The Ludlow Massacre

The date April 20, 1914 will forever be a day of infamy for American
workers. On that day, 20 innocent men, women and children were killed
in the Ludlow Massacre. The coal miners in Colorado and other western
states had been trying to join the UMWA for many years. They were
bitterly opposed by the coal operators, led by the Colorado Fuel and Iron
Company. 

Upon striking, the miners and their families had been evicted from their
company-owned houses and had set up a tent colony on public
property. The massacre occurred in a carefully planned attack on the
tent colony by Colorado militiamen, coal company guards, and thugs
hired as private detectives and strike breakers. They shot and burned to
death 20 people, including a dozen women and small children. Later
investigations revealed that kerosine had intentionally been poured on
the tents to set them ablaze. The miners had dug foxholes in the tents so
the women and children could avoid the bullets that randomly were
shot through the tent colony by company thugs. The women and children
were found huddled together at the bottoms of their tents. 

The Baldwin Felts Detective Agency had been brought in to suppress the
Colorado miners. They brought with them an armored car mounted with
a machine gun--the Death Special-- that roamed the area spraying
bullets. The day of the massacre, the miners were celebrating Greek
Easter. At 10:00 AM the militia ringed the camp and began firing into the
tents upon a signal from the commander, Lt. Karl E. Lindenfelter. Not one
of the perpetrators of the slaughter were ever punished, but scores of
miners and their leaders were arrested and black-balled from the coal
industry. 

A monument erected by the UMWA stands today in Ludlow, Colorado in
remembrance of the brave and innocent souls who died for freedom and
human dignity.