Born in Colorado to Piemontesi Italian immigrants, from Coassolo Torinese, Torino, Piemonte, Italy, now part of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Torino (Turin). Her father was working in the coal mines in or near Pictou at the time she was born. The family later moved back to Indiana, where they had first lived after immigrating. Fortunately, they had the good sense to leave this godforsaken area before the "Colorado Coalfield War" of 1913-1914 culminated with a notorious massacre of immigrant mineworkers, known as the Ludlow Massacre, in the nearby mining town of Ludlow.
This area, Pictou and the neighboring towns of Walsenburg, and Ludlow was notorious for its horrendous mining conditions - basically slave labor, low wages, and deadly working conditions. The mines were owned by John D. Rockefeller, and the miners were paid in "company scrips" a form of credit, which could only be used to buy supplies and groceries from the Rockefeller owned company stores, where there were enormous markups, insuring huge profits for the oligarch, and for the miners a crippling debt they were never able to get out from under.
These horrendous conditions brought about the infamous "Colorado Coalfield War" which ran from Sep.1913 to Dec. 1914, culminating in the bloody and infamous "Ludlow Massacre" of 20 April 1914, in which murderous local sheriffs and vigilantes, secretly paid by Rockefeller, assisted by Colorado National Guard troops, hired by Rockefeller, sat atop a ridge with their machine guns, and shot down upon helpless men, women and children, living in a huge tent encampment of striking mine workers and their families, composed of 1,200 mostly Italian, Greek and Slavic immigrants. United Mine Workers of America had provided the 200 white tents to the striking workers after 20,000 miners and their families had been evicted from company housing during a rain storm at the beginning of the strike.
The miners, equipped with their simple rifles and shotguns, were at their mercy as they were sprayed with machinegun fire from on high. After the shooting stopped and nothing moved, the murderous thugs rode down, poured kerosine on their tents, and set them afire. By morning, nothing existed of the vast encampment but charred rubble; and the bodies of two women and 11 children, who had survived the hail of bullets, but were found huddled in the corner of the cellar dug under their tent, dead of asphyxia.
After the Massacre, one of our worst and most notoriously bigoted Presidents, Woodrow Wilson (who supported the KKK), finally ordered National Guard Troops to the area to "restore order". They were to have arrived prior to onslaught to prevent a massacre, but conveniently arrived only after it was all over.
Violence largely ended following the arrival of federal soldiers in late April 1914, but the strike did not end until December 1914. No concessions were made to the strikers and an estimated 69 to 199 people died during the strike. It's described as the "bloodiest labor dispute in American history" and "bloodiest civil insurrection in American history since the Civil War."
Woody Guthrie wrote his famous folk song "Ludlow Massacre" about the massacre, and the United Mine Workers Union had a beautiful granite monument installed with the names of all the Massacre victims engraved on it.
**
Local Newspaper Account of The Dead in Tents, Cellars
Ludlow Safety Pit Gives Up Its Dead -- Red Cross Attaches Carry Out the Charred Bodies of Women and Children.
Rocky Mountain News, 23 April 1914
Special to the News.
Trinidad, Colo., April 22. --The Ludlow colony, where thirteen women and children perished by fire and suffocation Monday, gave up its dead today. Red Cross attaches, entering the war zone under a flag of truce, came out with the bodies late this afternoon.
Among the dead were the family of Charles Costa, union organizer at Aguilar, and the family of Mrs. Chavez a Mexican woman, comprising herself, two girls of 4 and 6 years old, a baby 6 months old, and a nephew, 9.,
The family of Costa comprised himself, his wife and two children, Lucy, 4, and Orafrio, 6.
Under the mass of charred bedding at the bottom of the safety pit, from which all of the bodies were recovered, were also those of two children of Mrs. Marcellino Pedrigon -- Clardillo, 4, and Rogerio 6, and the three Petrucci children, Lucy, 3; Joe, 4, and Frank, 6 months.
The children were clasped in each other's arms, and over them lay the bodies of the two women, both badly charred. Both of the women were to be mothers soon.,
Superficial examination of the remainder of the tents failed to disclose other dead, but it is believed more may be found.
During the visit of the searching party, John McLennan, district president of the United Mine Workers, was twice arrested, searched and escorted under guard to the headquarters of the militia at the Ludlow station. His release was ordered by Major Hamrock.
By Linda (48291572)
This area, Pictou and the neighboring towns of Walsenburg, and Ludlow was notorious for its horrendous mining conditions - basically slave labor, low wages, and deadly working conditions. The mines were owned by John D. Rockefeller, and the miners were paid in "company scrips" a form of credit, which could only be used to buy supplies and groceries from the Rockefeller owned company stores, where there were enormous markups, insuring huge profits for the oligarch, and for the miners a crippling debt they were never able to get out from under.
These horrendous conditions brought about the infamous "Colorado Coalfield War" which ran from Sep.1913 to Dec. 1914, culminating in the bloody and infamous "Ludlow Massacre" of 20 April 1914, in which murderous local sheriffs and vigilantes, secretly paid by Rockefeller, assisted by Colorado National Guard troops, hired by Rockefeller, sat atop a ridge with their machine guns, and shot down upon helpless men, women and children, living in a huge tent encampment of striking mine workers and their families, composed of 1,200 mostly Italian, Greek and Slavic immigrants. United Mine Workers of America had provided the 200 white tents to the striking workers after 20,000 miners and their families had been evicted from company housing during a rain storm at the beginning of the strike.
The miners, equipped with their simple rifles and shotguns, were at their mercy as they were sprayed with machinegun fire from on high. After the shooting stopped and nothing moved, the murderous thugs rode down, poured kerosine on their tents, and set them afire. By morning, nothing existed of the vast encampment but charred rubble; and the bodies of two women and 11 children, who had survived the hail of bullets, but were found huddled in the corner of the cellar dug under their tent, dead of asphyxia.
After the Massacre, one of our worst and most notoriously bigoted Presidents, Woodrow Wilson (who supported the KKK), finally ordered National Guard Troops to the area to "restore order". They were to have arrived prior to onslaught to prevent a massacre, but conveniently arrived only after it was all over.
Violence largely ended following the arrival of federal soldiers in late April 1914, but the strike did not end until December 1914. No concessions were made to the strikers and an estimated 69 to 199 people died during the strike. It's described as the "bloodiest labor dispute in American history" and "bloodiest civil insurrection in American history since the Civil War."
Woody Guthrie wrote his famous folk song "Ludlow Massacre" about the massacre, and the United Mine Workers Union had a beautiful granite monument installed with the names of all the Massacre victims engraved on it.
**
Local Newspaper Account of The Dead in Tents, Cellars
Ludlow Safety Pit Gives Up Its Dead -- Red Cross Attaches Carry Out the Charred Bodies of Women and Children.
Rocky Mountain News, 23 April 1914
Special to the News.
Trinidad, Colo., April 22. --The Ludlow colony, where thirteen women and children perished by fire and suffocation Monday, gave up its dead today. Red Cross attaches, entering the war zone under a flag of truce, came out with the bodies late this afternoon.
Among the dead were the family of Charles Costa, union organizer at Aguilar, and the family of Mrs. Chavez a Mexican woman, comprising herself, two girls of 4 and 6 years old, a baby 6 months old, and a nephew, 9.,
The family of Costa comprised himself, his wife and two children, Lucy, 4, and Orafrio, 6.
Under the mass of charred bedding at the bottom of the safety pit, from which all of the bodies were recovered, were also those of two children of Mrs. Marcellino Pedrigon -- Clardillo, 4, and Rogerio 6, and the three Petrucci children, Lucy, 3; Joe, 4, and Frank, 6 months.
The children were clasped in each other's arms, and over them lay the bodies of the two women, both badly charred. Both of the women were to be mothers soon.,
Superficial examination of the remainder of the tents failed to disclose other dead, but it is believed more may be found.
During the visit of the searching party, John McLennan, district president of the United Mine Workers, was twice arrested, searched and escorted under guard to the headquarters of the militia at the Ludlow station. His release was ordered by Major Hamrock.
By Linda (48291572)
Born in Colorado to Piemontesi Italian immigrants, from Coassolo Torinese, Torino, Piemonte, Italy, now part of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Torino (Turin). Her father was working in the coal mines in or near Pictou at the time she was born. The family later moved back to Indiana, where they had first lived after immigrating. Fortunately, they had the good sense to leave this godforsaken area before the "Colorado Coalfield War" of 1913-1914 culminated with a notorious massacre of immigrant mineworkers, known as the Ludlow Massacre, in the nearby mining town of Ludlow.
This area, Pictou and the neighboring towns of Walsenburg, and Ludlow was notorious for its horrendous mining conditions - basically slave labor, low wages, and deadly working conditions. The mines were owned by John D. Rockefeller, and the miners were paid in "company scrips" a form of credit, which could only be used to buy supplies and groceries from the Rockefeller owned company stores, where there were enormous markups, insuring huge profits for the oligarch, and for the miners a crippling debt they were never able to get out from under.
These horrendous conditions brought about the infamous "Colorado Coalfield War" which ran from Sep.1913 to Dec. 1914, culminating in the bloody and infamous "Ludlow Massacre" of 20 April 1914, in which murderous local sheriffs and vigilantes, secretly paid by Rockefeller, assisted by Colorado National Guard troops, hired by Rockefeller, sat atop a ridge with their machine guns, and shot down upon helpless men, women and children, living in a huge tent encampment of striking mine workers and their families, composed of 1,200 mostly Italian, Greek and Slavic immigrants. United Mine Workers of America had provided the 200 white tents to the striking workers after 20,000 miners and their families had been evicted from company housing during a rain storm at the beginning of the strike.
The miners, equipped with their simple rifles and shotguns, were at their mercy as they were sprayed with machinegun fire from on high. After the shooting stopped and nothing moved, the murderous thugs rode down, poured kerosine on their tents, and set them afire. By morning, nothing existed of the vast encampment but charred rubble; and the bodies of two women and 11 children, who had survived the hail of bullets, but were found huddled in the corner of the cellar dug under their tent, dead of asphyxia.
After the Massacre, one of our worst and most notoriously bigoted Presidents, Woodrow Wilson (who supported the KKK), finally ordered National Guard Troops to the area to "restore order". They were to have arrived prior to onslaught to prevent a massacre, but conveniently arrived only after it was all over.
Violence largely ended following the arrival of federal soldiers in late April 1914, but the strike did not end until December 1914. No concessions were made to the strikers and an estimated 69 to 199 people died during the strike. It's described as the "bloodiest labor dispute in American history" and "bloodiest civil insurrection in American history since the Civil War."
Woody Guthrie wrote his famous folk song "Ludlow Massacre" about the massacre, and the United Mine Workers Union had a beautiful granite monument installed with the names of all the Massacre victims engraved on it.
**
Local Newspaper Account of The Dead in Tents, Cellars
Ludlow Safety Pit Gives Up Its Dead -- Red Cross Attaches Carry Out the Charred Bodies of Women and Children.
Rocky Mountain News, 23 April 1914
Special to the News.
Trinidad, Colo., April 22. --The Ludlow colony, where thirteen women and children perished by fire and suffocation Monday, gave up its dead today. Red Cross attaches, entering the war zone under a flag of truce, came out with the bodies late this afternoon.
Among the dead were the family of Charles Costa, union organizer at Aguilar, and the family of Mrs. Chavez a Mexican woman, comprising herself, two girls of 4 and 6 years old, a baby 6 months old, and a nephew, 9.,
The family of Costa comprised himself, his wife and two children, Lucy, 4, and Orafrio, 6.
Under the mass of charred bedding at the bottom of the safety pit, from which all of the bodies were recovered, were also those of two children of Mrs. Marcellino Pedrigon -- Clardillo, 4, and Rogerio 6, and the three Petrucci children, Lucy, 3; Joe, 4, and Frank, 6 months.
The children were clasped in each other's arms, and over them lay the bodies of the two women, both badly charred. Both of the women were to be mothers soon.,
Superficial examination of the remainder of the tents failed to disclose other dead, but it is believed more may be found.
During the visit of the searching party, John McLennan, district president of the United Mine Workers, was twice arrested, searched and escorted under guard to the headquarters of the militia at the Ludlow station. His release was ordered by Major Hamrock.
By Linda (48291572)
This area, Pictou and the neighboring towns of Walsenburg, and Ludlow was notorious for its horrendous mining conditions - basically slave labor, low wages, and deadly working conditions. The mines were owned by John D. Rockefeller, and the miners were paid in "company scrips" a form of credit, which could only be used to buy supplies and groceries from the Rockefeller owned company stores, where there were enormous markups, insuring huge profits for the oligarch, and for the miners a crippling debt they were never able to get out from under.
These horrendous conditions brought about the infamous "Colorado Coalfield War" which ran from Sep.1913 to Dec. 1914, culminating in the bloody and infamous "Ludlow Massacre" of 20 April 1914, in which murderous local sheriffs and vigilantes, secretly paid by Rockefeller, assisted by Colorado National Guard troops, hired by Rockefeller, sat atop a ridge with their machine guns, and shot down upon helpless men, women and children, living in a huge tent encampment of striking mine workers and their families, composed of 1,200 mostly Italian, Greek and Slavic immigrants. United Mine Workers of America had provided the 200 white tents to the striking workers after 20,000 miners and their families had been evicted from company housing during a rain storm at the beginning of the strike.
The miners, equipped with their simple rifles and shotguns, were at their mercy as they were sprayed with machinegun fire from on high. After the shooting stopped and nothing moved, the murderous thugs rode down, poured kerosine on their tents, and set them afire. By morning, nothing existed of the vast encampment but charred rubble; and the bodies of two women and 11 children, who had survived the hail of bullets, but were found huddled in the corner of the cellar dug under their tent, dead of asphyxia.
After the Massacre, one of our worst and most notoriously bigoted Presidents, Woodrow Wilson (who supported the KKK), finally ordered National Guard Troops to the area to "restore order". They were to have arrived prior to onslaught to prevent a massacre, but conveniently arrived only after it was all over.
Violence largely ended following the arrival of federal soldiers in late April 1914, but the strike did not end until December 1914. No concessions were made to the strikers and an estimated 69 to 199 people died during the strike. It's described as the "bloodiest labor dispute in American history" and "bloodiest civil insurrection in American history since the Civil War."
Woody Guthrie wrote his famous folk song "Ludlow Massacre" about the massacre, and the United Mine Workers Union had a beautiful granite monument installed with the names of all the Massacre victims engraved on it.
**
Local Newspaper Account of The Dead in Tents, Cellars
Ludlow Safety Pit Gives Up Its Dead -- Red Cross Attaches Carry Out the Charred Bodies of Women and Children.
Rocky Mountain News, 23 April 1914
Special to the News.
Trinidad, Colo., April 22. --The Ludlow colony, where thirteen women and children perished by fire and suffocation Monday, gave up its dead today. Red Cross attaches, entering the war zone under a flag of truce, came out with the bodies late this afternoon.
Among the dead were the family of Charles Costa, union organizer at Aguilar, and the family of Mrs. Chavez a Mexican woman, comprising herself, two girls of 4 and 6 years old, a baby 6 months old, and a nephew, 9.,
The family of Costa comprised himself, his wife and two children, Lucy, 4, and Orafrio, 6.
Under the mass of charred bedding at the bottom of the safety pit, from which all of the bodies were recovered, were also those of two children of Mrs. Marcellino Pedrigon -- Clardillo, 4, and Rogerio 6, and the three Petrucci children, Lucy, 3; Joe, 4, and Frank, 6 months.
The children were clasped in each other's arms, and over them lay the bodies of the two women, both badly charred. Both of the women were to be mothers soon.,
Superficial examination of the remainder of the tents failed to disclose other dead, but it is believed more may be found.
During the visit of the searching party, John McLennan, district president of the United Mine Workers, was twice arrested, searched and escorted under guard to the headquarters of the militia at the Ludlow station. His release was ordered by Major Hamrock.
By Linda (48291572)
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