Pray for the dead
and fight like hell for the living.
-Mother Jones
———-
Lon Amos Millsap, Labor Martyr
Kansas City General Strike, March 29, 1918
On March 29, 1918, Lon Amos Millsap, striking laundry truck driver, gave up his life in Kansas City Research Hospital. He died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The kept press claims that the strikers had been rioting (throwing rocks) when fired upon by armed company guards at the Globe Laundry two days earlier, March 27th, the first day of the Kansas City General Strike.
Lon Amos Millsap was born October 28, 1885, in Platte County, Missouri. At the time of his death he was 32 years old, single and a striking laundry driver. He is buried at Mount Washington Cemetery at Independence, Missouri.
M. L. Millsap, address: 2728 Brooklyn, provided the personal information for the death certificate, and was most likely a relative.
Buried in the same cemetery is the mother of Lon Millsap, Nancy Belle Heller Millsap, who died on July 27, 1927, at age 76. His father was John S. Millsap, date of death not known.
In “The Streetcar Strikes of 1917-18,” Bill Onasch describes the Great Kansas City General Strike of 1918:
[In March 1918, the Kansas City General Strike] was called in sympathy with striking laundry workers and has been characterized by historians as the most important of several general strikes in the United States during the war.
The laundry workers were among the lowest-paid, and had among the most miserable working conditions, of the area’s workforce. Significantly, the male delivery drivers, and the women launderers, formed a united front in unionizing these sweatshops. They attracted a great deal of sympathy from not only organized labor but the entire general public.
The laundry workers went on strike in February and were subjected to repeated violent attacks by the Employer Association armed thugs. After watching this for five weeks, the rest of the labor movement, including the streetcar workers, decided to walk out in sympathy with the laundry workers….
By its second day, the general strike involved more than 25,000 workers….
According to a tweet by Kansas City 1918 @Jeff_Stilley, labor leaders were planning a large funeral for Brother Millsap. Sadly, I have not been able to find newspaper coverage of the funeral. More research needed.
Laundry striker Alonzo Millsap died of his wounds at Research Hospital this morning. He was shot by Globe Laundry private guards on the 27th through the abdomen. Labor leaders are planning a large funeral #KCGS1918 https://t.co/l0gvKn05Eu
— Kansas City 1918 (@Jeff_Stilley) March 30, 2018
WE NEVER FORGET
SOURCES & IMAGES
Hellraisers Journal, Tuesday April 2, 1918
Kansas City, Missouri – Lon Amos Millsap, Labor Martyr
Kansas City Striker, Lon Amos Millsap, Dies in Hospital from Gunshot Wound to Abdomen
Note: The New York Times of Mar 31, 1918, gives name as Alonzo A. Millsap, which name should also be used for searches. “Kansas City” Millsap, March/April 1918-also works for searching newspapers.
“The Streetcar Strikes of 1917-18”
-by Bill Onasch
http://www.kclabor.org/streetcar_strikes_of_1917.htm
Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1967
https://s1.sos.mo.gov/Records/Archives/ArchivesMvc/DeathCertificates/SearchResults
https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1918/1918_00009696.PDF
Missouri Death Certificate for Lon Amos Millsap
Personal information (see below at FindaGrave)
-per M. L. Millsap (relationship not given)
of 2728 Brooklyn (Avenue?) Kansas City, MO
Per coroner: Died March 29, 1918 at Kansas City Research Hospital
-Jackson County, MO
COD: Gun shot wound of abdomen, Homicide
Contributory: General Peritonitis
Burial per undertaker: Mount Washington Cemetery, April 1, 1918
Lon Amos Millsap – Deceased
March 29, 1918 Jackson [County] 9270
FindaGrave
Memorial: Lon Amos Millsap by k75evad
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78291798/lon-amos-millsap
BIRTH 28 Oct 1885
Platte County, Missouri, USA
DEATH 29 Mar 1918 (aged 32)
Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, USA
BURIAL
Mount Washington Cemetery
Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, USASingle
Laundry driver
Homicide victim
Gunshot wound to the stomach
Father- John S. Millsap
Mother- Nancy Belle Heller Millsap d. July 27 1927
See also:
Hellraisers Journal, Thursday March 28, 1918
Kansas City, Missouri – General Strike Is Spreading
General Strike In Kansas City Now Underway in Sympathy with Striking Laundry Workers
Stilley Sociology re Kansas City GS 1918
-for day by day account of Kansas City General Strike
https://stilleysociology.wordpress.com/