You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Thursday October 8, 1903
Denver, Colorado - Governor Peabody Orders Court-Martial to Investigate Charges
With persistent rumors of a widespread scandal within the Colorado state militia related to the Cripple Creek campaign, Governor Peabody released the following statement:
Charges and specifications against certain men and officers of the Colorado National Guard have been filed with me which will be immediately inquired into.
They are charges of a most serious nature, and I shall order a court-martial to investigate them thoroughly...
Gen. Chase has not been removed, but he will remain in Denver for present.
SOURCE
The New York Times
-of Oct 7, 1903
http://select.nytimes.com/...
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Wednesday October 8, 1913
Ludlow Tent Colony - Gunthugs fire into tents, miners rally to defend the camp.
Several striking miners walked up to Hastings from Ludlow yesterday attempting to collect their mail from the U. S. Post Office there. When mine guards refused them their mail, they argued briefly, but then headed back toward Ludlow. The guards laughed and fired shots over their heads as they walked away.
A short while later, Walter Belk and George Belcher, the same Baldwin-Felts gunthugs who were involved in the murder of Brother Lippiatt, drove near to Ludlow and let loose with a volley of shots into the tents. When miners came running to defend the Colony, more guards began shooting. The miners took up their guns and returned fire.
Women and children ran from the tents and gathered at the fence on the west side of the camp. Seeing that they were exposed to fire, John Lawson ran along the fence urging the women and children back to the tents. As the miners forced the guards to retreat, the women and children, singing union songs, returned to camp.
There are reports that shots were fired at the camp again this morning. John Lawson urged the miners not to leave the camp in pursuit of the guards, but to stay close by:
While you fellows run down there a mile or so the Hastings guards will come down and take the tent colony.
The miners are taking Lawson's advice. They remain in the camp with their rifles close at hand.
SOURCE
Out of the Depths
The Story of John R. Lawson, a Labor Leader
-by Barron B. Beshoar
(1st ed 1942)
CO, 1980
Photo: Working Class Heroes (see below for link) gives this discription of the photo:
Armed Miners Grouped by White Tents, 4/1914-Trinidad, CO- United Mine Workers military headquarters. Photo shows some of the armed miners involved in the coal strike war of the Ludlow mines. Filed 5/5/1914. — Image by ? Bettmann/CORBIS
Used here to represent the miners who defended Ludlow on Oct 7 & 8, 1913.
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Tuesday October 8, 2013
While searching for the photo, I came upon a long poem by Richard Myers:
Helen and Gust of Ludlow
“He’s haunted by the memory
Of heroes that he could not save,
And it was Gust that drove the dray
Collecting children for the grave.”
I left. I went alone that night
Where miners and their families died.
I searched for answers in the pits
Where helpless children tried to hide.
I raged at phantoms on the hill
Whence gunfire `cross the plain had swept,
And then before the monument
I knelt down on the ground and wept.
Read entire poem here:
http://www.workingclassheroes.me/...
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The Battle Cry of Freedom
The Battle Cry of Union,
The Miners' Battle Cry of Freedom
We will win the fight today, boys,
We'll win the fight today,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union;
We will rally from the coal mines,
We'll fight them to the end,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union.
The Union forever, hurrah boys, hurrah!
Down with the gunthugs, and up with the law;
For we're coming, Colorado, we're coming all the way,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Union.