You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday December 13, 1914
Denver, Colorado - The Testimony of Mr. M. G. Low, Neighbor of Ludlow Tent Colony
Militia and Mine Guards Ready to Attack the Ludlow Tent Colony
On Thursday, December 10th, Mr. M. G. Low appeared before the
Commission on Industrial Relations in Denver and was questioned by Chairman Walsh. He gave harrowing testimony regarding that terrible day last April when the gunthug-infested militia attacked the Ludlow Tent Colony, near to which Mr. Low was living and working. He told how his five-year-old daughter came running to him and cried:
Take me out of here, daddy, there is going to be a fight.
She had seen the militia approaching and was deathly afraid of them, Mr. Low testified.
Mr. Low assisted women and children into the shelter of a large well and then ran, with his little daughter in his arms, to the arroyo behind the tent colony as bullets flew around him.
Mr. Low also testified about the day that Lt. Linderfelt went on a rampage about a cavalryman's horse having tripped over barbed wire. He ordered his men to cut down all nearby barbed-wire fences. The militia then threw that rusty barbed wire down the well at Ludlow, the source of water for the entire tent colony.
Mr. Low testified:
l saw them when they was cutting it up and saw them take it over and throw it down in the well, and after they had gone I walked down there and saw the wire in the well and saw the wire after the union men pulled the wire out of the well.
TESTIMONY OF MR. M. G. LOW.
Chairman Walsh. What is your name, please?
Mr. Low. M. G. Low.
Chairman Walsh. And what is your business?
Mr. Low. I am a pump man for the C. & S. Railroad Co. at Ludlow, Colo.
Chairman Walsh. Pump man?
Mr. Low. In the water service; yes.
Chairman Walsh. Did you testify before the military commission of which Maj. Boughton
was a member?
Mr. Low. No. sir.
Chairman Walsh. You are the pump man at Ludlow?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. And do you have a water tank there?
Mr. Low. Yes. sir.
Chairman Walsh. Did you testify before the congressional committee?
Mr. Low. No, I never testified.
Chairman Walsh. Have you ever testified in regard to this matter any place?
Mr. Low. The only testimony I ever gave—and I don't know whether that was testimony,
exactly—this Capt. van Cise—is that his name?
Chairman Walsh. Yes.
Mr. Low. He came to the pump house, and him and some other officers—l should judge
he was—and he asked me what I knew about the facts, and I just told him what I knew
about it.
Chairman Walsh. You told him all you knew about it?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Did he ask you about the conduct of the militia before the fight?
Mr. Low. No; he didn't ask me about the conduct of the militia.
Chairman Walsh. Just asked you what you knew about the fact?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. And you were not ordered to appear or requested to appear before his
committee?
Mr. Low. No, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Now, how long have you lived in Ludlow?
Mr. Low. I have been in Ludlow—it will be a year—I came down a year the 27th of last
June—or August, l should say.
Chairman Walsh. Where did you live before that?
Mr. Low. In Trinidad.
Chairman Walsh. Now, how long did you live in Trinidad?
Mr. Low. Very near nine years, l think.
Chairman Walsh. How long have you lived in the State of Colorado?
Mr. Low. Well, I have been here about 41 years.
Chairman Walsh. And where did you come from?
Mr. Low. Came from Ohio.
Chairman Walsh. Native of Ohio?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. What general businesses have you followed in the State of Colorado?
Mr. Low. Well, l was with the Continental Oil Co. 22 years, or a little over.
Chairman Walsh. In what capacity?
Mr. Low. Well, I was foreman of the warehouse at Trinidad and, in fact, all branches of it.
Chairman Walsh. Are you a married man?
Mr. Low. Yes. sir.
Chairman Walsh. Do you live at this place where your water tank is located?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. l wish—I see Gen. Chase coming in. Will you please retire for a moment. I want to ask him a couple of questions.
[At which point, Gen. Chase was briefly questioned.]
TESTlMONY OF MR. M. G. LOW— Recalled.
Chairman Walsh. Where is your house located with reference to the water tank?
Mr. Low. Well, l guess it must be about 150 or 200 yards north of the water tank.
Chairman Walsh. Have you a well there?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Where is the well with reference to your house?
Mr. Low. North of my house, l should judge, about 30 feet.
Chairman Walsh. About 30 feet north of your house?
Mr. Low. Yes. sir.
Chairman Walsh. Please give me a general description of your house.
Mr. Low. The house is like pretty nearly all along the C. & S., a box car set off to one side
and an addition built onto it, making three rooms.
Chairman Walsh. And in that you live with your family?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir
Chairman Walsh. Consisting of what?
Mr. Low. My daughter and my wife. I have three sons, but they are not at home much of
the time.
Chairman Walsh. How old is your daughter?
Mr. Low. Five years old, going on six.
Chairman Walsh. Where was your house located with reference to the tent colony?
Mr. Low. The Ludlow—the old colony was south and a very little east of my place,
perhaps maybe just about the same distance from the tank. I judge about 200 yards to
the first tent.
The Ludlow Tent Colony
Chairman Walsh. Where was the place known as Water Tank Hill?
Mr. Low. That is south of the C. & S. Railroad depot.
Chairman Walsh. How far south?
Mr. Low. From the depot or my place?
Chairman Walsh. From your place.
Mr. Low. Well, it must be about—it is a mile, anyhow.
Chairman Walsh. Where was the camp of the militia from your house?
Mr. Low. The camp of the militia was very near west and possibly a little south of my
house, and about between three and four hundred yards from the water tank; west and
a little south.
Chairman Walsh. Were you there when the militia came to Ludlow?
Mr. Low. Yes.
Chairman Walsh. What was the attitude of the strikers toward the militia when they first
arrived?
Mr. Low. I was not acquainted with any of them except Company K, I believe it was.
Chairman Walsh. When did you first see Lieut. Linderfelt?
Mr. Low. l could not say exactly; l saw him a good many times. It was Company K, was
the company down at Ludlow.
Chairman Walsh. When did he come there with reference to the 20th day of April, 1913
[1914], the day of the trouble?
Mr. Low. I did not see him on the day of the trouble.
Chairman Walsh. No; but, l say, how long before that trouble did Linderfelt come into the
neighborhood, Lieut. Linderfelt?
Mr. Low. I don't know; I heard of him, off and on, ever since the militia was first sent
down there.
Chairman Walsh. Please tell whether the attitude of the strikers toward the militia
changed at any time, and if so, if you knew the reason why.
Mr. Low. Well, it did. When the company first came to Ludlow they were friendly to the
union men and everybody else, and they were nice men. I don't belong to any union
and was neutral; I didn't have any cause to take part with either side, and the boys in
Company K treated me like a gentleman, and they were friends with the miners and
with me and apparently with everybody else around there.
Chairman Walsh. When did you first notice any change in the attitude of the militia
toward the strikers, we will say, first?
Mr. Low. I could not say exactly; it came on kind of gradual, and must have started after
they had been down there, I suppose, maybe six weeks or such a matter.
Chairman Walsh. Just describe the conduct of the militia toward the strikers after their
attitude changed.
Mr. Low. Well, I should tell you—they abused them when any of them would go to the
depot or any place, and they would run them off. I saw them kick men off of the
platform down at the depot and saw them run them away with guns, men who were
attending strictly to their own business.
Chairman Walsh. How frequently did you see that?
Mr. Low. Two or three times a week; and sometimes I would go down to the depot every
night.
Chairman Walsh. As to any language out of the ordinary that you heard used by the
militia toward the strikers, I wish you would state.
Mr. Low. No one could have used any worse language than was used to those men.
Chairman Walsh. What was the attitude of the militia with reference to sobriety?
Mr. Low. Well, l don't know. I should judge, after the battle there, the way the whisky
bottles was scattered up and down the track and around the place, none of them could
have been sober.
Chairman Walsh. Describe the attitude of the strikers toward the militia.
Mr. Low. Well, it is just like this: You take an animal and drive him into a corner and he is
going to fight.
Chairman Walsh. How did they act as to language toward the militia?
Mr. Low. They have always treated me and my wife and family all right.
Chairman Walsh. What can you say as to the feeling of the strikers toward the officers in
charge of the companies that remained in Ludlow after the major portion of them were
taken away?
Mr. Low. I can't say. From what little l heard I can't say they were in any way in love with
them. They seemed to be kind of restless and scared all the time for fear something was
going to happen.
Chairman Walsh. Were you present when the fight at Ludlow started?
Mr. Low. I was.
Chairman Walsh. Please describe the beginning of the fight, briefly.
Mr. Low. I was in my boiler room. My wife had gone to Trinidad that morning on the
Colorado & Southern road and the little girl was with me alone. She was outside of the
boiler house and she came running in and said, "Take me, daddy, there is going to be a
fight," and I picked her up in my arms and l said to her, "I guess you just saw some
militia riding around that has kind of scared you" She was deathly afraid of them. And
she said "No; there is going to be a fight." And just at that time a bomb exploded.
Chairman Walsh. Did you hear any shot before that bomb exploded?
Mr. Low. No, sir; not before that bomb exploded. The bomb was the first explosion I
heard, and that was over toward where Company K had their camp when they first
came down.
Chairman Walsh. Had you ever heard a bomb explosion of that kind before while you
were down there?
Mr. Low. They got dynamite over in the camps when they were searching for guns and
the dynamite was confiscated and they took it into the hills and exploded it every once
in awhile up there, and I could hear the explosion.
Chairman Walsh. Proceed.
Mr. Low. When I heard the explosion I stepped to the door of my boiler house and looked
over to the west and saw dust in the air. I thought nothing of that then because I
thought maybe they were exploding some of this dynamite, and the little girl was still in
my arms, and she said to me again, "Take me out of here, daddy, there is going to be a
fight." And I said, "Keep quiet, you are scared." And I just got in and turned around,
and it could not have been over three or four minutes between the two explosions when
the second bomb exploded, and then I went to the door and looked, and they were
running from the tent colony in all directions. Women were coming toward my place and
toward the arroyo and scattering out. Then I didn't think so much of it and I went back
and was working on my boiler with the little girl in my arms and I heard a rifle
discharged, and it must have been a minute afterwards when there was a general volley
all along Water Tank Hill. The shots were coming in that direction; several went through
the top of my building. They went high. There were 109 bullets hit the boiler house and
the house I lived in; 7 hit the head of the boiler and 2 went through and penetrated the
boiler.
Then I took my little girl—it got to be about a quarter past 10. I took my little girl in
my arms and there were still some women and children around there and around the
well. The steps down into the well were very unsafe and were kind of rotten, and I said
to them, "Be careful going down those steps, you might as well be shot as drown." The
well was nearly 100 feet deep. And I got them quiet and they went down in the well.
And I took my little girl and went down to the big arroyo, and as I went past the boiler
house a bullet fanned my ear. If l had had my little girl in my right arm she would have
been killed, but she was in my left arm. I went down to the arroyo and then the firing
became general, and I went on down to Bayes ranch and stayed there that day.
Chairman Walsh. Did you have an interview with any of the military officers in regard to
the fight at the boiler house?
Mr. Low. Mr. Hamrock came over to see me. l think just a week from the time they had
the fight, and he says to me, "Are you the man that runs this pump station?" and l said,
"Yes, sir." He said, "Where were you during the fight?" l said, "l stayed here until about
10 or a quarter past 10."
Chairman Walsh. What time did the first firing begin?
Mr. Low. It was quarter after 8 o'clock; it must have been 8 and quarter past 8.
Chairman Walsh. You are sure it was not as late as half past 8 or 9 o'clock, are you?
Mr. Low. It might have been possibly half past 8; l didn't look at my watch. It was some
time along there, from the time I had been working on my boiler. Mr. Hamrock said—I
told him—l said, "l stayed here until about 10 or a quarter past 10, then I made my
escape; l got out of the way." Shall I tell the language he used toward me?
Chairman Walsh. Yes; tell us the exact language.
Mr. Low. He said, "Yes; it is a God damned good thing for you that you did." And I said,
"I am well aware of the fact." He said. "Do you know Louie Tikas?" l said. "l am not
intimately acquainted with him, but I know him and speak to him when I see him." He
said, "Was he in your boiler shop that morning?" l said, "No, sir; he was not in the boiler
shop that morning unless he came in after quarter past 10. There was no one in here
when I went out." He said, "Where did this fire first start?" And l said, "The first shot
was on Water Tank Hill or in that direction." He said, "By God, that is all I want to know
of you," and he turned around and rode away.
Chairman Walsh. You say that you were not summoned before that investigating
committee?
Mr. Low. No, sir; l was not.
Chairman Walsh. You say that Capt. van Cise talked to you about it?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Capt. van Cise, if I remember the testimony correctly, said you were
before that investigating committee.
Mr. Low. That is wrong; this is the first time I was called by any investigating committee.
Chairman Walsh. Were any threats made by any persons against you?
Mr. Low. I heard almost directly that Mr. Linderfelt had given his men instructions that if
anything started they were to kill that old son-of-a-bitch that ran that pump station.
Chairman Walsh. Had you any trouble with Linderfelt?
Mr. Low. No, sir; I never had a word with him.
Chairman Walsh. Had you had any trouble with any of the military officers or members of
the militia while you were there?
Mr. Low. No, sir.
Chairman Walsh. No words of any kind?
Mr. Low. No words at all.
Chairman Walsh. You say you were not a member of a union?
Mr. Low. I am a member of no union.
Chairman Walsh. Had you ever been?
Mr. Low. No, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Did you answer all questions put to you by Maj. Hamrock as well as you
could?
Mr. Low. I answered all of the questions he asked me; I just gave him good, straight
answers, and the conversation was very short between us.
Chairman Walsh. When Capt. van Cise talked to you, what did you tell him?
Mr. Low. I don't know as I can tell you the exact language, but he wanted to know of me
—asked me if there was men around my place or down to the bridge, this big steel
bridge up this side of my place across the arroyo, and l told him there was men there.
He said, "Did they have civilian clothes on?" And l said, "I can't tell exactly whether they
did or not." And he wanted to know if I thought they were union men, or words to that
effect, and I said, "I don't know, I was in a hurry to get out and I didn't have time to
take any notice." They might have been mine guards and they might have been union
men and they might not, because I saw lots of mine guards in civilian clothes walking
up and down guarding the track.
Chairman Walsh. Is this a large well connected with your tank?
Mr. Low. It is between 95 and 100 feet deep and 22 feet across.
Chairman Walsh. Now, you stated you gave some people there some advice about going
down there?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. How many people did finally go down?
Mr. Low. Well, l should judge there must have been 70 or 75 women and children in the
well.
Chairman Walsh. How long did they stay down in the well?
Mr. Low. Well, they came out of there between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening. I was not
there when they came out, but I was down to the ranch below when they came down.
There was a train pulled in on the C. & S. road going south, and the train stopped right
there close to the pump house, and the soldiers was on the other side of the train and
the well was on that side, and they saw a number get out of there and go down in the
arroyo.
Chairman Walsh. What time did they get out?
Mr. Low. It must have been about 7 o'clock.
Chairman Walsh. In the evening?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. So the 75 women and children were in your well all day?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; they were in the well all day.
Chairman Walsh. There were steps going down into the well?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. And platforms?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; four different landings with steps to each landing.
Chairman Walsh. Is the well covered?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Had the entire 75 women and children gone into the well before you left
there?
Mr. Low. Well, I think they had. I think a few came afterwards, but I didn't know when
they came.
Chairman Walsh. Had you ever been in the tent colony prior to that time?
Mr. Low. Since the tent colony has been there l don't believe I have been over there over
a dozen times.
Chairman Walsh. Prior to this time had the people dug pits or cellars?
Mr. Low. Well, there was lots of tents had cellars under them.
Chairman Walsh. How were they, just dug into the ground?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; dug into the ground and a floor laid over the top of them.
Chairman Walsh. Just as any man would dig under his house?
Mr. Low. Yes
Chairman Walsh. And boards over them?
Mr. Low. Yes.
Chairman Walsh. And this place where the women and children were found dead, where
was that with reference to the tents, what part of the tent colony was that in?
Mr. Low. Well, it is very near to the west end, the west end of the tent colony.
Chairman Walsh. Were you there when the fire broke out?
Mr. Low. No, sir; I was down at Bayes's ranch, a mile below; I saw it about the time it
started.
Chairman Walsh. When did you come back?
Mr. Low. l came back—my wife and I went that night to a ranch about 5 miles away, and
the next morning I took her and the little girl up to Augusta and sent them to Pueblo,
and I went to Trinidad on the freight.
Chairman Walsh. What time did you come back to your house at Ludlow?
Mr. Low. I think it was on Friday; l believe it was.
Chairman Walsh. How far was this place where Louis Tikas and Fyler were killed from
your house?
Mr. Low. Well, it is right close to the water tank, right east of the water tank about 200
yards.
Chairman Walsh. Right east of the water tank about 200 yards?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; from my house.
Chairman Walsh. In what direction?
Mr. Low. Very near south; it may be a little west of south, but l don't think it is.
Chairman Walsh. How close was it to the camp?
Mr. Low. East.
Chairman Walsh. How close to the tent colony?
Mr. Low. Where they were killed?
Chairman Walsh. Yes.
Mr. Low. It could not have been over 50 feet from where the first tent was.
Chairman Walsh. Not over 50 feet?
Mr. Low. No.
Chairman Walsh. Where is this camp—where was this camp where the soldiers were?
Mr. Low. West of my water tank, west of the tent colony.
Chairman Walsh. You saw the place where the body of Tikas was said to have been
found, and Fyler?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. How far was that from the camp of the military, of the militia?
Mr. Low. Well, let's see, that military camp must be about—it can't be over about 450 or
500 yards of where he was killed.
Chairman Walsh. About 500 yards of where Tikas was killed?
Mr. Low. Yes; I should judge that.
Chairman Walsh. What side of the railroad track was he killed?
Mr. Low. On the east side.
Chairman Walsh. You say he was within about 50 feet of the first tent?
Mr. Low. Yes.
Chairman Walsh. And about 250 yards, did you say, from the camp of the militia?
Mr. Low. No, sir; it was worse than that—it was about 450 yards from the camp of the
militia?
Chairman Walsh. About 450 yards from the camp of the militia?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Did you observe—oh, you were not there that evening?
Mr. Low. No.
Chairman Walsh. Were you there when the incident of Lieut. Linderfelt's horse being
caught in a barb wire took place?
Mr. Low. I was not there and did not see it, but l know they took and cut up all the barb
wire there was and threw it into a well where the union people got water from, but I
don't know whether they cut it up because the horse ran into it.
Chairman Walsh. They did what, you say?
Mr. Low. They cut up the barb wire and took it and rolled it up and threw it into a well
that was there where the union people used to get lots of water from.
Chairman Walsh. Where was that well they got the water from?
Mr. Low. It was right south of the camp on the wagon road.
Chairman Walsh. Was it east of the railroad track?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; just about; maybe 125 feet east of the railroad track.
Chairman Walsh. Was it an old well?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; it was an old well.
Chairman Walsh. It had been there before these people made their camp there, the tent
colony?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir.
Chairman Walsh. Did you see them when they cut up the barb wire and threw it down
there?
Mr. Low. I didn't go down there, but l saw them when they was cutting it up and saw
them take it over and throw it down in the well, and after they had gone I walked down
there and saw the wire in the well and saw the wire after the union men pulled the wire
out of the well.
Chairman Walsh. How long did it take them to haul it out of the well?
Mr. Low. Not a great while. I don't think it was over 50 or 75 pounds of wire that was
thrown in the well, but that makes quite a string.
Chairman Walsh. When was that with reference to the 20th of April, the day of the
difficulty?
Mr. Low. The cutting of this wire?
Chairman Walsh. Yes.
Mr. Low. Oh, it was quite awhile before that. I could not tell you exactly how long before.
Chairman Walsh. Did you ever see or hear any altercations between Louis Tikas and any
military officer or soldier?
Mr. Low. I never did. He had the reputation of being a very quiet man.
Chairman Walsh. Was he or was he not frequently around the depot and the water tank?
Mr. Low. He used to be around the depot. He never came over to my pump station. I
don't suppose he was over there more than two or three times all the time I was there.
Chairman Walsh. What was your feeling before this Ludlow difficulty, so far as the militia
was concerned and so far as the strikers were concerned?
Mr. Low. I was neutral. The militia when they first came in there—I will say Company K—
they were gentlemen. After they had been there awhile things got kind of muddled up a
little, but they were a nice lot of men, a fine lot of men, and they seemed to get along
nicely with the union when they first came down.
Chairman Walsh. Did this feeling of neutrality on your part exist during the entire stay of
the militia?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; I have never taken sides with either side.
Chairman Walsh. And have not yet?
Mr. Low. No.
Chairman Walsh. You undertook to give Capt. Hamrock a fair and honest statement of
what took place just as you saw it?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; I told him just as I saw it.
Chairman Walsh. And told him about it in a respectful manner?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; in a gentlemanly way.
Chairman Walsh. Did you answer all questions put to you by Capt. van Cise in a similar
manner?
Mr. Low. Yes, sir; I answered him in the same way.
Chairman Walsh. Thank you, Mr. Low; that is all. You will be excused.
[photographs added]
WE NEVER FORGET
Louie Tikas & James Fyler
----------
SOURCE
Industrial relations: final report and testimony, Vol. 7
United States. Commission on Industrial Relations
D.C. Gov. Print. Office, 1916
(search: 6850)
http://books.google.com/...
IMAGES
Militia and Gunthugs Ready to Attack
http://www.du.edu/...
Ludlow Tent Colony
http://www.cobar.org/...
Bodies of Tikas and Fyler
https://archive.org/...
Ludlow Tent Colony, barbed wire in the well
https://www.du.edu/...
Louie Tikas with barbed wire at Ludlow well
https://archive.org/...
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Working Class Hero - John Lennon
As soon as your born they make you feel small
by giving you no time instead of it all
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all
Working Class Hero is something to be
Working Class Hero is something to be
-John Lennon
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