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N0KFQ > TODAY 20.04.13 17:22l 62 Lines 2809 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Apr 20
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...
Apr 20, 1914:
Militia slaughters strikers at Ludlow, Colorado
Ending a bitter coal-miners' strike, Colorado militiamen attack a
tent colony of strikers, killing dozens of men, women, and
children.
The conflict had begun the previous September. About 11,000
miners in southern Colorado went on strike against the powerful
Colorado Fuel & Iron Corporation (CF&I) to protest low pay,
dangerous working conditions, and the company's autocratic
dominance over the workers' lives. The CF&I, which was owned by
the Rockefeller family and Standard Oil, responded to the strike
by immediately evicting the miners and their families from
company-owned shacks. With help from the United Mine Workers, the
miners moved with their families to canvas tent colonies
scattered around the nearby hills and continued to strike.
When the evictions failed to end the strike, the Rockefeller
interests hired private detectives that attacked the tent
colonies with rifles and Gatling guns. The miners fought back,
and several were killed. When the tenacity of the strikers became
apparent, the Rockefellers approached the governor of Colorado,
who authorized the use of the National Guard. The Rockefellers
agreed to pay their wages.
At first, the strikers believed that the government had sent the
National Guard to protect them. They soon discovered, though,
that the militia was under orders to break the strike. On this
day in 1914, two companies of guardsmen attacked the largest tent
colony of strikers near the town of Ludlow, home to about 1,000
men, women, and children. The attack began in the morning with a
barrage of bullets fired into the tents. The miners shot back
with pistols and rifles.
After a strike leader was killed while attempting to negotiate a
truce, the strikers feared the attack would intensify. To stay
safe from gunfire, women and children took cover in pits dug
beneath the tents. At dusk, guardsmen moved down from the hills
and set the tent colony on fire with torches, shooting at the
families as they fled into the hills. The true carnage, however,
was not discovered until the next day, when a telephone linesman
discovered a pit under one of the tents filled with the burned
remains of 11 children and 2 women.
Although the "Ludlow Massacre" outraged many Americans, the
tragedy did little to help the beleaguered Colorado miners and
their families. Additional federal troops crushed the
coal-miners' strike, and the miners failed to achieve recognition
of their union or any significant improvement in their wages and
working conditions. Sixty-six men, women, and children died
during the strike, but not a single militiaman or private
detective was charged with any crime.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@hotmail.com
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