Picture taken from article on Ludlow.
The Ludlow Massacre was a grueling, horrific display of the plight of labor workers. Many lives were lost or destroyed by the hands of big business.
In the early twentieth century, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company was owned and controlled by John D. Rockefeller Jr., who lived some 2,000 miles away from his tormented miners.
The immoral suffering and oppression of the down-trodden service workers erupted in 1903 when many of the workers went on strike. Unfortunately, their efforts were quickly stifled when strike breakers were employed by the company and leaders of the movement were removed.
As years passed, the conditions worsened and the poor mining community was screaming for an answer to their suffering.
The coal strike of 1913-1914 began when, exhausted from years of anguish and to assert their rights, the workers banded together and left their picks and shovels for a better life.
Not only were miners fighting for recognition of the United Mine Workers of America union (UMWA), but every working day was a struggle to earn enough money to feed their families. Their working conditions were dangerous and the coal companies paid the workers in "scrip" that could only be spent in company stores. This may seem logical when one looks at how isolated the mines were, but it is clearly horrendous when the full picture comes into view. The coal companies treated the miners like slaves and paid them with money that would be recycled back to the head of the company. The coal miners could never send money to family members or even invest.
In September of 1913, the coal miners had had enough. They banded together and demanded fair treatment and decent pay from their oppressors. They demanded the enforcement of the 8-hour work day and the right to live outside of company towns. When their demands were not met, the miners went on strike. Over 13,000 miners and their families moved out of the poorly made houses (shacks provided by the company) and into primitive tents. The land on which the tents were placed was loaned to the strikers by ex-miners who sympathized and supported the strikers' union.
Louis Tikas and John Lawson were prominent figures in leading the rebellion. John Lawson was the man who drew together most of the demands and presented them to the coal company.
Mother Jones, a celebrity in the labor movement, paid a visit to Ludlow to show her support, She did this by giving powerful speeches, and being the vivacious fire brand she was, she instilled hope and faith in the strikers.
The coal company was furious and, after imprisoning Mother Jones, began threatening the strikers. They began shooting into the tent colony, attempting to frighten the strikers back to work; but they were met with retaliation from the colony. The coal company armed a train that, running along a track between the colony and the mines, began firing into he tent colony.
In mid-October the company, in evil desperation, ordered in four machine guns. They strapped the guns to a car that they called the "Death Special." When the colony learned of this they immediately dug pits under the tents to protect the women and children from the gunfire.
No sooner had the strikers completed these pits than the armored car, bearing the machine guns and coal officials with rifles, opened fire on the colony. This lead to the death of one miner and the injury of two small children.
Colorado Governor Elias Ammons saw the trouble that was brewing and in late October, called in the Colorado National Guard. The militia was sent in with the intention of being neutral, but there was a separation among the men of the militia. Many were biased, as they were veteran strike-breakers from the coal strike of 1904. Those who did not have this experience to compel them against the strikers, were easily bought by the coal company. When the militia arrived they were not getting paid, based on an imbalance between the number of officers vs. enlisted men. Plus, the economy's inability to handle that influx. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company paid the militia from $75,000 to $80,000, stationed troops in company buildings and supplied them with goods from company stores. The militia became economically dependent on the company and thereby set their goals on quashing the strikers.
A month later the pasing of a bill by General Chase (a leader of the militia), declared that all unauthorized arms were to be turned in to him. When General Chase received a delivery of obsolete weapons (including a number of children's pop-guns) from the colony he was outraged. He had received a total of 2,000 weapons, 3/4 of which were coming form the mine officials. Because of the insult the militia received from the colony, they began supplying the company with guns.
After months of disarray, the coal officials saw that the strikers were not going to give-in to the militia. The company demanded the release of imaginary people (supposedly held captive by the colony). The colony denied possession of any such people, as they did not actually exist.
The coal company was growing desperate. On April 20, 1914 Karl Linderfelt, a company officer and a bitter veteran of the strike of 1904, lead the militia in a brutal attack. The militia surrounded the colony and opened fire. The strikers defended themselves as best they could while women and children huddled in trenches dug out underneath tables in the tents.
A train operator who was running his train past the coal mines at the time of the massacre stopped his train between the two sides in an attempt to end the blood-shed. By doing this, the man saved many lives and opened a doorway for Louis Tikas to begin leading the women and children to a cave over the hills. When Tikas retuned he was kidnapped by the coal company and taken to their side. Although Tikas was unarmed, his head was cracked open with the butt of a rifle and he was then shot in the back.
Among the dead were 11 children and 2 women who were suffocated in he underground trenches when the colony was set aflame.
After the combat, when all was quiet and the firing had stopped, over 60 people had lost their lives.
The murders received national publicity and finally stopped when President Wilson sent in US troops at the request of Colorado Governor Ammons, to restore the peace.
The strike officially ended in December of 1914 and the miners were forced back to work. Soon after the strike was put to an end, Governor Ammons enforced the pre-existing Colorado labor laws upon the company.
But it wasn't until 1935 that workers attained true laboring rights including: pay for 'dead work', the right to live off company land, better housing
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