You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Sunday September 26, 1915
Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania - Lawson Honored by Grand Parade and Protest Meeting
1914 Strikers Policy Committee, United Mine Workers of America
John McLennan, President District 15; E. L. Doyle, Secretary-Treasurer District 15
John R. Lawson, International Board Member from District 15; Frank J. Hayes, International Vice-President
On the evening of September 24th, John R. Lawson, hero of the Colorado Miners' Strike which ended last December, was honored by his hometown of Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania with a grand parade and mass protest meeting. Lawson is now imprisoned in a jail cell in Trinidad, Colorado, unjustly convicted of the murder of a company guard, and sentenced to life in prison.
The main speaker at the meeting was Frank J. Hayes, Vice-President of the United Mine Workers of America, with whom Lawson served on the strikers' Policy Committee during the strike. The
Mount Carmel Item described the speech by Hayes:
Then Mr. Hayes told how the mine owners imported 700 gun-men to break the strike, of how they started the trouble by shooting into the tent colonies established by the strikers who had been ejected from company houses. He told dramatically of the shooting or murdering of thirty-eight men, women and children, and not one indictment had been brought against the mine owners.
Lawson was indicted for the killing of John Nimo, a mine guard, who was shot down in an open battle between miners and mine guards. Lawson was not within several miles of the scene, but he was indicted because he was in charge of the Ludlow tent colony, and they trumped up a charge that he was responsible for all the acts of the colony.
According to the
Item, Hayes recited his poem "The Women and Children of Ludlow," which was written shortly after the Ludlow Massacre and has since been published in various labor journals:
The Women and Children of Ludlow by Frank J. Hayes
(John D. Rockefeller, Jr., testifying before the congressional committee, investigating the Colorado strike, when asked if he approved of the use of machine-guns and paid gunmen to break the strike, even though scores of people were murdered, replied: "My conscience acquits me.")
Your conscience acquits you-but how make reply
And speak now of justice, with eyes to the sky,
When there in the ashes their torn bodies lie,
The women and children of Ludlow?
How look on their faces, their blood-matted hair,
Their charred, blackened bodies all swollen and bare,
And the babes on their bosoms thy fiends murdered there,
The women and children of Ludlow?
Your conscience acquits you-but what of the dead!
O! what of the murdered-they asked you for bread;
They begged you for freedom and you gave them lead,
The women and children of Ludlow.
They sought but a chance for their husbands and sons,
A future more kindly for their little ones-
Your conscience acquits you-yet slaughtered with guns
The women and children of Ludlow.
Your conscience acquits you-go look where they died;
Go look where they perished, ay, pleaded and cried-
The mothers, the children, the babes crucified.
The women and children of Ludlow.
And then tell the God you profess to adore,
O! then tell the Master, your hands red with gore,
Your conscience acquits you-though slaughtered the poor,
The women and children of Ludlow.
From the Mount Carmel Item of September 25, 1915
REMARKABLE DEMONSTRATION BY OUR CITIZENS
IN BEHALF OF FORMER TOWNSMAN LAWSON
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Mount Carmel, in a great mass meeting held last night, voiced a mighty protest against the mistrial and conviction of former townsman John R. Lawson, now serving life sentence in a Colorado prison for a crime he never committed. It was such a demonstration as the region has never witnessed, joined in not only by mine workers, but by the business and professional men of the town and region, by the clergy, by public officials, and by citizens, men and women and children, of every walk in life. It was a demonstration that when he hears of it, will make glad the heart of our town boy; and it will, we all hope, do much toward influencing the courts and executives of Colorado so that they will grant him a fair and impartial trial and the acquittal that will be sure to follow,
Mount Carmel people who knew Lawson when he lived here, who played with him as a boy and who went to school with him, have followed with closest interest every detail of the "legal" crime that railroads him to prison; but it remained for Frank J. Hayes, International Vice President of the United Mine Workers of America, to tell us the real story from the view-point of a personal observer. And when, at the conclusion of his masterly address last night, a resolution was read condemning the trial and asking for another hearing, it was adopted by unanimous vote of the thousands assembled.
News that Mount Carmel citizens proposed to hold a great mass meeting in the interests of John R. Lawson was heralded far and wide, and brought to our town distinguished men from all sections. When Mr. Hayes was told of the movement he at once notified the committee of Mine Workers, headed by William Callagy that he would be glad to come here and tell of his personal knowledge of the case.
The committee worked faithfully, they arranged a most elaborate affair, and the entire demonstration was so pronounced a success that they are today receiving the unstinted praise of everybody.
Officials Arrive.
International Vice President Hayes arrived in town from Indianapolis on the 3:15 Pennsylvania train yesterday afternoon, and established head-quarters at the National Hotel. Among the prominent men in the Union who also came to town were the following:
District President James Mathews, of Mahanoy City; District Secretary James McAndrew; District Vice President John Strambo; International Board Member Martin Nash; District Organizer Stany Gogosis; National Organizer Victor Marietta; District Organizer Thomas Davis of Williamstown; National Organizer David Davis; National Organizer Henry Loguski; National Board Member George Litman of New Philadelphia; District Organizer George Henry of Tower City; National Organizer William Callagy of Centralia; National Organizer Michael McGrath of Lost Creek; and District Organizer Albert Ferlani of Mahanoy City.
The Parade
The parade was well planned, it was an unusually large and imposing pageant, and it moved like clock-work. Promptly at 7:00 o'clock the Sayre colliery whistle sounded the signal and the parade moved, headed by Chief Marshal W. H. Deitrich and aides, William Gable and John Cranage.
After the American Flag came the General Committee, on foot, and the Mount Carmel Band. Then came a string of twenty-six automobiles, carrying the distinguished visitors, speakers, Chief Burgess, Chief of Police, Councilmen, borough officials and leading citizens.
The boys' Band led the Anthracite Fire Company, followed by the American Hose Company with truck and auto chemical wagon; then the Clover Hose with the new auto truck. Next came the mail carriers of Mount Carmel, riding in an automobile, in uniform.
The Lithuanian Band headed the second division, with Marshal Richard Skelding and aides William Roseman and John Crouch. This division included the various local unions of the United Mine Workers of Mount Carmel and vicinity, Raeder's Band heading the local contingent.
The Mass Meeting
John R Lawson with Louie Tikas during the strike.
Arriving at Town Park, the speakers were escorted to the platform erected for the occasion. William Calagy, chairman of the meeting, called for order and introduced the Rev. Arthur Willis Spooner, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, where Mr. Lawson attended Sunday School when a town boy. The reverend gentleman delivered a powerful invocation, and in his prayer asked that the day would soon come when employers and employees would make the Golden Rule the rule of life.
Mr. Callagy, after thanking the committee, the bands and the people, and all who assisted in the demonstration, introduced Hon. L. S. Walter, who delivered an eloquent address. He declared that it was wonderful that a man 2000 miles away should influence such a gigantic demonstration. He said that there was justice back of this movement, or all these people would not be here. He severely arraigned the Lawson trial, which, if reports be true, was conducted by a judge, a district attorney, a sheriff and a jury all in the paid employ of the corporations.
Judge Walter declared that if Lawson were given a new trial in another and an unprejudiced jurisdiction, he would go from prison a free man, because he is not guilty. He took occasion in his address to pay a high tribute to the Union and especially to the Union organizers, whose hard task entitles them to the thanks of everybody. His remarks were given tremendous applause.
Mr. Hayes Speaks
Frank Hayes, Vice President
of the United Mine Workers of America
Frank J. Hayes, International Vice President of the Union, the man who had charge of the Colorado situation, and colleague of Lawson, was then introduced. Mr. Hayes spoke in clear, ringing voice. His splendid diction and his magnetic personality at once won his hearers, and he held their closest attention.
First paying tribute to Lawson as a splendid man, he declared that he came here as the representative of 500,000 organized coal miners to discuss the so-called "Lawson case." He told how he and Lawson and other leaders went to Colorado in 1913, how they sought a hearing with the mine owners but met with refusal, because the operators had determined to exterminate the Union. Then he told of how the strike was called, and how the men had hoped to conduct it peacefully, as no strike could be won by violence.
Then Mr. Hayes told how the mine owners imported 700 gun-men to break the strike, of how they started the trouble by shooting into the tent colonies established by the strikers who had been ejected from company houses. He told dramatically of the shooting or murdering of thirty-eight men, women and children, and not one indictment had been brought against the mine owners.
Lawson was indicted for the killing of John Nimo, a mine guard, who was shot down in an open battle between miners and mine guards. Lawson was not within several miles of the scene, but he was indicted because he was in charge of the Ludlow tent colony, and they trumped up a charge that he was responsible for all the acts of the colony.
He declared that Las Animas county was owned body and soul by the corporations. In proof he showed that although in the past 23 years over 1000 miners had been accidentally killed, not one resulted in a damage suit in favor of the miners' families. All the court officials had been in the pay of the corporations. The Sheriff picked the jury. There was no jury box, but he drew a venire of 75 men prejudiced against Lawson, and of these the twelve worst were placed on the trial jury. Then he told of how the jury was coerced to bring in the verdict of guilty.
Mr. Hayes concluded his masterly speech by enumerating the demands of the Colorado miners, all of which were based on Colorado laws that were not being lived up to by the mine owners. He severely arraigned Rockefeller, and recited a poem that he had composed, based on Rockefeller's expression, "My Conscience acquits me." He was given thunderous applause.
Judge Watler then read a resolution drafted on behalf of the people of Mount Carmel and all the surrounding towns, representing 70,000 persons, condemning the Lawson verdict, and appealing to the President of the United States and the Governor of Colorado to grant a new trial. It was adopted by unanimous vote of the great assemblage.
The next speaker was Mrs. Theodore Puitz, of Philadelphia, nee Jean Lawson, a former town girl and sister of John R. Lawson, who in a beautifully worded little speech heartily thanked the people, on behalf of the Lawson family, for their splendid demonstration for the adoption of the resolution. Mrs. Puitz was wildly applauded.
Then followed addresses by several Union officials, who spoke in the various foreign languages, bringing to a close a most remarkable demonstration.
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[Photographs and paragraph break added.]
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SOURCES
Mount Carmel Item
(Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania)
-Sept 25, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
Machinists' Monthly Journal, Volume 26
International Association of Machinists, 1914
https://books.google.com/...
Machinists' Journal of June 1914
https://books.google.com/...
"Women and Children of Ludlow"
by Frank J. Hayes
https://books.google.com/...
IMAGES
1914 Strikers Policy Committee,
United Mine Workers of America
https://archive.org/...
John R Lawson at Ludlow followed by guard,
Wichita Beacon, Apr 26, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
John Lawson with Olive and Fern
from Day Book of April 23, 1915
http://www.newspapers.com/...
John R Lawson with Louie Tikas during the strike.
http://ludlowsymposium.wordpress.com/...
Frank Hayes of the United Mine Workers of America
http://en.wikipedia.org/..._(unionist)
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We're Coming Colorado-John McCutcheon
We are fighting for our rights, boys,
We are fighting for our homes,
Shouting the battle cry of union;
Men have died to win the struggle;
They've died to set us free,
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.
-Frank Hayes
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