Page:Van Cise exhibits to the Commision on Industrial Relations regarding Colorado coal miner's strike.djvu/17

Rh First Lieut. K. E. Linderfelt, placed in command at Cedar Hill, 1$ miles from Ludlow, has, throughout the strike, been the Nemesis of the strikers. A member of the guard off and on for many years, a former sergeant of the Regular Army, a veteran of many wars, and a typical soldier of fortune, he was the worst man that could have been put in command of troops charged with preserving the peace. As a fighting man there was none better or braver. Personally likeable when casually met or in conversation, he was possessed of an insane hatred towards " red-necks " or " wops " as the strikers came to be called. When the troops entered the Ludlow district on November 1, 1913, he with other mine guards was personally disarmed by Col. Davis, of the Second Infantry, though Linderfelt was then a battalion adjutant in that regiment. At this time he was a deputy sheriff though not drawing pay from the county, and was in charge of the mine guards during the battles at Berwind, a C. F. & I. property. (Mr. Welborn, president of the C. F. & I. testified before the congressional commission that Linderfelt was paid by his company (Vol. II, p. 554). Linderfelt before the Industrial Commission said he was paid by the county. The county records show no such payment) Later he put on his uniform and was assigned to duty in charge of Company B, Second Infantry.

This was a Trinidad company, composed at that time almost entirely of Mexicans, and had been called out by the sheriff about two weeks before the other troops took the field. The Mexicans were gradually eliminated, and Americans took their places. Only one of the original members was left at the time of the Battle of Ludlow. In its ranks were then numbered mine guards, men enlisted in the district, and men transferred from other companies which had been relieved from duty. These transfers came late in the campaign, and were a good average bunch of men.

The old mine guard element, led by Lieut. K. E. Linderfelt, was always in trouble with the colonists. This group and the strikers constantly sought opportunities for assaults upon each other, and each made the most of its opportunities. Company B had the best of it, because it carried arms. The result was that while the First Infantry company at Ludlow was usually on good terms with the strikers, played baseball and football with them, and its men could go into the colony unarmed, Lieut. Linderfelt and his men went in parties armed to the teeth, in constant danger of being wiped out if caught unaware

K Company left the field March 13. B Company—it strength about 35—moved a detachment of 12 men to K's old camp, and Maj. P. J. Hamrock, formerly in command at Aguilar, was ordered to Ludlow.

Hamrock is an Irishman and an ex-Regular. His few critics (before Ludlow) were never able to say worse of him than that he was a saloonkeeper. A crack rifle shot, honest, fair and square, " Pat " was universally loved in the guard. As major he was in cliarge of the district. Lieut. Linderfelt, nicknamed "Monte" was in direct charge of the company. The major tried to keep order, Monte to force disorder. Several strikers were booted off the depot platform, assaulted in the roads, and "run ragged." On the other hand the soldiers were the constant recipients of threats that they would be wiped out by the strikers.

On the departure of K, and forseeing a withdrawal of all the troops, the colonists began to bring in from the hills and arroyos the guns hidden from the search of the soldiers. They planned further attacks upon the. mines and the driving out of the hated scabs. They also hoped for a chance to get Monte and his men, but did not dare so long as a strong supporting force was in the field.

A troop of cavalry, known as Troop A, was enlisted among employees of the operators. These men were anything but impartial, all were violent opponents of the unions, and the agitators seized upon this incident as a means to further inflame the strikers.

Friday, April 17, 1914, all other troops were withdrawn; Company B and luckless Pat were left. Events moved swiftly. The strikers now grew arrogant, the operators fearful and good citizens began to leave. Mine guards came back into the district, and- the searchlights again threw their beams across the sky.

The strike was apparently lost. Radicals urged violence as the only way to enforce victory. Tuesday at dawn was set as the time to wipe out the soldiers and then to march on the coal camps of the C. F. & I. at Berwind and the Victor-American at Hastings and Delagua. Some of the colonists warned their friends in the coal camps to move before the attack. A succession of trivial incidents precipitated the battle on Monday, and Ludlow, through the agency of a bitter and untruthful press, became the most misrepresented spot in the United States.