Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 31, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Confined in Dark Cellar Cell
From Denver’s United Labor Bulletin of March 28, 1914:
Note: Mother was arrested at Walsenburg by the Colorado militia on Monday March 23rd, at about 5:30 a. m. She has been confined, since that time, in the same dark cold cellar cell that was the cause of the death of striking miner Kostas Marcos.
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From The Masses of February 1914: Mother Jones by Art Young
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 – Sunday March 22, 1914 Denver, Colorado – Mother Jones Arrives After Deportation from Trinidad -Meets with John Lawson and Horace Hawkins
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of March 21, 1914:
“Mother” Jones and John R. Lawson.
Remarkable likeness of the 82-year-old Camp Angel, telling her story to John R. Lawson, Executive Board member U. M. W., Monday [March 16th] after arrival in Denver from Trinidad, where she was detained as military prisoner for 9 weeks.
From The Denver Post of March 16, 1914 -Statement of Mother Jones after Deportation from Trinidad:
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 – Monday March 16, 1914 Forbes and Ludlow, Colorado – Militia’s Reign of Terror Continues
From The Denver Post of March 12, 1914:
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.
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General Chase Justifies Destruction of Forbes Tent Colony
The body of Neil Smith, strikebreaker, was found near the railroad tracks between Forbes and Suffield just before the March 10th raid on Forbes Tent Colony. Gen. Chase blamed the miners for Smith’s death stating that he was murdered by strikers with clubs and stones and “then the victim’s body was laid on the railroad tracks to be run over, as it was, by an approaching train.” For that reason, according to Chase, the nearby strikers’ colony was raided, ransacked and destroyed by the militia. Every man living in the colony was taken into military custody.
Joe M. Scatterthwaite, editor of the Trinidad Free Press, the union newspaper, reported that the trainmen (J. M. Riley, conductor; T. H. Mitchell, engineer, and J. M. Dean, brakeman) examined Smith’s body immediately after he was run over by the train. They found no signs of clubs or stones. The militiamen and company guards did not arrive at the scene until several hours later, and that is when the stones and clubs suddenly appeared. Sixteen strikers from the Forbes colony have been arrested and 48 women and children are now homeless. The militia has not allowed the union to rebuild the colony.
Scatterthwaite recently published the following editorial:
HOW LONG, OH GOD, HOW LONG?
Governor Ammons, sitting on his shoulder blades in cushioned chair, replies to complaints concerning the Forbes outrage, that he knew nothing of it-and that it will not happen again.
Of course it will not occur again-and it does not need an anemic, spineless, truckling executive to give that assurance. The thing has been done! The tents are down. The women are in tears, the children are in hysterics, the peaceful colony is scattered. It will not be done again at Forbes. O, No!
But will it be done at some other point? Will Ludlow be the next to suffer? Will the mailed fist fall on Starkville? Will these unrebuked outlaws next attack some other law-abiding band of citizens? These are questions for a kow-towing executive to answer. He does not know what the next order of the coal barons will be, but he knows that he will probably obey that command as he has sniffingly and cringingly obeyed every order that has come to him from the offices of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and Victor American Fuel Company-his masters. He does not know what his militia will do, for he is fully aware, in his puny heart, that the militia has got beyond his control.
He knows that these desperate men of the gun and bludgeon can no more be checked and held in leash than the imps of hell. He assures the people that there will be no further outrages at Forbes, but he is powerless to say that the heavy hand will not fall on some other community. And so he keeps silent, groveling out his excuses to righteous complaints.
[Emphasis added.]
March 13th, as if to provide proof for the points of Scatterthwaite’s editorial, Lieutenant Linderfelt and his men charged their horses onto the platform of the the crowded Ludlow train station. It was just at train time, and some of those waiting for the train were knocked down as others scattered in a panic to avoid being trampled. Witness say the cavalrymen rode straight at them from a rise beyond Ludlow, just as the westbound train pulled into the depot. No doubt, Lt. Linderfelt and his men were hoping to provoke the colonist into retaliating.
General Chase has issued an order that the 450 militiamen still in the field cannot be sent home. “A clash between the militia and the strikers is expected,” the General stated. The militia left in the field are of the worst sort. Linderfelt is a glaring example of the character of the militiamen who have been left in the strike zone.Many of them are company guards, now in the pay of both the military and the coal companies.
The investigating committee from the Colorado Federation of Labor (appointed by Governor Ammons), singled Linderfelt out as an officer unfit for duty. The Labor Committee specifically requested, last January after the Lieutenant’s previous rampage at the Ludlow depot, that Linderfelt be taken out of the strike zone stating that:
We did not expect to report to you until we had completed the taking of testimony at all camps, but in our judgment the following serious matter should be reported to you at once: Lieut. K. E. Linderfelt, of the cavalry stationed at Berwind, last night [Dec. 30th] at Ludlow brutally assaulted an inoffensive boy in the public railroad station, using the vilest language at the same time. He also assaulted and tried to provoke to violence Louie Tikas, head man of the Ludlow strikers’ colony, and arrested him unjustifiably. Today, in the presence of one of our number, he grossly abused a young man in no way connected with the strike, also makes threats against the strikers in the foulest language. He rages violently upon little or no provocation and is wholly an unfit man to bear arms and command men as he has no control over himself. We have reason to believe that it is his deliberate purpose to provoke the strikers to bloodshed. In the interest of peace and justice, we ask immediate action in his case.
[Emphasis added.]
Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, elected to office with the aid of the Labor Vote, has continued to ignore this request. Lt. Linderfelt remains in the strike zone, camped out with his men at Berwind, near to the Ludlow Tent Colony.
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 – Saturday March 14, 1914 March 4th at Milwaukee Federated Trades Council -Annie Clemenc Speaks on Michigan Copper Strike, Beaten, Slashed, Shot At
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