The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-02-19
The DREADFUL
|. STORY OF LUDLOW
Miners Wife Tells Of Strike
Killings In Colorado.

"a
was a witness before the fed
eral commission on industrial
relations recently in session at New
York city
Greeks among the striking miners at
Ludlow, Cal, were celebrating Easter
Monday on April 20, 1914 In tent No.
/ of the colony in which the strikers
lived Mrs. Mary Petrucci was dressing
her six-months-old baby, while her two
year-old girl and her four-year boy
played at her side.
A rifle shot sounded from the hill
side above the camp. Mrs. Petrucci
and her children hid in the little eel
lar beneath the floor of their tent The
men scattered, and by noon what the
strikers now call the Battle of Lud-
low" was well under way Eleven
children, ten men and two women lost
their lives in it, and two days later
the strikers issued their call to arms"
when did you leave your tent on
April 20?" Mrs. Petrucci was asked.
Il didn't leave the tent at ALL l just
stayed there with the children all day
In the evening when the fire started
we had 10 run out"
The fire destroyed the colony. 1t
has been established that it started in
the Petrucci tent, but who was respon-
sible for il is still matter for con-
troversy.
Il was sitting with my baby in my
lap" Mrs. Petrucci continued, when
/ saw the fire and started out. / saw
a lot Of milit' under the water tank.
They hollered to me to look out and
they was shooting at me- That scared
me the lots more than the fire /
suppose the milit' was twenty-five
yards away from me when they fired
Right back of our tent was tent
5S. 1t had a cellar under it that was
all nicely timbered and had beds in
it. Women went there to become moth
ers. Just inside the door of the tent
there was steps dug out of the earth
leading down to this cellar. The steps
was about six feet deep / ran for
this cellar because on one side was my
tent, which was on fire, and on the
'"The door to tent 5S was open when
We got there, and it was left open
behind us. There were three women
and eight children in the cellar when
| got there. / had my baby in my
arms, and my little girl-she was two
and a half years old-was holding on
TO my dress at the side, and my boy
followed after me. He was four years
old"
Mrs. Petrucci paused an instant and
added:
He would have been five years old
if he had lived until yesterday.
when | got into the cellar l told
one of the women that they was burn
ing the tents. and she said it was bet
ter where we was than trying to get
anywhere else, because the milit' was
shooting 1t was no more than ten
minutes till the tent over this cellar
was on fire too.
"Then / got unconscious, and I was
that way till the next morning about
$50. Just as soon as came out I
started to look for a drink of water.
l was so suffocated There wasn't
any water in the cellar or in the tent
and l started over toward the tank.
"The guards there was laughing as
l came along, and / kept looking back
because 1 was afraid they would shoot
after me. They did the day before.
1 suppose l was like a drunken per
son, FOR ! remember the road was all
wavy before me.
81 got down to the pump station
and there I asked a woman would she
go back and look for my children She
went, but she couldn't find the tent
where we was. If / hadn't sent her
down nobody would have known they
was dead in there.
"Then they took me to Trinidad, and
I had pneumonia for nine days"
What did you think had become of
your children when this woman came
back and said she couldn't find the
tent where you had been?'
81 wasn't thinking anything then.
They told me about this afterward'
"All your children lost their lives In
this cellar?'
"Al that was left. I had one other
one that died March T."
"And only you came out of the cellar
alive?"
There was one other woman that
did Two women and eleven children
was smotbered."
Both the coroner's jury and the first
military commission that inquired into
the Ludlow affair held the militiamen
responsible for the starting of the fire.