Hellraisers Journal, Monday August 21, 1916
Ludlow, Colorado – Miners Join U. M. W. of A.
Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Coal Miners Organize at Site of Ludlow Massacre”
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Hellraisers Journal, Sunday February 7, 1915
New York City – Mrs. Petrucci Tells Harrowing Story of Ludlow Massacre
On Wednesday morning, February 3rd, Mrs. Mary Petrucci sat listening to Mr. Jerome Greene, Secretary of the the Rockefeller Foundation, give his testimony before the Commission on Industrial Relations. She heard this man speak of the vast amounts of money donated to worthy causes by the foundation bearing the name of the man who controls the condition under which the Colorado miners and their families work and live. Pennsylvania’s New Castle Herald described her response to that testimony:
“The Rockefeller way of philanthropy,” he said, “is a far better way than if he [Mr. Rockefeller] were to blow it in on his own amusement or give his money away in an ostentatious manner.”
Mrs. Mary Petrucci seated in the front row, threw her arms about Mother Jones and, in an audible whisper, said:
My God! What do you think of that, and we and our families facing starvation in Colorado.
That afternoon, Mrs. Petrucci followed Mrs. Dominiski to the witness stand and recalled that terrible day when her three youngest children perished in the Ludlow Massacre. Her eldest had died just a few weeks earlier of illness.She described fleeing her burning tent, carrying the baby and pulling her little daughter by the hand while her four year old son ran along behind:
Well, in the evening when the fire started I came out of my tent; it was all on fire, and I came out of my tent, and as I was coming out of my tent under that tank there was a lot of militiamen, and I was running out and hollering with my three children, and they hollered at me to get out of the way and they were shooting at me and I ran into this place [the cellar where the children died].
She awoke early the next morning and made her way to the Ludlow depot, and from there to Trinidad. She lay ill with pneumonia for the next nine days, and only when she recovered did she learn that all of her little children were dead.
Hellraisers Journal: Thursday February 4, 1915
From the New York Tribune:
-Mary Petrucci Remembers Her Four Little Children
Once again, Mrs. Mary Petrucci has come east from the coal camps of southern Colorado to give testimony about the long struggle of the miners there. It was during this struggle in Freedom’s Cause that she and her husband lost all four of their children. The eldest, six-year-old Bernard, grew sick last March and died in the Ludlow Tent Colony after the militia refused to let Mary take him to a doctor in Trinidad. The three other children Joe-4, Lucy-2, and the baby, Frank-6 months, were murdered in April by the gunthug militia during the Ludlow Massacre. All three children were suffocated when the militia set the tent on fire over their heads as they sought shelter in the cellar beneath the floor, hiding from machine gun fire.
Mrs. Petrucci has come to New York accompanied by another miner’s wife, Mrs. Margaret Dominiski. Their testimony before the Commission on Industrial Relations will be thoroughly covered by Hellraisers over the next few days. Today we wish to present a long interview with Mary Petrucci conducted by Lucy Huffaker for the “Woman’s Varied Interests” section of the Tribune. Mary Petrucci hopes that by telling the story of her little children, their sacrificed lives will count toward the betterment of workers everywhere. During the interview, she stressed that she and her husband are still strong for the union despite their terrible loss. She concluded the interview with this statement:
But you’re not to think that we could do any differently another time..We are working people-my husband and I-and we’re stronger for the union than we were before the strike. We’ve paid-I guess you’ll admit and everybody will-that we’ve paid a pretty big price for our belief. I don’t know just how any man and woman can do more than have their children, all their children, taken from them, do you? But we’re not ‘scabs.’ We never have been and we never will be. There is sorrow in our hearts, and there always will be, but there isn’t any dishonor.
I can’ have my babies back..But perhaps when everybody knows about them, something will be done to make the world a better place for all babies. At least, I like to think so. It is the only thing which gives me any comfort.
