Huerfano World - April 20, 1989
75th Anniversary of Ludlow Tragedy Today
by Nancy Christofferson
Today, April 20, marks the 75th anniversary of the tragedy we know as the
Ludlow Massacre, during which 19 people, mostly women and children, were killed
in a murderous exchange of gunfire and the fiery destruction of the tent city
of Ludlow.
Although Ludlow is over 20 miles south of Walsenburg and located in Las
Animas County, what happened there in 1914, had dramatic and long-lasting effects
on Huerfano County, the state of Colorado and, indeed, the entire nation. For
the battle at Ludlow was one of the more severe growing pains of organized
labor which was trying to protect the rights of the miner against the long,
undisputed rule of industrial might.
The United Mine Workers won many converts in Southern Colorado during the
early years of this century. The coal companies were unanimously against
organization of their workers and many mines would not even hire union men. UMW
meetings were often secret affairs since some men faced dismissal if found to be a
member.
Long before any union reached the coalfields, miners had gone out on strike.
Filthy housing in company camps, dangerous conditions in mines, questionable
salary policies, the lack of benefits for both the miner and his survivors if
killed in the mine, were a few of the reasons for these walkouts.
A strike in 1903-04 brought improved circumstances for the miners, but many
of the concessions, such as the right to organize, were later revoked by the
coal operators.
Other walkouts were staged until, on Sept. 23, 1913, mines all over Colorado
went out on strike, prepared for a long hiatus from work until operators
granted their demands.
The companies immediately evicted the strikers and their families from the
company-owned housing. The UMW provided tents and provisions for them. There
were some 10 or 12 tent colonies stretched along the foothills in Huerfano and
Las Animas Counties, of which Ludlow was said to be the largest.
The strike of 1913-14 was particularly violent. One day after it was called,
Segundo's marshal, Robert Lee was killed. By the end of the year, there were
12 more casualties in the two counties.
The winter passed fairly quietly, with so few incidents that many troops of
the state militia were removed by April 10. But both the strikers and their
guards were ready for a confrontation. The strikers had little to do but complain
of the troopers arrogance, of the searchlights that played over their cramped
tents night after night and to conjecture apprehensively about the notorious
armored car mounted with a machine gun manned by company guards. The troops
were equally bored and equally offended by the strikers' jeers and insults.
Sunday, Apr. 20, started off quietly enough at Ludlow. It was a warm spring
day, though patches of snow remained in shady places around the colony. A ball
game was organized and soon play was underway. However, some of the guards and
strikers became involved in an argument and soon the real battle began.
According to the Walsenburg Independent, "War broke out at Ludlow early
Monday morning when a bunch of the company's killers, under the notorious
Linderfelt, started shooting up the tent colony. From all reports it appears that
several of the killers went to the Miners ball game on Sunday, and after starting a
row, got roughly handled. In retaliation, bandit Linderfelt, took his
'Blood Hounds' to Ludlow and opened fire on the Tent Colony. . . "
The staff of the Independent was a little excitable, and certainly
prejudiced, but even the most staid of newspapers deplored the deaths of the innocent
women and children.
Early reports of the battle conflicted in almost every detail - at first it
was said 33 were killed. The strikers blamed the guards and vice versa, but if
anyone knew just who had fired the first shot, he never told.
The battle at Ludlow lasted three days. A running battle continued in the
area, culminating with the bloody battle at Walsenburg which ended when federal
troops arrived at the end of the month. By that time, about 50 more people had
died. This included five women and three children who were among the 30 killed
when trapped beneath a burning building at Empire.
Of the 19 who died at Ludlow, only one was a trooper, and only five of the
others were actually combatants. The others were the women and children
suffocated under their burning tent, except for young William Snyder, age 11, who was
passing nearby and accidentally shot down. Two of the victims were women and
ten were children under the age of eight.
This horrible tragedy focused the entire nation's attention on the coal
strike in Southern Colorado. Though the walkout continued for months afterwards,
the union had found its leverage. Through public sentiment and government
investigations, people were finally listening to the lowly miner and his protector,
the UMW.
A monument was soon erected by the UMW over the "death hole" where the
innocent had died at Ludlow. For many years, union leaders gathered to remind the
members of the atrocities, the hard work to organize and the benefits currently
enjoyed. Thousands attended these events, many of whom had been present during
the battle.
Today, the mines are closed and miners otherwise employed, but the memory of
the Ludlow Massacre continues to have a lasting effect on all who share the
rich history of the coal mining district.
Commemorating 85 years . . .Ludlow Massacre, by Nancy Christofferson - Huerfano World - April 15, 1999
Tuesday, April 20 marks the 85th anniversary of the tragedy we know of as the Ludlow Massacre.
On that fateful day, April 20, 1914, at least nine men, two women and twelve children were killed in a storm of bullets and fire which totally destroyed the tent colony of Ludlow. Ludlow was not a coal mine, but a colony established at Ludlow Station on the Colorado and Southern Railroad.
Ludlow is now a symbol of the strife that occurred during the growth of the United Mine Workers of America in southern Colorado.
The coal miners' strike of 1913-1914 was the longest and bloodiest of all those ever staged in the southern coalfields of Huerfano and Las Animas counties, and there were quite a few.
An almost equally protracted strike in 1903-1904 brought the miners some relief in the way of reforms and new laws, but the big coal operators, notably Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, were prone to ignoring niggling little things like laws.
In 1913, the miners had seven demands, which they called proposals. One, they wanted a 10 percent increase on the tonnage rate and day scale of payment. Two, they wanted an eight hour work day. Three, they wanted pay for "dead work" such as clearing rooms for later mining, timbering the rooms and such work. Four, they wanted to elect their own weighmen, since the company weighmen had a tendency to weigh low, thus causing a lower payment to the miner. Five, they wanted the right to trade at any store, choose any boarding place and any physician, instead of those provided by the company. Six, they wanted enforcement of the mining laws and abolition of the mine guard system. And, seven, they demanded recognition of the union.
Now, except for the first proposal, their 10 percent raise in pay, and the last, recognition of the union, all these demands were already state laws!
CF&I, as one of the biggest taxpayers in these counties, had a lot of clout politically and friends in high places, so blithely ignored any laws found inconvenient. Because some of these friends were officers of the law, miners had grievances against the company had little chance of winning their battles.
The companies' hold on local politicians was so blatant that the 1914 report of the Commission on Industrial Relations later found that "Not only the government of the counties [Las Animas and Huerfano] but that of the state, has been brought under their dominion and forced to do the companies' bidding, and the same companies have even flaunted the will of the nation as expressed by the President of the United States."
Conditions were prime for unionization so that the miners could band together to force the operators to concede certain points.
Southern Colorado was in District 15 of the UMW. John R. Lawson was an executive board member and the major representative of the miners in this district. He hired many union organizers, including one Louis Tikas, known as "Louie the Greek," who served in this area.
Tikas and his fellow organizers had great success among the thousands of miners in southern Colorado. When the UMW called a strike to begin Sept. 23, 1913, nearly 13,000 men of Huerfano and Las Animas counties threw down their shovels and walked off their jobs. About 9,000 of these men were employees of the CF&I.
Immediately, these strikers were evicted from their company-owned homes and, with their families, moved into the tent colonies the union had provided on leased or borrowed lands.
Ludlow was said to have been the largest of these colonies, with about 800 people living there, of whom some 400 to 500 were men.
Other tent colonies went up in Suffield, Starkville, Sopris, Rugby, Oak Creek, Aguilar, Cokedale, Forbes, El Moro, Trinidad, Walsenburg, La Veta, Monson and Pictou.
The very next day, Sept. 24, occurred the first violence of the strike when Marshal Robert Lee of Segundo was murdered and a house in Aguilar was blown up by dynamite. Both acts were blamed on the strikers.
In the next few days, more trouble came, with holdups, beatings and rifle fire. Sept. 29 a large group of men attacked the Oakdale mine near La Veta, spraying the homes and buildings with bullets in an attempt to frighten the strikebreakers, or scabs, who as non-union members, continued working during the called strike. Many of these strikebreakers, especially at Oakview, were Japanese who were not allowed to join the union.
Many incidents happened around Ludlow as strikers fired on trains, cars and passersby. On Oct. 9 the strikers killed a local young cowboy, Mack Powell. On Oct. 25 they killed Deputy Sheriff John Nimmo. The following day a battle in nearby Berwind canon resulted in the death of Deputy Tom Whitney. Two days later two small children of Berwind were shot.
So, on Oct. 29, Governor Ammons sent in the Colorado National Guard. Businessmen of the district as well as the coal company officials had requested him to do so.
Formerly, the "contest" was between the strikers and mine guards and officers of the law. Operators hired these guards to protect the strikebreakers as well as company property and equipment, but many of the guards were common thugs who liked to carry guns and bully people.
The night the militia arrived, strikers burned the Southwestern mine tipple and buildings including the post office.
John Chase, Adjutant General for the State of Colorado, headed the militia in southern Colorado. He was ordered to disarm everyone in the strike zone who was not authorized to carry weapons, to close all saloons, to keep mine guards on the mine property and to protect those wanting to work and to see no strikebreakers were shipped in.
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