Tag: Forbes Tent Colony CO

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

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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

Continue reading “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” →

Hellraisers Journal: Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, Allows Militia to Continue to Terrorize Strikers and Their Families, “How Long? Oh God, How Long?”

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday March 16, 1914
Forbes and Ludlow, Colorado – Militia’s Reign of Terror Continues

From The Denver Post of March 12, 1914:

Forbes Tent Colony Before n After Destroyed, DP p2, Mar 12, 1914

Views of the tent colony at Forbes, Colo., destroyed by order of General Chase last Tuesday [March 10th] in the Trinidad coal strike district. The lower photograph is a view of a tent and the strikers and their families before the soldiers took charge. The upper is a view of the colony dwellers and their destroyed homes, showing the strikers and their children eating the food found in their wrecked tents.

—————

General Chase Justifies Destruction
of Forbes Tent Colony

The body of Neil Smith, strikebreaker, was found near the railroad tracks between Forbes and Suffield just before the March 10th raid on Forbes Tent Colony. Gen. Chase blamed the miners for Smith’s death stating that he was murdered by strikers with clubs and stones and “then the victim’s body was laid on the railroad tracks to be run over, as it was, by an approaching train.” For that reason, according to Chase, the nearby strikers’ colony was raided, ransacked and destroyed by the militia. Every man living in the colony was taken into military custody.

Joe M. Scatterthwaite, editor of the Trinidad Free Press, the union newspaper, reported that the trainmen (J. M. Riley, conductor; T. H. Mitchell, engineer, and J. M. Dean, brakeman) examined Smith’s body immediately after he was run over by the train. They found no signs of clubs or stones. The militiamen and company guards did not arrive at the scene until several hours later, and that is when the stones and clubs suddenly appeared. Sixteen strikers from the Forbes colony have been arrested and 48 women and children are now homeless. The militia has not allowed the union to rebuild the colony.

Scatterthwaite recently published the following editorial:

HOW LONG, OH GOD, HOW LONG?

Governor Ammons, sitting on his shoulder blades in cushioned chair, replies to complaints concerning the Forbes outrage, that he knew nothing of it-and that it will not happen again.

Of course it will not occur again-and it does not need an anemic, spineless, truckling executive to give that assurance. The thing has been done! The tents are down. The women are in tears, the children are in hysterics, the peaceful colony is scattered. It will not be done again at Forbes. O, No!

But will it be done at some other point? Will Ludlow be the next to suffer? Will the mailed fist fall on Starkville? Will these unrebuked outlaws next attack some other law-abiding band of citizens? These are questions for a kow-towing executive to answer. He does not know what the next order of the coal barons will be, but he knows that he will probably obey that command as he has sniffingly and cringingly obeyed every order that has come to him from the offices of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and Victor American Fuel Company-his masters. He does not know what his militia will do, for he is fully aware, in his puny heart, that the militia has got beyond his control.

He knows that these desperate men of the gun and bludgeon can no more be checked and held in leash than the imps of hell. He assures the people that there will be no further outrages at Forbes, but he is powerless to say that the heavy hand will not fall on some other community. And so he keeps silent, groveling out his excuses to righteous complaints.

[Emphasis added.]

March 13th, as if to provide proof for the points of Scatterthwaite’s editorial, Lieutenant Linderfelt and his men charged their horses onto the platform of the the crowded Ludlow train station. It was just at train time, and some of those waiting for the train were knocked down as others scattered in a panic to avoid being trampled. Witness say the cavalrymen rode straight at them from a rise beyond Ludlow, just as the westbound train pulled into the depot. No doubt, Lt. Linderfelt and his men were hoping to provoke the colonist into retaliating.

General Chase has issued an order that the 450 militiamen still in the field cannot be sent home. “A clash between the militia and the strikers is expected,” the General stated. The militia left in the field are of the worst sort. Linderfelt is a glaring example of the character of the militiamen who have been left in the strike zone. Many of them are company guards, now in the pay of both the military and the coal companies.

The investigating committee from the Colorado Federation of Labor (appointed by Governor Ammons), singled Linderfelt out as an officer unfit for duty. The Labor Committee specifically requested, last January after the Lieutenant’s previous rampage at the Ludlow depot, that Linderfelt be taken out of the strike zone stating that:

We did not expect to report to you until we had completed the taking of testimony at all camps, but in our judgment the following serious matter should be reported to you at once: Lieut. K. E. Linderfelt, of the cavalry stationed at Berwind, last night [Dec. 30th] at Ludlow brutally assaulted an inoffensive boy in the public railroad station, using the vilest language at the same time. He also assaulted and tried to provoke to violence Louie Tikas, head man of the Ludlow strikers’ colony, and arrested him unjustifiably. Today, in the presence of one of our number, he grossly abused a young man in no way connected with the strike, also makes threats against the strikers in the foulest language. He rages violently upon little or no provocation and is wholly an unfit man to bear arms and command men as he has no control over himself. We have reason to believe that it is his deliberate purpose to provoke the strikers to bloodshed. In the interest of peace and justice, we ask immediate action in his case.

[Emphasis added.]

Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, elected to office with the aid of the Labor Vote, has continued to ignore this request. Lt. Linderfelt remains in the strike zone, camped out with his men at Berwind, near to the Ludlow Tent Colony.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, Allows Militia to Continue to Terrorize Strikers and Their Families, “How Long? Oh God, How Long?”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Forbes Tent Colony Demolished by Colorado Militia; Families Left Homeless in Blinding Snowstorm

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday March 15, 1914
Forbes Tent Colony of Las Animas County, Colorado, Destroyed by Militia

From The Indianapolis Star of March 12, 1914:

ASK FEDERAL INTERVENTION
IN COLORADO MINE STRIKE

Forbes Tent Colony Before n After Destroyed, DP p2, Mar 12, 1914

WASHINGTON., March 10-Chairman Foster, of the House mines committee, which investigated the Colorado coal mine strike, today received the following telegram from officers of the United Mine Workers’ Union in Colorado:

“Twenty-three militiamen, under orders of Adj. Gen. John Chase, this morning demolished strikers’ tent colony at Forbes, Col. Men, Women and children are homeless in a blinding snowstorm. Inhabitants of the upper tent colony ordered by militiamen to leave their home within forty-eight hours or be deported.”

Chairman Foster said the committee stood ready to report drastic recommendations to Congress as soon as it could assemble its data.

———-

Declaring that Federal intervention is sorely needed in Colorado, officers of the United Mine Workers of America sent a telegram to President Wilson yesterday demanding the release of Mother Mary Jones. The telegram follows:

“We again protest against the outrageous treatment accorded Mother Jones and demand her release from Colorado military prison, where she has been confined for more than two months.

“Federal intervention is sorely needed in Colorado. We can ill afford to talk about protecting the rights of American citizens in Mexico, as long as a woman, 80 years old, can be confined in prison by military authorities without any charge being placed against her, denied trial and refused bond, her friends prevented from communicating with her, her request for proper medical attendance denied and every right guaranteed by the constitution of the United States set aside.

“Colorado militia yesterday tore down tents of striking miners at Forbes, leaving miners and families without shelter and causing great suffering. Let us hear from you.”

The telegram is signed by John P. White, president of the miners; Frank J. Hayes, vice president , and William Green, secretary-treasurer. 

[Photographs and emphasis added.]
[Caption to Photographs: “Views of the tent colony at Forbes, Colo., destroyed by order of General Chase last Tuesday [March 10th] in the Trinidad coal strike district. The lower photograph is a view of a tent and the strikers and their families before the soldiers took charge. The upper is a view of the colony dwellers and their destroyed homes, showing the strikers and their children eating the food found in their wrecked tents.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Forbes Tent Colony Demolished by Colorado Militia; Families Left Homeless in Blinding Snowstorm” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mary Hannah Thomas, Striker’s Wife, Resident of the Ludlow Tent Colony, Testifies Before the Congressional Committee Investigating Colorado Strike

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Quote Mary Thomas, A Striker Like Anybody, RMN p12, Feb 18, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal –  Friday February 20, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Mary Thomas Testifies Before Congressional Committee

Tuesday February 17, 1914 – Trinidad, Colorado
Mrs. Mary Thomas, a resident of the Ludlow Tent Colony, was called before the Investigating Committee, and gave this testimony regarding her 11 days of confinement by the military:

Feb 17 Trinidad CO Testimony bf House Com, RMN p12, Feb 18, 1914

Mary Thomas, called as a witness and duly sworn, testified as follows:

Examination by Mr. Clark [Attorney for the Miners]:
Q. State your name. — A. My name is Mary Hannah Thomas.
Q. Where do you live? —A. What is that?
Q. Where do you five ? — A. Ludlow.
Q. In the tent colony ? — A. In the tent colony.
Q. Do you remember the date of the woman’s parade here in Trinidad ?— A. I do.
Q. That was about — were you in town the day of that parade ? — A. I was, sir.
Q. What time did you get to town? — A. About 15 minutes to 3, is the nearest I could think it was.
Q. Were you in the parade at all? — A. I was not, sir.
Q. State what happened to you that day. — A. I came down town to do some purchases that I wanted to — buy some things, and came down in an automobile, and I reached town, I guess, about 15 minutes to 3, and the parade and everything had passed over, and they were bringing the people back from the first block on West Main Street. I was about 20 yards farther away than the First National Bank. When I turned back — I saw a crowd coming back, and there was some militiamen pulling me over with a fixed bayonet, and told me to keep on moving, and I went on and reached Judge Bowers’s office here. I guess I walked about 30 or 40 yards when I went up three of the steps, and this militiaman said “Move on,” and I said, “I don’t have to.” He said, “You want to be pinched?” I said, “Please yourself,” and he pulled me down by my fur here and twisted me around until I nearly stumbled on my face. I didn’t know what he was trying to do, and he knocked again right back here [indicating her back with her right hand] until I stumbled on about 2 yards, and I stumbled, and then I tried to knock back on him until he knocked me again as if he was a pugilist, and he kept on knocking me and I tried to do the best I could with my muff, and some one came up and gave an order to have me arrested, and two soldiers took me a little farther down near the post office and kept me waiting there, I guess for about an hour, and Gen. Chase came along, and I heard one of them tell him that “there is Mrs. Thomas.” “Oh, that is her, is it,” he says, “from Ludlow, is it,” he says, and they marched me on with about 12 men up to the county jail. They kept me there 11 days, and I demanded to have my children with me, and they brought the children down.
Q. Your children are small, are they? — A. Very, very small; one about 3 and the other 4.
Q. How long did they keep you in there ? — A. Eleven days.
Q. In the upstairs part of the jail ? — A. Upstairs part of the jail.
Q. Was anyone else up there ? — A. Yes; there were other prisoners there.
Q. Men and women there? — A. There was an old man there when I was taken first, about 82 years of age, I guess.
Q. In the cell in which you were confined state whether there was any toilet there. — A. There was a toilet outside and I told him I wanted to go there, and there was a militiaman came up and gave me authority, and I went out to the toilet and then the militiaman came up and gave general orders to put me back in my cell.
Mr. Clark. That is all.

By Capt. Danks [Representing the “military organization of the State of Colorado”]:
Q. You were confined upstairs in the county jail ? — A. Upstairs.
Q. All the time ?— A. All the time.
Q. Do you remember looking out the window and hollering to the soldiers when they were bringing women up ? — A. Hollering ?
Q. Yes. — A. I remember of singing the union song; that is all.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mary Hannah Thomas, Striker’s Wife, Resident of the Ludlow Tent Colony, Testifies Before the Congressional Committee Investigating Colorado Strike” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Coal Miners Fight to Win in Colorado by Robert M. Knight, Part II

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 4, 1913
Coal Miners of Southern Colorado Are Fighting to Win, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of December 1913:

Miners, Women, Children Parade at Trinidad, ISR p333, Dec 1913

[Part II of II]

Some one has said, “A fool in revolt is infinitely wiser than a learned philosopher apologizing for his chains.” Believing this, fully 95 per cent of the miners answered the call to strike [September 23, 1913]. Men with families within three days of starvation and without clothes enough to protect their frail bodies from the biting winds of mountain winters came out fully determined to win or die in the attempt. And who will blame them? Work such as the miner does is no longer honorable but has come to mean “drunkenness, vice and superstition.” It makes men and women unscrupulous, hard and restless. It destroys for others the treasure of life-a home. All the noble sentiments of liberty and the joy of labor mean in reality to the miner slavery of the worst type.

With thoughtless hymns of praise of this massacreing of labor, society allows one wholesale slaughter after another without a protest. While I am writing this the news arrived of the Dawson, New Mexico, disaster, in which the lives of 261 miners were lost and the operators refused to allow Secretary Doyle of the miners’ union to give the widows and orphans $1,000 donated by the union because the camp was non-union. And just as certain as that nothing becomes better without the desire to improve it so it is a healthy sign of the times that starvation wages for conscientious drudgery no longer fills the miner with heartfelt gratitude toward the master class.

The mine slaves were so cowed that the operators were sure that not more than 25 per cent would quit and when practically every miner laid down his tools, completely tying up the coal industry of Colorado, the wrath of the masters knew no bounds. They immediately got busy and sent a deputation of their lackeys, consisting of a lawyer, banker and a Catholic priest (Father Malone), to Washington to repeat the lies of the operators that the miners were satisfied with conditions but forced to strike by eastern agitators like Frank Hayes and Mother Jones. Their thugs began to terrorize the country, shoot up the tented camps of the strikers, insult the women and abuse the children and the operators began to call for the militia that the state might pay the cost of breaking the strike and thus save John D. a few paltry dollars with which to build a few more churches and start more Sunday schools where they sing and PREY-“servants obey your masters.”

Failing to get the militia as soon as they called, the operators had to content themselves with filling the jails of Colorado with strikers who dared to exercise their constitutional rights of peacefully asking imported strikebreakers to not work. In the city of Boulder and within the shadow of Colorado’s greatest educational institution, the state university, thirty-six were confined in the county jail until the court permitted the prisoners to bail each other out. Forty-nine others were arrested in Las Animas county and marched seven miles to the Trinidad jail between two rows of armed guards with Belk and Beltcher (out on bond for murder of Lippiatt), following up the rear with a Gatling gun mounted on an armored automobile.

Frank Hayes says, “The operators have several machine guns mounted on autos. They also have what is known as the ‘steel battle ship [Death Special].‘ This is an automobile with a high body of solid sheet steel built up so as to almost conceal the guard inside. The steel furnishes resistance to the bullets and is so arranged that the assassins on the inside may shoot their rifles in perfect safety. It is a splendid refuge for a coward. The body of the machine is shaped like a torpedo and was designed and built for mine guards. It carried a rapid fire machine gun with a range of more than two miles. As bad as West Virginia was there was nothing down there to compare with this latest instrument of murder that the operators of Colorado are using.”

As this procession neared town, G. E. Jones, a member of Western Federation of Miners, attempted to get a picture of the armored car. A. C. Felt beat him insensible and destroyed his camera and had him arrested for disturbing the peace.

Gun men patrol the public roads in armored autos, shooting up first one camp and then another. The first resistance the strikers offered was at Forbes, October 17, one striker was killed, two wounded and a deputy shot in the hip. One hundred and forty-seven bullets from a machine gun passed through a tent occupied by an aged Scotchman, who saved his life by lying flat on the floor. After this battle the miners made preparations to defend themselves from further attacks of the guards.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Coal Miners Fight to Win in Colorado by Robert M. Knight, Part II” →

Hellraisers Journal: Baldwin-Felts Gunthug Shot and Killed on Streets of Trinidad; Striking Miner Louis Zancanelli Arrested

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Quote Coming Colorado Strike Song, Dnv ULB p1, Sept 27, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday November 22, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Baldwin-Felts Gunthug Belcher Shot and Killed

Headline from the Trinidad Chronicle News of November 21, 1913:

HdLn BF Gunthug Belcher Killed, TCN p1, Nov 21, 1913

Friday November 21, 1913-Trinidad, Colorado
-Baldwin-Felts Gunthug George W. Belcher Shot and Killed

At about 7:30 last evening the notorious Baldwin-Felts gunthug, George W. Belcher, 26, of West Virginia, was shot and killed as he left the Hausman Drugstore across from the Columbian Hotel in Trinidad. Belcher died at the scene. A striking miner, Louis Zancanelli, was arrested shortly after the shooting by city policemen. Belcher was well known throughout the strike zone for his role in the killing of Brother Gerald Lippiatt in Trinidad in August. He was deputized by Huerfano Sheriff Jefferson Farr in June. He played a part in the attack on the Ludlow Tent Colony in October in which Brother Mack Powell was shot off his horse and killed. Later in October, he was found in the Death Special, lurking about Forbes, by John Lawson and Louie Tikas the morning after the attack on the Forbes Tent Colony which left Brother Luca Varhernick dead. At that time, Belcher was found in the Death Special along with his fellow gunthug Walter Beck and Judge Northcutt [publisher of the Trinidad Chronicle News], attorney for the mine operators.

Along with Belcher, Belk was also sworn in as a Huerfano County deputy which gave them both a license to kill striking miners. Northcutt signed on as defense attorney for Belcher and Belk soon after the murder of Brother Lippiatt. Northcutt is also the attorney for the mine operators, and works with District Attorney Hendrick in the prosecution of striking miners.

Any chance of a fair trial for Louis Zancanelli seems slim.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Baldwin-Felts Gunthug Shot and Killed on Streets of Trinidad; Striking Miner Louis Zancanelli Arrested” →

Hellraisers Journal: “Louie the Greek”-According to Judge Jesse Northcutt, Coal Operators’ Attorney, Master of Public Opinion in Southern Colorado

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Louis Tikas, Song by Frank Manning—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday November 20, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Northcutt Attacks Louie Tikas, Leader of Greeks at Ludlow

From the Trinidad Chronicle-News of November 13, 1913

Louie the Greek re Tikas, TCN p1, Nov 13, 1913

Jesse G. Northcutt, former Colorado district judge, is the publisher of the Trinidad Chronicle-News, he has also been hired on as attorney for the coal operators. Furthermore, he is known to assist John J. Hendrick, the district attorney for Colorado’s Third Judicial District which covers Las Animas and Huerfano counties. How handy for the operators to have one of their own working within the criminal justice system under which striking miners are being prosecuted!

Thus, we see that Judge Jesse G. Northcutt plays several roles within the strike zone: “respected” former Judge, attorney for the coal operators, and the assistant to the District Attorney. Let us now add to that list, the role of master of public opinion through the pages of the Trinidad Chronicle-News:

“Louie the Greek” leader of three hundred of his country men-striking miners at the Ludlow tent colony, is perhaps the most conspicuous figure in the industrial war in southern Colorado. “Louie the Greek” is shrewd and fearless-a veteran of the Balkan war, and he controls the Greeks at the tent colony with a spoken word, a lift of the eye brows or a gesture of his hand.

[Emphasis added.]

The above is from the November 13th edition of the Judge’s newspaper. A week earlier (November 4th), the Chronicle described Louie’s fellow Greek miners as:

..a band of warlike Greeks who have been carrying on guerrilla warfare in the hills for weeks and who have repeatedly declined to obey the orders of the strike leaders.

[Emphasis added.]

As far as reporting goes, the job done here is not such a great one. Tikas never went to war in the Balkans, although several of his fellow Greek miners did. Louie Tikas is, in fact, a United States Citizen. He is a respected leader in the Ludlow Tent Colony where he is known for his quiet, calm manner in the face of severe provocation from the deputized company gunthugs.

And as to armed Balkan War Veterans in the Ludlow Tent Colony, all we have to say is: Thank God, the miners and their families have some protection from the hundreds of imported deputized armed gunthugs with their machine guns, high powered rifles, searchlights, and the Death Special which roams the strike zone at will.

Judge Jesse G. Northcutt was seen riding in that very same Death Special which flaunts the mounted machine gun that killed Brother Luca Vahernick at the Forbes Tent Colony. The Judge was found in the Death Special along with the gunthugs Belcher and Belk at Forbes, by John Lawson, the morning after the attack. It was Louie Tikas who stepped between Lawson and Belk in that quiet, calm way of his, and perhaps, saved Lawson’s life.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “Louie the Greek”-According to Judge Jesse Northcutt, Coal Operators’ Attorney, Master of Public Opinion in Southern Colorado” →

Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Guards/Deputies Continue Reign of Terror at Forbes and Walsenburg

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 26, 1913
News Round-Up from the Coal Miners’ Strike in Southern Colorado

From The Rocky Mountain News of October 25, 1913:

Walsenburg Massacre Oct 24, RMN p3, Oct 25, 1913

Saturday October 25, 1913
Southern Coalfield, Colorado – Mine guards and deputies continue reign of terror.

Forbes Tent Colony, October 23–At dawn today, Under-Sheriff Zeke Martin and fifty deputies, some of them deputized company gunthugs, brought the Death Special back to the small colony. They surrounded the colony with four machine guns pointed at the terrified residents. The men were rounded up and held at gunpoint. The women and children were forced from their beds. The tents were torn apart, trunks, beds, and floorboards, in a search for guns. Four of the striking miners were arrested and taken away for the death of Luca Vahernick, the striker who was murdered by the gunthugs that ambushed the colony on the 17th.

Walsenburg, October 24–Thirty heavily armed company guards and deputy sheriffs rode their horses into town today. They came to escort a scab’s wife into the stockade of the Walsen Mine. Strikers, along with their wives and children, gathered and began shouting and jeering, “Scab herders, scab herders!” Some of the children threw dirt clods. Without warning, the deputies opened fire. They fired several times, and then rode off leaving two dead strikers (Andy Auvinen and Cisto Croci) and one dying (Kris Kokich) in the street behind them. These brother-miners  join Gerald Lippiatt, Mack Powell, and Luca Vahernick as the martyrs, thus far, of the miners’ strike in the coalfields of southern Colorado.

Sheriff Farr and 50 deputies barricaded themselves in the courthouse as strikers and sympathizers in the town of Walsenburg picked up their guns and called for vengeance.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Guards/Deputies Continue Reign of Terror at Forbes and Walsenburg” →

Hellraisers Journal: William Gunn Shepherd on the Coal Strike in Colorado: “The Wrath of 25 Years Breaking Loose”

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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 – Saturday October 25, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – William Gunn Shepherd Reports on Coalfield Strike

From The Day Book of October 23, 1913:

Mother Jones at Tent Colony, Day Bk p21, Oct 23, 193Colorado Coalfield Strike War by WG Shepherd, Day Bk p20, Oct 23, 1913Colorado Coalfield Strike War by WG Shepherd, Day Book p21 n 22, Oct 23, 1913

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: William Gunn Shepherd on the Coal Strike in Colorado: “The Wrath of 25 Years Breaking Loose”” →

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.

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