Bridgeton pioneer., 1914-06-04
AWFUL STORY OF
COLORADO SIEGE
As Related by Woman Witness
From Mining Camp.
DUG CAVES TO ESCAPE DEATH

the Earth In Which to Conceal Them
selves and Their chiIdren-Havoo
Wrouoht,sby Machine Guns Of the
Militia Graphically Described.
Mrs. Pearl Jolly Of the Women's
Trades Union league, testifying before
the United States industrial commits
sion, gave graphic picture of the hor-
rors of Ludlow camp colony In Colo
RADIO on April 20, when men, women
and children were besieged by the
state militia and it became necessary
to dig caves beneath the camp to es-
cape the fire of the well trained ma
chine guns. She testified in New York.
Mrs. Jolly told of the siege OF the
camp. She said the trouble opened
with the firing of two bombs into the
heart Of the camp and the ignoring OF
white flag carried by the leader OF
the striking miners.
"Then the bullets from the machine
guns began to find their way every
where" said Mrs. Jolly. "The women
set to work digging holes in the ground
in which to hide their children. There
were 500 of the women, many of them
about to become mothers; others with
nursing babies and still others old
and inflrm. There were also the 500
men.
crawIed Away on Their stomaohs.
'sTo distract the fire from the camp,
which 1t was presumed was aimed at
the men, the miners departed for the
hills. They crawled away On their
stomachs, while the women were using
crude implements to dig into the
ground. Four men remained to look
after the women and children.
'There were only forty rifles In all
of Ludlow camp. This shows that 1t
was not an armed body, as has been
reported.
ut was becoming so desperate that
decided to pin red cross on white
dress and go forth into the open so
that the men with the machine guns
could see me. l was in the camp In
the capacity of nurse in the event my
services were needed.
"As soon as l showed myself the mi
litiamen began to pepper at me- One
of the bullets struck the heel of one Of
my shoes, and others struck all about
me. / thought 1t was about time that
got under cover.
"As / walked into my tent noticed
three men lying alongside of It, They
had dragged the telephone through a
slit and were frantieally calling help
from Trinidad.
Opposite the entrance to the tent
was a mirror. My reflection after I
had entered was In the mirror You
can get good idea of what fine, shots
those men with the rifles and the r.
chine guns were when they shatter
the mirror to smithereens in less than
five minutes They thought they were
actually shooting at me.
Il thought my end had come Going
to the door, dropped to the floor and
lay still. Apparently the men with
the machine guns thought was dead.
later l managed to work my way
around to the men who were lying
against the side of the tent telephon-
ing. For Gods sake, go away, wo-
manp they whispered. You're a hoo
door
II think after that the militiamen
must have relocated us, for the fire
became dangerous again.
Only the Caves Saved Women.
ITO stay where we were meant
death. All the pits were filed with
the weeping women and the crying
children. There was no room for us
there. saw three men who had been
hiding near me run for coal pile and
1 followed. A rain of shots followed.
"For an hour. with no letup, machine
guns sputtered steel jacketed bullets
about the coal. Enough shots were
turned In our direction to carry or
regiment.
We saw an innocent, blue eyed,
twelve-year-old boy throw up his
hands with bullet In his heart. His
father, his eyes wild with grief, crawl
ed to our side. He wanted to go out
into the open and get to the men with
the murder machines, but we held him
back.
"At 8 o'clock that day the machine
guns got even a better range Every
sign of life was annihilated. Dogs,
chickens, cats and other domestic ami
mails were picked Off with ease, SO ex-
pert were these marksmen. If the
caves had not been dug every one of
the 500 women and children would
have been shot.
"One little Italian woman. whose.
three children had been murdered by
the machine guns, became insane.
Perhaps tie worst feature of the
siege was the unearthly screams of
the women and children as a bullet
found one of their number"