Printable Version
Woody Guthrie Recounts the Story of the Ludlow Massacre
Digital History ID 1068
Author:
Woody Guthrie
Date:1944
Annotation:
On April 20, 1914, the Colorado National Guard attacked an encampment of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families, at Ludlow, Colorado, leaving some 20 people dead, including a dozen women and children.
Document:
It was early springtime that the strike was on They moved us miners out of doors Out from the houses that the company owned We moved into tents at old Ludlow
I was worried bad about my children Soldiers guarding the railroad bridge Every once in a while a bullet would fly Kick up gravel under my feet
We were so afraid they would kill our children We dug us a cave that was seven foot deep Carried our young ones and a pregnant woman Down inside the cave to sleep
That very night you soldier waited Until us miners were asleep You snuck around our little tent town Soaked our tents with your kerosene
You struck a match and the blaze it started You pulled the triggers of your gatling guns I made a run for the children but the fire wall stopped me Thirteen children died from your guns
I carried my blanket to a wire fence corner Watched the fire till the blaze died down I helped some people grab their belongings While your bullets killed us all around
I will never forget the looks on the faces Of the men and women that awful day When we stood around to preach their funerals And lay the corpses of the dead away
We told the Colorado governor to call the President Tell him to call off his National Guard But the National Guard belong to the governor So he didn't try so very hard
Our women from Trinidad they hauled some potatoes Up to Walsenburg in a little cart They sold their potatoes and brought some guns back And put a gun in every hand
The state soldiers jumped us in a wire fence corner They did not know that we had these guns And the red neck miners mowed down them troopers You should have seen those poor boys run
We took some cement and walled that cave up Where you killed those thirteen children inside I said, "God bless the Mine Workers' Union" And then I hung my head and cried
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