You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Wednesday January 6, 1904
Denver, Colorado - Deported Men of the W. F. of M. Tell Their Stories
Several of the men who were recently deported from Telluride have made their way to the headquarters of the Western Federation of Miners in Denver. Among them are Vice President J. C. Williams and General Engley, Civil war Veteran and defense attorney.
Vice President Williams gave this account of the deportations:
The men were at the union hall enjoying a literary entertainment when..
At eight o'clock Captain Scholes came with a bunch of soldiers to get us. They took us to the court house, lined us up to march to the station. It was bitter cold, and a lot of the men were worried leaving their families like that without any one to look after them. I saw one of the wives coming along nearly at a run, carrying a little kid and crying as she came. She tried to fall in line with us beside her husband, but one of the dirty yellow-legs shoved her back on the side walk. We got down to the depot and they herded us onto the train, and just before we pulled out I saw the same woman on the platform, all in with hurrying, and her face twisted up with misery. She climbed on to the train. She couldn't afford to get left behind. She looked too sick to look after the baby, let alone work.
They were mad clear through, being force to leave their houses and families like that. They had lived there for years, and here they were being kicked out, "not wanted," by a bunch that thought it owned the town. A lot of them made up their minds to go back on the next train they could get.
A. H. Floaten, the manager of the union's cooperative store which provides relief for the strikers in the Telluride district, was also among those deported. He came to Union Headquarters with his clothes still torn and bloody. The soldiers-turned-gunthugs came to his home in the night as he was getting ready for bed. They dragged him out of his home, half-dressed and with his shoes in his hands. One of the soldiers used his gun to beat Brother Floaten on the head. The inch-long gash bled profusely as Floaten was dragged down the street to the train depot.
SOURCE
The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood
(1st pub 1929)
International Pub, 1983
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Tuesday January 6, 1914
Denver, Colorado - Military's Deportation of Mother Jones Reported Across the Nation
General Chase and the Colorado National Guard, perhaps, got more publicity than bargained for with the heavy-handed tactics employed in deporting Mother Jones from Trinidad on Sunday. The story has become national news and continues to be reported in small and large newspapers. We offer, as examples, two newspapers where the story was front-page news.
From The Daily Free Press of Carbondale, Illinois:
"MOTHER" JONES IS DEFIANT
Deported from Colorado Strike Zone to "Preserve Peace,"
She Declares She's Going Back.
Denver. Jan. 6.-"Mother" Jones, in Denver, declared she would make another attempt to go to the southern Colorado coal fields following her deportation from Trinidad Sunday, by state militiamen. Gen. John Chase, commanding the troops at Trinidad, announce that she was deported to "preserve peace."
"I'm going back to Trinidad just as soon as I get ready. I'm going back there to assert my constitutional rights. Adjt. Chase may put me in jail, but Mother Jones is not meekly going to be robbed of her rights," she said.
"The presence of Mrs. Jones here at this time cannot be tolerated," said Chase. "She had planned to go to the Ludlow tent colony of strikers to stop the desertion of union members. If she returns she will be placed in jail and held incommunicado."
From
The Scranton Truth of Scranton, Pennsylvania:
GROSS VIOLATION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IS CHARGED
Washington, D. C., Jan. 6.-"Gross violation of constitutional rights" by the Colorado militia in the Trinidad coal strike were charged in a telegram received today by Representative Keating of Colorado from a committee of five appointed by the Colorado Federation of Labor, at the suggestion of the governor, to investigate the coal strike. They appealed for a congressional investigation of the strike.
They indicated that impeachment charges would be filed against General Chase, commanding the militia. That further deportations of strike leaders are planned by the militia, following that of "Mother" Jones, was asserted in the telegram.
Keating replied he had every reason to believe congress would order an investigation soon after reconvening January 12.
SOURCES
The Daily Free Press
(Carbondale, Illinois)
-of Jan 6, 1914
The Scranton Truth
(Scranton, Pennsylvania)
-of Jan 6, 1914
Photo: Mother Jones, The Miners' Angel
http://www.greatthoughtstreasury.com/...
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Monday January 6, 2014
More on the Keating Resolution:
The Keating Resolution for a Congressional Investigation of conditions in Colorado passed later in January and this victory was announced at the Convention of the United Mine Workers of America:
EIGHTH DAY-MORNING SESSION
Indianapolis, Ind., January 28, 1914.
The convention was called to order at 9 o'clock a. m., Wednesday, January 28, President White in the chair.
The following telegrams were read:
"Washington, D. C, January 27, 1914. "J. P. White, Indianapolis, Ind.:
"Resolution of Representative Keating, Colorado, and Representative MacDonald, Michigan, to investigate conditions existing in Colorado and Michigan passed House of Representatives tonight by one hundred and fifty-one for, fifteen voting against it. Resolution referred to Committee on Mines and Mining for action. Another splendid victory for organized labor.
"WILLIAM R. FAIRLEY."
SOURCE
Proceedings of the ... Convention of the United Mine Workers of America ...,
Volumes 1-2
United Mine Workers of America
1914
-page 597, using scroll bar at bottom of document
http://books.google.com/...
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Miner's Life-Kilshannig
Soon this trouble will be ended,
Union men will have their rights,
After many years of bondage,
Digging days and digging nights.
Then by honest weight we labor,
Union miners never fail;
Keep your hand upon the dollar
And your eyes upon the scale.