Follow the Fire in the Hole script and accompanying images to journey back in time to the Southern Colorado Coal Field War and the haunting Ludlow "massacre"; 1913-1914.

Narrator:

The coal fields of southern Colorado offered some of the most dangerous mining conditions in the nation. Cave-ins and explosions were twice the national average. Bad or non-existent sewer systems allowed typhoid to rage through the mining towns.

Zeese Papanikolas/Author:

"The company towns were owned lock stock and barrel by the companies. And the towns themselves were kind of symbol to the miners to the fact that they did not own their lives."

Narrator:

By 1910, seventy percent of the workforce in these mines was immigrant labor. Many had been brought in as strikebreakers. . .few spoke English. For ten years the United Mine Workers had been trying to organize the coal miners of Southern Colorado— only to run into ethnic barriers. By 1910 the U.M.W. was able to recruit a few immigrants. One was a Greek miner named Louis Tikas. Tikas moved from camp to camp, organizing miners -- convincing them they had to be ready to take action.

Louis Tikas:

"The injustices and brutalities heaped upon the miners are such that I found the spirit manifested among my countrymen working there to be that of war."

Narrator:

In September of 1913, the United Mine Workers sent a letter to the coal mine owners, inviting them to sit down with the union to improve working conditions. One copy found its way to the desk of Lamont Bowers, manager of the sprawling Colorado Fuel and Iron Coal Mines. C.F.I., as it was known, was the most influential mining operation in the region. . .and was owned by John D. Rockefeller, junior. By 1910 Rockefeller had taken over management of his family's empire. When Lamont Bowers and C.F.I. spoke, people in Colorado listened. And Bowers had no patience for a union.

Lamont Bowers:

"Our men are well paid, well housed and every precaution known taken to prevent disaster. So far as we can learn, they are satisfied and contented. But the constant dogging of their heels by agitators has a mighty influence over the ignorant foreigners."

Narrator:

The mines refused to meet with the unions. The refusal caught the attention and fueled the rage of gray-haired Mary Jones. With an appearance that prompted her friends to call her "Mother," Jones had become one of the most unlikely, yet fiery and outspoken leaders of the American labor movement. In her eighties, Mother Jones brought a packed house in Trinidad, Colorado's West theatre to its feet:

Mother Jones:

"Rise up and strike. . .strike until the last one of you drop into your graves. We are going to stand together and never surrender. Boys, always remember you ain't got a damn thing if you aint got a union!"

Narrator:

When the union called a strike, the mine companies tossed the miners and their families out of company housing. The union set up tent colonies. Positioned near the mine canyons and alongside rail lines, they held a vantage point. All the better to confront and chase off the hundreds of strikebreakers the company was expected to hire. The largest tent colony held twelve-hundred men, women and children near the rail town of Ludlow.

Mary Thomas:

"Our suffering with the extreme cold and hunger had brought us all together. The mine guards had lumped us together as being ‘you damn foreigners.' But we ‘damn foreigners' became as one nationality. No one thought of anybody being different in color or national origin. We had become a family of world citizens.

Narrator:

The striking miners started to stockpile rifles. The mine companies hired scores of new guards. . .and even brought in an armored car that miners dubbed "the death special." Mine guards and striking workers were soon trading shots.

Concerned that the area would explode in open warfare, the Colorado National Guard dispatched Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt to assess the situation. It proved to be a turning point. Linderfelt signed on to take command of a force of mine guards. Linderfelt urged confrontation with the strikers. But the mine owners' strategy was to pressure Colorado's governor Elias Ammons to call out the National Guard. Behind the scenes, Lamont Bowers orchestrated the financial deal.

Lamont Bowers:

"You will be interested to know that we have been able to secure the cooperation of all the bankers of the city, who have had conferences with out little cowboy governor, agreeing to back the state and lend it all the funds necessary to maintain the militia and afford ample protection."

Narrator:

Outwardly aloof in New York, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. actually demonstrated an awareness of developments in Colorado. He backed his mine operators in rejecting ammons call for a peace conference, and called for troops to keep his mines open.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

"The action of our officers in refusing to meet the strike leaders meets with our approval, and we shall support them to the end. The governor of Colorado has only to protect the lives of bona fide miners to bring the strike to a speedy termination."

Narrator:

In late October of 1913, a band of armed strikers attacked a trainload of deputies near Ludlow. Faced with escalating violence, Governor Ammons called out the National Guard. The striking miners thought it would end the violence.

Papanikolas:

"The Guard had originally been welcomed to Ludlow. They met it with their little camp band. But they soon changed their tune."

Narrator:

The National Guard fell in with the mine company's private armed force. Deputies and guardsmen attempted to round-up union leaders, and women and children took up the job of confronting the military.

Papanikolas:

"Many of these women were from Southern Europe, from Eastern Europe, and they'd been used to falling in their husbands footsteps. And suddenly, they were going to meetings, their opinions were worth something. . .When the men were in jail the women could take over picket duty. And they became tremendously important."

Narrator:

A strange and uneasy calm settled over Southern Colorado as the state struggled with one of the worst winters in years. The United Mine Workers strike fund was virtually empty. . .and maintaining the National Guard had cost Colorado nearly seven-hundred-thousand dollars in loans from banks controlled by the mines. By spring, governor ammons had started removing troops. . .but they were replaced by private mine guards who were sworn in to the National Guard, and paid by C.F.&I.

In Washington, a congressional committee questioned Rockefeller on whether it made sense to cause death and spend more than a million dollars rather than accept unions in his mining camps.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.:

"Our interest in labor is so profound and we believe so sincerely that the interest demands that the camps shall be open camps, that we expect to stand by the officers at any cost."

Congressional Committee Chairman:

"And you will do that if it costs all your property and kills all your employees?"

Rockefeller:

"It is a great principle."

Narrator:

Less than two weeks later, it was Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday for the people of the Ludlow tent colony. It turned into a day-long celebration for the twelve-hundred men, women and children. . .poles, Mexicans and Italians joining with the Greeks to celebrate the holiday. Baseball games featured the colony's women, and dinner was fashioned around lambs stolen from a local flock.

The next morning. . .Monday, April 20th, 1914. . .there was a confrontation at the colony's front gate as troops searched for a man. Miners grabbed their guns. In response. The National Guard rallied troops, posting machine guns on nearby Water Tower Hill. Union organizer Louis Tikas had been talking with national guard officers. . .trying to ease the confrontation. Somehow, warnings turned to threats. . .and threats turned to gunfire from both sides.

Mary Thomas:

"The shooting started at the tent colony, and at us. The children were screaming in fright, and we women were panic stricken and stunned."

Narrator:

The battle swayed back and forth, with the National Guard advancing and firing into the camp. . .and then the miners flanking the troops and driving them back. A 19-year old guardsman was gunned down at close range. His body then brutally beaten.

Many of the women and children fled the tent colony. . .away from the direction of the national guard. But some of the families were pinned down by machine gun fire. . .huddling in pits and cellars they had dug in the dirt floors of their tent. Eleven-year old Frank Snyder tried to get water for his five brothers and sisters. He was gunned down by a bullet to the head. Louis Tikas ran through gunfire throughout the day, leading families out of the tents and to safety.

The striking miners started to run out of ammunition. . .and drifted into the nearby hills to regroup. After nearly twelve hours, the gunfire stopped. . .and the National Guard advanced into the tent colony of Ludlow. Italian union organizer Charlie Costa was shot dead. . .a single bullet to the head. A fire broke out and started to sweep through the colony. . .several families were still in their tents, afraid to move in the chaos. Karl Linderfelt led his force of armed men on a howling charge into the camp. . .where Louis Tikas was still trying to get families out.

Papanikolas:

"He is captured and turned over to Karl Linderfelt, Lieutenant Linderfelt, who breaks the stock of his rifle across Louie's head. And then turns him and two other union men who'd been captured over to three of the militia men. And the militia men really knew what they had to do. They told these three men to run, and then they shot them in the back."

Narrator:

The next morning, union men were able to enter what had been the Ludlow colony. Amid the ashes they found the bodies of two union men. . .and finally, Louis Tikas. It was then that the most sickening discovery was made.

In the center of Camp Alcarita Pedregone and Mary Petrucci were found wandering aimlessly. They had been trapped in a pit with other women and children when the tent colony started to burn. Petrucci and Pedregone had lived. . .but two mothers and eleven children had suffocated, including the wife and children of Charlie Costa. The entire Costa family was now dead. Alcarita Pedregone's two children were dead. Mary Petrucci's three children were dead, including the baby who died in her arms. Word spread. . .and the striking miners became enraged at the death of women and children.

Papanikolas:

"Immediately after Ludlow the miners of Southern Colorado, they went wild. They went on a rampage of destruction, of dynamiting of burning. They literally held Southern Colorado for ten days. And finally federal troops were sent to the strike zone. And that effectively ended the miners resistence, and that ended the strike. The strike was lost, it was over."

Narrator:

Nearly 100 had died in Colorado's Coal Field war. . .with the union dead outnumbering mine company dead nearly three-to-one.

Rocky Mountain News:

"The blood of women and children, burned and shot like rats, cries aloud from the ground. The great state of Colorado has failed them. It has betrayed them. Her militia, which should have been impartial protectors of the peace, have acted as murderous gunmen."

Narrator:

Stung by criticism for his tough anti-union stance, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.attempted to make amends. Colorado Fuel & Iron worked at better hygiene in mine camps. . .and even formed what they called a company union.

Papanikolas:

"A kind of shell of benevolence under which it was the same old story. Company unions, of course, had no power. Power was still paternalistically in the hands of the mine owners."

Narrator:

Rockefeller and C.F.& I. mine operator Lamont Bowers could, in fact, claim victory – if they dared -- in the wake of what became known as the Ludlow Massacre. The United Mine Workers Union was broke, and conceded the strike. C.F.& I. never had to recognize a union that wasn't of their own making. But there was a public revulsion to the images of the dead. . .and Ludlow would cast a shadow longer than the Colorado Coal Fields.

Mary Petrucci:

"Why, there wasn't a happier woman anywhere than I was. I used to sing around my work and playing with my babies. Well, I don't sing anymore. I'm twenty-four years old, and I suppose I'll live a long time, but I don't see how I can ever be happy again. I can't have my babies back. But, perhaps when everybody knows about them, something will be done to make the world a better place for all babies."