Tag: Edward P Costigan

Hellraisers Journal: Rockefeller Jr. Testifies Before House Investigating Committee, States He Is Willing to Lose All in Colorado, Including Lives of His Employes, in Pursuit of the “Great Principle” of Open Shop

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote John D Rockefeller Jr, Great Principle, WDC Apr 6, 1914, US House Com p2874—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 11, 1914
Washington, D. C. – John D. Rockefeller Jr. Testifies Before Federal Investigators

From The New York Times of April 7, 1914:

Lives to be Sacrificed for Rockefeller’s
“Great Principle”

The Times featured Rockefeller’s testimony in a long article which began with a full column on the front page and continued with two and a half columns on the second page. The headlines reveal that The Times considered Rockefeller’s stand for the open-shop to be a just stand against “union rule”:

ROCKEFELLER, JR., DEFIES UNION RULE
———–
Will Sacrifice All in Colorado Rather Than
Subject Miners to Union Dictation.
———-

FIRM FOR “OPEN SHOP”
———-
Americans, He Tells Congressmen, Must Have
Right to Work Where They Please.
———-
SAYS HE DOES HIS DUTY
———-
Is a Director, but Must Trust Details to Trained Officers
-Testifies for Four Hours.
———-

Special to the New York Times.

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

WASHINGTON, April 6.-John D. Rockefeller, Jr., testifying to-day as a Director of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in the inquiry which the House Committee on Mines is conducting into the Colorado coal strike, declared unequivocally for the principle of the “open shop,” and assented that he and his associates would prefer that they should “lose all of their millions invested in the coal fields than that the American workingmen should be deprived of the right under the Constitution to work for whom they pleased.”

Mr. Rockefeller said that he thought his chief duty as a Director was to place honest and capable officers in control of the business. He said he would rather relinquish his interests in Colorado and close down the mines than to recognize the unions under the circumstances. He was not opposed to unions as such, he said, but he did object to unions which tried to force men to join them and which deprived men of the liberty of working for whom they pleased. He said that a recognition of the mine workers’ union would mean the repudiation of the employes who had been faithful enough to remain with company during the strike…..

[Emphasis added]

Thus, Rockefeller was portrayed as a great hero willing to sacrifice the family fortune in order to “protect” the working men and women of America from the evils of collective bargaining!

How Rockefeller Maintains Absolute Control in Colorado:
-The Death Special, Constructed at CF&I plant in Pueblo, Colorado.

Baldwin-Felts Death Special

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Hellraisers Journal: John Lawson Testifies Before House Sub-Committee Investigating Conditions in the Coal Mines of Colorado

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday February 16, 1914
Denver, Colorado – John Lawson Testifies Before House Sub-Committee

From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of February 14, 1914:

CO House Com, ULB p1, Feb 14, 1914

From Las Vegas Optic of  February 11, 1914: 

MILITIA GAVE CONFISCATED ARMS
TO MINE GUARDS, SAYS LABOR LEADER

SECRETS OF THE CONVENTION WITHHELD
———-

UNION OFFICIAL ASKS COMMITTEE TO EXCUSE HIM
FROM ANSWERING QUERIES
———-

John Lawson, ULB p1, Jan 3, 1914

Denver, Colo., Feb. 11-John R. Lawson, Colorado member of the international executive board of the United Mine Workers of America today asked the house investigation committee to excuse him from revealing all the details of the district convention at which the Colorado coal strike was called.

“You gentlemen must remember,” he said, “that this strike is not over yet, and we do not care to reveal anything that might give away our hand to the operators.”

The labor leader was allowed to give such information regarding the convention as he saw fit and was not pressed for union secrets.

Asked by Chairman Foster for his reasons for insisting upon recognition for the unions, the labor leader said:

“There is no basis for settlement between workman and employer. The union prevents strikes and without it few men strike without justification. Then, unorganized workers cannot obtain redress for abuses or change of working conditions. If they make complaint, they are discharge.”

At the opening of this morning’s session of the strike investigation it was announced that Edward Costigan had been added to the list of attorneys for the miners. John R. Lawson was called to the stand to resume his testimony. The Colorado member of the executive board of the United Mine Workers of America told of the arrival of the militia in the strike zone.

“Almost immediately after the arrival of the troops at Trinidad, detachments were stationed at various points in Las Animas and Huerfano counties,” he said.

“When the troops arrived, the leaders of our organizations informed the men on strike that if they were satisfied the militia was going to enforce the laws, not to take part in the labor controversy.”

The witness then told of having informed Adjutant General John Chase that the Baldwin-Felts detectives employed by the operators were importing arms. He said the general ordered a captain to capture the guns which were taken from an express office by the troops.

“Later,” he resumed, “General Chase admitted that this particular shipment of arms, taken from the express office, was distributed to the guards.”

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Hellraisers Journal: Mrs. Mary Petrucci of Ludlow, “There is sorrow in our hearts..but there is no dishonor.”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mary Petrucci, Joe's Little Hammer, NY Tb p7, Feb 4, 1915

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hellraisers Journal: Thursday February 4, 1915
From the New York Tribune:
-Mary Petrucci Remembers Her Four Little Children

WE NEVER FORGET

The Petrucci Children, Lucy, Joe, Bernard, Baby Frank, 1913
The children of Mary and Thomas Petrucci
Who lost their lives in Freedom’s Cause
Lucy, Joe, Barnard, and Frank
Mary Petrucci, on tour, May 1914
Mary Petrucci

Once again, Mrs. Mary Petrucci has come east from the coal camps of southern Colorado to give testimony about the long struggle of the miners there. It was during this struggle in Freedom’s Cause that she and her husband lost all four of their children. The eldest, six-year-old Bernard, grew sick last March and died in the Ludlow Tent Colony after the militia refused to let Mary take him to a doctor in Trinidad. The three other children Joe-4, Lucy-2, and the baby, Frank-6 months, were murdered in April by the gunthug militia during the Ludlow Massacre. All three children were suffocated when the militia set the tent on fire over their heads as they sought shelter in the cellar beneath the floor, hiding from machine gun fire.

Mrs. Petrucci has come to New York accompanied by another miner’s wife, Mrs. Margaret Dominiski. Their testimony before the Commission on Industrial Relations will be thoroughly covered by Hellraisers over the next few days. Today we wish to present a long interview with Mary Petrucci conducted by Lucy Huffaker for the “Woman’s Varied Interests” section of the Tribune. Mary Petrucci hopes that by telling the story of her little children, their sacrificed lives will count toward the betterment of workers everywhere. During the interview, she stressed that she and her husband are still strong for the union despite their terrible loss. She concluded the interview with this statement:

But you’re not to think that we could do any differently another time..We are working people-my husband and I-and we’re stronger for the union than we were before the strike. We’ve paid-I guess you’ll admit and everybody will-that we’ve paid a pretty big price for our belief. I don’t know just how any man and woman can do more than have their children, all their children, taken from them, do you? But we’re not ‘scabs.’ We never have been and we never will be. There is sorrow in our hearts, and there always will be, but there isn’t any dishonor.

I can’ have my babies back..But perhaps when everybody knows about them, something will be done to make the world a better place for all babies. At least, I like to think so. It is the only thing which gives me any comfort.

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