Hellraisers Journal: Comrade Marians, Socialist of Trinidad, Colorado, Warns of Reorganization of Murderous Militia Troop

28th August 202428th August 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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

Hellraisers Journal – Friday August 28, 1914
Trinidad Socialist Warns of Reorganization of Murderous State Militia

From The Day Book of August 27, 1914:

COLORADO’S WAR THREATENS
TO BREAK OUT AGAIN

Colorado’s labor war threatens to break out again. A. Marians, a union coal miner, secretary of the Socialist party local at Trinidad, Col, has sent a telegram to all Socialist state secretaries. The copy received by John C. Kennedy, Illinois state secretary, reads:

Comrades of America: Troop A of Trinidad and E of Walsenburg (Col.) National Guard organization, which massacred women and children at Ludlow, have reorganized to their full strength and are holding nightly meetings in their armories. Col. Lockett, commanding federal troops, states to citizens that he will permit militiamen to parade through Trinidad streets. Federals will then leave. Citizens openly declare these preparations mean further bloodshed, as company gunmen and Baldwin-Feltz detectives have been enrolled in the militia here for the past week. These things being so, we Socialists of Las Animas county appeal to Socialists of America to take immediate action to protect workers here from repetition of Ludlow massacre, as authorities of state and nation are impotent. Will you see the slaughter repeated without coming to our aid? This message was sent to every state secretary.

[Photograph and emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Comrade Marians, Socialist of Trinidad, Colorado, Warns of Reorganization of Murderous Militia Troop” →

Hellraisers Journal: Don MacGregor for the Chicago Day Book: “Rockefeller Spread Terror to Unborn Babes in Colorado”

11th May 202411th May 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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

Hellraisers Journal – Monday May 11, 1914
MacGregor Describes the Terror Wrought in Colorado by Rockefeller’s Murderers

From The Day Book of May 6, 1914:

And I saw little children, with wide and reddened eyes, run from my approach because I was a stranger and the Ludlow massacre of the innocents had taught them fear of all strangers.

I stopped my machine to talk to one little girl of seven. She ran from me, stumbled, fell, and lay clinging to the earth, her small body shaking with sobs.

“Are you scared of me?” I asked.

Her sobs became more violent.

“I’m your friend,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt you. Why are you afraid of me?”

She turned a terror-stricken face to me for a moment.

“I don’t know you,” she said. “And you came in an automobile. And-“

She buried her wet face in the earth and fell to sobbing again.

At the Jackson tent colony, twelve miles from where the fighting took place, a woman came to me and fell on her knees. She was soon to be a mother.

“Can’t you get me away from here?” she cried. “I don’t want my baby born here within reach of the machine guns. There was a woman going to have a baby at Ludlow, and-and they burned them both.”

She was silent for a moment; then waved her hand toward her husband, who stood at her tent door, leaning on a rifle, his face as grim as death itself.

“Besides,” she said proudly, “I want my man to be down at the front fighting the gunmen with the rest, and he can’t leave me alone here. Get me away.”

Mothers pleading that their babies might be born out of reach of Rockefeller’s guns! That they might be removed from danger so their men could go to the front-against Rockefeller!

Was it not enough to make men’s hearts red with rage? Was it not enough to rouse the murder lust within them?

I tell you there were times there when I felt like hanging every Rockefeller murderer who fell into our hands, without ceremony and without compunction. I think my hands would have been clean.

And yet those miners, who have been called every murderous name the mine owners or their hired press agents could think of, captured four mines outside Walsenburg and gave every gunman at them safe conduct out of the district when they raised the white flag!

—————

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Don MacGregor for the Chicago Day Book: “Rockefeller Spread Terror to Unborn Babes in Colorado”” →

Hellraisers Journal: “Men don’t scare easy when they fight to keep other men from burning their homes.”-Don MacGregor

10th May 202410th May 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

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

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday May 10, 1914
Don MacGregor Describes the Battle of the Hogback, Near Walsenburg

From the Chicago Day Book of May 5, 1914:

They fired carefully, deliberately. They didn’t fire to frighten but to kill.

But they didn’t shoot at those militiamen because the blood lust was in their veins. They shot because the memory of Ludlow was in their minds.

Soon after the battle started, Rockefeller’s murderers at the Walsen mine turned their machine guns on the city of Walsenburg. Two men were killed there, while women and children crouched in terror in the basements of their homes.

Such was the battle of Walsenburg, in which 300 strikers Wednesday [April 29th] defended their position on a hilltop against about 200 so-called militiamen.

They tell me that one militiamen and ten gunmen were killed. It’s too bad but they shouldn’t be militiamen and gunmen. They shouldn’t be working for greedy coal operators against men and women and children who are striking for bread.

It wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t working against the women and children. The men can stand their attacks. But when they kill wives and mothers and babies, kill them for hire it’s different.

I never knew braver or better men than those miners. They’re rough; they’re ignorant, but they’re men. They love their families.

And I know that when they fought the militia at Walsenburg it was simply to protect their families.

It wasn’t for revenge. It was from fear of another massacre.

The strikers under me occupied a position on a hill “the Hogback.” One-half mile back of them was their camp of Toltec, and stretching twelve miles back of that were seven other strikers’ camps in which were fifteen hundred women and children. All that stood between John D. Rockefeller’s murderers and these fifteen hundred women and children was “The Hogback” and the strikers on it.

And every man was thinking of Ludlow. Four men who had lost wives and children in the massacre there were in our ranks. They’d told the story of Ludlow, over and over again. They’d told how the militiamen and the gunmen, brought to Colorado to kill for hire, had trained their machine guns on the camp. They’d heard how the tents were set on fire, how the children screamed and died in cruel flames!

And they were determined to die rather than let those militiamen reach the camp back of Walsenburg.

We didn’t do wrong. We didn’t resist officers of the law. We resisted men who have preyed on us for months, who have shot us down, who have burned our camps and who have killed our women and children. That’s the awful part.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: “Men don’t scare easy when they fight to keep other men from burning their homes.”-Don MacGregor” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Travels to Denver After Release from Cold Cellar Cell, Escorted by Union Leaders to Oxford Hotel

18th April 202419th April 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones Statement Apr 18 at Denver CO bf to WDC, RMN p5, Apr 19, 1914 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday April 18 1914
Denver, Colorado – Mother Jones Resting After Release from Cold Cellar Cell

From the Rocky Mountain News of April 17, 1914:

From The Indianapolis Star of April 18, 1914:

MINERS WOULD REOPEN CASE
TO PRESENT ‘MOTHER’ JONES
———-

DENVER, Col, April 17-A movement was started here tonight by the policy committee of District No. 15 of the United Mine Workers of America, to reopen in Washington the congressional investigation of the Colorado coal miners’ strike by seeking to place before the committee the testimony of “Mother” Mary Jones, the aged strike leader who was released from military imprisonment at Walsenburg on Thursday.

“Mother” Jones who came to Denver immediately on her discharge, probably will leave tomorrow for Washington.

Telegrams were sent tonight to Representative M. D. Foster, chairman of the recent investigating House mines committee, and to Representative Keating of Colorado, urging a hearing for “Mother” Jones.

[Emphasis added.]

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Travels to Denver After Release from Cold Cellar Cell, Escorted by Union Leaders to Oxford Hotel” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Freed from Cold Cellar Cell, Greeted Upon Release by Crowd of Cheering Strikers

17th April 202419th April 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones re Walsenburg Cellar Cell, Mar 22, 1914 x26 days, Ab Chp 21, 1925 —————-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday April 17, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Released from Cold Cellar Cell

Mother Jones is in Denver today after her release yesterday from the cold damp cellar cell which served as the Military Bastille in Walsenburg, Colorado. Newspapers around the country are reporting the news.

From El Paso Herald of April 16, 1914:

Walsenburg, Colo., April 16.-“Mother” Mary Jones, who has been a military prisoner in the hospital ward of the county jail since March 22, was released this morning upon orders of Gen. John Chase. The aged strike leader was offered transportation to any point in the state, but the offer was refused.

The appearance of “Mother” Jones at the door of the jail was the signal for a demonstration by a large crowd of strikers and the strike sympathizers that had gathered in anticipation of her release. The aged leader appeared in good health and declared she was feeling well.

Will Lay Woes Before Wilson.

“Mother” Jones was escorted to union headquarters, where she conferred with a number of strike leaders. She announced her intention of speaking at a mass meeting late today after which she plans to go to Trinidad and speak. Later she intends to go to Washington.

“Mother” Jones said:

“You’ll know soon enough why I go to Washington.” Later she intimated that she proposed to tell the story of her experiences in the Colorado coal strike to president Wilson and to the congressional strike investigating committee.

[Emphasis added.]

Note: the cellar cell where she was held for 26 days is hardly a “hospital ward.” It is, in fact, the same cold damp cell which claimed the life of striker Kostas Markos earlier this year.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Freed from Cold Cellar Cell, Greeted Upon Release by Crowd of Cheering Strikers” →

Hellraisers Journal: Does the Colorado State Militia Mean to Kill Mother Jones? Now Held in Cold Cellar Cell Beneath Huerfano County Courthouse

16th April 202417th April 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones re Walsenburg Cellar Cell, Mar 22, 1914 x26 days, Ab Chp 21, 1925 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday April 16, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Held in Cold Cellar Cell

From the Appeal to Reason of April 11, 1914:

Detail:

Note: Kostas (Gus) Marcos was the name of the striking miner who died as a result of being held in the cold cellar cell beneath the Huerfano County Courthouse at Walsenburg, Colorado.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Does the Colorado State Militia Mean to Kill Mother Jones? Now Held in Cold Cellar Cell Beneath Huerfano County Courthouse” →

Hellraisers Journal: Hell Hounds of the Colorado Militia Slowing Killing Mother Jones in Damp Cellar Cell at Walsenburg

6th April 20247th April 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

—————

Hellraisers Journal – Monday April 6, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – State Militia Slowly Killing Mother Jones

From The Wheeling Majority of April 2, 1914:

“The Charge on Mother Jones” by Henry M. Tichenor”

THE CHARGE ON MOTHER JONES

The patriotic soldiers came marching down the pike,
Prepared to shoot and slaughter in the Colorado strike;
With whiskey in their bellies and vengeance in their souls,
They prayed that God would help them shoot the miners full of holes.

In front of these brave soldiers loomed a sight you seldom see:
A white-haired rebel woman whose age was eighty-three.
“Charge!” cried the valiant captain, in awful thunder tones,
And the patriotic soldiers “CHARGED” and captured Mother Jones.

‘Tis great to be a soldier with a musket in your hand,
Ready’ for any bloody work the lords of earth command.
‘Tis great to shoot a miner and hear his dying groans
But never was such glory as that “charge” on Mother Jones!

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Hell Hounds of the Colorado Militia Slowing Killing Mother Jones in Damp Cellar Cell at Walsenburg” →

Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Held in Cellar Cell “Surrounded with Sewer Rats, Tin-Horn Soldiers, and Other Vermin.”

5th April 20246th April 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Mother Jones Quote, Let My Friend Villa Know, Cold Cellar Cell, Walsenburg CO, Mar 31, 1914, AtR p2, Apr 18, 1914 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Sunday April 5, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Smuggles out Letter from Cold Cellar Cell

From the Chicago Day Book of April 3, 1914:

March 31, 1914-from the Cold Cellar Cell, Walsenburg, Colorado,
Letter to Friends of Mother Jones and to the Public Generally:

Military Bastile
Walsenburg, Colo.
. March 31, 1914

To My Friends and the Public Generally:
I am being held a prisoner incommunicado in a damp, underground cell, in the basement of a military bullpen at Walsenburg, Colorado. Have been here since 5:30 a.m. of the 23rd of March, when I was taken from the train by armed soldiers as I was passing through Walsenburg. I have discovered what appears to be an opportunity to smuggle a letter out of prison, and shall attempt to get this communication by the armed guards which day and night surround me (me, a white-haired old woman eighty-two years of age).
I want to say to the public that I am an American citizen. I have never broken a law in my life, and I claim the right of an American citizen to go where I please so long as I do not violate the law. The courts of Las Animas and Huerfano are open and unobstructed in the transaction of business, yet Governor Ammons and his Peabody appointee, General Chase, refuse to carry me before any court, and refuse to make any charge against me.

I ask the press to let the nation know of my treatment, and to say to my friends, whom, thank God, I number by the thousands, throughout the United States and Mexico, that not even my incarceration in a damp, underground dungeon will make me give up the fight in which I am engaged for liberty and for the rights of the working people.
Of course, I long to be out of prison. To be shut from the sunlight is not pleasant, but John Bunyan, John Brown and others were kept in Jail quite a while, and I shall stand firm. To be in prison is no disgrace. In all my strike experiences I have seen no horrors equal to those perpetrated by General Chase and his corps of Baldwin-Feltz detectives that are now enlisted in the militia.

My God–when is it to stop? I have only to close my eyes to see the mourning of the broken hearts and the wailing of the funeral dirge, while the cringing politicians whose sworn duty is to protect the lives and liberty of the people crawl subserviently before the national burglars of Wall Street who are today plundering and devastating the State of Colorado economically, financially, politically and morally.
Let the nation know, and especially let my friend General Francisco Villa know, that the great United States of America, which is demanding of him that he release the traitors he has placed under arrest, is now holding Mother Jones incommunicado in an under ground cell surrounded with sewer rats, tinhorn soldiers and other vermin.

Mother Jones

[As written, without correction; paragraph break added.]

Mother Jones is not forgotten in her cold cellar cell, the same damp cell which led to the death of striking miner Kostas Marcos.

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Held in Cellar Cell “Surrounded with Sewer Rats, Tin-Horn Soldiers, and Other Vermin.”” →

Hellraisers Journal: From the Denver United Labor Bulletin: Old Mother Jones Held Incommunicado in Dark Cellar Cell

31st March 20244th April 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones re Walsenburg Cellar Cell, Mar 22, 1914 x26 days, Ab Chp 21, 1925 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday March 31, 1914
Walsenburg, Colorado – Mother Jones Confined in Dark Cellar Cell

From Denver’s United Labor Bulletin of March 28, 1914:

Note: Mother was arrested at Walsenburg by the Colorado militia on Monday March 23rd, at about 5:30 a. m. She has been confined, since that time, in the same dark cold cellar cell that was the cause of the death of striking miner Kostas Marcos.

—————

From The Masses of February 1914: Mother Jones by Art Young

Mother Jones Hell Hounds by Art Young, Masses p7, Feb 1914

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: From the Denver United Labor Bulletin: Old Mother Jones Held Incommunicado in Dark Cellar Cell” →

Hellraisers Journal: Covington Hall and Eugene V. Debs Pay Tribute to Mother Jones, Miners’ Angel, by Poem and Prose

27th March 202411th April 2024 Janet RayeHellraisers Journal

Quote Mother Jones, WV Court Martial, No Plea to Make, Ptt Pst p3, Mar 8, 1913 —————

Hellraisers Journal – Friday March 27, 1914
Poem for Mother Jones, Held in Cold Cellar Cell at Walsenburg, Colorado

From The Voice of the People (New Orleans) of March 26, 1914:

“The Soul of Mother Jones” by Covington Hall

Continue reading “Hellraisers Journal: Covington Hall and Eugene V. Debs Pay Tribute to Mother Jones, Miners’ Angel, by Poem and Prose” →

Tag: Walsenburg CO