March 5, 2008

The Legacy of Ludlow: Colorado's Own "Matewan"

By Stan Dyer

It was May 19, 1920. Police Chief Sid Hatfield, (Yes, of Hatfield and McCoy fame), presented agents of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency with arrest warrants charging them with illegal evictions. At the same time, the agents produced their own false, counter warrants against Hatfield. The town's mayor, Cabell Testerman, was called to settle the dispute. When the mayor ruled in favor of Hatfield, shots rang out and a gun battle ensued that ended in the deaths of seven Baldwin-Felts Detectives and two miners. August first the following year, on the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse in Welch, West Virginia, Sid Hatfield and his friend, Ed Chambers were shot down in cold blood in broad daylight by Tom Felts and other agents of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency in an act of revenge. No one was charged in those murders. That was the violent legacy of the mining town of Matewan, West Virginia and the struggle for collective bargaining.

The Matewan Massacre depicted in the 1987 Hollywood film, "Matewan", showed the plight of mineworkers looking to improve their lot in life and the violence employed to keep them "in their place". It was a far away place and time where people were paid in "scrip", not money, and made not only to live in company housing, but also to only shop at a company store charging company prices. Yes, it was a far away place and time, or was it? It may have been closer to home than you think.

The history of coal mining in Colorado often is lost between the stories of strikes of gold and of silver, but coal is the one mining industry still thriving. Today, Colorado ranks eleventh in coal producing states despite a history is far less glamorous and far more sordid than anything gold or silver ever produced. The history of Colorado coal mining includes both stories of the Ludlow Massacre and the Columbine Mine Massacre.

In the early 20 th century, John D. Rockefeller owned and operated Colorado Fuel and Iron in southern Colorado paying workers $1.68 a day to work in dangerous, unhealthy coalmines. In fact, Colorado mines were some of the most dangerous around with accident records as proof. The miners tried unsuccessfully to organize on a number of occasions, but tried again in 1913 with the United Mine Workers of America acting as their agent.

Just as were miners in West Virginia, Colorado miners lived in company housing, and issued "scrip" on payday. Scrip was a kind of counterfeit money made by companies and only good at the company store. It forced workers to that one store, the company store, which would accept their money. Of course, that meant the company was free to set prices as high as they wanted. Often times, workers would end up owing the company money at the end of the month after the bills were all paid, just as in the song by Tennessee Ernie Ford that says, "You load sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store". All the workers asked for was to be paid monthly in "lawful money", to be paid by the tonnage and to be provided with the necessary timbers, rails and other material needed to make their underground working places safe. They went on strike to show their resolve.

Since they were in company housing, the company, under the direction of Rockefeller, had them all evicted and kicked out into a brutal, Colorado winter. The UMWA responded by acquiring and providing living tents erected on public lands rented by the Union. Of these "tent cities", Ludlow was the largest. After a few months of virtual stalemate, Rockefeller urged then Governor Ammons to call in the Colorado National Guard to disband the tent cities. Although, it was the National Guard, Baldwin-Felts agents were in the group and showed up with some type of military vehicle with a mounted machine gun. The machine gun was used to intimidate the striking workers and to pepper the tent city with random pot shots. It all came to a head on April 20, 1914, over six years before Matewan.

The militia comprised of National Guard and Baldwin-Felts agents under the command of Lieutenant Karl E. Linderfelter, opened fire on the tent city and a gun battle ensued. The militia won the battle and burned the Ludlow tent city to the ground. In the aftermath, the bodies of innocent women and children were found huddled and dead in holes they dug in the floors inside the tents in an effort to shield themselves from the onslaught. The names of the casualties, 17 miners, family and children, placed on a monument, mark the event. Of those 17, only seven were of age 20 or older. Ten were age eleven or younger, including babies as young as three months old. No one was ever charged for any murder, and the workers failed to gain representation. It would take ten more years before workers were allowed to collectively bargain, but this was not the last such massacre in the state.

Thirteen years later, in the company town of Serene, Colorado, the "first" Columbine Massacre took place. The Columbine Mine was located in the area around Broomfield, Lafayette, Louisville and Erie. On the morning of November 21, 1927, striking workers met Colorado State Police, (known as "Rangers") at the front gate of the mine. In the battle that ensued, machine guns, .45s and clubs were used on the strikers who answered back with fists and rocks. When the dust settled, at least five were dead and many more were seriously injured.

"I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine. I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine. I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal, and the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul". Why do people stay at miserable jobs with low wages and virtually no benefits? I don't know. In the same respect, why do multi-million dollar companies refuse to pay their workers, their most valuable assets, low-wages with virtually no benefits? I don't know that either. I just know it happens and it happens all the time. It happened yesterday in history and it will happen again in future history. It will happen way across the country in West Virginia, and it will happen right next door or in your own backyard.

Labor and management have struggled as long as there have been labor and management, and they probably always will. The incidents and Matewan, Columbine Mine and Ludlow are just examples of similar incidents in similar situations all over history and all over the world. No matter which point of view you prefer, just remember these incidents and never take anything for granted. Remember that much of what we have today we owe to people like those miners in Ludlow who were willing to sacrifice their lives to improve the future for workers everywhere. Remember that as the Legacy of Ludlow, and never stop working to improve your future. If we forget the past, we are destined to repeat it.