The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-04-22
rs DIE; SCORE
WOUNDED IN
MINE BATTLE
Most of Them Are Women
and Children, Shot or
Burned in Pits.
HUNDREDS OF ARMED
STRIKERS IN HILLS
Labor Men and Troops Lined
Up Ready for Fierce
Fight To-day.
TENTS BURN IN CROSSTIRE
TENTS BURN IN CROSSFIRE
Explosions and Flames Suffo-
cate NOncOmbatants in
Colorado Camp.

TRINIDAD. Col. April ci.-Forty-f
dead. more than two-thirds of them
women and children. n score missing and
more than twenty wounded is the toll
known tonight to have been taken in
the fourteen hour battle which ragged yes
ferday between State troops and striking
coal miners in the Ludlow district.
with arms ready both sides await the
coming Of dawn. when. It is forecast. the
battle will be resumed with greater blood
shed than ever.
The militia, which drove the strikers
from their tent colony yesterday, and, II
Is charged. fred II. involving thereby the
greatest loss of life. are preparing for
y machine gun sortie at daybreak from
their position along the Colorado and
Southern Railroad tracks at either side
OF the Ludlow station.
On the surrounding hills sheltered by
roclls and boulders. 400 strikers await
their coming. while their ranks are being
swelled by hundreds who tramped over
land in the dark. carrying guns and am
munition from the neighboring union
camps.
Italians, Greeks and Austrian miners
have appealed to their consular repre-
sentatives for protection. and John Nc
Lehman. president Of the local union dis
trict. to-day wired the Red Cross In
Denver to be prepared to render aid.
Big Battle Expected.
A.,
tomorrow may depend the fate OF the
strike. Both sides face it as battle
to the death, with no thought Of quarter
asked or received. At late hour II
was said here that the battle could only
be averted by the arrival of overwhelming
reenforcements for the troops from Den
yer.
No train service through the war zone
il permitted. A command OF the troops
Ia hemmed in on three sides by the
strikers lines, which extend back three
miles. Through this Gordon only the
wagons carrying the dead and wounded are
allowed TO pass.
In Trinidad the situation is no less
acute. Men throng the streets about the
union headquarters and demand guns
with which to wreak vengeance upon the
militia, whom they hold responsible for
the destruction OF their homes and the
death Of their women and children.
In the Ludlow camp in the holes which
have been dug for their protection against
the rife fire. the women and children
them
One pit uncovered this afternoon dis
closed the bodies OF ten children and two
women. F'u.ther exploration was for
hidden By the position OF the camp. which
lies directly between the militia and the
strikers positions.
Military authorities here admitted to-
night they did not know how great the
loss Of life may have been.
Camp Raked by BuIlets.
Explosions OF cartridges within the
camp and the hail OF lead with which the
militia raked 1t as the flames mounted
skyward added to tho horror of the Are
Itself
Terrified by the bullets. which poured
through the blazing canvases above their
heads the women and children. appar-
entity more afraid of the lead than OF the
flames, remained huddled in their pit
until the smoke carried death to them by
tuftocation.
Some drawer than the rest ran into the
open and dashed aimlessly among the
200 tents. which by that time had be-
come so many torches.
Two women dashed toward the militia
position.
Dynamite. - they screamed.
Al instant later the ammunition re-
naming nthe camp exploded. sending a
shower Of lead in all directions. A seven
Hcar'old girl dashed from under blazing
tent. and insane from fright ran into a
toni again and fell into the hole with the
remainder Of her family to suffocats with
thoin.
The child is said TO have been a daugh-
''f OF Charles Costa, a union leader at
"slilar who, with his wife and another
enid Is declared to have persisted.
Plenty Of ANN unttiOn.
Both strikers and militia have plenti-
VA supply or ammunition on hand. Five
'phsand rounds were sent to the troops
- Ludlow on IA Colorado and Southern
nam from Denver early this morning anC
''iS supply WAS later supplemented by @
SHIPMENT from Trinidad this noon.
Tho strikers by the seizure Of an engine
TIC Denver and Rio Grande yards ~
- Morore early to-day were also able &c
"rI'n"h their stock at Barnes.
IN" militia number 200. Detachment,
rom "alsenburg and La Mar got through
IN" lines carly last night. They occupy