You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Thursday October 13, 1904
Trinidad, Colorado - Italian Strikers Appeal for Aid, Denounce Mitchell as a "Traitor"
John Mitchell
From today's
Dighton Herald of Kansas:
THIS CIRCULAR CALLS MITCHELL A TRAITOR
Pittsburg, Kan., Oct. 6.-Copies of a circular sent out by a committee of Italians in Trinidad, Colo., were received today in Pittsburg and elsewhere in the district making an appeal for subscriptions and donations for "the aid of the strikers." These circulars are not authorized by the district board of the United Mine Workers of district 14 [15].
The circular makes an attack on President John Mitchell and the national organization of the U. M. W. for withdrawing support from strikers and because of the failure of the national board to sustain the strike, accusing President Mitchell of playing false and being a "traitor," etc. A copy of the circular which was received in Pittsburg has been sent to officials of United Mine Workers of the Colorado district with an inquiry regarding the authority for soliciting in this manner. Although true the national board withdrew aid from the strike, the miners from the southwestern district have extended aid and are now paying an assessment of 50 cents a month for the strike.
Upon further research, we find several newspapers reports from October 4th stating that these circulars were received in Pittsburg, Kansas, on October 3rd. Various newspapers also reported on an interview with the Secretary-Treasure of District 15, U. M. W., who declaimed the circular: "These Italians are working without the sanction of the union and have no authority whatever for their action."
From the Deseret Evening News of October 4th:
ITALIAN MINERS' CIRCULAR.
----------
Sent Out Without Authority of District Number 15
Trinidad, Colo., Oct. 4.-John Simpson, secretary of district 15, United Mine Workers of America, when interviewed concerning the circular sent out by a committee of Italian miners in the city, in which appeals for help are made and John Mitchell is attacked for withdrawing the support of the national body in the coal miners' strike in this district, said:
The circular letter sent out from this district to the union at Pittsburg, Kan., and signed by Italian miners of this district, is entirely without the authority of the United Mine Workers in this district. The appeal for aid which was contained in this letter was not recommended by the union, and the attack on John Mitchell is not countenanced by the union. These Italians are working without the sanction of the union and have no authority whatever for their action.
Mr. Simpson's statement was indorsed by President Howells of district No. 15.
Betrayal of the Italian Miners of Southern Colorado
The Italian miners have their reasons for feeling betrayed by John Mitchell. It was Mitchell who forced through the separate agreement last fall which left them deserted by their mostly English-speaking brothers of the northern Colorado coalfields. While the strikers were living, hungry and cold, through the long Colorado winter, John Mitchell was touring Europe. As Mother Jones describes:
They received sixty-three cents a week strike benefit while John Mitchell went traveling through Europe, staying at fashionable hotels, studying the labor movement.
Mother Jones praises the Italian strikers:
I found that the Italians were always the best strikers when it came to a fight, in spite of the low opinion some people have of the Italians.
Not only have they endured privations during this strike, but Italian strikers have also shed their blood upon the battlefield: Luciano De Santos and Joseph Vilano at Segundo on December 6th, and Michael Calabace at Pryor on March 17th.
Mrs Emma F. Langdon has this to say about the Italian miner:
Too much praise cannot be given the Italian miners for their loyalty in the cause of unionism
----------
SOURCES
The Dighton Herald
(Dighton, Kansas)
-of Oct 13, 1904
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Deseret Evening News
(Salt Lake City, Utah)
-of Oct 4, 1904
http://www.newspapers.com/...
The Autobiography of Mother Jones
-ed by Mary Field Parton
Charles H Kerr, Chicago, 1925
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/...
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/...
The Cripple Creek Strike
A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado, 1903-4-5
-by Emma F Langdon
"Being a Complete and Concise
History of the Efforts of
Organized Capital
to Crush Unionism"
The Great Western Publishing Co.
Denver,Colorado, 1905.
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
http://www.rebelgraphics.org/...
The Weekly Gazette
(Colorado Springs, Colorado)
of March 17, 1904
Note: source for name "Michael Calabace," strikers shot
and killed at Pryor. Newspapers of the day tended to mangle
the "foreign" names, but this is the best source we have for now.
http://www.newspapers.com/...
See also:
"Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones in New York, Praises Italian Miners,
Sells New Book by Debs" by JayRaye
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Note:
The following was the Italian newspaper put out during the strike.
Hopefully I will be able to access it one day, so that we can hear
directly from the Italian strikers how they experienced this strike.
Il Lavoratore Italiano (The Italian Worker),
Trinidad, CO. Weekly: 1904. (photocopy)
IHRC Italian American Collection
U of MN
http://www.ihrc.umn.edu/...
IMAGES
John Mitchell
http://www.pbs.org/...
Mother Jones
http://www.greatthoughtstreasury.com/...
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Coal Tatoo-Southern Rail
I stood for the union and walked in the line.
I fought against the company.
I stood for the U. M. W. of A.
Now, who's gonna stand for me?
‘Cause I got no house and I got no pay.
Just got a worrying soul
And a blue tattoo on the side of my head
Left by the number nine coal.
Left by the number nine coal.
-by Billy Edd Wheeler
lyrics, pdf! http://www.wvmusichalloffame.com/...
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
WE NEVER FORGET
Luciano De Santos
Joseph Vilano
Michael Calabace
Who gave their lives in freedom's cause
in the Southern Coalfields of Colorado during the strike of 1903-04.