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The Ludlow Massacre, 1914 – Conflict in the Colorado Coal Fields
In September, 1913, some 9,000 miners from the coal fields of southern Colorado went on strike. Their goals were to improve their working conditions and to gain recognition of their union - the United Mine Workers. Fearing eviction from their company-owned homes, approximately 1,200 of the strikers established a tent city in Ludlow County near Trinidad.
In response, the mine owners hired armed guards who harassed the encampment over the next seven months.
On April 20, 1914,200 company guards arrived at the camp site with their armored car, appropriately named the "Death Special." For 14 hours they raked the tent city with bullets then soaked the tents with kerosene and set them ablaze. The attack killed twenty-one including women and children. The strike lasted another eight months. But in the end, the miners were forced to return to work without reaching their goals. |
