Connecticut western news., 1914-06-04
AWFUL STORY OF
 COLORADO SIEGE
kS Related by Woman Witness :. :. From Mining Camp.
DUG CAVES TO'ESGAPE DEATH

Frantic Mothers seooped Out Holes In the Earth In Which to Conceal Them
 selves and Their children-Havoc
 Wrought by Machine Guns of the Militia Graphically Described.
 Mrs. Pearl Jolly of the Women's Trades Union league, testifying before the United States industrial commis- sion, gave a graphic picture of the hor- TOTS of Ludlow camp colony in Colo rado on April 20, when men, women and children were besieged by the state militia and 1t became necessary to dig caves beneath the camp to es- cape the fire of the we'll 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 a 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 800 of the women, many of them about to become mothers; others with nursing babies and still others old and infirm. There were also the 500 men.
 crawIed Away on Their stomachs.
 ITO distract the fire from the camp, which it 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 it was not an armed body, as has been reported.
 Tt was becoming so desperate that I decided to pin red cross on a white dress and go forth into the open 70 that the men with the machine guns could see me. was in the camp in the capacity of nurse in the event my services were needed.
 "As soon as I 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. I thought it 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 frantically calling help from Trinidad. .r-
 Opposite the entrance to the tent was n 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 ma chine guns were when they shattered the mirror to smithereens in less than five minutes. They thought they were actually shooting at me.
 "I thought my end had come. Going to the door, I dropped to the floor and lay still. Apparently the men with the machine guns thought was dead.
 Later I managed to work my way around to the men who were lying against the side of the tent telephen- ing. For Gods sake. go away, wo- manr they whispered. You're a hoo door
 ''I think after that the militiamen must have relocated us. for the fire became dangerous again.
 Only the Caves Saved Women.
 ''To stay where we were meant death. All the pits were filled 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 a coal pile and I 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 off a 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 better range. Every sign of life was annihilated. Dogs. chickens, cats and other domestic ami mals were picked off with ease, so ,ex- pert were these marksmen. If the caves had not been dug every one of the 800 women and children would have been shot.
 ''One little Italian woman, whose three children had been murdered by the machine guns, became insane.
 Perhaps the worst feature of the siege was the unearthly screams of the women and children as a bullet found one of their number"