After seven violent months of striking, the Colorado governor called in the National Guard against the miners — resulting in the Ludlow Massacre that left dozens dead.
Public DomainThe aftermath of the Ludlow Massacre , during which federal troops dismantle a makeshift collapsible shelter colony operated by coal mineworker on strike .
On April 20 , 1914 , machine gun fire rang out over a makeshift tent metropolis near Ludlow , Colorado , marking the starting time of a sidereal day - and - nighttime conflict bang as the Ludlow Massacre . It saw at least 25 military man , women , and children kill by National Guardsmen on the behest of the Colorado regulator and a Rockefeller family society .
Those living in the tents were miner and their families who were old-hat of wretched labor weather , foresighted hours , depressed pay , and corrupt management practices , and who had gone on ten-strike to call for dear treatment .
Public DomainThe aftermath of the Ludlow Massacre, during which federal troops razed a makeshift tent colony operated by coal miners on strike.
Mine owners John D. Rockefeller and the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company responded by evicting the workers from their companionship - owned home , engage hitmen , and finally burning down their colony .
The Ludlow Massacre was so brutal that it was once account by novelist Wallace Stegner as “ one of the bleakest and blackest episodes of American confinement history . ”
The Events Leading Up To The Ludlow Massacre
With the American industrial gyration in the 19th and 20th centuries came a host of issues regarding prole ’ rights . labour laws in the other twentieth century were , if they existed at all , broadly speaking enforced .
Therefore , working conditions wereoften terrible , and the wage low , especially for miner out west where the towns they survive in were possess by the same company that employ them , as in Ludlow .
Growing frustration over wages , hours , bad management , and unsafe condition eventually came to a head in the summertime of 1913 , when United Mine Workers began to organize the 11,000 - curious coal miner employed by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company ( CF&I ) , many of whom were first - generation immigrants from Italy , Greece , and Serbia , hired only a decade in the first place to replace , ironically , actor who had gone on strike .
Public DomainThe Ludlow strikers, armed in order to protect themselves from militia groups hired to attack them by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
And so , on Sept. 23 , 1913 , over 10,000 coal mineworker employed by the Rockefeller - owned CF&I went on strike .
PBS publishedthe following correspondences between Rockefeller and CF&I ’s frailty chair , Lamont Bowers , on the tap :
“ With everything run so swimmingly and with an excellent outlook for 1914 , ” Bowers enunciate , “ it is right discourage to have this condemnable gang come into our state and not only destroy our net income but exhaust into that which has up to now been relieve . ”
Public DomainThe Colorado State Militia rides into the Ludlow camp led by Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt.
Public DomainThe Ludlow strikers , armed for protect themselves from reserves grouping charter to assail them by John D. Rockefeller , Jr.
This “ vicious ring ” — the United Mine Workers union — had mobilise the hitter to inquire for a 10 pct pay rise , enforcement of an eight - hour workday , and the right to live and trade outside the caller - possess town . Nearly all of their demands were command by law in Colorado .
The hit went on for months , and in an endeavour to jam it , John D. Rockefeller , Jr. and CF&I evicted workers and their families from their party - owned homes . In response , the strikers set up several small , makeshift collapsible shelter cities near the mine — the large of which was the camp near the town of Ludlow .
Public DomainThe “Death Special,” an armored car equipped with an M1895 machine gun and used against the Ludlow strikers.
On April 6 , 1914 , Rockefeller appeared before a Congressional commission to hash out the strike . He decried the strike as a “ national issue , whether workers shall be allow to forge under such condition as they may pick out , ” and complain of union organizers “ [ interfering ] with employee who are thoroughly slaked with their labour conditions . ”
When the committee asked if he would digest by his anti - union principles , “ if it costs all your property and kills all your employees , ” Rockefeller react , “ It is a corking rule . ”
Two weeks subsequently , Rockefeller stood by his convictions as his hired militiamen opened ardor on the striking worker .
The Day Of The Ludlow Massacre
When the Colorado National Guard arrived at the Ludlow camp , the strikers ab initio believed it was to protect them from the individual detectives , describe as “ Texas desperate criminal and strong-armer , ” agree toThe New Yorker .
They were wrong .
Rockefeller had plead to the Colorado regulator for the National Guard to maltreat in and end the strike — he even offered to yield their wage . The striker were now dealing with two company of militiamen comprised of thugs and National Guardsmen . They were outmanned and outgunned .
On the morning of April 20 , 1914 , four militiamen flourish a auto gun and fire at the striker . Hearing shot ringing out , the rest of the militias moved in , tearing through the town and firing in every direction .
Public DomainThe Colorado State Militia tantalize into the Ludlow camp lead by Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt .
The armed striker fought back , but it was clear that the tide was n’t going to sprain in their favour . Then , during an attempt at broker a peaceful truce , one of the hit leadership was shot and killed .
Fearing the fury would only intensify , charwoman and shaver in the camp began dig pitfall to hide beneath their tent . The fighting ramp on throughout the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , but as the Lord’s Day vanish , the militias descended from the James Jerome Hill carrying torches and attack - starters .
They lit the tent townspeople aflame , firing at the families as they fly into the hills in a scene of pure slaughter .
One survivor of the strike , a woman named Mary Petrucci , lost three of her children in the hospital after the massacre . She afterward recalled , “ I make out out of the hole . There was luminousness and draw of smoke . I vagabond among the ashes until a priest come up me . I could n’t feel anything . I was cold . ”
The true horror of the mayhem , however , was n’t discovered until the next morning when a telephone linesman found one of the pit protection containing the charred , dead bodies of two women and 11 children who had been unable to get away .
In sum , at least 66 people across all the tent cities were killed , with 25 of them being at the Ludlow Massacre .
The Aftermath Of The Incident
When discussion got out that Union troop had help a private company butcher twelve of its employees , American citizens were outraged .
But , HISTORYreported , it made small difference of opinion for the Colorado miners or their family . Federal troop finally crushed the rap entirely , lead in the miners ’ conjugation remain unrecognised with no improvements to either their wages or workings conditions .
Public DomainThe “ Death Special , ” an armored car equip with an M1895 machine gun and used against the Ludlow strikers .
And despite the deaths , no members of the National Guard or the private militia were ever institutionalise with a crime .
Rockefeller , too , go on to call on the carpet the brotherhood attempt , in public arrogate that there was no “ massacre ” at all , but rather “ a desperate fight for life ” by two low reserves squads against an intact tent settlement .
If there is any top to the story , it is that Rockefeller ’s argumentation deem no sway over the American public or the government . uniting support saw a dramatic rise in the following decade , and exacting labour laws began appearing on the books — and they were actually enforced this time around .
disregarding , the Ludlow Massacre help as a reminder that only a century ago there were clear , armed conflict between capital letter and labour . proletarian ’ rights have image massive strides in that time , but there are still those who would hope to regress to the old way .
get ’s let the memory of the Ludlow Massacre enliven us to build a better time to come .
Ludlow is , unfortunately , not the only instance of aggregative slaughter in America . teach about theSand Creek Massacre , when U.S. scout group kill 200 Native Americans . Then , discover the true story of the1919 Elaine Race Massacre , when Black sharecroppers were killed for try out to get better pay .
