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Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 16, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Held in Cold Cellar Cell
From the Appeal to Reason of April 11, 1914:
Detail:
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 – Sunday April 5, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Smuggles out Letter from Cold Cellar Cell
From the Chicago Day Book of April 3, 1914:
March 31, 1914-from the Cold Cellar Cell, Walsenburg, Colorado,
Letter to Friends of Mother Jones and to the Public Generally:
Military Bastile
Walsenburg, Colo.
. March 31, 1914To My Friends and the Public Generally:
I am being held a prisoner incommunicado in a damp, underground cell, in the basement of a military bullpen at Walsenburg, Colorado. Have been here since 5:30 a.m. of the 23rd of March, when I was taken from the train by armed soldiers as I was passing through Walsenburg. I have discovered what appears to be an opportunity to smuggle a letter out of prison, and shall attempt to get this communication by the armed guards which day and night surround me (me, a white-haired old woman eighty-two years of age).
I want to say to the public that I am an American citizen. I have never broken a law in my life, and I claim the right of an American citizen to go where I please so long as I do not violate the law. The courts of Las Animas and Huerfano are open and unobstructed in the transaction of business, yet Governor Ammons and his Peabody appointee, General Chase, refuse to carry me before any court, and refuse to make any charge against me.I ask the press to let the nation know of my treatment, and to say to my friends, whom, thank God, I number by the thousands, throughout the United States and Mexico, that not even my incarceration in a damp, underground dungeon will make me give up the fight in which I am engaged for liberty and for the rights of the working people.
Of course, I long to be out of prison. To be shut from the sunlight is not pleasant, but John Bunyan, John Brown and others were kept in Jail quite a while, and I shall stand firm. To be in prison is no disgrace. In all my strike experiences I have seen no horrors equal to those perpetrated by General Chase and his corps of Baldwin-Feltz detectives that are now enlisted in the militia.My God–when is it to stop? I have only to close my eyes to see the mourning of the broken hearts and the wailing of the funeral dirge, while the cringing politicians whose sworn duty is to protect the lives and liberty of the people crawl subserviently before the national burglars of Wall Street who are today plundering and devastating the State of Colorado economically, financially, politically and morally.
Let the nation know, and especially let my friend General Francisco Villa know, that the great United States of America, which is demanding of him that he release the traitors he has placed under arrest, is now holding Mother Jones incommunicado in an under ground cell surrounded with sewer rats, tinhorn soldiers and other vermin.Mother Jones[As written, without correction; paragraph break added.]
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Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 17, 1914
Denver, Colorado – Testimony Reveals Murderous Mine Guards Terrorize Miners
From the Duluth Labor World of March 14, 1914:
SLAVERY REVEALED IN COLORADO MINES
———-
Startling Testimony Given Before
Congressional Committee In Coal Inquiry.
———-LIBERTY IS DENIED;
WORSE THAN RUSSIA
———-
Blacklist System Kept By Operators Exposed
-Coal Districts Managed by Tyrants.
———-
DENVER, Colo., March 13,-(Special Correspondence.)-Southern Colorado today is in a state of anarchy. Men are held slaves in the coal mines, terrorized by murderous mine guards and robbed of practically every cent of the small pittance they are paid. The striking coal miners are intimidated and murdered by the hired assassins of the operators, denied their constitutional rights by the militia of the state of Colorado. These and many other outrages were brought out by the congressional committee which closed its month’s investigation of the Colorado coal strike Saturday [March 7th].
Colorado’s Liberty (?)
For years the coal miners of the state have maintained that they had less personal liberty, less rights in Colorado than have the people of Russia. For the same length of time the papers of the state have denied these reports.
If there was any doubt in the minds of the people of Colorado as to the real conditions in the coal fields those ideas were dispelled by the oppressed witnesses who appeared before the congressional investigating committee.
The operators and their gunmen have run their lickspittles in office with such a high hand, with such utter disregard of the laws and human life that conditions as they exist seem impossible to the man who has not suffered or failed to spend some time in the district.
One of the just grievances of the miners, established by the men as well as mine superintendents and foremen, was that of short weights. Since the first mine was opened in the state it has been the common practice of the coal operators to steal from 400 to 800 pounds of coal from miners on each car.
Miners Were Discharged.
To offset this robbery the miners had a bill passed providing for checkweighman. When the miners sought to take advantage of this law they were promptly discharged or given such a poor room that they could not make a living and were forced to quit. Instead of abolishing this thievery of coal by the operators, the checkweighman law seemed to increase it for the operators were filled with a desire to demonstrate how they were superior to the law and could do as they pleased in a state where they owned a majority of the officials body and soul.
Probably one of the most notorious works of the operators exposed by the witnesses was the blacklist system that has always been in existence against union miners. After the 1903-4 strike 6,000 men were blacklisted and but few of them have been able to get work up to this time except where companies signed up with the union. Witnesses testified that superintendents at all of the mines in the state had a list of the union men. They told of going to mines, being refused work because they were union men and seeing scores of men employed while they stood there.
Owners Dominate Politics.
One of the most notorious conditions existing in the south has been the domination of politics by the coal companies. They own the courts, the juries and practically every other officer.
Jack McQuarry, a witness and who was deputy sheriff of Huerfano county for seven years, testified that when a man or number of men were killed in the mines, he was ordered to take the coroner to the superintendent and find out who he wanted on the jury, as well as what the verdict was to be.
When Jeff Farr [Sheriff of Huerfano County] and his ring did not have sufficient votes to carry an election, they voted the sheep in the hills or else arrested enough of their opponents to carry the election and held them until they promised to vote the way Sheriff Jeff Farr wanted them to.
It has always been common practice for the superintendent to take his men to the polls and vote the entire gang one way.
“Got” Mine Leader.
McQuarry told how in 1906 the deputies were told to “get” John R. Lawson, International Board Member of the United Mine Workers. They could find no legitimate reason for arresting Lawson so two deputies went up to him, stuck a gun in his pocket, and then arrested him for carrying concealed deadly weapons.
Tony Langowsky, a member of the union and spotter for the operators, threw a bomb into their camp when he testified that he and the mine guards framed up all the dynamite explosions which terrorized Sopris, Colo., for six weeks last fall.
The operators sent out the reports that these explosions were the work of the “lawless” strikers. Langowsky’s testimony absolutely fixes the blame for the outrages which have occurred in Southern Colorado on the operators, who have heretofore been convicted of every crime except that.
It is impossible to bring out even a small part of the testimony in one story. While the operators were convicted of every crime on the calendar, the militia of the state suffered like exposure.
[Photograph and emphasis added.]
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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:
From Las Vegas Optic of February 11, 1914:
MILITIA GAVE CONFISCATED ARMS
TO MINE GUARDS, SAYS LABOR LEADERSECRETS OF THE CONVENTION WITHHELD
———-UNION OFFICIAL ASKS COMMITTEE TO EXCUSE HIM
FROM ANSWERING QUERIES
———-
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 – Monday December 22, 1913
Denver, Colorado – State Federation of Labor Adopts Policy of Action
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of December 20, 1913:
———-
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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 17, 1913
Denver, Colorado – Convention of State Federation of Labor Begins
From The Denver Post of December 16, 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 – Saturday November 22, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Baldwin-Felts Gunthug Belcher Shot and Killed
Headline from the Trinidad Chronicle News of November 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.
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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
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.
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Hellraisers Journal – Friday November 13, 1903
Colorado Coal Miners Obey U. W. A. Strike Order; Mother Jones on Hand
From The Indianapolis News of November 9, 1903:
COLORADO MINERS OBEY
THE ORDER TO STRIKEFEW REPORTED FOR WORK IN DISTRICT 15.
SURPRISE FOR OPERATORSDenver, November 9.-Information received from the coal fields of Colorado to-day indicates that the strike of coal miners will be more extended than anticipated. It is reported that the order of the executive committee of the United Mine Workers of America declaring a strike in District 15 for to-day has been obeyed in Colorado almost to the man. At certain mines where it was confidently believed a sufficient number of men could be retained to operate them, it appears that not enough men reported to make a showing.In the northern fields, where the men decided to strike upon their own referendum vote because an eight-hour day has not been granted, the walkout is complete. It is said that several of the independent mine will make efforts to continue in operation, but, it is understood, with little hope of success.
`
Troops in Readiness Unusual precautions have been taken by the sheriff of Las Animas county in southern Colorado, where trouble is feared. It is reported that strikers have threatened violence if they are ousted from the cottages of the Victor Fuel Company and the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The State troops are being held in readiness.Already the effects of the strike are being felt in this city. Practically all the dealers announced to-day that they had no coal to sell. The prospect is favorable for a serious coal famine in Denver and other points in the state.
[Emphasis and photograph added.]
Mass evictions from the coal company “cottages” (shacks) are underway at this time. And, in fact, the miners, rather than threatening violence, have prepared for this eventuality by establishing tent colonies on land rented by the union. The company guards, however, do not refrain from violence as they evict the striking miners and their families, kicking in doors, ransacking family belongings, and generally spreading terror as they roam about the strike district heavily armed. Most of these company gunthugs have been deputized by the Las Animas County Sheriff.
—————
From The Arizona Republican of November 10, 1903:
SILENT MINES
—————Formal Beginning of Strike in District 15
—————
THE TIE-UP IS COMPLETE
—————
The Struggle Will Be a Long One
But Both Sides Are Prepared for It
-“Mother Jones” Is Now in the Field
—————Trinidad, Colo., Nov. 9.-The strike of the coal miners of district No. 15 of the United Mine Workers of America is now on in full force, and indications point to a long struggle. This morning only a very small per cent of the men reported for work and the tie-up is complete in Las Animas county, the largest producer of District 15, Starkville, Gray Creek, Engleville and Sopris, the largest producing camps went out to a man.At union headquarters tonight all the officials were jubilant over the outlook and more than pleased at the number of non-union men who went out with the union. Since Saturday night nearly 2,000 men sent their names to the union. Out of nearly 3,000 employed in this county, it is claimed that less than one hundred reported for work. These are at Hastings, Delagua and Primero, Victor fuel camps, and it is openly stated that if any trouble occurs in this district it will be at the above camps.“Mother” Jones is doing more than all the balance of the organizers to bring the men into line. Union headquarters was very busy today. William Howells, president of District 15, said tonight, “You can say that the men in this section went out to a man and the tie-up is more complete than we thought it would be. We have a right to feel good over the large number of non-union men who joined us. Eighty per cent of the men have gone out in Huerfano county and also in Colfax county, N. M. We nor the Colorado Fuel and Iron company officials dreamed that the strike would be of such magnitude.”
[Emphasis added. Newsclip added from Indianapolis News of Nov. 10th.]
