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Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 15, 1913
Southern Colorado Coalfields – Striking Miners Victims of Uniformed Tyranny
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of December 13, 1913:
“Militia Makes Man [Andrew Colnar] Dig Own Grave”
“Soldiers Are Scabbing on Courts-Mother Jones”
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 8, 1913
Colorado Federation of Labor Issues Call for State Convention
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of December 6, 1913:
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 3, 1913
Coal Miners of Southern Colorado Are Fighting to Win, Part I
From the International Socialist Review of December 1913:
[Part I of II]
”THE fight is on. We would have avoided it; we still stand ready at any time to meet representatives of the other side with hopes of effecting a settlement. We hold out the olive branch continually. But because we wish for peace must not be construed as a sign that we are not able to fight. Our past record should dispel such idle dreams. We will aid our brothers in the Colorado fields with all of our resources; with the advice of men of experience; with the hearty good will and sympathy of the vast army of sturdy workers that make up our membership. And these will give a good account of themselves against all the powers of darkness the operators may bring against us.”-Mine Workers Journal.
For months the leading newspapers (?) of Denver and all the capitalist sheets throughout the state, both daily and weekly have been repeating the same rigmarole in regard to the coal strike. While they insult the union men, they anxiously defend themselves against any suspicious of sympathy with the Standard Oil crowd. Their excuses are: A strike is an industrial war for more wages and not one of principle, it does not in their opinion affect the question of morality; finally, even if right and justice is on the side of the miner it is a vain attempt to subjugate by force of a strike, the peaceful relations of No. 26 Broadway [Rockefeller’s HQ in New York City]. Would not open shop conditions free the miner of all his trouble? Therefore, should not the miners welcome the open shop as a happy event instead of seeking a recognition of the union through a “bloody and ruinous strike”?
Let us look a little into the real cause of this strike that dates, back to April 1, 1910, a time when there were not over three thousand organized miners in the state. Our contract expired then and the operators knew we would never be any weaker and perhaps they never more powerful. Therefore they sought to force an open shop by refusing to recognize the miner’s right to organize and sell his labor-power collectively. A strike resulted, one that history will perhaps record as the hardest fought mile of the miner’s road to industrial freedom.
There were but few of us and after several months the busy world outside forgot all about the strike in northern Colorado. Strikes were fought and won in various parts of the country; all the while the miners stood firm, fighting injunctions, suffering jail sentences and other hardships without complaining, yet knowing all the time our only hope for victory was an organized strike in the southern part of the state, as we were unable to seriously affect the market. National organizers were sent south and at once began the task of secretly organizing the slaves in John D.’s hell-holes of Colorado. This work was slow and dangerous requiring three and one-half years’ time (and “God knows” how much cash).
When the civil war was ended in West Virginia the militant workers of the union, including Frank J. Hayes and “Mother Jones” were sent to Colorado to assist in the organization work and with their arrival things began to move apace. Hayes soon asked the operators for a conference and demanded recognition of the union in the name of 15,000 newly organized slaves. The operators ignored all invitations to arbitrate boasting they had five millions of dollars for defense. They began preparing for a strike by importing gun men and thugs from West Virginia through the Baldwin Feltz detective agency. W. H. Reno, chief detective for C. F. & I., also opened a recruiting station in the Dover Hotel, 1744 Glenarm place, and succeeded in sending out of Denver some of the most notorious characters from the red light district and barrel house bums. Upon the arrival of these criminals in the strike zone Sheriffs Gresham and Farr (appointed by the coal companies), gave them deputy sheriff commissions.
The State Federation of Labor held its annual convention at Trinidad August 18 and when the U. M. W. of A. delegates began to arrive in town late Saturday afternoon G. W. Beltcher and Walter Belk, two Baldwin-Feltz heroes, shot and instantly killed Gerald Lippiatt, a district organizer on the main street of Trinidad. A coroner’s jury, composed of “good” business men, rendered a verdict of “justifiable homicide”; District Attorney Hendricks later preferred a charge of murder against them but the courts of Colorado do not value a coal miner’s life very high and Lippiatt’s murderers were promptly released on bond because such human hyenas are needed by the operators to maintain law and order during a strike.
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 24, 1913
Denver, Colorado – Eugene Debs Confers with Governor Ammons
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of November 22, 1913:
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Hellraisers Journal – Monday November 10, 1913
Mother Jones Speaks at Meeting of Washington, D. C., Central Labor Union
From The Washington Herald of November 6, 1913:
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 29, 1913
Denver, Colorado – Governor Declares Martial Law in Southern Coalfields
From The Denver Post of October 27, 1913:
Officers of the United Mine Workers of America in conference with Governor Ammons regarding the strike situation in the Southern coal fields. Left to right are Governor Ammons, John McLennan, district president of the United Mine Workers of America and president of the Colorado State Federation of Labor; Vice President Frank J. Hayes and President John P. White of the United Mine Workers of America.
From The Rocky Mountain News of October 28, 1913:
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 22, 1913
News from the Coal Miners’ Strike in Southern Colorado
From The Rocky Mountain News of October 21, 1913
-Trinidad, Colorado-October 20
Nine Hundred Striking Miners March to Honor Luca Vahernick
From the Trinidad Chronicle News of October 20, 1913:
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 19, 1913
News Round-Up from the Coal Miners’ Strike in Southern Colorado
Wednesday October 15, 1913 – Southern Coalfields, Colorado
-Coal Operators Provide Gunthugs with “Death Special.”
The coal operators have brought a new machine into the strike zone of Colorado. Called the “Death Special” by the miners, the machine is an automobile covered with armor and equipped with a search light and a machine gun. It is usually seen roaming about the various tent colonies filled with Baldwin-Felts gunthugs holding their rifles at the ready. Word has it that Mr. Felts, himself, had the large automobile delivered from Denver to Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron plant in Pueblo. There the sides were torn down and replaced with three-eights-inch steel plates. The machine gun was shipped in from West Virginia where it had served previous duty against the miners of that state.
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Thursday October 17, 1913 – Trinidad, Colorado
-Death Special follows 48 Union Men from Starkville to Trinidad
Yesterday strikers engaged in peacefully picketing at the Starkville Mine. This mine is owned by James McLaughlin, brother-in-law of Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado. Forty-eight of these union men were rounded up, placed under arrest by company guards and county deputies and marched the three miles back to Trinidad. On either side of them were rows of armed gunthugs, and behind them came the Death Special with its spotlight and machine gun aimed at their backs.
The union men offered no resistance, but as they come down the hill into Trinidad, they began to shout. They are being held in the Las Animas County Jail.
G. C. Jones, organizer for the Western Federation of Miners, was beaten by Gunthug Belk and by A. C. Felts as he attempted to get a Kodak of the menacing machine. The young photographer, Lou Dold was more successful.
In the past few days other attacks upon the striking miners and their families have been perpetrated by the mine guards. The Sopris Tent Colony was shot up by company gunthugs as they sped by in an automobile. In Walsenburg, Gunthug Lou Miller and six of his companions, roamed the streets assaulting strikers and union sympathizers wherever they found them. The town of Segundo was sprayed with machine gun fire for a full ten minutes as punishment for the beating of guard who had insulted a woman there.
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Saturday October 18, 1913 – Forbes Tent Colony, Colorado
-Mine Guards Attack with Death Special, Striker Luca Vahernick Killed
Mine guards, yesterday, attacked the Forbes Tent Colony making use of the machine gun from the Death Special. Guards on horseback also used their rifles in the attack. A miner, Luca Vahernick, was killed, and a boy, Marco Zamboni, was shot nine times in the legs. A young girl who was on her way home from school was shot in the face. She lives on a near-by farm. The attack began at 2 p.m. and continued until dusk. The miners had only seven rifles or shotguns, six revolvers, and very little ammunition, but they were able to defend the Colony and prevented the guards from entering.
John Lawson arrived at Forbes this morning. As Lawson approached the camp, he found the Gunthugs Belk and Belcher lurking about, and confronted them. These are the same guards who were involved in the murders of Brothers Lippiatt and Powell, and now it appears, they have murdered another union brother. Louie Tikas stepped between Lawson and Belk, in that quiet, calm way of his and eased them apart. And, in this way, he may have saved Brother Lawson’s life.
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 15, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony, Colorado, Sunday September 28th
-Don MacGregor Visits Miner’s Tent, Describes Conditions
From the Chicago Day Book of October 4, 1913:
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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 14, 1913
Ludlow Colony, Colorado – Gunthugs Attack Strikers’ Tent Village
The Ludlow Tent Colony
Wednesday October 8, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire into tents, miners rally to defend the camp.
Several striking miners walked up to Hastings from Ludlow yesterday attempting to collect their mail from the U. S. Post Office there. When mine guards refused them their mail, they argued briefly, but then headed back toward Ludlow. The guards laughed and fired shots over their heads as they walked away.
A short while later, Walter Belk and George Belcher, the same Baldwin-Felts gunthugs who were involved in the murder of Brother Lippiatt, drove near to Ludlow and let loose with a volley of shots into the tents. When miners came running to defend the Colony, more guards began shooting. The miners took up their guns and returned fire.
Women and children ran from the tents and gathered at the fence on the west side of the camp. Seeing that they were exposed to fire, John Lawson ran along the fence urging the women and children back to the tents. As the miners forced the guards to retreat, the women and children, singing union songs, returned to camp.
There are reports that shots were fired at the camp again this morning. John Lawson urged the miners not to leave the camp in pursuit of the guards, but to stay close by:
While you fellows run down there a mile or so the Hastings guards will come down and take the tent colony.
The miners are taking Lawson’s advice. They remain in the camp with their rifles close at hand.
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Friday October 10, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire on baseball field, kill Mack Powell.
Yesterday morning gunthugs from Hastings fired upon the baseball field at the edge of the camp. Striking miners had been enjoying a friendly game, but, as bullets hit the dirt around them, they quickly ran for their rifles. They were able to drive the guards away from the camp. Mack Powell was sitting on his horse and watching from a distance when he was struck by a bullet and killed. Guards were later heard to brag that they had killed a miner.
Mack Powell was a union miner who had taken work as a cowboy on the near-by Green Ranch. Mack was married, and lived with his wife and his wife’s grandmother.
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Sunday October 12, 1913
Southern Coalfield – Operators ship in machine guns; Union prepares.
Should any American citizen believe that, surely, those mine guards who shot up the Ludlow Tent Colony and killed Mack Powell have been arrested, let them be, here and now, disabused of that naive notion of equal justice. In fact, the guards have not been arrested; they have had four machine guns added to their supply of weapons with which to continue their attacks on the tent colonies.
Vice President Hayes of the United Mine Workers of America said recently to John Lawson, “But they can’t conduct a war against us with machine guns. They wouldn’t turn machine guns on defenseless people.”
John Lawson believes that the operators are just that ruthless, and said, “We’ve got to protect the women and children at all costs.”
The colonies have been directed to put up breastworks and to dig pits under the tents. The women and children will be able to shelter there whenever the colonies are attacked. At this time, the Ludlow colony is the particular focus of the gunthugs, but all of the 20 or more colonies are considered to be at risk.
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