Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 24 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Taken from Train and Arrested by Militia
From The Hutchinson News (Kansas) of March 23, 1914:
“MOTHER” JONES AGAIN HELD
BY THE MILITARY
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She Was Arrested at Walsenburg
Upon Her Return There From Denver.
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John Lawson, Mother Jones, Horace Hawkins
Walsenburg, Colo., March 23-After a week’s freedom “Mother” Mary Jones is again a military prisoner in the strike zone. The aged strike leader was taken from a southbound Colorado and Southern train here this morning by Captain H. C. Nickerson, acting under orders of Adjutant General John Chase, and lodged in the county hospital under military guard. She is being held incommunicado.
Captain Nickerson left Trinidad last night under orders to arrest “Mother” Jones at Walsenburg when the announcement was made that she was leaving for Trinidad. The militia officer boarded the train at Pueblo and as it neared Walsenburg, ordered “Mother” Jones to alight with him at that point.
“I protest against such treatment,” declared the strike leader, “but I am not surprised.”
“I am acting under orders,” replied the officer.
“Well, I’ll get off,” she retorted.
John Brown, an organizer of the United Mine Workers of America, and known as “Mother” Jones’ body guard, who accompanied the aged strike leader, also left the train but was not placed under arrest.
Calls It Kidnapping.
Trinidad, Colo., March 23-“It’s a plain case of kidnapping,” declared John R. Lawson, International board member of the United Mine Workers, when advised that “Mother” Jones had been taken from a train at Walsenburg by the military authorities while on her way to Trinidad.
“Mother Jones was going through the place and as far as I know there is absolutely no charge against her. I hope that the supreme court will act in the matter at once.”
Mr. Lawson and John McLennan, president of District No. 15, United Mine Workers of America, left today for Walsenburg.
Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday March 18, 1914 Mother Jones Deported Out of Southern Colorado Strike Zone by Gen. Chase
From The Winnipeg Tribune of March 16, 1914:
“MOTHER JONES” DEPARTS
Trinidad, Colo., March 16.-“Mother” Mary Jones, noted woman strike leader, who has been a military prisoner in San Rafael hospital here since January 12, was put aboard a train quietly last night and sent out of the coal strike district. Her departure became known today. It was said this action was taken at her request and on orders of General John Chase.
“Mother” Jones was taken to Denver.
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[Drawing and emphasis added.]
From El Paso Herald of March 16, 1914:
WOMAN LEADER IS DEPORTED; IS STILL ANGRY ———-
DECLARES SHE IS SURE TO RETURN ———- “Mother” Jones Now in Denver, Says She Was Deported Late at Night by Military Authorities and Sent Away on a Ticket Paid For by the State; Goes to Call on the Governor. ———-
Trinidad. Colo., March 16-“Mother” Mary Jones, noted woman strike leader, who has been a military prisoner in San Rafael hospital here since January 12, was put aboard a train quietly last night [March 15th] and sent out of the coal strike district. Her departure became known today.
She went to Denver. The military authorities proceeded with the utmost secrecy to remove “Mother” Jones. She was arrested at a local hotel here January 12, after having been deported from the district the week previous and told not to return. Since her confinement several efforts have been made to secure her release.
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Denver, Colo., March 16-That she was deported from Trinidad; that she was accompanied by Denver militia officers, taken to a hotel and was not told she had been released; that she expects to return to the strike zone soon, was the substance of a statement made today by “Mother” Mary Jones, noted strike leader, who has been a military prisoner at San Rafael hospital in Trinidad since January 12.
Her statement was given to a group of newspaper men at the conclusion of a conference with Horace N. Hawkins, attorney for the United Mine Workers of America, Immediately thereafter she left for the state house to call upon Governor E. M. Ammons.
Rearrest Threatened.
General Chase stated “Mother” Jones will be arrested whenever she returns to Trinidad.
“Mother” Jones was put upon an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe train last night [Sunday March 15th], arriving in Denver early today. She was accompanied by Col. W. A. Davis, of the Colorado National Guard.
“Mother” Jones declared that the state bought the ticket on which she came to Denver. She declared she intended returning to Trinidad to demand her mail, explaining that no mail had been delivered to her during her detention. She stated that she had received considerate treatment at the hospital, but had suffered somewhat from the confinement.
Confers With Governor
In the conference with the governor were his secretary, Claude W. Fairchild, “Mother” Jones, John Lawson, John McLennan, union officials, and Horace N. Hawkins.
Telegrams were sent to M. D. Foster, chairman of the house committee on mines and mining, and representative Edward Keating of Colorado by John Lawson, relating the incident of “Mother ” Jones being brought to Denver.
Didn’t Consent to Trip, She Says
In her statement to newspaper men, “Mother” Jones said:
I never asked to talk with governor Ammons and I never gave my consent to the trip to Denver. Sunday night a military officer came to me and told me to pack my clothes quick, as it was almost train time. He took pains to tell me I was not being deported.
Boarded Train a Crossing.
We did not board the train at the depot, but it was stopped at a crossing. We arrived in Denver early today, and I was taken to a hotel. They did not even tell me whether or not I was free.
Mr Hawkins then took up the narrative.
“I telephoned to Gen. Chase,” he said, “and he told me that ‘Mother’ Jones was released. I then called up Governor Ammons and he said that he had not been advised that ‘Mother’ Jones wanted to see him. I informed him that she had no desire to talk with him, but would call at his office if he invited her to do so.
“He said: ’Well, then I invite her to call.’”
She Complains of Detention.
“Mother” Jones complained vigorously of the manner in which she had been arrested and detained. “If I have done any thing wrong why have they not charged me with a crime in court?” she demanded of the assembled newspaper men. “Why have they resorted to this trick to release me just before the supreme court was to pass upon my habeas corpus suit?”
“Mother” Jones gave her vision of the events preceding her arrest. She said the day before the Forbes battle a man came to her room at a Trinidad hotel and told her the guards were preparing to raid the tent colonies.
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
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.
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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.]
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 10, 1914 “Why, Governor Ammons?” by Mrs. Lizabeth A. Williams
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of March 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?
I’ll go back; they can’t keep me from my boys. I am not afraid of all the troops in the State. -Mother Jones, New York Times January 5, 1914 —————
Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 5, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Deported from Strike Zone by Militia
From The Washington Times of January 5, 1914:
From The New York Times of January 5, 1914:
COLORADO TROOPS OUST MOTHER JONES ———- Woman Strike Agitator Deported from Trinidad Under Guard of Soldiers ———–
WARNED NEVER TO RETURN ———- One Thousand Taxpayers Meet and Warn Other Agitators to Get Out in Twenty-for Hours. ———-
Special to The New York Times.
TRINIDAD, Col., Jan. 4-“Mother” Jones was seized by the militia upon her arrival at Trinidad this morning from El Paso, taken from a Santa Fe train, held for two hours and deported from the strike district.
Capt. E. A. Smith, acting under orders from Gen. John Chase, met the train with a detachment of soldiers. The troops prevented a demonstration from the strikers at the station.
Mother Jones was held under surveillance until a Colorado & Southern train arrived from Denver. Then she was place aboard the train under guard of a lieutenant and four soldiers, and ordered never to return to the district. She had planned to spend several days among the coal strikers, and was to make a speech to-day at Walsenburg. The train on which she was being held under guard passed through Walsenburg.
Gen. Chase had been notified that she was on the way to Trinidad and acted so quietly that none of the strikers knew of his plans to deport her. When the soldiers took her in charge, she said:”I never had believed you would go this far.”
Contrary to her usual custom, she did not make any protest. While she was being held here she was not permitted to talk to any of the strikers or union leaders, the soldiers refusing to allow John McLennon, head of the mine workers, to speak to her.
At Walsenburg the train stopped for only a few minutes. Thousands of strikers, having been apprised by telephone of Mother Jones’s deportation, were at the station, but none was allowed to approach near enough to speak to her. However, she tried to make a speech.
The train pulled out just as she was assuring the miners that she would return to Colorado “as soon as it becomes a part of the United States.”
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Denver Col., Jan. 4-“The deportation of Mother Jones was the most disgraceful act ever perpetrated by supposed police officers in the Union,” said John McLennon [McLennan], President of the Colorado State Federation of Labor tonight.
“I’ll go back; they can’t keep me from my boys,” said Mother Jones on her arrival here to-night from Trinidad. “I am not afraid of all the troops in the State.”
“Gov. Ammons said: ” I do not care to express an opinion regarding the deportation of Mother Jones, because I am not fully aware of the circumstances, but I would not hesitate to express an opinion if the person concerned were a resident of Trinidad.”
After the deportation, Gen. Chase gave out this statement:
“Mrs. Jones was met at the train this morning by the military escort acting under instructions not to permit her to remain in this district. The detail took charge of Mrs. Jones and her baggage and she was accompanied out of the district under guard after she had been given breakfast. The step was taken in accordance with my instructions to preserve peace in the district. The presence of Mother Jones here at this time cannot be tolerated.She had planned to go to the Ludlow tent colony of strikers to stop the desertion of union members.
“If she returns she will be placed in jail and held incommunicado.”
Company G. First Infantry, Colorado National Guard, to-night was ordered to leave here tomorrow morning for Oak Creek to take charge of the strike situation in that district. In issuing the order Gen. Chase said that seventy-five men would leave on a special train.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 3, 1914 Trinidad, Colorado – State Federation of Labor Committee Begins Investigation
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of December 27, 1913:
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Wednesday December 24, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – C. F. of L. Investigating Committee Begins Hearings
The Committee established by the recent Convention of the Colorado Federation of Labor to investigate alleged abuse by the military met in Trinidad yesterday to begin hearings on the matter. Now, Professor Brewster was asked to sit on the committee despite his views on the United Mine Workers which are less than favorable. Yet, the Professor is trusted as an honorable and fair man, willing to listen objectively to the evidence.
General Chase has refused to meet with the committee in spite of the letter from Governor Ammons requiring him to do so. He indicates that, perhaps, he will find the time at a later date to meet with the C. F. of L. Investigating Committee.
The committee heard testimony from Mrs. Maggie Dominske of Ludlow. She described how she was on her way to the Ludlow post office with a group of women when they were stopped by militiamen:
They put up their guns and said, “God damn you, don’t you go another step. If you do,we’ll shoot you. We’re getting tired of these sons-of-bitches coming up here and we’re going to put a stop to it.”
The Professor asked if the women had been on a public road, and Mrs. Dominske replied that, yes indeed, they had been using a public road. The Professor declared:
I am surprised. Surprised. I wouldn’t have believed it if I had not heard it straight from these women. It is plain they are telling the truth.
We imagine that the good Professor will encounter many more such surprises before the investigation is completed.
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Wednesday December 31, 1913
Ludlow, Colorado – Lt Linderfelt declares himself “Jesus Christ”
Yesterday evening, a cavalryman was injured when his horse tripped on a piece of barbed wire. The injured man was brought to the Ludlow depot. A few minutes later Lieutenant Linderfelt appeared and went into a rage. Louie Tikas happened to be at the depot waiting for a train, also at the station was a boy of about fifteen years. Linderfelt focused on that boy, accusing him of setting the wire, and, when the boy denied the charge, began to beat him. Linderfelt next began to berate Louie:
There you are, you round-face son-of-a-bitch. You’re responsible for that wire.
Louie remained calm, but Linderfelt continued to rage. He gave an order to his men:
You Tollerburg fellows beat it over to the colony and cut every God damned wire around the place. The first man that interferes with you-shoot his head off.
Linderfelt then punched Louie in the face as he yelled:
I am Jesus Christ, and my men on horses are Jesus Christs, and we must be obeyed.
Witnesses report that Louie Tikas maintained his usual calm as Linderfelt struck him several more times. The lieutenant than ordered his men to take Louie to the military camp.
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 20, 1913 Denver, Colorado – News from Special Convention of State Federation of Labor
Thursday December 18, 1913-Denver, Colorado – News from Special Convention of the Colorado Federation of Labor
Louie Tikas with Flag of Ludlow
Louis Tikas was released by the military three days ago from the cold, unheated cell with the broken window through which blew the bitter winter wind and snow. Yesterday, the Trinidad Free Press printed this letter from Louie to the paper’s editor:
Dear Sir,
In regards to calling you up by phone I have changed my mind, so I will write you a few lines of information. I arrived at Ludlow about 3 P.M. The most people of the tent colony were waiting for me, and after visiting the colony tent by tent and shaking hands with most the people, I find out that all was glad to see me back…
I am leaving tonight for Denver to attend the state Federation of Labor convention and believe that I will be called to state before the delegates of the convention anything that I know concerning the militia in the southern field. While I stay a few days at Denver I will return to Ludlow again.
LOUIS TIKAS Ludlow, Colorado
[Emphasis added.]
The special convention of the Colorado Federation of Labor was called by President McLennan and Secretary W. T. Hickey:
The strike of the miners has grown to a real war in which every craft and department of organized labor is threatened with annihilation unless they take a positive and decided stand for their rights. The uniform of the state is being disgraced and turned into an emblem of anarchy as it was in the days of Peabody. In the southern fields, military courts, illegal and tyrannical, are being held for the purpose of tyrannizing the workers. Leaders of labor are being seized and arrested and held without bail. The homes of union miners have been broken into by members of the National Guard and property stolen. In order, that members of organized labor in every part of the state, whether affiliated or not, may become familiar with conditions in this struggle, a convention is hereby called to meet in Denver Tuesday December 16, 1913, at 10 o’clock. The purpose of the convention is the protection of the rights of every worker in this state and the protection of the public from the unbridled greed and outrages of the coal operators.
[Emphasis added]
More than 500 delegates answered the call and assembled at the Eagle’s Hall on Tuesday December 16th. They included national officers from United Mine Workers, President White, Vice-President Hayes and Secretary Green. John Lawson and Louie Tikas arrived from the strike zone in the southern field. There was outrage as the Convention learned of the disaster at the Vulcan mine. This is the same mine which the union had called a death trap just months before. Many delegates made it plain that they are in favor of a statewide general strike should one be called by union leaders.The Convention demands that Governor Ammons remove General Chase from command and immediately transfer all military prisoners to the civil courts.
Mother Jones made her way to the convention in spite of military orders that she stay out of the state.It is said that sympathetic trainmen assisted her in slipping into Denver. She made her opinion of Governor Ammons clear by calling for him to be hanged.
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