Hellraisers Journal: Trinidad Officials Demand State Troops for Colorado Strike Zone; Union to Call Members to Arms

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Quote Helen Ring Robinson, Mine Owners Plug Uglies to Blame for Ludlow, RMN p5, Apr 22, 1914—————-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 23, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – City Officials Demand State Troops; Union to Issue Call to Arms

From The Denver Post of April 22, 1914:

Ludlow Massacre, Colorado Coalfield War, DP p6, Apr 22, 1914

Ludlow Massacre, Colorado Coalfield War crpd, DP p6, Apr 22, 1914

Top: Ruins of the Ludlow Tent Colony of Striking Coal Miners, Destroyed by Fire Monday Night During the Battle Between Strikers and Troops.
Bottom Left: Refugees from the Destroyed Ludlow Tent Colony, Seeking Shelter.
Bottom Right: After the Battle of Ludlow-Scene at the Railroad Station Showing Nearly Every Man, Soldier or Civilian, Bearing arms.

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Hellraisers Journal: From The Labor World: Young Rockefeller Declares He Has Millions to Crush the Miners’ Union in Colorado

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Quote Mother Jones Statement Apr 18 at Denver CO bf to WDC, RMN p5, Apr 19, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 19, 1914
Washington, D. C. – John D. Rockefeller Jr. Pledges Millions to Crush Colorado Miners

From the Duluth Labor World of April 18, 1914:

YOUNG ROCKEFELLER CHIP OFF OLD BLOCK
———-
Declares Before Industrial Commission He Has
Millions to Crush Miners’ Union.
———-

SOME MORE “DIVINE RIGHT” PHILOSOPHY
———-
Refused to Arbitrate Colorado Coal Strike
-Trusts Everything to Managers.
———-

John D Rockefeller Jr, Brk Dly Egl p1, Apr 6, 1914

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., son of the world’s richest man, testified Monday [April 6th] before the House Mines Committee in Washington about the question of his moral responsibility for the industrial strife which has kept the coal fields of southern Colorado in turmoil for six months.

After more than for hours of cross-examination Rockefeller had told the committee:

That he and three other directors represented his father’s interest of about 40 per cent in the Colorado Fuel and Iron company, the central figure in the big coal strike.

That as a director he had fulfilled all his interest and responsibility in the company when he placed the officers, “competent and trusted men,” in charge of the company’s affairs.

That he knew nothing of conditions in the strike district except from reports of the officers of the company.

He “Protects” “Free” Labor.

That the strike had become a fight for the “principles” of freedom of labor, and that he and his associates would rather the present violence continue and that “they lose all their millions invested in the coal fields than that American working men should be deprived of their right under the constitution to work for whom they pleased.”

This was accepted as an indication that the Rockefeller millions are opposed to the unions in Colorado.

That he favored arbitration in Industrial disputes-generally, but that in the present instance he supported the officers of the company in their refusal to submit the question of unionizing the mines to arbitration.

In support of these conclusions Rockefeller was kept busy for hours explaining defending and arguing. He asserted that employer and employe were “fellow men and should treat each other as such,” but could see no analogy between the unionization of workmen and the combination of capital….

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

WILL DEFEND OPEN SHOP AT ANY COST, PROPERTY OR LIVES

During his testimony this exchange took place between Rockefeller and the Chairman of the Subcommittee, M. D. Foster:

The CHAIRMAN. And you are willing to go on and let these killings take place—men losing their lives on either side, the expenditure of large sums of money, and all this disturbance of labor—rather than to go out there and see if you might do something to settle those conditions?

Mr. ROCKEFELLER. There is just one thing, Mr. Chairman, so far as I understand it, which can be done, as things are at present, to settle this strike, and that is to unionize the camps; and our interest in labor is so profound and we believe so sincerely that that interest demands that the camps shall be open camps, that we expect to stand by the officers at any cost. It is not an accident that this is our position.

The CHAIRMAN. And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?

Mr. ROCKEFELLER. It is a great principle.

[Emphasis added.]

From the Rocky Mountain News of April 19, 1914
-Mother Jones Makes Statement Before Leaving Denver for Washington:

HdLn ed Mother Jones to WDC re CO Conditions, RMN p5, Apr 19, 1914

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From The Labor World: Young Rockefeller Declares He Has Millions to Crush the Miners’ Union in Colorado”

Hellraisers Journal: Does the Colorado State Militia Mean to Kill Mother Jones? Now Held in Cold Cellar Cell Beneath Huerfano County Courthouse

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Quote Mother Jones re Walsenburg Cellar Cell, Mar 22, 1914 x26 days, Ab Chp 21, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 16, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Held in Cold Cellar Cell 

From the Appeal to Reason of April 11, 1914:

CO Killing Mother Jones, Huerfano Co Courthouse, Cold Cellar Cell, AtR p4, Apr 11, 1914

Detail:

Detail CO Killing Mother Jones, Huerfano Co Courthouse, Cold Cellar Cell, AtR p4, Apr 11, 1914

Note: Kostas (Gus) Marcos was the name of the striking miner who died as a result of being held in the cold cellar cell beneath the Huerfano County Courthouse at Walsenburg, Colorado.

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Hellraisers Journal: From Denver’s United Labor Bulletin: “Industrial Commission Hearings Begin Monday at Washington”

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Quote Albert Parsons, Chicago, Nov 11, Alarm p1, Nov 19, 1887—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday April 7, 1914
Washington, D. C. – U. S. Commission on Industrial Relations to Begin Hearings

From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of April 4, 1914:

CIR Testimony to Begin Monday in WDC, ULB p1, Apr 4, 1914CIR Testimony to Begin Monday in WDC, ULB p6, Apr 4, 1914

From the Washington Evening Star of October 23, 1913:

CIR Members, WDC Eve Str p2, Oct 23, 1913
Commons, Garrettson, Ballard, Delano, Harriman,
Weinstock, Lennon, Walsh, O’Connell

From The Altoona Times of October 30, 1913:

CIR Members, Altoona PA Tx p1, Oct 30, 1913
O’Connell, Delano, Commons, Garretson, Harriman,
Ballard, Walsh, Weinstock, Lennon

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From Denver’s United Labor Bulletin: “Industrial Commission Hearings Begin Monday at Washington””

Hellraisers Journal: From the Denver United Labor Bulletin: Old Mother Jones Held Incommunicado in Dark Cellar Cell

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Quote Mother Jones re Walsenburg Cellar Cell, Mar 22, 1914 x26 days, Ab Chp 21, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 31, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Confined in Dark Cellar Cell

From Denver’s United Labor Bulletin of March 28, 1914:

Mother Jones Held in Dark Cellar Cell at Walsenburg CO, ULB p1, Mar 28, 1914

Note: Mother was arrested at Walsenburg by the Colorado militia on Monday March 23rd, at about 5:30 a. m. She has been confined, since that time, in the same dark cold cellar cell that was the cause of the death of striking miner Kostas Marcos.

—————

From The Masses of February 1914: Mother Jones by Art Young

Mother Jones Hell Hounds by Art Young, Masses p7, Feb 1914

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Hellraisers Journal: From the Denver United Labor Bulletin: “Mother Jones Deported From Prison by Chase’s Militia”

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Quote Mother Jones, Raise Hell in Jail, Gary IN Oct 23, NYT p2, Oct 24, 1919—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 22, 1914
Denver, Colorado – Mother Jones Arrives After Deportation from Trinidad

-Meets with John Lawson and Horace Hawkins

From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of March 21, 1914:

Mother Jones w Lawson at Denver, HdLn Deported fr Trinidad CO, ULB p1, Mar 21, 1914

“Mother” Jones and John R. Lawson.

Remarkable likeness of the 82-year-old Camp Angel, telling her story to John R. Lawson, Executive Board member U. M. W., Monday [March 16th] after arrival in Denver from Trinidad, where she was detained as military prisoner for 9 weeks.

From The Denver Post of March 16, 1914
-Statement of Mother Jones after Deportation from Trinidad:

Statement of Mother Jones in Denver af Deportation fr Trinidad, DP p4, Mar 16, 1914

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Hellraisers Journal: Denver United Labor Bulletin: “Why, Governor Ammons?-Poem by Mrs. Lizabeth A. Williams of Englewood

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Quote Mother Jones re CO Gov Ammons, wont stop talking, Day Book p11, Sept 27, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 10, 1914
“Why, Governor Ammons?” by Mrs. Lizabeth A. Williams

From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of March 7, 1914:

Poem for Gov Ammons 1, ULB p3, Mar 7, 1914Poem for Gov Ammons 2, ULB p3, Mar 7, 1914

WHY, GOVERNOR AMMONS?
-by Mrs. Lizabeth A. Williams

Oh, what has become of your once fair name,
That is doomed to die in disgrace and shame,
Governor Ammons?
Why cease the whir of our industry’s wheel, 
Why end the output of iron and steel, 
Why call for arms, so that labor should kneel,
Governor Ammons?

[…..]

Your victims are tortured, hungry and cold, 
Truth has been crushed, our rights have been sold,
Governor Ammons.
A white-haired mother, in her eighty-one,
Long a victim of your bayonet and gun,
What would your soul do if you were her son,
Governor Ammons?

Your reign of injustice will soon be o’er,
Your cossacks will ride on their raids no more,
Governor Ammons. 
Our martyred ballots took our rights away,
Your blood-stained power we have felt each day,
Before the Judge of All what will you say,
Governor Ammons?

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Denver United Labor Bulletin: “Why, Governor Ammons?-Poem by Mrs. Lizabeth A. Williams of Englewood”

Hellraisers Journal: Writ of Habeas Corpus Denied by Colorado District Court for “Dangerous Person,” Mother Jones

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Quote Mother Jones, Chase No Own State, RMN p3, Jan 12, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 9, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Writ of Habeas Corpus Denied for Mother Jones

From El Paso Herald of March 6, 1914:

MILITIA MAY HOLD WOMAN, COURT RULES
———-
Judge Denies Writ of Habeas Corpus
in the Case of “Mother” Jones.
———-

POWER OF MILITARY OFFICIALS UPHELD
———-

Cartoon Mother Jones Surrounded by Soldiers Trinidad, ISR p462, Feb 1914

Trinidad, Colo., March 6.-In a verbal decision rendered at the opening of the district court this morning, Judge A. W. McHendrie denied the writ of habeas corpus for “Mother” Mary Jones, the noted woman strike leader held under military guard at the San Rafael Hospital, and remanded the prisoner to the custody of the respondent in the action, Gen. John Chase, commander of the state militia in the strike zone.

The ruling of the court was brief. Immediately upon hearing the decision, attorney F. W. Clark, local counsel for the United Mine Workers, asked for and was granted 60 days to prepare a bill of exceptions to be submitted to the supreme court.

Like [Albert] Hill Case, Says Court.

The court held the case in all essential respects to be the same as the case instituted early in February for others who were held prisoners by the military authorities for alleged connection with the burning of the Southwestern mine tipple and postoffice.

The court in its ruling upheld the powers of the military authorities in arresting and detaining the petitioner under specific instructions form governor Ammons, who in his order to Gen. Chase, declared the woman to be a “dangerous person” and one likely to raise riot or disorder.

To Appeal Case.

But few people were in court when the opinion was rendered this morning. The attorneys for the petitioner will now submit the case on appeal to the supreme court, which a short time ago denied an original application.

[Drawing and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Trinidad, Colorado-Young Boy Testifies Before House Sub-Committee, Tells How Soldier Invaded Home, Kicked and Beat Small Children

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday February 26, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Young Gustav Yeskenski Tells of Soldier’s Brutality

From the Chicago Day Book of February 25, 1914:

CO House Com Testimony re Brutal Soldiers, Day Book p1, Feb 25, 1914

Victoria n Son Gustav Yeskenski bf CO House Com, Day Book p3, Feb 25, 1914

Trinidad, Col., Feb.-25. A story told by a little child of the unthinkable, unprintable cruelty of soldiers wearing the uniform of the state of Colorado, brought horror into the faces of the congressmen who are investigating Colorado’s coal strike.

Gustav Yeskenski, 11, stammering in awe of the big men from Washington, gave in broken words the most impressive testimony the committee has heard.

The boy told how a citizen-soldier came on Feb. 10 to his home near Suffield.

Gustav’s father was crippled in a coal mine explosion and is helpless. His mother took in washing until she had saved money to buy a cow. She started a milk route and saved $200, with which she planned to buy a horse and wagon. One day she and her husband came to Trinidad.

While they were away from home the militiamen came.

[Little Gustav told the committee:]

There were two soldiers. One was a captain. He was so drunk that he just lay there in their buggy and never moved.

The other was not so drunk, and he came in our house where me and Mary and Elizabeth and the baby was. He said he was looking for guns, so he took my little twenty-two rifle what my mama gived me.

Then he begins breaking open my mama’s trunk with an axe, yes ma’am, that’s what he done. And I just cried and said for him please not to do that because my mama would whip me, sure, and he just kept on tearing the clothes out of that trunk.

Then I cried more, and all the little kids cried, yes ma’am, we cried hard. And that soldier got a mads at us and we got a ‘fraids on him.

And he kicked my little baby brother, what’s a year and a half old, and knocked him down on the floor and kicked him again. And he hit my little, sister Mary-7-with his gun, and he cut her face all up. And he kicked me, too, here in the side, and he hit my other sister, Elizabeth. She’s 9, yes ma’am.

And he just went on taking clothes out of my mama’s trunk, and pretty soon he found her coat what had her pocketbook in it and he sees my mama’s $200.

Then he took a bottle of whisky out of his pants’ pocket and stuffed that money down in there and then put the whisky back.

And I got an awful ‘fraid and I said “don’t take my mama’s money or she’ll whip me, sure,” and he called me a bad name and kicked me some more. And he went to the kitchen and found some eggs, and some he ate and the rest he threw down on the floor with the dish. Yes, ma’am, he threw the eggs all over my mama’s floor.

After kicking and beating the innocent children, according to little Gustav’s story, the soldier proceeded to still worse treatment, so awful that it is unprintable.

Complaints were made, after the visit of the soldiers, to Gen. Chase, commander of Colorado’s state troops. Chase made his usual indefinite promise to “investigate.”

But after the committee had been shocked by the fiendish story, Chase was stirred to new activity. There actually was prospect that the man responsible for one of the many outrages which have sickened the people of the strike zone might be arrested and punished.

Mary Thomas n Rep Evans w Children at Ludlow CO, Day Book p2, Feb 25, 1914

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Silenced in Trinidad, Colorado, by Mailed Fist of Czar Chase and Governor Ammons

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Quote Mother Jones, Chase No Own State, RMN p3, Jan 12, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 23, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Gagged and Silenced by Ammons and Chase

From the Seattle Union Record of February 21, 1914:

CRTN Mother Jones Silence by Gen Chase and Colorado Gov Ammons, SUR p3, Feb 21, 1914

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