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

22nd November 202324th November 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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:

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

20th November 202322nd November 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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

26th October 202331st October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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:

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

23rd October 202324th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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

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.

—————

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

Hellraisers Journal: Nine Hundred Striking Miners March Through Trinidad to Honor Martyred Coal Miner, Luca Vahernick

22nd October 202324th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, ed, Ab Chp 6, 1925 —————

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:

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Nine Hundred Striking Miners March Through Trinidad to Honor Martyred Coal Miner, Luca Vahernick” →

Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Forbes Tent Colony Attacked by Operators’ “Death Special”

19th October 202331st October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Let every miner wear his red bandanna
around his neck. It is our uniform.
-John Lawson
———-

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.

—————-

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.

—————

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.

—————

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Forbes Tent Colony Attacked by Operators’ “Death Special”” →

Let every miner wear his red bandanna around his neck. It is our uniform. -John Lawson ———-

Let every miner wear his red bandanna
around his neck. It is our uniform.
-John Lawson
———-