You ought to be out raising hell. This is the fighting age. Put on your fighting clothes.
-Mother Jones
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Tuesday December 8, 1903
Segundo, Colorado - Brothers Luciano De Santos and Joseph Vilano killed by gunthugs.
The strike in the Southern Coalfield continues in spite of the separate settlement in the Northern Coalfield. We have received this sad report from District 15 Secretary John Simpson:
On December 7th Luciano De Santos and Joseph Vilano were killed by deputy sheriffs at Segundo, and two other brothers were wounded. They were accused of interfering with scabs between Segundo and Primero.
We have no other information at this time on deaths of our two brothers who died in freedom's cause. May their sacrifice never be forgotten.
While we admit that the report refers to the killers as "deputy sheriffs," we will remind our readers that it is common practice in the area for the local sheriffs to deputize the company guards and gunthugs.
SOURCES
Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Colorado, Volume 9
Colorado. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1904
-page 195 (see below for link)
Blood Passion
The Ludlow Massacre and Class War in the American West
-by Scott Martelle
Rutgers U Press, 2008
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Monday December 8, 1913
Painesdale, Michigan - Boarding House Attacked, Three Dead, Girl Wounded
Cornish Boarding House, Painesdale
At 2 o'clock Sunday morning someone opened fire on the boarding house in Painesdale, run by Thomas and Julia Dally for non-union Cornish men. Harry and Arthur Jane, brothers, both died instantly from head wounds. Thomas Dally was also struck in the head, and died a few hours later. A young girl was struck in the shoulder, and was treated at the scene.
At sunrise, Anthony Lucas, prosecuting attorney for the area, was called to the scene by Sheriff Cruse. Lucas was surprised to find the Sheriff in the company of the Waddell Detective, Raleigh, the same Raleigh who is now a defendant in the murder of our union brothers at Seeberville. Raleigh was bailed out, at great expense, by a local mine superintendent.
We plainly state, here and now, that we deplore these murders, and that the guilty should be brought to justice. However, we find it interesting that the Waddell men, on duty near Cornish boarding house, carry high-powered rifles which use ammunition of the same caliber as the shells picked up from the snow at the scene of the shooting. Not one single Waddell guard on duty near this boarding house responded to the shooting. Three Waddell men were in the guard headquarters, and yet they seemed strangely unconcerned as thirty-two shots were fired from high-powered rifles at a home just across the street from them.
The Daily Mining Gazette has wasted no time in fixing the blame for these shootings upon the Western Federation of Miners. Its headline this morning read:
Foreign agitators must be driven from district at once.
The papers' president, William G. Rice, is one of the few
admitted leaders of the Citizens' Alliance.
We are left to wonder what would happen to the Miners' Bulletin should it begin to advocate the driving-out of James MacNaughton who answers to Boston, and not to the people of the Keweenaw.
SOURCE
Death's Door
The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder
-by Steve Lehto
MI, 2006
Photo: Cornish Boarding House, Painesdale
http://keweenawnow.blogspot.com/...
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Sunday December 8, 2013
More on the depredations of the gunthugs against the union miners:
The following report from the Secretary of District 15 of the United Mine Workers of America is included in the Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Colorado for 1904.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE TROUBLES OF THE COAL MINERS OF COLORADO, NEW MEXICO AND UTAH, THE THREE STATES COMPRISING DISTRICT 15, U. M. W. OF A. BY THE SECRETARY.
Trinidad, Colorado, June 18, 1904.
The trouble with the coal miners of District 15 dates back for many years. Many attempts were made to organize, but on every attempt the coal companies, through their spy systems, etc., succeeded in destroying organization. It was the oppression of the coal operators which gave rise to the necessity for organization for self-protection....
Then the thugs resorted to the beating system, law was laid aside and main force was established by the companies. Even where the courts would rule on evictions the companies would throw the men out of the houses, contrary to the decisions of the courts. November 24th seven men were arrested at South Canon for conspiracy and intimidation and held three weeks. On November 15, 1903, Organizers Kelliher, Coombs and Price were forbidden to drive over the public roads in Utah. November 18th Organizers Wardjon, Kennedy, Poggiani and William Campbell were arrested on the public highway at Hastings, Colo. Some hours after they were escorted out of camp. The union at once asked for an injunction, which was denied by the courts. November 19th C. Demolli and William Price, organizers, were going to Scofield, Utah, when, one mile from town, members of the Citizens' Alliance boarded the train armed, and forced the train crew to take them back. November 25th C. Demolli, organizer, was arrested for breaking the peace and given thirty days in jail. On the same day forty-five strikers were arrested at the same place for vagrancy and thrown in jail. December 6th seven miners at South Canon acquitted. On December 7th Luciano De Santos and Joseph Vilano were killed by deputy sheriffs at Segundo, and two other brothers were wounded. They were accused of interfering with scabs between Segundo and Primero. December 30th thirty-two strikers were thrown into jail, for vagrancy, in Utah. January 24th William Maher and Henry Mitchell were beat up at Engleville, Colo., by the deputies, for having gone into the camp to attend to union business. December 17th the houses of five union committeemen were blown up at New Castle, Colo., presumably by the coal corporations' hirelings. The names of the union men were John Lawson [per Beshoar, his wife and daughter were nearly killed], Evan Davis, William Isaac, William and Thomas Doyle; and the Hahn building was destroyed. James Doneky of Sopris, striker, was beat up by Deputy McPherson on the corner of Commercial and Main streets...
JOHN SIMPSON, Secretary District No. 15.
[emphasis added]
SOURCE
Biennial Report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the State of Colorado, Volume 9
Colorado. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1904
-page 193-198, (long paragraph found on page 195)
http://books.google.com/...
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Coal Miner's Grave-Idaho Silver Hammer Band
So pay no attention; it's only an old miner's grave
Pay no attention to the briars and weeds; let them stay
For who's gonna miss him or care that he's gone away
For he was only a miner and it's only a coal miner's grave.
-Hazel Dickens
pdf! http://www.hangoutstorage.com/...
Written to honor Francisco Estep,
used here to honor Brothers De Santos and Vilano.