Hellraisers Journal: It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of corporations that is silent, not noisy like the violence they promote.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado

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Quote KE Linderfelt re Damn Red Neck Bitches of Ludlow Massacre, Apr 20, 1914, CIR p7378—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday June 8, 1914
New York City – Judge Lindsey Continues Before Commission on Industrial Relations

From the Washington Evening Star of May 21, 1914:

Rep Keating Judge Lindsey, Rep Kent, Mrs Lindsey, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas, Mrs Lee Champion, Rachel Thomas, Olga Thomas
Rep. Keating, Judge Ben Lindsey, Rep. Kent, Mrs. Lindsey,
Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas,
Mrs. Lee Champion, Rachel and Olga Thomas
—————

TESTIMONY OF JUDGE BEN B. LINDSEY, Part II
New York, New York, May 28, 1914

Judge Lindsey testified before the Commission on Industrial Relations during the afternoon session of May 28th. Present were Chairman Walsh, and Commissioners Ballard, O’Connell, Lennon, Garretson, and Harriman.

[Judge Lindsey continues:] It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of capital, the violence of corporations, that is silent, if you please, and not noisy like the violence they promote. I think, therefore, that they owe it to our people to consent to the appointment by the President of a board of arbitration, who will go out there and investigate those conditions and listen to both sides, and both sides being willing, assuming, of course, the board is fair and just and acceptable to both sides, to abide by the decision they may come to. And I think a great mistake is being made by the powers that control the industrial government of this country, the seat of which is here in New York, and is as superior to the President of the United States, unless he is willing to exert himself in spite of it, as the boss over the employee in a factory. That is my view of it.

And being in that position, knowing that they have said, or claimed, to have the Constitution back of them, certain laws back of them that were primarily designed for property, they owe it to our people to concede, to give, if you please, some of this terrific power by consenting to this board, and letting them, so far as it is possible, at least, for temporary purposes, to adjust the difficulties up there and to relieve our people of the passion into which they have been plunged, but the fact that when these Federal troops were withdrawn, if they are, because of this condition that has grown up for years and years, beginning with the corporations themselves, their own lawlessness, will be too much, and there is a possibility of the repetition of Ludlow unless the President will keep the Federal troops there, and to bring about any sort of settlement, go a step further and appoint this industrial commission, and if both sides do not consent to this arbitration, then it is our contention, in the interests of peace, because of the military necessities of the case, because a republican form of government, with the confession of the governor of the State, has broken down in Colorado and the Constitution says the Federal Government shall guarantee us a republican form of government, that he would be justified in taking some means, even though they be forcible, to compel those who refuse to arbitrate to consent to arbitration.

Now, that is the feeling of many of our people and I speak that feeling. I am not here to speak on behalf of the militia, I am not here to speak on behalf of the mine owners. I am not here to-day to speak on behalf of the mine workers. I am simply here to voice my feelings, after years of experience, being down in the midst, knowing both sides, understanding their viewpoint, to make clear to you, as an industrial commission, in a general way, some of the conditions that have existed in our State and that exist in other States, that have brought about these results, in order that, in time if not now, there may be one result—an investigation like this, and that will begin to tackle conditions and tackle causes that make for these effects, and I would feel false in my duty to the children of my State and the children of this country if I did not take a bigger opportunity for this problem than merely sitting behind a desk and trying the immediate troubles of children. I have done that for 14 years, and I have looked into the faces of these children, and I have tried to think and find out why do boys do bad things? Why do girls do bad things? And I think I have found out. And I look at it and then I ask myself, why do men do bad things? And the reason in the one case is largely the reason in the other; it is the condition, in a large measure, not altogether, say, the environment, their viewpoint.

My plea is for a better understanding of these questions. Therefore I thought if I came over to New York after the President of the United States had given us a most courteous hearing, that Mr. Rockefeller himself would be willing to see me and permit me to present this phase of the situation. But after a courteous request for that privilege he has refused, not only to see me, but while I am of no particular consequence perhaps, I think it is of great consequence that he should have heard the miners’ wives whom you courteously and kindly and considerately heard here yesterday, whom the President of United States heard, because, I contend that when men receive profits or have possessions that promise profits, they haven’t any right to take the impersonal view that he takes, and deny any responsibility. Kings have gone down among their people, even in the days of the old feudalists, or even in modern conditions, we have known of kings going among their people and lending them succor and help and not being so impersonal and above them that they would not listen to their woes and troubles and miseries, and be willing to lend something of themselves to really find the cause of these things, and help to solve them, and surely Mr. Rockefeller is no bigger than the President of the United States. He isn’t any bigger than kings, who have done it.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: It is well for the people of this country to know the violence of corporations that is silent, not noisy like the violence they promote.-Testimony of Judge Benjamin B. Lindsey of Colorado”

Hellraisers Journal: New York City-Vivid Testimony of Pearl Jolly and Mary Thomas Counters Claim of Major Boughton That Gov. Ammons Has “Neutral Attitude”

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Quote Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Next Time, Women Will Fight, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 29, 1914
New York City- Testimony of Ludlow Survivors Describe Actions of “Neutral” Militia

Judge Lindsey, M Thomas, P Jolly, M Petrucci, Thomas Girls, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914
Judge Lindsey with (left to right) Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly,
Mary Petrucci, and daughters of Mrs. Thomas
Dear Reader: We will leave it to you decide just how neutral has been the attitude of Governor Ammons during the ongoing conflict in Colorado between the Coal Operators, led by Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, and the strikers, lead by the United Mine Workers of America. Read the following article in which Major Boughton, in his position as Judge Advocate of the Colorado National Guard, indicates the testimony that he will present today before the U. S. Commission on Industrial Relations. Then read the testimony of Pearl Jolly and Mary Thomas, both of them miners’ wives who withstood the machine-gun fire from that “neutral” militia all throughout that terrible day of the Ludlow Massacre.

We only ask that our readers remember that it is ultimately Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, who is in command of the Colorado National Guard. And, we might add, we know of no instance when those machine guns were ever aimed at the homes of Rockefeller or of his managers in Colorado, and, to our knowledge, none of them have ever been arrested and held incommunicado in spite of having, year after year, ignored the labor and safety laws of the state of Colorado:

From the New York Sun of May 28, 1914:

WILL TELL OTHER SIDE OF
COLORADO RIOTING
———-
Major Boughton of National Guard to Appear
before Industrial Commission
———

“AMMONS WAS NEUTRAL”
———-
Judge Lindsey Leaves Without Getting
to See J. D. Rockefeller, Jr.
———-

Major Edward J. Boughton, who commanded a battalion of the Colorado National Guard during the fights with the striking miners at Trinidad, arrived yesterday to give testimony before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations now sitting here in the matter of the coal strike. His presentation of the incidents of the strike will supplement the testimony given yesterday before the commission by Mrs. Pearl Jolly arid Mrs. Mary Hannah Thomas, wives of striking miners.

While Mrs. Jolly and Mrs. Thomas denounced the militia, Major Boughton will present the situation in a new light. He would not go into details when seen at the Waldorf-Astoria, but he admitted he had come here in answer to a subpoena that he might “tell the people of New York of the real conditions In Colorado.”“I want to correct,” he said, “the erroneous impression that prevails here regarding the part taken by the State troops.”

Major Boughton was an important factor during the strike trouble. On October 28, when the troops were called out, he served as Field Major. On November 20 he was made Judge Advocate for the military district. While he was Judge Advocate there were 172 cases presented lo the military commission.

“In this controversy between capital and labor,” said the Major, “Gov. Ammons has maintained a neutral attitude toward both parties. He did all he could to avert the bloodshed. He did not leave a stone upturned in his effort to have the matter settled amicably by arbitration. He is still doing all he can in this direction.”

Mrs. Jolly and Mrs. Thomas asked to be heard by the Commission and there was some objection, Whereupon Mrs. J. Borden Harriman of the commission, said: “I believe that if there has been gross wrongs committed against these women, they ought to be heard and I represent the women and children of the country on this commission.”

There was no further demur. Mrs. Jolly told practically the same story which she gave on Sunday in the Manhattan Lyceum, as did Mrs. Thomas…

Judge Ben B. Lindsey, who has been trying to see John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in an effort to get him to use his influence toward having the Colorado difficulty submitted to a Federal arbitration board, will leave this afternoon for Colorado without having seen Mr. Rockefeller.

“Although I did not see Mr. Rockefeller personally,” said Judge Lindsey, “we have communicated. From what I have learned I have reason to hope that Mr. Rockefeller’s attitude has changed in regard to the situation and that he will help toward having the matter arbitrated.”

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Note: Mrs. Mary Petrucci, who lost her children in the Ludlow Massacre, has returned to Colorado. According to Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. Petrucci has been “grieving herself to death.”

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: New York City-Vivid Testimony of Pearl Jolly and Mary Thomas Counters Claim of Major Boughton That Gov. Ammons Has “Neutral Attitude””

Hellraisers Journal: Judge Ben Lindsey’s Delegation from Ludlow, Colorado, Meets with President Woodrow Wilson

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Quote Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Next Time, Women Will Fight, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday May 27, 1914
Washington, D. C. – Judge Lindsey and Women of Ludlow Visit the White House

From the Washington Evening Star of May 21, 1914:

LINDSEY HAS PLAN TO MEDIATE STRIKE
———-
Discusses Colorado Situation
With President Wilson This Afternoon.
———-

FAVORS KEEPING TROOPS
IN THE TROUBLE DISTRICT
———-
“Survivors of Ludlow Massacre” To Tell of Sufferings
at National Rifles’ Armory Tonight.
———-

Rep Keating Judge Lindsey, Rep Kent, Mrs Lindsey, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas, Mrs Lee Champion, Rachel Thomas, Olga Thomas
Rep. Keating, Judge Ben Lindsey, Rep. Kent, Mrs. Lindsey, Pearl Jolly,
Mary Petrucci, Mary Thomas, Mrs. Lee Champion, Rachel and Olga Thomas

With a plan to mediate the Colorado coal fields strike, which he believes will be successful if fathered by the President, Judge Ben B. Lindsey, who came to Washington with a delegation of women and children refugees from Ludlow, called at the White House this afternoon by appointment.

Judge Lindsey stated he is emphatically in favor of keeping the troops in the strike district. He hopes the President will hear the stories of the women “survivors of the Ludlow massacre” who can tell him what they personally suffered during the battle and fire.

Judge Lindsey declares that the people of the country are guaranteed a republican form of government; that no such government exists in Colorado at this time, and that it is fully within the power of the President, backed by public sentiment, to force a settlement of the troubles.

Judge Lindsey urged the President to keep the federal troops in the coal strife region under all circumstances, asserting that if they are not retained there bloodshed will continue and that there will be nothing like law in all that region.

Suggests U. S. Close Mines.

Judge Lindsey declined to go into details as to what his plans are, but in a general way he hinted that public opinion would justify the President, under the guarantee of a republican form of government to all citizens, to close down the mines and practically assume charge of them by federal troops, compelling the mine owners and the striking miners to mediate their differences. He recalled the steps taken by President Roosevelt in the great Pennsylvania coal strike some year ago, and believes it within the power of the President to do almost anything he wants in Colorado.

“The President may not think he has power to settle the strike, but we think he has,” declared Judge Lindsey. “He has gigantic powers under the law and under the reign of public opinion.”

Judge Lindsey bitterly criticized Gov. Ammons, declared him incompetent, and hinted that Ammons and Rockefeller are in agreement as to how the fight should be resolved.

Judge Lindsey has asked an interview with John D. Rockefeller, jr. He didn’t know today whether Mr. Rockefeller would grant this interview, in which he will seek to have the New York millionaire accept some plan of medication, but he intended to try. He was asked if the party with him would also see Mr. Rockefeller.

“I do not know,” he answered, “but Mr. Rockefeller is no bigger than the President of the United States. Mr. Wilson has seen us-all of us-and I think Mr. Rockefeller can afford to do the same thing.”

Judge Lindsey persisted in his view that the President should bump the heads of both sides together and bring about a settlement. 

[…..]

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Judge Ben Lindsey’s Delegation from Ludlow, Colorado, Meets with President Woodrow Wilson”

Hellraisers Journal: “They burn and kill us women, anyway, we’ll fight alongside of our men next time.”-Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Heroine

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Quote Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Next Time, Women Will Fight, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 26, 1914
Washington, D. C. – Judge Lindsey and Survivors of Ludlow Warn of Seething Volcano

From The Tacoma Times of May 25, 1914:

Colorado a Seething Volcano, Says Judge Lindsey, Ready to Errupt Into Flaming Civil War

Judge Lindsey, M Thomas, P Jolly, M Petrucci, Thomas Girls, Tacoma Tx p3, May 25, 1914

WASHINGTON, D. C. May 25-“President Wilson will let loose war in Colorado, and that will mean civil war throughout the nation, if he withdraws the federal troops from the strike district!”

So spoke Judge Ben Lindsey, who has led a pilgrimage of woman and children, survivors of the Ludlow massacre. They went to the nation’s capital, sent by the people of Colorado, to tell the president of the United States the TRUTH about the war in Colorado.

“Colorado today,” exclaimed Judge Lindsey, “is the seething crater of a great volcano. If the federal troops are withdrawn, that volcano will explode in the most terrific eruption of outrage and butchery that this nation has ever seen. And the eruption may set the entire country in the flames of civil war!

With Judge Lindsey on this pilgrimage are three women survivors of the Ludlow fight. They are Mrs Mary Petrucci, who spent nearly twelve hours in the frightful death hole where twelve babies, including her own, and nine [two] women perished; Mrs. Pearl Jolly, who helped hundreds of the frightened women to escape, and Mrs. Mary Thomas, who stood beside one of the strikers throughout the fight, loading his gun and pistol alternately for him, while he fired. With her are her two babies, Rachel and Olga, who survived that day of carnage only through the courage of their mother, who fled with them from the ruined camp as soon as darkness fell.

“We felt that President Wilson did not appreciate how ominous the situation is.

“But there is one man in the nation who can handle it. AND THAT MAN IS PRESIDENT WILSON HIMSELF!

“If the federal troops are with drawn no man can control the ruthless rioting and wholesale murder that will follow. Governor Ammons can’t. He has proved his inability to all the nation.

“There are TWO things that the president can do. One of them HE HAS GOT TO DO! He must keep the federal troops in Colorado.”

The other thing was graphically explained by Mrs. Pearl Jolly, the Ludlow heroine.

“We demand that President Wilson close down the mines! He can do it. He can do it on grounds of military necessity. He can do it to preserve peace and order, under his police powers. HE MUST do it, on the ground that the rights of men are higher than the rights of property, and that the good of humanity comes before the paying of dividends.

“If he doesn’t do it, there’s going to be war. The miners will get guns all right. Never mind how, but we will! Our husbands are re-establishing the Ludlow camp now. And there won’t be only 90 men, with but 40 guns, in it this time! And we won’t be asleep, either, like we were when they attacked us last.

“We know now what to expect from those mine guards. They’re boasting now what they’ll do to us when the troops are gone. Well, we’re going to be ready for them. And since they burn and kill us women, anyway, we’ll fight alongside of our men next time. And there are thousands of sympathizers from all over the country who will come to help us.”

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “They burn and kill us women, anyway, we’ll fight alongside of our men next time.”-Pearl Jolly, Ludlow Heroine”

Hellraisers Journal: John D. Jr. Safe at Last! Miners’ Wives Tell Wilson of Ludlow Horror

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Quote Ludlow Mary Petrucci, Children all dead, ed, Trinidad Las Animas Co CO Affidavit, May 11, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 25, 1914
Rockefeller Safe in New York; Ludlow Survivors with President at White House

From The Washington Times of May 21, 1914:

Judge Lindsey, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Thomas Girls. Mrs Lindsey, Frank Hayes, Mrs Lee Champion, WDC p1, May 21, 1914
Upper left to right: Judge Lindsey, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly,
Mary Petrucci, Thomas Daughters. Lower left to right:
Mrs. Lindsey, Frank Hayes, Mrs. Lee Champion
In Trinidad, Colorado, 1200 men, women and children, the Ludlow refugees, left homeless and with all of their earthly possessions destroyed, are being cared for by the United Mine Workers of America. While in New York City, we are pleased to report, Mr. John D. Rockefeller Jr. is, at long last, safely back at work, his “tormenters” vanquished.
 

From The Fort Wayne Sentinel of May 20, 1914:

JOHN D. JR., IS BACK AT HIS JOB
———-

He Emerges from Retirement to Find Tormenters Silenced.
———-
THE COLORADO CASE
———-

New York, May 20.-John D. Rockefeller, jr., has returned to work after twenty days spent at the country estates of his father at Pocantico Hills. Since May first when he went into retirement most of his tormenters under the leadership of Upton Sinclair, have been silenced, several by being sent to jail.

Sinclair is in Colorado and Marie Ganz and the Rev. Bouch [Bouck] White are serving sentences on Blackwell’s Island, the latter for having broken up the services at the Calvary Baptist church ten days ago.

“Mother” Jones alone remains in the lecture field and denounces the Rockefeller interests in the Colorado coal district. Mr. Rockefeller’s secretary said yesterday that he was making no investigation of the conditions in Colorado. He was only a minority stockholder in the Colorado Fuel and Iron company, it was said, and whatever recommendations he could offer might not influence the officials of the company in dealing with the miners.

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: John D. Jr. Safe at Last! Miners’ Wives Tell Wilson of Ludlow Horror”

Hellraisers Journal: Women and Babes From Ludlow Visit Chicago, Leave for Washington to Visit with President

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Quote Ludlow Mary Petrucci, Children all dead, ed, Trinidad Las Animas Co  CO Affidavit, May 11, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 24, 1914
Chicago, Illinois – Judge Lindsey and Survivors of Ludlow Speak at Hull House

From The Fort Wayne Sentinel of May 20, 1914:

Judge Lindsey, Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci, Thomas Girls, Ft Wayne Sent p6, May 20, 1914
Judge Ben Lindsey; Women left to right: Mary Thomas,
Pearl Jolly, Mary Petrucci; Thomas Daughters.
Five survivors of the Ludlow Massacre stopped off in Chicago, as guests of Miss Jane Addams of Hull House, on their way to Washington D. C. where they met with President Wilson. Mary Petrucci whose children were all killed in the fire, Mary Thomas and her two little daughters who hid from machine gun bullets throughout that terrible day, and Pearl Jolly, the heroine of Ludlow, who spent the day under fire as she assisted the women and children to escape: they are all being escorted to Washington by Judge Lindsey and Mrs. Lee Champion. The Judge’s wife was, unfortunately, hospitalized yesterday soon after their arrival in Chicago, and will not be able to accompanied the party further.
 
From The Daily Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon) of May 19, 1914:

LUDLOW’S STORY IS

TOO HORRIBLE TO PUT IN PRINT
———-

Details Equaled Only by the Burning and Sacking of Ancient Rome
———-
COLORADO SITTING ON VOLCANO’S EDGE
———-
Father Saluted with Child’s Corpse When He Went to Militia’s Camp
———-

Chicago, May 19,-“The true story of what transpired at Ludlow is too horrible to print.” said Judge Ben Lindsey here today. The famous Denver jurist is en route to Washington, accompanied by Mrs. Pearl Jolly, Mrs. Mary Petrucci and Mrs. M. Thomas, all Ludlow survivors.

“The details of the Ludlow affair are almost unbelievable,” said Judge Lindsey. “They are equaled only in the stories of the sacking of Rome, the pillaging of Carthage and the inhumanities of the Balkan war.

We are going to Washington to beg President Wilson to not withdraw the federal troops. My own interests are neutral. I want law and order and the citizens of Denver have asked me to help get order.

“The Ludlow story is a black mark on the nation’s history. I can only suggest it and fill in the outlines with the direct testimony of these women who have suffered. As one instance of what occurred-and I have affidavits to back it up-a father went to a militia camp for his boy who had been missing. He was saluted with the child’s corpse. The boys’ head had been shot off and the body half burned. A soldier threw it over a tent to the father, saying: ‘Here, take the _ thing.’

Mothers who went to rescue their babies were shot down and mutilated. Children only a few years old were killed. Barbarians in even the most unholy days could not have been more cruel than some of the militiamen at Ludlow.”

The party visited Hull House and related the story to Jane Addams. The latter broke down as the women told of the cruelties practiced on helpless women and children by the militiamen. Mrs. Lindsey, a victim of nervous prostration as a result of Denver’s high altitude, was taken to a Chicago hospital and will await her husband’s return from Washington.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Women and Babes From Ludlow Visit Chicago, Leave for Washington to Visit with President”

Hellraisers Journal: Photos from the Colorado Coalfield Strike: Pearl Jolly-Heroine of Ludlow, Miners Prepared to Defend Colonies, Rockefeller’s Gunthugs

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Quote John Lawson 1913, after October 17th Death Special attack on Forbes Tent Colony, Beshoar p74—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday May 21, 1914
Photographs from the Colorado Coalfield Strike

From The Daily Missoulian of May 4, 1914
-Pearl Jolly, Heroine of Ludlow:

Pearl Jolly Heroine of Ludlow CO, Dly Missoulian p1, May 4, 1914

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Photos from the Colorado Coalfield Strike: Pearl Jolly-Heroine of Ludlow, Miners Prepared to Defend Colonies, Rockefeller’s Gunthugs”

Hellraisers Journal: Women Survivors of Ludlow, Visit Chicago, Tell of Massacre Committed by Blood-Mad Militia

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Quote Mary Petrucci, Joe's Little Hammer, NY Tb p7, Feb 4, 1915—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday May 20, 1914
Chicago, Illinois – Women of Ludlow Tell of Massacre of Tent Colony Citizens

From the Chicago Day Book, Last Edition, of May 19, 1914:

Women Ludlow Survivors Visit Chicago, Day Book Last p1, May 19, 1914

Note: The Ludlow Massacre was perpetrated by the Colorado state militia against the colonists on April 20th. The correct names of the three miners’ wives are Mary Thomas, Pearl Jolly, and Mary Petrucci.

The article continues:

They left this noon for Washington, where they will tell President Wilson he must intervene to, stop civil war in Colorado.

Lindsey said:

The president of the United States is the only power that can preserve peace now in our state. The governor, the legislature, the federal troops, the proposed mediation bodies have all failed.

The president must force arbitration on the ground of military necessity. This is the positive and unmistakable sentiment of the people of Colorado.

Mrs. [Pearl] Jolly, who was fired upon though wearing a Red Cross uniform while caring for wounded during a truce, said that when she left Ludlow last week, there were rumors that companies of armed guards were being former secretly by the coal companies.

[She said:]

If they come again to shoot women and children, they will find us ready for them. The women will take guns and fight.

I saw the dead body of Louis Tikas, the Greek. I saw where his head was split by some kind of a club. I saw the mark of a heel where somebody tramped on his face after he was dead. And I saw the four bullet holes in his back where they shot him after clubbing him to death.

I would not have believed things could happen as terrible as I saw. The soldiers seemed to go crazy. After they had killed women and children and burned the tent colony, they shot at everything that moved. Chickens, dogs, anything that moved, was a mark for them.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Women Survivors of Ludlow, Visit Chicago, Tell of Massacre Committed by Blood-Mad Militia”

Hellraisers Journal: Helen Schloss, Volunteer Nurse from New York, Writes Story of the Colorado Coalfield Strike

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Quote Helen Schloss, Women w Hungry Souls, Black Hills Dly Rg p2, July 15, 1910—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday May 19, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Nurse Helen Schloss Writes Story of the Colorado Strike

From The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of May 17, 1914:

Helen Schloss Writes Colorado Strike Story
———-

(By Helen Schloss.)

Helen Schloss Red Nurse, Brk Dly Egl p2, Apr 23, 1914

Miss Helen Schloss is a trained nurse who has been active as a suffrage organizer in this borough in behalf of the Woman Suffrage Party. She was sent to Colorado by the Brooklyn Committee for the Relief of Wives and Children of Colorado Strikers to organize a relief station at Trinidad. Mrs. Frank H. Cothren, Mrs. Herbert Warbasse and James P. Warbasse are especially active on this committee. This is the story of conditions as Miss Schloss heard it from the strikers:

———-

THERE has been a strike in the State of Colorado, since last September, and if memory serves rightly, there have been strikes ever since the mines began operating. Mines are unsafe, and hundreds of men are being killed in them every year. Water is scare in this part of the country, and coal dust is very plentiful. When a sufficient amount of coal dust has gathered in the air there is an explosion and many lives are snuffed out. When the operators are asked why they do not sprinkle the mines, they answered that the country lacks sufficient water.

The present strike has been in progress, in a peaceful manner, since September. There was no trouble of any moment till April 20. The militiamen were in the field to protect the mines, and incidentally to break the backbone of the strike.

The militiamen had nothing to do, but to have a good time. So for just a little pastime, they started with Ludlow.

Ludlow had 12,000 [1200] inhabitants, with over 100 tents. The Ludlow people were about twelve nationalities in that small colony. They had parties and feasts, the women had plenty of time to go visiting, and to gossip. The men hung around, laughed and sang. There was nothing to do but wait until the strike was settled. The militiamen had work to do, and that was to break the strike.

Long before April 20, the tents of the strikers were searched. Trunks were ransacked, floors torn up, and there seemed to have been brooding a general feeling of hatred for the militia.

While the militia searched the tents, they usually had a machine gun on top of the hill. Be it known that Ludlow is sitting in a valley. The militia were stationed on the hills. This gave them a good chance to watch the doings of the strikers.

Militia Fires on Camp of Women and Children.

Monday morning, April 30 [April 20], at 10 a. m. the Ludlow people heard an explosion, and rushing out to the tent doors, they saw the machine guns in full blast, firing down upon them.

Under almost every tent was a large cave. The women and children scrambled into them, while the men grabbed their rifles and ammunition, and went up on the hill to fight.

The women and children who were in the caves tell horrible stories. The firing from the hills kept up all day, until 3 o’clock the next morning. No one knew whether his companions were alive or not. No one knew whether they would ever see his friends again. The rumbling kept up on the hill.

One young woman [Pearl Jolly] who had some training as a nurse, put Red Cross on her breast, and carrying a white flag, went from cave to cave with food, and drink for the women and children. She was fired at from all directions, and it is a great wonder that she lives to tell the tale. The heel was shot off one of her shoes.

One time when she ran into one of the tents, to get some food, so many shots followed her through the canvass that she had to lie still on the floor for hours. A dresser in the tent was shot to pieces.

It is said that the explosive bullets that were used set the tents on fire. The tents began to burn towards evening, and the fires kept up all night. The women and children fled from the caves, to the nearest ranch, and as they were running , shots followed them. The firing became so insistent that the people had to flee from the ranch. The militia looted the house, and left a note on a blank check, saying “this will teach you a lesson not to harbor strikers next time,” signed with the initials of the Baldwin gunmen.

Towards morning at the break of day, that they saw the militia looting and setting fire to tents.

On going through the ruined tent colony, one was struck with the terrible amount f bullets lying everywhere. Everything had been riddled.

The stoves that might have been used after going through the fire were full of holes, where the bullets struck. Barns, sheds and everything in sight was destroyed. It was a ghastly sight to walk through the ruined colony, with the frames of the bedsteads standing out like ghosts amid the ruins.

We stopped near the cave, where eleven children and two women were smothered alive. Big, strong men stood at this cave, in silence, with bowed head. We slid down the gruesome hole, and I gave it a sort of rough measurements and found it 5 feet high, 7 feet wide and 9 feet long. A little high chair and a baby’s gocart were still there.

The Red Cross party that went to Ludlow to recover the dead were arrested and detained for a little while. At first they received permission to pass, but later on General Chase told them he had received word they could not pass. Later this same general became abusive and called the minister choice names.

The Red Cross party recovered the eleven children and two women, but it is said that there are a great many bodies still missing, which are not accounted for.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Helen Schloss, Volunteer Nurse from New York, Writes Story of the Colorado Coalfield Strike”

Hellraisers Journal: Rockefellers Are Undisturbed by “Agitators” as Colorado Miners and Families Mourn Their Loss

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Quote Mother Jones Babes of Ludlow, Speech at Trinidad CO UMW District 15 Special Convention, ES1 p154 (176 of 360)—————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday May 15, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Former Residents of Ludlow Mourn as Rockefeller Sr. Plays Golf

While the former residents of the Ludlow Tent Colony, 1200 men, women and children, mourn their dead-including twelve children ages three months to eleven years-and suffer the loss of their homes and all of their earthly possessions, we are pleased to report that the Rockefeller Family had a nice quiet day at Pocantico yesterday, undisturbed by any reminders of the Ludlow Massacre carried out in their interests.

From the Lebanon Daily News of May 12, 1914:

Ludlow Massacre Not in Mexico But in CO by Rollin Kirby, AtR p2, May 9, 1914

QUIET DAY FOR ROCKEFELLERS
———-
Neither Mother Jones
Nor Other Agitators
Visit Pocantico.

Tarrytown, N. Y., May 12-Although the grounds were still heavily guarded no agitators appeared at the Rockefeller estate at Pocantico Hills. Mother Jones was expected to come here to try to make an appeal to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., but she did not appear. It is reported she will come today, but it is doubtful if she will get in the grounds.

John D. Rockefeller, Sr,. played golf yesterday morning, but John D., Jr, was not seen during the day.

[Drawing by Rollin Kirby and emphasis added.]

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