—————
Hellraisers Journal – Sunday August 31, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Correspondent G. Poe Montfort Under Surveillance
From the Appeal to Reason of August 30, 1913:
———-
Tag: Trinidad CO
Hellraisers Journal: Denver United Labor Bulletin: Strike Resolutions of United Mine Workers Given Indorsement in Colorado State Federation of Labor Convention
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 26, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – State Federation of Labor to Support Mine Workers’ Strike
From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of August 23, 1913:
WE NEVER FORGET: August 16, 1913, Gerald Lippiatt, Age 38, Shot Down by Gunthugs on the Streets of Trinidad
WE NEVER FORGET
Gerald Lippiatt
Shot Down by Gunthugs at Age 38
Gerald Lippiatt did not come into Trinidad looking for fight. He was a striker from the northern field who was in the southern field working as an organizer. But, sadly, he took the bait when George Belcher and Walter Belk, two well-known Baldwin-Felts gunthugs, began to butt him with their elbows as he attempted to walk around them on Commercial Street. Other gunmen joined in, cursing him as they lurked about on the sidewalk, smoking their cigarettes.
Brother Lippiatt headed to the Packer block for his gun. Several of his fellow organizers in the union office tried to stop him to no avail.
“All right, you rat, let’s have it out,” Lippiatt shouted at Belk. The professional gunthug knew his business, and Lippiatt was soon lying dead in the center of the street.
The Colorado State Federation of Labor met for their yearly convention in Trinidad two days after the killing of Brother Lippiatt. The chair which would have been occupied by Lippiatt was draped in black. Perhaps, Brother Lippiatt was on their minds as they voted their support to District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America for any action deemed necessary with respect to conditions in the southern coalfields. Efforts were underway to avoid a strike against coal operators of southern coalfields, but the likelihood of avoiding that strike was fading with each passing day.
The coffin of Brother Lippiatt left Trinidad accompanied by the delegates from northern Colorado who were returning home from the C. F. of L. Convention. Gerald Lippiatt was brought home to Colorado Springs for burial. As the flag-draped coffin was taken from the baggage car and loaded onto the hearse, the delegates stood silently by, hats in hand, remembering who was responsible for his murder.
It was the sad duty of John McLennan, President of District 15 of the UMWA, to call John Lawson, International Board Member, at his home in Denver to inform him of Lippiatt’s death. Lawson related the conversation he had with Lippiatt three days before his death:
“I am leaving for Trinidad tonight, John, and I want to tell you goodbye. I think I am going to be killed”
“Killed? What do you mean?”
“The gunmen have been pressing me pretty hard down there, John, but I am going back. I’ve got a hunch they are going to get me this time.”
“Then you mustn’t go. Stay here and we’ll send someone else down; someone who isn’t so well known to them.”
“No, John, I’m going back. It is my job, and I want to go. But this is my last trip. Goodbye.”
Gerald Lippiatt was born in England in 1874, and came to America in 1891 with his parents and five siblings. The family settled in Ohio. He was survived by an older brother in Colorado Springs. He was engaged to be married to Edith Green of Rugby. He was likely a father as Martelle mentions a descendant. He had been Secretary of the UMWA local union in Frederick, Colorado, and was active in the northern coalfield strike before being sent to the southern field as an organizer.
Hellraisers Journal: Gerald Lippiatt, Union Miner, Shot Down by Deputized Company Gunthugs on Streets of Trinidad, Colorado
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday August 19, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Brother Gerald Lippiatt Shot Down by Gunthugs
From the Trinidad Chronicle-News of August 18, 1913:
From The San Francisco Call of August 18, 1913:
Hellraisers Journal: UMW Organizer Mike Livoda Warned to Leave Colorado, Beaten and Terrorized at Huerfano County
—————
Hellraisers Journal – Thursday July 4, 1912
Mike Livoda, Organizer for U. M. W. A., Beaten in Huerfano County, Colorado
Affidavit of Mike Livoda
-Sworn to on June 20, 1912, at Las Animas County:
From the Denver Post of June 27, 1912:
ATTORNEY GENERAL ASKED TO
ASSUME PROSECUTOR
———-
Other Authorities Fail to File in
Assault and Robbery Case.
———-Governor Shafroth has been reminded that when a county prosecuting officer fails to do his duty when facts are presented sufficient to make a prima facie case the attorney general of the state can step in and personally take charge of the prosecution. When Attorney General Benjamin Griffith returns Friday he will be instructed by the governor to proceed against the five men who dragged Michael Livoda, organizer for the United Mine Workers of America, from his bed, robbed him of his union papers and ordered him to leave Walsenburg and Colorado.
John McLennan and John R. Lawson, in charge of the organization of miners, made the request that the state executive take action after District Attorney McHenry of Las Animas county failed to act. Deputy District Attorney Undershot, at Walsenburg, also refused to cause the arrest of the accused men.
McLennan and Lawson gave the names of these men to Governor Shafroth to turn over to the attorney general for prosecution: Charles A Kaiser, assistant superintendent of the Walsen mine; Deputy Sheriff Carr, stationed at the Walsen mine; James Farr, deputy sheriff, stationed at the Ravenwood mine, where Livoda was beaten, and a nephew of Sheriff Jefferson Farr; John Neish, superintendent of the Ravenwood mine, and Joseph Watson, guard at the Ravenwood mine. They claim to have witnesses to prove the five men guilty of the assault and robbery
Livoda was asleep in the house of a friend on the night of June 13 when five men entered the place, went through his clothes, took all union documents, marched him through the camp with mouth bound so he could not cry out, and when he reached the open country turned him loose after firing four shots and threatening to kill him if he came back.
—————
[Emphasis added.]
WE NEVER FORGET the Men, Women and Little Children Who Lost Their Lives in Freedom’s Cause at Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914
———-
———
Sept 15, 1913 – Trinidad, Colorado
Convention of District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America
The delegates opened their convention by singing The Battle Cry of Union:
We will win the fight today, boys,
We’ll win the fight today,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union;
We will rally from the coal mines,
We’ll fight them to the end,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union.
The Union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah!
Down with the Baldwins and up with the law;
For we’re coming, Colorado, we’re coming all the way,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union.
The miners faced the grim prospect of going out on strike against the powerful southern coalfield companies, chief among them, John D Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The coal operators had steadfastly refused to recognize the Union and had ignored all attempts at negotiation.
The miners had had their fill of dangerous working conditions, crooked checkweighmen, long hours, and low pay. They lived in peonage in company towns, were paid in company scrip, and were forced to shop for their daily needs in high-priced company stores which kept them always in debt. But, mostly they hated the notorious company guard system. Every attempt to organize had been met with brutality on the part of the coal operators.
Mother Jones addressed the convention for over an hour, urging the men to:
Rise up and strike! …Strike and stay with it as we did in West Virginia. We are going to stay here in Southern Colorado until the banner of industrial freedom floats over every coal mine. We are going to stand together and never surrender…
Pledge to yourselves in this convention to stand as one solid army against the foes of human labor. Think of the thousands who are killed every year and there is no redress for it. We will fight until the mines are made secure and human life valued more than props. Look things in the face. Don’t fear a governor; don’t fear anybody…You are the biggest part of the population in the state. You create its wealth, so I say, “Let the fight go on; if nobody else will keep on, I will.”
Hellraisers Journal: Explosion at CF&I’s Primero Mine Kills 79 Miners in Colorado; Company Continues to Withhold News
———-
Hellraisers Journal – Saturday February 5, 1910
Trinidad, Colorado – Primero Mine Disaster Leaves 300-400 Children Fatherless
From The Fort Collins Express of February 3, 1910:
—–
THE REPORT OF THE EXPLOSION REACHED HERE AT SIX O’CLOCK TONIGHT BY A MESSENGER AND TELEPHONE THE WIRES WERE PURPOSELY CUT OR WERE BROKEN BY SOME UNKNOWN CAUSE BETWEEN HERE AND THE SCENE OF THE DISASTER, FOR JUST AFTER THE EXPLOSION THE WIRES PUT OUT OF COMMISSION AND ONLY MEAGER NEWS HAS BEEN RECEIVED FROM THE MINE.
At 11:30 tonight a messenger reported from a point about half way between here and Primero that fifteen bodies bad been recovered and that 135 more were in the mine with no hope of being rescued alive.
The cause of the explosion is unknown. A rescue party that left this city is expected back about 2 o’clock in the morning with complete reports of the disaster.
The criticism being directed against the company owning the mine is very severe as there is an apparent attempt to prevent the details from being made public. A large number of men who worked in the mine live in Trinidad, going back and forth on miners’ trains each morning and evening. Great excitement prevails in this city among the wives and children of the entombed men.
———-
Hellraisers Journal: Whereabouts and Doings of Mother Jones for July 1908, Part I: Fond Farewell to the “Loyal Comrades” of the State of Texas
I have just closed a four months’ tour in Texas
and I want to say that I never met
with more loyal comrades
than I did in the State of Texas.
-Mother Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday August 20, 1908
-Mother Jones News Round-Up for July, 1908, Part I
–Closes Out Four Months’ Tour in Texas
From the Appeal to Reason of July 11, 1908:
From Mother Jones
I have just closed a four months’ tour in Texas and I want to say that I never met with more loyal comrades than I did in the State of Texas. Their whole energy seems to be devoted to the Cause-even the young farmer girls refuse to dance with any young man who is not a subscriber the Appeal to Reason. I could not, in justice, single out any particular one to pay tribute to, because all are devoting their best efforts to the Cause that so much needs them. I must, though, make an exception of Galveston. The Comrades there were laboring under some terrible difficulties. They were not permitted to hold street meetings for many months. I called upon the chief of police and found him a gentleman in every sense of the word and he explained to me the reason why, and I felt from his explanation that he was perfectly justified. He allowed me the use of the streets for five nights and they are now open to any speaker who is not trying to advertise himself by breaking into jail. I wish every city in America had just such public officials. We would have less of this thing called anarchy.
It is not surprising, indeed, that the comrades of Texas are so self-sacrificing when without exaggeration I say that their state secretary is one of the most efficient secretaries in the movement today. I wish that every state in the union had him duplicated. His every energy is devoted to the Cause-clean, impartial and just. Every comrade knows that I would be the first to condemn him if he did not merit my honest approbation and regard. I ask no favors from any secretary in the country and so I am perfectly free to express my opinion.
WE NEVER FORGET: Alexander Obremski Who Gave His Life in Freedom’s Cause at Rugby, Colorado on May 18, 1907
Link up in one socialist company;
Evil must perish!
Only together and united!
Long live the Western Federation of Miners!
-Alex Obremski
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alexander Obremski
Union Organizer for the Western Federation of Miners
In 1907, Alexander Obremski was a union organizer for the Western Federation of Miners, working in the very dangerous field of the Trinidad area of southern Colorado. The field was considered to be so dangerous that organizers took the precaution of traveling in pairs.
On the evening of May 18, 1907, Brother Obremski was shot down in a saloon in Rugby, Colorado, near Trinidad, by Juan Espinosa, “a Mexican allegedly hired by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) for this purpose.” [See below.]
A large funeral was held in Trinidad on May 22nd to honor the intrepid union organizer. He was survived by two brothers who lived in Starkville, Colorado.
According to M. E. White who had charge of WFM headquarters in Trinidad:
Much credit is due for the three hundred members initiated here in the last five months, and at Pueblo, to the faithful and diligent work of your organizer, Brother James Peretto, and the late Brother Obremsky who took their lives in their hands in the work of educating the slaves of this district.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOURCE I
Essays in Colorado History, Issues 5-10
Colorado Historical Society, 1987
(Search with “alex obremski” reveals signature: “Alex. Obremski.”)
https://books.google.com/books?id=_ngjAQAAIAAJ
Note: not available online except in snippet view. By using various search-words, I was able to bring up some relevant information. I will be attempting to track down this source in a library.
Page 55-
Alexander Obremski (1876-1907)
Correspondence from Trinidad, Colorado
Published as “Korespondencje. Trinidad, Colo.” in Robotnik Polski
Hellraisers Journal: W. F. of M. Convention Demands Investigation Into Murder of Organizer Alex Obremski
He knew he was taking his life in his hands
in going to Trinidad, but as he was ordered there
he would not shirk his duty.
-Henry Morris of Pueblo on murder of
WFM Organizer Alex Obremski
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hellraisers Journal, Saturday June 29, 1907
Denver, Colorado – W. F. of M. Convention Wants Investigation
From the Albuquerque Evening Citizen of June 15, 1907:
WILL INVESTIGATE THE SHOOTING
OF A MINER
—–
Murdered Western Federation Organizer
May Have Been Victim of Conspiracy.
—–LETTER CONTAINS STRONG ALLEGATION
—–
Denver, Colo., June 15.-The Western Federation of Miners’ convention today received a communication from a member in Las Animas county, suggesting an investigation of the killing of Alexander Obrenski [Obremski], a Federation organizer, by Juan Eskinas [Espinosa], at Rugby, Colo., about one month ago [May 18th].
The killing was alleged, at the time, to have occurred in a barroom row, but the writer of the communication suggested that it was the result of a conspiracy to injure the Federation.
Strong Statement.
He makes the statement that the row was not participated in by the organizer, but that the belligerents managed to gather around Obrenski, and before he could get away a shot was fired, and he fell to the floor, [..and..?] The fighters melted into obscurity immediately.
