Arizona republican., 1914-02-11
Conspicuous Leader of Miners Says Strikes In jure Not Only Strikers, Wives and Children, But Public As We'll.
ACCOUNTS TEN
 YEARS CONTROVERSY
Particularly Refe to Strike of 1913 In Which He Asserted 95 Per Cent of the Men Walked Out The "Death Special
ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATcHl

ASSOCIATED PRESS DIsPATCHl
 DENVER, Feb. 10.-A dramatic story of the Colorado coal strike from the lips of John R. Lawson, one of the most conspicuous leaders Of the miners. was unfolded late today before the congressional investigation committed Lawson is the Colorado member of the executive board of the United Mine Workers of Amer ica.
 Strikes are hell We do not be lieve in strikes unless they are abso- lutely unavoidable. They injure not only the strikers, their wives and children, and not only the coal oper- ators, but they injure the pubic" Thus Lawson announced what he declared to be the policy of the United Mine Workers in labor dis putes He recounted the miners yer sion of the ten years controversy in Colorado. It was story of blood, hate and misery, which the labor leader told He told of battles in which both sides shot to kill, q state of warfare with strikers and militia men bTaving blizzards and cheerless camps The labor leader told the committee that he began working in the coal mines when he was eight i years old He outlined the methods 1 by which he alleged. the United Mine Workers call strikes. He then entered into the history of the coal mining industry in Colorado from the time of the strike in 1903 which was lost by the miners.
 Tn that strike.' he declared the operators brought gunmen and thugs who had been guilty of almost ev- ely crime on the calendar, to intimi- cate the miners. They Were unsuc- cessful. and to fill the places of the strikers the companies Brought l strike breakers Soon these discov- cred they had been put into mines where conditions were uncomfortable. l Their comfort and their very lives were of no account. Thus, in the l course of time these men appealed to our organization. They wanted to join the union and strike for their rights.
 We took them into the union, but advised them not to strike We realized they could not win
 Lawson then told of number ol cases in which he said the union had prevented strikes. In the meantime, 1 however the men were joining the union.
 He then told of the calling of the strike of 1913, in which he asserted D. per cent of the miners walked cut within week. He told of the exodus of the miners from their homes to the tent colonies provided by the union.
 The operators had an army of from 600 to 700 gun men in Las Animas and Huerfano counties" he said. They had what they called the Death Special. an armored auto mobile in which was mounted one of their machine guns which carried a squad of private detectives.
 He described the battle at the
 Forbes tent colony on october IT, in which one man was killed and ten | were wounded.
 There had been some shooting in
 the morning and about noon," he re- counted, but in the afternoon every
 thing was peaceful again. Then d
 crowd of men suddenly appeared
 from Trinidad some mounted and
 some riding in the Death Special,
 and they had two machine guns. A
 man named Kennedy, bearing a
 V hite flag, came within the tent
 colony. He said:
 " Boys, I'm a union man. Are
 you. good union men or scabs?'
 The men in camp replied that
 they were union men.
 Well, you'd better look out. be-
 cause they are going to shoot you
 said Kennedy. suddenly walking back about fifteen feet and hurling the
 white flag to the ground. "The next instant the two machine
 guns opened fire upon the tent col
 ony. One man was shot through the
 head and killed as he was trying tc
 get away. A boy was hit nine iines.''
 , Did any of your men reply to tho fire?" asked committeeman. T have reason to believe that [ few men got guns, took refuge in [ ditch and fired back was the reply [ The best evidence of this is tha
 although there were fifty guards anC 9 only twenty-fOur men in the ten r i ColanN the puardS went hack fl e Trinidad without capturing a pri . soner"
 d Lawson will remain testifyng to