THE COLORADO COAL MINERS' STRIKE (For exhibits under this subject, see Volume VIII, pages 7241 to 7425.) 6345 COMMISSION ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS. NEW YORK CITY, Wednesday, May 27, 1914-10 a. m. Present: Chairman Walsh, Commissioners O'Connell, Lennon, Harriman, Ballard, and Garretson. Chairman WALSH. The commission will please be in order. Mr. THOMPSON. Is Mr. Taggart here? Mrs. MALINDA SCOTT. Mr. Chairman, we hear a great deal about the war in Colorado, but we can not get the true reports in the newspapers. We have here two of the miners' wives, who have come straight from Ludlow; and I would ask your permission to give them a hearing just now, as they have to leave for Boston at noon. Would you please hear them? Commissioner HARRIMAN. Mr. Chairman, haven't we already adopted a resolution that we would investigate conditions in Colorado, and we are going there. Chairman WALSH. Yes. Commissioner HARRIMAN. Wouldn't it be a better chance to get first-hand information to hear these ladies? I think, as representing the women and children of the country on this commission, I would like these women to have an opportunity for a hearing. Chairman WALSH. Of course we passed a resolution at the inception of our work setting out the mining industries of the United States as one of the subjects of inquiry. I had supposed that we would not go into the mining question until we got to Denver, but I am willing to take the wish of the commission upon it. Commissioner HARRIMAN. Mr. Chairman, I would like to direct your attention to the fact that I have a telegram from Miss Jane Addams saying that these ladies were going to Washington, and asking if the commission would give them a hearing; and that was-I didn't know they were coming to New York at all, so I did not say anything to you about it. Commissioner GARRETSON. Mr. Chairman, I move that we give them a hearing. Chairman WALSH. Mr. Garretson moves that we give these ladies a hearing. Is there a second? Commissioner BALLARD. I second the motion. Chairman WALSH. It has been moved and seconded that we hear these ladies this morning-that they be given a hearing out of the regular order, on the mining branch of our inquiry. All in favor of that signify by saying "aye"; contrary "no." The ayes have it. Chairman WALSH. Now, you have heard the statement, Mr. Thompson, with reference to the necessity of these ladies getting away. Can you so arrange your program that we can hear them right now? Mr. THOMPSON. I think Mr. Taggart will give way. Mr. Taggart? Mr. TAGGART. Yes, sir. Are you willing to, There are a num Mr. THOMPSON. I think we can very well hear them now. ber of our witnesses here that I think should be cautioned to remain. Chairman WALSH. All witnesses on the regular program will please remain in attendance. We will take the other matter up as soon as we dispose of this. Mr. THOMPSON. Mr. Stenographer, I wish you would give this a separate caption from the rest of our hearing-write it up in that way. We don't want to get it interlarded with the hearing on the subject of building trades. The REPORTER. Under what heading? Chairman WALSH. Heading, “The Colorado coal miners' strike." TESTIMONY OF MRS. PEARL JOLLY. Mr. THOMPSON. Will you please give us your name? Mrs. JOLLY. Mrs. Pearl Jolly. Mr. THOMPSON. Where do you reside? Mrs. JOLLY. At Ludlow, Colo. 6347 Mr. THOMPSON. Where did you live before you went to Ludlow? Mrs. JOLLY. I was born in Crested Butte, Gunnison County, Colo. Mrs. JOLLY. I could not tell you just how long; but he has been a miner ever since I have known him, and I have known him for two years. Mr. THOMPSON. Has he always worked in Colorado as a miner? Mrs. JOLLY. My husband was born in Scotland. Mr. THOMPSON. In Scotland? Mrs. JOLLY. Yes, sir; but came to the United States when he was just a little baby, and has been in Colorado for about Mr. THOMPSON. How old a man is he now? Mrs. JOLLY. Twenty-two. Mr. THOMPSON. You may proceed with your story. Mrs. JOLLY. I want to take up just as little time as I can, so I will tell this story of the strike. Chairman WALSH. Tell it in your own way, taking up as little time, but giving all the details that you think are pertinent. Mrs. JOLLY. Yes, sir. Well, a week previous to the strike my husband went to Trinidad to do a little shopping down there. When he came back from Trinidad he put on his clothes and went to the mine on the following morning. They asked him where he had been. He told them to Trinidad. Chairman WALSH. Who asked him? Mrs. JOLLY. The superintendent. They wanted to know what his business was in Trinidad. He told them he was down there on private business. They asked him if he was a delegate to the convention at Trinidad that the United Mine Workers had held before there. He said no. They told him that they did not need him there any more; that he was to get out of camp. I think it was 15 minutes that they gave him to move his furniture and everything and get out of camp. He moved. I went down to a farmhouse below and spent the week there, until the Ludlow tent colony. On the 23d day of September the strike was called and we all moved into the tent colony. From my first experience in the Ludlow tent colony the gunmen would come there and would try in every way to provoke trouble. They were trying to cause a battle between the miners and the gunmen, but we knew that and we did not want to have any trouble. At one time the gunmen came to the Ludlow tent colony, just as near as they could get, fired two shots into the tent colony. Our men took their rifles and went to the hills, thinking that by so doing they would lead the fire that way and keep them from firing on the colony, where the women and children were. There was no way to protect the women and children. After that our men took and dug pits under the tents, so that if the same thing should happen again there would be some means of escape for those women and children. Following that, the militia came into the field. When the militia came in there we made them welcome; we thought they were going to treat us right. They were escorted into the camp with a brass band. They attended all of our dances. They came down and took dinner with us two or three different evenings, but when they were in there two or three days they turned, and we could see that, but we did not want to have any trouble with them. One of the women, I believe, told them that they could not be on two sides at once. So following that they would come into our tent colony and searched about once a week or more. When they came there our arms were all turned over to the militia. Chairman WALSH. What is that? Mrs. JOLLY. Our arms and ammunition. They told us they would disarm the others, but instead they took the arms and ammunition that the strikers had and turned them over to the mine guards. Then we were searched; our tent colony was searched about once a week or more. When they came they would bring axes, picks, shovels, and such things with them. They would search in all the little drawers about this big [indicating]. looking for things. Anything they could get hold of to carry away without being seen they would take it. They would take the axes and cut up the floors so that the union would have to buy new lumber in order to rebuild the floors. Our men had to stand for that. Finally it got so that every one of the women who went out of the grounds they would meet with insults, abuse, called vile names, anything that was possible. One time myself and three or four different women started for the post office one Sunday morning. When we got about half way there a detail got up in front of us and fixed their bayonets and their guns and told us we couldn't go any farther. I asked them why. They told me not to ask any questions, using profane language when they were telling me this. Not to ask any questions or they would shoot my head off. We turned and went back to the tent colony. That afternoon we went to the post office. While we were there they went to search the Ludlow tent colony. This happened in December, in real cold weather, snowing at the time. One of the women with us had a baby six months old in her arms. When we started back they would not let us go into the homes. I don't know why. They were already in the camp searching. They told us we could not go in there. They put a detail in front of us and kept us out in the field in the snow. The baby was screaming, it was so cold. She told them she was going in her house anyway, and had her baby in her arms, going in and warm her baby, that she would not keep them out and let them freeze to death. One man held a revolver right on her and hit her and told her to move another step and he would shoot her. Following that every man who would go out of the boundary line from Ludlow tent colony, they would come back with black eyes. They were beaten up. Threatened if they went back to work they would be all right, but if they did not they would be beat up. On April 19 we had a baseball game. The militia had always been in the habit of attending the baseball games, but never before had they attended with their rifles. On April 9 was a Greek holiday, Sunday, and they thought perhaps that they would be drinking, and those men, if they were to go down there with their rifles, would be able to stir up some trouble. They stood right in the diamond with their rifles. One of the men asked them if they would please get out of the diamond. He told them if he wanted to watch the baseball game it was not necessary to guard them, to put their guns to their side. They became indignant and made their threats what they could do and what they would not do. One of the women said to them, in a joke, “Don't you know if a woman would start toward you with a BB gun you would all throw away your guns and run." He says, "That is all right, girlie, you have your big Sunday to-day, but we will have the roast to-morrow. It would only take me and three or four men out there to clean out all the bunch "; and they cleaned out the bunch on the following day. They tried every way they could before they left the baseball ground to create trouble. They would call the different players and want them to come over and talk and when they refused they said, Come on, we will take you to the guardhouse and talk to you." They left the baseball game. Sunday night they came into the tent colony, but they would not go up to speak to any of our leaders in the camp at all. When the leaders would start toward them they would go right away, so they concluded they were trying to blow up the camp. They had made their threat and told about how they had previously torn down the Forbes tent colony. They put guards in our camps Sunday night to take care of the camp, but nothing happened. On the following Monday morning, about 9 o'clock, the same five militiamen who had been at the baseball game on Sunday came to the Ludlow grounds. They had a paper and they sent in for Louis Tikas, a Greek and the leader; they handed him this slip of paper, and it had some foreign name on it of some man that was not in the tent colony. They told him they wanted to take the man out of the colony; they asked him if they had a warrant or had been sent there by the civil authorities. They said no, they had been sent there by the military authorities. They said, "I understand the military commission is out now.' He says, "I would like to talk to Manager Hemrock," who was in command. So they left the Ludlow tent colony with 38819-S. Doc. 415, 64-1-vol 7-23 |