved through the colony lighting tents on fire using paper and matches or a broom dipped in oil. Wherever the soldiers moved, the fires started.

The lies told by the gunthug militia are printed for the world to see, but the affidavits of the terrorized strikers and their wives are buried in volumes of testimony, printed only in the labor and Socialist newspapers

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Hellraisers Journal: Rockefellers Are Undisturbed by “Agitators” as Colorado Miners and Families Mourn Their Loss

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Babes of Ludlow, Speech at Trinidad CO UMW District 15 Special Convention, ES1 p154 (176 of 360)—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 15, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Former Residents of Ludlow Mourn as Rockefeller Sr. Plays Golf

While the former residents of the Ludlow Tent Colony, 1200 men, women and children, mourn their dead-including twelve children ages three months to eleven years-and suffer the loss of their homes and all of their earthly possessions, we are pleased to report that the Rockefeller Family had a nice quiet day at Pocantico yesterday, undisturbed by any reminders of the Ludlow Massacre carried out in their interests.

From the Lebanon Daily News of May 12, 1914:

Ludlow Massacre Not in Mexico But in CO by Rollin Kirby, AtR p2, May 9, 1914

QUIET DAY FOR ROCKEFELLERS
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Neither Mother Jones
Nor Other Agitators
Visit Pocantico.

Tarrytown, N. Y., May 12-Although the grounds were still heavily guarded no agitators appeared at the Rockefeller estate at Pocantico Hills. Mother Jones was expected to come here to try to make an appeal to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., but she did not appear. It is reported she will come today, but it is doubtful if she will get in the grounds.

John D. Rockefeller, Sr,. played golf yesterday morning, but John D., Jr, was not seen during the day.

[Drawing by Rollin Kirby and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mary Petrucci of Ludlow: “She touched and called to her three children, and they were all dead.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Ludlow Mary Petrucci, Children all dead, Affidavit, May 11, 1914
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Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday May 12, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – The Affidavits of Mary Petrucci and Maggie Dominiske

Black Hole of Ludlow

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AFFIDAVIT.

State of Colorado, Las Animas County, ss:

Mary Petrucci, of lawful age, being first duly sworn, on oath testified as follows: That her name is Mary Petrucci; that affiant had started to wash, and a little later heard two bombs go off, and noticed the soldiers running toward the steel bridge, and they started to shoot down at the colony; affiant states that it was about 9 o’clock [April 20th]; and then affiant went into her cellar hole; that when affiant went into her cellar hole she took her three children, ages 4 years, 2 years, and 6 months, respectively; that affiant remained in the cellar until 6 o’clock in the evening, when her tent was set on fire; affiant states that her tent was the first one fired, as her tent was No. 1; affiant states that her tent was the tent nearest the railroad track; affiant states that when the shooting commenced with the machine guns the bullets were so thick in he tent that she shut her cellar door; that about 6 o’clock in the evening affiant saw some fire on her cellar door, and on looking out saw that her tent was on fire, whereupon she took her three children and went to the cellar hole occupied by Mrs. Costa and other women and children to affiant unknown; that shortly after affiant reached the above last-mentioned cellar hole the tent took fire, and the women and children commenced to cough, and they were all choked with the smoke; affiant further states that she lost consciousness until the next morning, when she touched and called to her three children, and they were all dead; affiant states that she went to the Ludlow station and came to Trinidad; affiant states that she does not remember anything of the trip from Ludlow to Trinidad; that affiant was taken sick with pneumonia caused by exposure and grief; affiant states that on account of being ill she never saw her three children after leaving them in the cellar hole; affiant states that when she came out of her cellar hole the guards were shooting after her, and she started to the cellar hole where Mrs. Costa was because it was dug in under like a mine, and affiant thought it would be safer, and the guards yelled, ” Get away from there”; affiant states that she had the three children, and she had nowhere else to go, so I went in there.

Further affiant saith not.

MARY PETRUCCI.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 11th day of May, 1914,
[SEAL.]

Leon V. Griswold, Notary Public.

My commission expires September 10. 1917.

[Emphasis added.]

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