Denver labor bulletin., 1915-03-20
i'm MEMORIA OF
LUDLOW VICTIMS
April 20 Marks First Anniver-
sary Of the Massacre
Cause for Which They Died Still Goes
Forward and Their Spirits Live in
Heartsoi Men and Women ofLaber
By ]. D. RAMSAY.

April 20, 1915 marks the first milestone
of time since the lives of those twenty
victims of corporate greed and militia
villainy were sacrificed on the alter of
| industrial freedom on the plains of Lud-
low. We bow our heads at the graves OF
these martyrs today and renew our vows
of loyalty and service in the great cause
of humanity.
| Every great humanitarian movement
has demanded its toll of human life, such
sacrifices as that which drenched Mother
Earth at Ludlow, which heroic blood
teaches us that the great spirit that was
the father of American freedom is not
dead.
1t is true that the bodies of those Lud-
low heroes lie in the cold grave, but it
is equally true that the spirit they dis
played in life is today living and ac
tive force for good. They did not die
in vain. Generations to come will reap
untold benefits-the direct result Of their
efforts and example. Let us all halIow
their memory-the names of Elvira VAL
dez, age 3 months; Frank Petrucci. @
months; Lucy Petrucci, 3 years; Joe
Petrucci, years; Lucy Costa, 4 years;
ClOriva Pedregone, years; Roderlo Ped
regone, years; Onafiro Costa, Q years;
Mary Valdez, years; Eulala Valdez, 8
~
Larease, lS years; Mrs. Patria Valdez
and Mrs. Pedelino Costa who were muir
dered and cremated by the gunmen-mil
tia, and Frank w. Snyder, IL years of
age; Louis Tikas, James Fyler, Chas.
Costa. Frank Rubino and John Bartoloti,
who were shot and killed by the gunmen-
militia, will be remembered and hon
ored by generations and generations long
after the names OF their murderers have
been mercifully buried in dishonored oh
livion.
The Great Judge Gives Heed
Ii may be that earthly courts will not
pronounce Judgment upon those respon-
sble for the hideous massacre Of our
mart yred brethren but we cannot doubt
that sooner or later, either upon this
earth or before the final tribunal when
the hearts OF all men are known and
when the Great Judge of all men sits
far removed from all contaminating in
fluences that justice will be done and
the dying cries of those innocent chill
drcn whose young lives were so ruth
lessly destroyed will be heard. and their
susserings avenged. The damp earth may
cover the charred remains OF those chill
dren. but so long as theiIl murderefs
walk this earth they will never be able
for one single moment to put from their
minds the fact that the chafred fingers
of those children are eve{ pointeA ut
them telling the world of fle dastaPdiyl
crime. ~
No Glory ON This Battlefield
An artificial civilization may at times
play upon the public feeling to such an
extent that men who have fought
against and killed their fellow men in
wars and have assisted in great destruc-
tion, are heroes, but such unnatural adul.
tation has no lasting property. Murder,
destruction, cruelty and waste, no mat
ter under what guise or under what
names they are committed, are grossly
immoral and the SO called laurel wreathes
earned on battle fields will, when the
memory of the attendant horrors and in
justices are viewed from the vantage
point of human intelligence, prove to be
crowns of thorns.
How different are the memories Of
those who give up their lives as sacri-
fees on the industrial fields of the
worlds work. No martial music reused
their passions and stimulated the blood
lust. No laced and buttoned uniform
pandered to an unnatural military spirit
They dressed in the common every day
livery of their craft; they lived and died
in a hand to hand struggle with poverty,
and no monuments of carved stone mark
the first place that they found that rest
and peace which Christ himself prom
ised to all who followed him.
Martyrs to the God of Greed.
The members of that great and grow
ing army who are struggling for great
er portion of that industrial freedom,
which is rightfnIly the heritage of all
human beings, will ever keep its memory
green. and down through the ages will
the message of coming freedom be car.
ried and wherever that message reaches,
tho spirit of the Ludlow martyrs will be
held up AS an example to all men to en-.
courage them and urge them ON to re-
newed efforts to build up and beamtify
the habitations of men to raise the
standard of education of living and usher
in the era of peace and good will among
men.
The Ludlow heroes dies for us; when
their call came they were not found
wanting; they gave their all for their
fellow man and We can rest assured that
they now rest in the hands of Just
and merciful God and that the spirit
which animated them while they were
with us, is still living and that it is still