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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
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 If the federal troops are withdrawn, that volcano will explode in the most terrific eruption of outrage and butchery that this nation has ever seen.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.]
