Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Defies Chase, Returns to Trinidad, Arrested and Held as Military Prisoner at Local Hospital

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Quote Mother Jones, Chase No Own State, RMN p3, Jan 12, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday January 13, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Seized by State Militia, Held at San Rafael Hospital

From the Trinidad Chronicle News of January 12, 1914:

“Mother” Mary Jones, nationally known as a strike leader, is a military prisoner at the San Rafael hospital where she is being held incommunicado. The woman, who was deported from the strike zone Sunday, January 4, by the military authorities and warned not to return to the district under pain of immediate arrest, accepted the defi and returned this morning. She slipped quietly out of Denver at midnight on a C. & S. train.

That she expected arrest is indicated by her action in alighting at the D. & R. G. crossing this morning instead of waiting until the train reached the station. She walked to the Toltec hotel alone and took a room but did not register at once. The fact of her presence became known to the military authorities about eleven o’clock and a few moments later a military detail in command of Lieut. H. O. Nichols entered her room, placed her in an automobile and whirled her away to the hospital at full speed, with a swarm of cavalry men galloping behind the machine.

Apparently the only object of the aged strike leader had in returning to Trinidad was to see if the threat to arrest her would be carried out. It was. “Mother” Jones was apparently not surprised at the action but was loud in her denunciation of the “military despots who stab and spit upon constitutional rights.” She declares she has viloated no law and that she is willing to face any sort of a civil inquiry. “Why take me to a hospital?” she shouted at Lieut. Nichols , when arrested. “I am not sick! Why not take me to jail?” The prisoner made it clear that she was even more willing to be placed in a cell “for the sake of the cause.”

[…..]

[Paragraph break and emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones, Miners’ Friend, Critically Ill in Trinidad, Colorado-Taken to Hospital as Safety Precaution

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Quote Mother Jones, CFI Owns Colorado, re 1903 Strikes UMW WFM, Ab Chp 13, 1925—————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday January 10, 1904
Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Critically Ill, Taken to Hospital

From the Harrisburg Telegraph (Pennsylvania) of January 9, 1904:

Drawing Mother Jones Ill in Trinidad CO, Harrisburg Tg PA p9, Jan 9, 1904

From The Denver Post of January 9, 1904:

TAKEN TO HOSPITAL
———-

Safety Precaution Taken for
“Mother” Jones.
———-

Trinidad, Colo., Jan. 9.-“Mother” Jones, national organizer for the United Mine Workers of America, who has been lying ill at the Coronado hotel in this city for the past three days from typhoid fever, was removed to the hospital at 1:45 this afternoon on advice of her physician, Dr. White. “Mother” Jones is threatened with pneumonia and while the disease has not yet developed, it was deemed best to prepare for the worst. “Mother” Jones is 63 years old and up to her present illness has been in fairly robust health.
 
[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: San Francisco Bulletin: “The Stormy Petrel of the Strikers”-Mother Jones Deported from Trinidad, Colorado

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Quote Mother Jones, re Chase Deportation Will Return to Trinidad, Carbondale Dly Fr Prs p1, Jan 6, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday January 8, 1914
Denver, Colorado – Stormy Petrel of the Strikers States She Will Return  

From the San Francisco Bulletin of January 7, 1914:

Mother Jones, Stormy Petrel, SF Bltn p6, Jan 7, 1914

From the Chicago Day Book of January 5, 1914:

MOTHER JONES DEPORTED

Denver, Col., Jan. 5.-“Mother” Jones, the “angel” of the miners, was forcibly deported from the coal strike district at Trinidad on orders of General Chase, who had her met at the depot “when she arrived from El Paso and kept under surveillance of a detachment of military until the arrival of a train for Denver, when she was put aboard.

Lieut. H. O. Nichols and four soldiers guarded her to Denver. When the train reached Walsenburg, where “Mother” Jones had expected to make a speech to the strikers, she tried to talk to a group gathered around the station, but was prevented.

As the train pulled out of the station, she shouted: “I expect to visit you again, when Colorado is made part of the United States, but now-”

General Chase has ordered that she be sent out of the district never to return so long as the strike lasts. He says she will be deported every time she comes back. Mother Jones says she will return in two weeks. 

[Emphasis added.]

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Deported from Trinidad; Chase States She Will Be Held Incommunicado Should She Return

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I’ll go back; they can’t keep me from my boys.
I am not afraid of all the troops in the State.
-Mother Jones, New York Times
January 5, 1914
—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday January 5, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Deported from Strike Zone by Militia

From The Washington Times of January 5, 1914:

Mother Jones Deported, WDC Tx p1, Jan 5, 1914

From The New York Times of January 5, 1914:

COLORADO TROOPS OUST MOTHER JONES
———-
Woman Strike Agitator Deported from Trinidad
Under Guard of Soldiers
———–

WARNED NEVER TO RETURN
———-
One Thousand Taxpayers Meet and Warn
Other Agitators to Get Out in Twenty-for Hours.
———-

Special to The New York Times.

TRINIDAD, Col., Jan. 4-“Mother” Jones was seized by the militia upon her arrival at Trinidad this morning from El Paso, taken from a Santa Fe train, held for two hours and deported from the strike district.

Capt. E. A. Smith, acting under orders from Gen. John Chase, met the train with a detachment of soldiers. The troops prevented a demonstration from the strikers at the station.

Mother Jones was held under surveillance until a Colorado & Southern train arrived from Denver. Then she was place aboard the train under guard of a lieutenant and four soldiers, and ordered never to return to the district. She had planned to spend several days among the coal strikers, and was to make a speech to-day at Walsenburg. The train on which she was being held under guard passed through Walsenburg.

Gen. Chase had been notified that she was on the way to Trinidad and acted so quietly that none of the strikers knew of his plans to deport her. When the soldiers took her in charge, she said:”I never had believed you would go this far.”

Contrary to her usual custom, she did not make any protest. While she was being held here she was not permitted to talk to any of the strikers or union leaders, the soldiers refusing to allow John McLennon, head of the mine workers, to speak to her.

At Walsenburg the train stopped for only a few minutes. Thousands of strikers, having been apprised by telephone of Mother Jones’s deportation, were at the station, but none was allowed to approach near enough to speak to her. However, she tried to make a speech.

The train pulled out just as she was assuring the miners that she would return to Colorado “as soon as it becomes a part of the United States.”

———-

Denver Col., Jan. 4-“The deportation of Mother Jones was the most disgraceful act ever perpetrated by supposed police officers in the Union,” said John McLennon [McLennan], President of the Colorado State Federation of Labor tonight.

“I’ll go back; they can’t keep me from my boys,” said Mother Jones on her arrival here to-night from Trinidad. “I am not afraid of all the troops in the State.”

“Gov. Ammons said: ” I do not care to express an opinion regarding the deportation of Mother Jones, because I am not fully aware of the circumstances, but I would not hesitate to express an opinion if the person concerned were a resident of Trinidad.”

After the deportation, Gen. Chase gave out this statement:

“Mrs. Jones was met at the train this morning by the military escort acting under instructions not to permit her to remain in this district. The detail took charge of Mrs. Jones and her baggage and she was accompanied out of the district under guard after she had been given breakfast. The step was taken in accordance with my instructions to preserve peace in the district. The presence of Mother Jones here at this time cannot be tolerated. She had planned to go to the Ludlow tent colony of strikers to stop the desertion of union members.

“If she returns she will be placed in jail and held incommunicado.”

Company G. First Infantry, Colorado National Guard, to-night was ordered to leave here tomorrow morning for Oak Creek to take charge of the strike situation in that district. In issuing the order Gen. Chase said that seventy-five men would leave on a special train.

[Emphasis added]

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Hellraisers Journal: Colorado Federation of Labor Committee Begins Investigation of Military Outrages in Coalfield Strike Zone

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Lt Linderfelt Jesus Christ, Dec 30 1913, Report CO BoL p185, 1914—————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday January 3, 1914
Trinidad, Colorado – State Federation of Labor Committee Begins Investigation

From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of December 27, 1913:

HdLn CO FoL Investigating Com in Strike Zone, ULB p1, Dec 27, 1913

—————

Wednesday December 24, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – C. F. of L. Investigating Committee Begins Hearings

The Committee established by the recent Convention of the  Colorado Federation of Labor to investigate alleged abuse by the military met in Trinidad yesterday to begin hearings on the matter. Now, Professor Brewster was asked to sit on the committee despite his views on the United Mine Workers which are less than favorable. Yet, the Professor is trusted as an honorable and fair man, willing to listen objectively to the evidence.

General Chase has refused to meet with the committee in spite of the letter from Governor Ammons requiring him to do so. He indicates that, perhaps, he will find the time at a later date to meet with the C. F. of L. Investigating Committee.

The committee heard testimony from Mrs. Maggie Dominske of Ludlow. She described how she was on her way to the Ludlow post office with a group of women when they were stopped by militiamen:

They put up their guns and said, “God damn you, don’t you go another step. If you do,we’ll shoot you. We’re getting tired of these sons-of-bitches coming up here and we’re going to put a stop to it.”

The Professor asked if the women had been on a public road, and Mrs. Dominske replied that, yes indeed, they had been using a public road.  The Professor declared:

I am surprised. Surprised. I wouldn’t have believed it if I had not heard it straight from these women. It is plain they are telling the truth.

We imagine that the good Professor will encounter many more such surprises before the investigation is completed.

—————

Wednesday December 31, 1913
Ludlow, Colorado – Lt Linderfelt declares himself “Jesus Christ”

Yesterday evening, a cavalryman was injured when his horse tripped on a piece of barbed wire. The injured man was brought to the Ludlow depot. A few minutes later Lieutenant Linderfelt appeared and went into a rage. Louie Tikas happened to be at the depot waiting for a train, also at the station was a boy of about fifteen years. Linderfelt focused on that boy, accusing him of setting the wire, and, when the boy denied the charge, began to beat him. Linderfelt next began to berate Louie:

There you are, you round-face son-of-a-bitch. You’re responsible for that wire.

Louie remained calm, but Linderfelt continued to rage. He gave an order to his men:

You Tollerburg fellows beat it over to the colony and cut every God damned wire around the place. The first man that interferes with you-shoot his head off.

Linderfelt then punched Louie in the face as he yelled:

I am Jesus Christ, and my men on horses are Jesus Christs, and we must be obeyed.

Witnesses report that Louie Tikas maintained his usual calm as Linderfelt struck him several more times. The lieutenant than ordered his men to take Louie to the military camp.

—————

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Hellraisers Journal: Convention of the Colorado Federation of Labor Begins in Denver; Mother Jones Cheered Wildly

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Quote re Mother Jones Enters Dnv CO CFL Conv, DP p14, Dec 16, 1913—————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday December 17, 1913
Denver, Colorado – Convention of State Federation of Labor Begins

From The Denver Post of December 16, 1913:

CO FoL Conv Begins, DP p14, Dec 16, 1913CO FoL Conv Begins, DP p14, Dec 16, 1913

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Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Robert Uhlich and Louie Tikas Held in Cold Snow Covered Jail

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

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday December 16, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Tikas and Uhlich Held in Cold, Snow-Covered,
Jail

News from Southern Colorado Coalfield Strike

Sunday December 7, 1913, Trinidad, Colorado
Tikas and Uhlich covered in snow in jail as a blizzard raged.

Dangerous Uhlich Trinidad CO Jail, TCN p1, Dec 3, 1913
Trinidad Chronicle News
December 3, 1913

The jail cell in Trinidad where Louie Tikas, Bob Uhlich, and fifteen other striking miners are being held, is unheated. Also, there is a broken window through which the wind and snow filled the gloomy cell as the blizzard raged across Colorado a few days ago. The men were forced to sleep, as best the could, on bunks covered with 3 inches of snow, and no blankets.

Brothers Tikas and Uhlich were interrogated by Major Boughton, chief legal officer of the militia. The men were grilled for several hours. Uhlich refused to give any testimony whatsoever, stating that only the civil authorities had the right to question him. Brother Uhlich has been designated a “dangerous and undesirable alien.” Tikas was promised his freedom if he would persuade the Greeks at Ludlow to turn themselves into scabs. We may assume that he refused this offer, for he has not yet been released. Brother Adolph Germer was arrested returning from Denver recently. We are unsure at this time where he is being held.

—————

Saturday December 13, 1913 Cedar Hills, Colorado
Lt. Linderfelt Recruits Hard-Core Veterans and Mine Guards

Lt. Linderfelt has been recruiting new soldiers to fill the ranks of Company B of the Second Battalion. This company is camped at Cedar Hills, near to the Ludlow Tent Colony at the entrance of Berwind Canyon. Word has it that he has turned to the veterans with whom he served in the Philippines and Mexico.

More and more mine guards are also being recruited to fill the ranks of Company B. Linderfelt dislikes the part-timers now serving in Company B. He is only too happy to replace them as they seek to return to their civilian lives. Linderfelt prefers to approach the job of keeping the peace in the strike zone through the use of company gunthugs and battle-hardened soldiers. Company B has frequent run-ins with the colonist at Ludlow. They go heavily armed into the camp, unlike the soldiers of the other companies who often visit the Ludlow camp in small groups and without arms.

—————

From the Trinidad Chronicle News of December 15, 1913:

Louie Tikas Released fr Jail in Trinidad CO, TCN p1, Dec 15, 1913

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Hellraisers Journal: Thousands Attend Funeral at Trinidad for Martyred Coal Miners Shot Down at Battle of Segundo

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

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday December 12, 1903
Trinidad, Colorado – Funeral Held for De Santos and Vilano, Mother Jones Attends

From The Denver Post of December 11, 1903:

Funeral for De Santos and Vilano, DP p6, Dec 11, 1903

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Thousands Attend Funeral at Trinidad for Martyred Coal Miners Shot Down at Battle of Segundo”

Hellraisers Journal: Colorado Labor Federation Issues Official Call for State Convention; Record Snowfall Isolates Residents of Strikers’ Tent Colonies

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday December 8, 1913
Colorado Federation of Labor Issues Call for State Convention

From the Denver United Labor Bulletin of December 6, 1913:

Call for Conv CO FoL, Dnv ULB p1, Dec 6, 1913

—–

Colorado Coalfield Strike, Dnv ULB p1, Dec 6, 1913

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Colorado Labor Federation Issues Official Call for State Convention; Record Snowfall Isolates Residents of Strikers’ Tent Colonies”

Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Coal Miners Fight to Win in Colorado by Robert M. Knight, Part II

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

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday December 4, 1913
Coal Miners of Southern Colorado Are Fighting to Win, Part II

From the International Socialist Review of December 1913:

Miners, Women, Children Parade at Trinidad, ISR p333, Dec 1913

[Part II of II]

Some one has said, “A fool in revolt is infinitely wiser than a learned philosopher apologizing for his chains.” Believing this, fully 95 per cent of the miners answered the call to strike [September 23, 1913]. Men with families within three days of starvation and without clothes enough to protect their frail bodies from the biting winds of mountain winters came out fully determined to win or die in the attempt. And who will blame them? Work such as the miner does is no longer honorable but has come to mean “drunkenness, vice and superstition.” It makes men and women unscrupulous, hard and restless. It destroys for others the treasure of life-a home. All the noble sentiments of liberty and the joy of labor mean in reality to the miner slavery of the worst type.

With thoughtless hymns of praise of this massacreing of labor, society allows one wholesale slaughter after another without a protest. While I am writing this the news arrived of the Dawson, New Mexico, disaster, in which the lives of 261 miners were lost and the operators refused to allow Secretary Doyle of the miners’ union to give the widows and orphans $1,000 donated by the union because the camp was non-union. And just as certain as that nothing becomes better without the desire to improve it so it is a healthy sign of the times that starvation wages for conscientious drudgery no longer fills the miner with heartfelt gratitude toward the master class.

The mine slaves were so cowed that the operators were sure that not more than 25 per cent would quit and when practically every miner laid down his tools, completely tying up the coal industry of Colorado, the wrath of the masters knew no bounds. They immediately got busy and sent a deputation of their lackeys, consisting of a lawyer, banker and a Catholic priest (Father Malone), to Washington to repeat the lies of the operators that the miners were satisfied with conditions but forced to strike by eastern agitators like Frank Hayes and Mother Jones. Their thugs began to terrorize the country, shoot up the tented camps of the strikers, insult the women and abuse the children and the operators began to call for the militia that the state might pay the cost of breaking the strike and thus save John D. a few paltry dollars with which to build a few more churches and start more Sunday schools where they sing and PREY-“servants obey your masters.”

Failing to get the militia as soon as they called, the operators had to content themselves with filling the jails of Colorado with strikers who dared to exercise their constitutional rights of peacefully asking imported strikebreakers to not work. In the city of Boulder and within the shadow of Colorado’s greatest educational institution, the state university, thirty-six were confined in the county jail until the court permitted the prisoners to bail each other out. Forty-nine others were arrested in Las Animas county and marched seven miles to the Trinidad jail between two rows of armed guards with Belk and Beltcher (out on bond for murder of Lippiatt), following up the rear with a Gatling gun mounted on an armored automobile.

Frank Hayes says, “The operators have several machine guns mounted on autos. They also have what is known as the ‘steel battle ship [Death Special].‘ This is an automobile with a high body of solid sheet steel built up so as to almost conceal the guard inside. The steel furnishes resistance to the bullets and is so arranged that the assassins on the inside may shoot their rifles in perfect safety. It is a splendid refuge for a coward. The body of the machine is shaped like a torpedo and was designed and built for mine guards. It carried a rapid fire machine gun with a range of more than two miles. As bad as West Virginia was there was nothing down there to compare with this latest instrument of murder that the operators of Colorado are using.”

As this procession neared town, G. E. Jones, a member of Western Federation of Miners, attempted to get a picture of the armored car. A. C. Felt beat him insensible and destroyed his camera and had him arrested for disturbing the peace.

Gun men patrol the public roads in armored autos, shooting up first one camp and then another. The first resistance the strikers offered was at Forbes, October 17, one striker was killed, two wounded and a deputy shot in the hip. One hundred and forty-seven bullets from a machine gun passed through a tent occupied by an aged Scotchman, who saved his life by lying flat on the floor. After this battle the miners made preparations to defend themselves from further attacks of the guards.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the International Socialist Review: Coal Miners Fight to Win in Colorado by Robert M. Knight, Part II”