Hellraisers Journal: “Fire Adds to Horror of Dawson Explosion-284 Entombed by Blast, 22 Rescued Alive…256 Missing”

24th October 202325th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Palos AL Mine Disaster Song by TJ Reid re May 5 1910 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday October 24, 1913
October 22, Dawson, New Mexico
–Near Three Hundred Miners Trapped in Flaming Mine

From the Trinidad Chronicle News of October 23, 1913:

From Albuquerque Evening Herald of October 23, 1913:

Thursday October 23, 1913 – Dawson, New Mexico
-Mine Disaster Leaves Nearly 300 Miners Entombed, Hope Fading

These are the latest bulletins from The Anaconda Standard:

Dawson, N. M., Oct.23-Fourteen bodies have been recovered and seven men have been found alive by rescuers early this morning working in shaft No. 2 of the Stag Canyon coal mine, where an explosion occurred yesterday afternoon, entombing the day shift, variously given as numbering 230 to 280 men.

Trinidad, Col., Oct. 22-A special rescue train carrying scores of experienced miners equipped with rescue apparatus left here at 6 o’clock tonight for Dawson, 125 miles from here.

Raton, N. M., Oct. 22-About 100 feet of progress has been made by the rescuers at mine No. 2 of the Stag Canyon Fuel company at Dawson, N. M., in their fight against the debris which has choked the mine entrance. A few mangled bodies have been recovered, and it is believed that the blockades exist for hundreds of feet further into the mine.

Little hope is entertained here for the rescue of the entombed men…

Appeals for aid started scores of experienced miners from Trinidad and the surrounding coal camps, shortly after 6 o’clock, and they were expected to reach Dawson before midnight.

Dawson, N. M., Oct 22-…The rescuers believe they will be able to reach the interior by tomorrow night at the latest. They think no exits exist at present from the mine. So far all rescuing parties have had to enter the mine equipped with oxygen tanks

Women Gather
In the relief camps situated near the entrance to mine No. 2, are gathering the women and children of the entombed miners. Women of the town are in the camp comforting and cheering the wives and children of the miners, whose fate still is a matter of conjecture.

[Emphasis added.]

Among those on the train which left Trinidad last night to join the rescue effort in Dawson were Louie Tikas, leader of the Ludlow Tent Colony; Ed Doyle, Secretary of District 15, and Ed Wallace, editor of the United Mine Workers Journal. They arrived with a thousand dollars in relief for the women and children. The young photographer, Lou Dold, was also reported to have arrived on the train from Trinidad.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado: “These Women Ain’t Going to Bite You.”

23rd October 202324th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote re Mother Jones, Fighting Angel, Denver CO ULB p1, Sept 20, 1913 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday October 23, 1913
Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Leads Mass Parade to Confront Governor Ammons

Mother Jones Leads Parade v Colorado Gov Ammons, TCN p1, Oct 21, 1913 — Trinidad *Chronicle News*
**October 21, 1913**

Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado, arrived Tuesday, October 21st, in Southern Colorado to make a personal tour of the strike zone. He came accompanied by several state officials. Near Walsenburg, on the public highway leading into the C. F. & I. Company’s Ravenwood Mine, an Oklahoma gunthug refused to give a pass to the chief executive of the state of Colorado so that he could continue on his chosen route. The private company gunthug said to the Governor:

You may be the governor and again maybe you ain’t. I dunno. But you ain’t got no pass to get in here and you ain’t going in, see?

Governor Ammons and his party of state official were forced to turn back.

In Trinidad, Governor Ammons sojourned at the Hotel Cardenas. Imagine his surprise when he looked out the window to find Mother Jones leading a parade of 1500 women and children who were followed by 2500 more in a grand show of support. The Colorado & Southern railroad refused Mother’s request to carry the strikers and their families from Ludlow into Trinidad, and yet many of them managed to make their way into Trinidad to march in the parade. They were joined by the women, children, and miners from many of the other tent colonies as well.

They all came marching and singing, (especially “The Colorado Strike Song”) led by a brass band, and carrying signs of protest:

Has the Governor Any Respect for the State?

A Bunch of Mother Jones’ Children

We Want Freedom, Not Corporation Rules

If Uncle Sam Can Run the Post-Office, Why Not the Mines?

We Are Not Afraid of Your Gatling Guns, We Have To Die Anyway

Give Us Another Patrick Henry for Governor

The Democratic Party is on Trial

Do You Hear the Children Groaning, O Colorado

Mother, believing that the residents of the tent colonies deserve an encouraging word from their Governor, brought the women and children into the hotel and straight up to the door of the Governor’s room. According to reports, every hallway was packed. Mother called to the Governor, but he would not come out. She beat on the door and yelled:

Unlock that door and come out here. These women ain’t going to bite you.

The Governor remained barricaded in his room.

Governor Ammons will leave the strike zone today or early tomorrow. Reports indicate that he is unwilling to call out the National Guard at this time. He told reporters:

The strike is no Sunday school picnic, but conditions aren’t as bad as I had been led to believe.

—————

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones to Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado: “These Women Ain’t Going to Bite You.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: Nine Hundred Striking Miners March Through Trinidad to Honor Martyred Coal Miner, Luca Vahernick

22nd October 202324th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 22, 1913
News from the Coal Miners’ Strike in Southern Colorado

From The Rocky Mountain News of October 21, 1913
-Trinidad, Colorado-October 20
Nine Hundred Striking Miners March to Honor Luca Vahernick

From the Trinidad Chronicle News of October 20, 1913:

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Nine Hundred Striking Miners March Through Trinidad to Honor Martyred Coal Miner, Luca Vahernick” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Arrives in Trinidad Unannounced, Will Investigate Conditions and Visit Homes of Miners

21st October 202322nd October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones WV Miners Conditions, ISR p179 , Sept 1901 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 21, 1903
Trinidad, Colorado – Mother Jones Arrives, Meets with District 15 Officials

From The Denver Post of October 20, 1903:

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Stops Over in Cincinnati, States Optimistically: “The laboring man is advancing every day.”

20th October 202320th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Live f Justice n Love, Carbondale Dly Ns p2, Nov 24, 1900 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 20, 1903
Mother Jones Stands with Working Men and Women

Saturday October 17, 1903
Cincinnati, Ohio – Mother Jones, “The laboring man is advancing every day.”

Mother Jones was in Cincinnati for a few hours yesterday on her way to Chicago. This famous old labor agitator travels alone. While in Cincinnati she made this statement:

The Cincinnati Enquirer
October 17, 1903

To advance the cause of labor and laboring people is my only object. I have for years studied carefully the labor question, and in all my speeches to the miners and others I advocated peace and efficient work as the sure road to success. My idea is that every laborer, man or woman, should be worthy of their hire. They should, out of each week or month’s salary, save a few pennies, dimes or dollars. I am in hearty sympathy with the workingman, and in times of strikes or lockouts I make it my duty to go to the scene of trouble and lend my aid to the laborer and his family. They are my personal charges.

I think the day will come when capital will learn to respect laborers enough to pay them in proportion to the services they render. I am at all times an advocate of peace when disagreements arise between employer and employees, for that is the laborer’s stronghold. If he can only hold out and remain peaceable the victory is won. It is a rare occurrence that anything is accomplished by the working men who cause strife and bloodshed. They lose the respect sympathy of those who would otherwise be with them in time of need.

I think the laboring man is advancing every day, and it will be my life work to aid in this advancement.

From The Denver Post of October 18, 1903
-Mother Jones, Joan of Arc, Expected Soon in Denver:

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Hellraisers Journal: News from Colorado Coalfield Strike: Forbes Tent Colony Attacked by Operators’ “Death Special”

19th October 202331st October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Let every miner wear his red bandanna
around his neck. It is our uniform.
-John Lawson
———-

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday October 19, 1913
News Round-Up from the Coal Miners’ Strike in Southern Colorado

Wednesday October 15, 1913 – Southern Coalfields, Colorado
-Coal Operators Provide Gunthugs with “Death Special.”

The coal operators have brought a new machine into the strike zone of Colorado. Called the “Death Special” by the miners, the machine is an automobile covered with armor and equipped with a search light and a machine gun. It is usually seen roaming about the various tent colonies filled with Baldwin-Felts gunthugs holding their rifles at the ready. Word has it that Mr. Felts, himself, had the large automobile delivered from Denver to Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron plant in Pueblo. There the sides were torn down and replaced with three-eights-inch steel plates. The machine gun was shipped in from West Virginia where it had served previous duty against the miners of that state.

—————-

Thursday October 17, 1913 – Trinidad, Colorado
-Death Special follows 48 Union Men from Starkville to Trinidad

Yesterday strikers engaged in peacefully picketing at the Starkville Mine. This mine is owned by James McLaughlin, brother-in-law of Governor Ammons, Democrat of Colorado. Forty-eight of these union men were rounded up, placed under arrest by company guards and county deputies and marched the three miles back to Trinidad. On either side of them were rows of armed gunthugs, and behind them came the Death Special with its spotlight and machine gun aimed at their backs.

The union men offered no resistance, but as they come down the hill into Trinidad, they began to shout. They are being held in the Las Animas County Jail.

G. C. Jones, organizer for the Western Federation of Miners, was beaten by Gunthug Belk and by A. C. Felts as he attempted to get a Kodak of the menacing machine. The young photographer, Lou Dold was more successful.

In the past few days other attacks upon the striking miners and their families have been perpetrated by the mine guards. The Sopris Tent Colony was shot up by company gunthugs as they sped by in an automobile. In Walsenburg, Gunthug Lou Miller and six of his companions, roamed the streets assaulting strikers and union sympathizers wherever they found them. The town of Segundo was sprayed with machine gun fire for a full ten minutes as punishment for the beating of guard who had insulted a woman there.

—————

Saturday October 18, 1913 – Forbes Tent Colony, Colorado
-Mine Guards Attack with Death Special, Striker Luca Vahernick Killed

Mine guards, yesterday, attacked the Forbes Tent Colony making use of the machine gun from the Death Special. Guards on horseback also used their rifles in the attack. A miner, Luca Vahernick, was killed, and a boy, Marco Zamboni, was shot nine times in the legs. A young girl who was on her way home from school was shot in the face. She lives on a near-by farm. The attack began at 2 p.m. and continued until dusk. The miners had only seven rifles or shotguns, six revolvers, and very little ammunition, but they were able to defend the Colony and prevented the guards from entering.

John Lawson arrived at Forbes this morning. As Lawson approached the camp, he found the Gunthugs Belk and Belcher lurking about, and confronted them. These are the same guards who were involved in the murders of Brothers Lippiatt and Powell, and now it appears, they have murdered another union brother. Louie Tikas stepped between Lawson and Belk, in that quiet, calm way of his and eased them apart. And, in this way, he may have saved Brother Lawson’s life.

—————

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Hellraisers Journal: Chicago Day Book: Don MacGregor at Ludlow: “Gunmen Always Ready to Open War on Families of Miners”

15th October 202315th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

The Exodus from Coal Camps to Ludlow, Don MacGregor, Dnv Exp Sept 24, 1913 per Beshoar p —————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 15, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony, Colorado, Sunday September 28th
-Don MacGregor Visits Miner’s Tent, Describes Conditions

From the Chicago Day Book of October 4, 1913:

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Hellraisers Journal: Ludlow Tent Colony Attacked by Gunthugs; Mack Powell Shot Off His Horse at Strikers Baseball Game

14th October 202315th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, Rise Up and Strike, UMW D15 Conv Sept 16 Trinidad CO, Dnv Exp Sept 17, 1913 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 14, 1913
Ludlow Colony, Colorado – Gunthugs Attack Strikers’ Tent Village

Ludlow Tent Colony, CO Coal Field War Project The Ludlow Tent Colony

Wednesday October 8, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire into tents, miners rally to defend the camp.

Several striking miners walked up to Hastings from Ludlow yesterday attempting to collect their mail from the U. S. Post Office there. When mine guards refused them their mail, they argued briefly, but then headed back toward Ludlow. The guards laughed and fired shots over their heads as they walked away.

A short while later, Walter Belk and George Belcher, the same Baldwin-Felts gunthugs who were involved in the murder of Brother Lippiatt, drove near to Ludlow and let loose with a volley of shots into the tents. When miners came running to defend the Colony, more guards began shooting. The miners took up their guns and returned fire.

Women and children ran from the tents and gathered at the fence on the west side of the camp. Seeing that they were exposed to fire, John Lawson ran along the fence urging the women and children back to the tents. As the miners forced the guards to retreat, the women and children, singing union songs, returned to camp.

There are reports that shots were fired at the camp again this morning. John Lawson urged the miners not to leave the camp in pursuit of the guards, but to stay close by:

While you fellows run down there a mile or so the Hastings guards will come down and take the tent colony.

The miners are taking Lawson’s advice. They remain in the camp with their rifles close at hand.

———-

Friday October 10, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony – Gunthugs fire on baseball field, kill Mack Powell.

Yesterday morning gunthugs from Hastings fired upon the baseball field at the edge of the camp. Striking miners had been enjoying a friendly game, but, as bullets hit the dirt around them, they quickly ran for their rifles. They were able to drive the guards away from the camp. Mack Powell was sitting on his horse and watching from a distance when he was struck by a bullet and killed. Guards were later heard to brag that they had killed a miner.

Mack Powell was a union miner who had taken work as a cowboy on the near-by Green Ranch. Mack was married, and lived with his wife and his wife’s grandmother.

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Sunday October 12, 1913
Southern Coalfield – Operators ship in machine guns; Union prepares.

Should any American citizen believe that, surely, those mine guards who shot up the Ludlow Tent Colony and killed Mack Powell have been arrested, let them be, here and now, disabused of that naive notion of equal justice. In fact, the guards have not been arrested; they have had four machine guns added to their supply of weapons with which to continue their attacks on the tent colonies.

Vice President Hayes of the United Mine Workers of America said recently to John Lawson, “But they can’t conduct a war against us with machine guns. They wouldn’t turn machine guns on defenseless people.”

John Lawson believes that the operators are just that ruthless, and said, “We’ve got to protect the women and children at all costs.”

The colonies have been directed to put up breastworks and to dig pits under the tents. The women and children will be able to shelter there whenever the colonies are attacked. At this time, the Ludlow colony is the particular focus of the gunthugs, but all of the 20 or more colonies are considered to be at risk.

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Hellraisers Journal: “We’re Coming, Colorado, We’re Coming All the Way, Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.”

8th October 202310th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Coming Colorado Strike Song, Dnv ULB p1, Sept 27, 1913 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday October 8, 1913
“Colorado Strike Song”-Sung to the Tune of “The Battle Cry of Freedom.”

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

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Hellraisers Journal: Policy Committee Issues Statement; Mother Jones Inspires Strikers at Sopris, Ludlow and Segundo

7th October 20239th October 2023 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones re CO Gov Ammons, wont stop talking, Day Book p11, Sept 27, 1913 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday October 7, 1913
Colorado Strike Zone – Policy Committee Issues Statement; Mother Jones Speaks

From the Trinidad Chronicle News of September 26, 1913:

In a general statement issued last night the district policy committee of United Mine of America composed of Frank J. Hayes, John McLennan, John H. Lawson and E. L. Doyle declared their position as follows:

We desire law and order above all things. We shall try to conduct this strike in such a way to command the respect of the public and civil authorities. A man who commits or talks violence as a means to win this strike is not properly representing the mine workers’ organisation.

We depend for success on the justice of our cause. We request the operators to warn their imported gunmen to respect the law and to cease their intimidation of union miners.

We have cautioned our people in this respect and we ask the operators to do likewise. Our responsibility in this matter is the same and we ought to meet it like men.

There is no occasion for the alleged purpose of protecting property. It is an evidence of weakness on the part of operators and is a reproach to all law abiding citizens. There is no need for the operators or their agents to ship hundreds of rifles into this region as they are doing at present for the purpose of intimidating peaceful lawsabiding people. We propose to the beet of our ability to protect life and property and to safeguard the liberties of our people by lawful means.

The strike is complete in every particular. The best in the history of our organisation, notwithstanding statements to the contrary, and the miners of Colorado will remain out of the mines until their rights are fully recognized.

At the scene of the Segundo tragedy [September 24th killing of C. F. I. “Marshal”]…Mother Jones [yesterday, September 25th] delivered another impassioned speech to miners, urging the men to remain on strike until the operators meet the full demands. No illusion was made to the killing of Marshal Lee…..

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

———-

From The Rocky Mountain News of September 27, 1913

Strikers congregated in front of the town hall, where more than 3,000 listened to “Mother” Jones and other strike sympathizers (“Mother” Jones in the center).

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Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Policy Committee Issues Statement; Mother Jones Inspires Strikers at Sopris, Ludlow and Segundo” →

Let every miner wear his red bandanna around his neck. It is our uniform. -John Lawson ———-

Let every miner wear his red bandanna
around his neck. It is our uniform.
-John Lawson
———-