Page:Van Cise exhibits to the Commision on Industrial Relations regarding Colorado coal miner's strike.djvu/1

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Wright, J. J. Watson, Joe. Werden, Charles. Wilson, J. H. Welch, William. Willis, L. M.

Williams, Frank. West, F. H. York, Joe. Young, P. S. Young, Alex. Zook, I. D.



, May 2, 1914.

To Gen. , Brigadier General, Commanding the Military District of Colorado: 

April 25, 1914, you appointed the undersigned, Edward J. Boughton, major and judge advocate of the military district; W. C. Danks, captain, First Infantry; and Philip S. Van Cise, captain, First Infantry, a board of officers to inquire into the causes of the battle of Ludlow, Monday, April 20, 1914; to ascertain what happened during or as a result of that battle, with special reference to the death of women and children, the killing of Martin, Tikas, Fyler, and others; the burning of the tent colony and the claim that the tents were looted; to fix the responsibility for the battle and its results, and to report fully and impartially our findings and recommendations to the commanding general.

We have examined under oath all officers and prisoners, as many as possible of the soldiers, deputies, mine guards, and townspeople of Ludlow and near-by coal camps. We have made every possible effort to obtain the testimony of such strikers and tent colonists as were not within our reach, but without success. The strike leader, William Diamond, at Trinidad, after promising to produce before us at our request those among his people who claim to have witnessed any of the incidents of the day, omitted to do so.

A personal request made upon Mr. Lawson and Mr. McLennan, strike leaders, in Denver, was answered in their presence by Hawkins, their attorney. In this way they declined to give us any information, upon the ground that our inquiry was not publicly conducted.

As a result of our investigation we submit the following findings, report, and recommendations:

1. We find that the remote cause of this, as of all other battles, lies with the coal operators, who established in an American industrial community a numerous class of ignorant, lawless, and savage south-European peasants. The present underlying cause was the presence near Ludlow, in daily contact one with another, of three discordant elements—strikers, soldiers, and mine guards—all armed and fostering an increasing deadly hatred which sooner or later was bound to find some such expression. The immediate cause of the battle was an attack upon the soldiers by the Greek inhabitants of the tent colony, who misinterpreted a movement of troops on a neighboring hill.

2. These Greeks and the more violent element of the strikers had prepared for such an event by bringing back into the colony the arms secreted to escape the searches of the guardsmen. This was done in the latter part of March. They also secured a large amount of ammunition, and awaited a favorable moment for an engagement in which they hoped to catch the soldiers unprepared, and thus wipe out the defense of Hastings and Berwind Canyon. Their plans miscarried and the battle precipitated suddenly on Monday morning was unexpected by all.

3. A military detail went to the colony to demand of Louis Tikas, the colony leader, the release of a man said to be detained by the strikers. The man was not delivered. Hot words passed between the soldiers and strikers. When the detail left, the Greeks, over the protest of their leader, ran for their guns and threatened to fight.

