Testimonies & Memories

Testimonies and Memories. Voices from the Budow Massacre survive.. , The following statements are from people who were involved with the tragedy. They come from official records and oral histories., "They used to scrub by hand, go fetch the water a mile [or] two, [at] 3:00 in the morning. We used to make salami out of the jackrabbit meat, believe it or not." , Josephine Bazanelle, wife of a striking miner, "I believe that a prime consideration in the carrying on of an industry should be the well-being of the men and women engaged in it, and the soundest industrial policy which has constantly in mind the welfare of the employees as well as the making of profits, and which, when the necessity arises, subordinate pofits to welfare." , John D. Rockefeller, majority stockholder in Colorado Fuel and Iron, "For more than 10 years [Rockefeller] has been a director of CF&I Co, vested with what is virtually the power of life and death over 12,000 men and their families." , John Lawson, UMWA organizer during 1913-14 strike , "...we had everything there, Greeks, Italians, Slavs and all, the League of Nations was there, you might say... they all stuck together. And they was a lot better off than just growing vegetables in Italy..." , Alex Bisulco, teenage son of stiking miner, "It was terrible weather at that time. But we determined to stick together there because we had put up with such a lot and believed we would rather suffer anything than go back to work under the conditions that they had been working." , Mary Thomas, striker and official greeter of Ludlow tent colony, "We had 21 different nationalities in the Ludlow tent colony." , Pearl Jolly, striker at the Ludlow tent colony, "I found a friendliness among women of all nationalities - 22 at least. I saw the true melting pot at Ludlow." , Senator Helen Ring Robinson, Colorado State Senator 1913-1916, "[From Aguilar] We walked out where we could see down towards Ludlow... And we could see the glare, the fire, they went up in no time. Them flames sweep those tents like confetti... Well, we went down the next day and there was nothing but smoke and ruins and old coal stoves, bed springs, bedsteads and wash tubs... Looked like a graveyard." , Alex Bisulco, teenage son of striking miner, "From my first experience in the Ludlow colony the gunmen would come there and would try in every way to provoke trouble." , Pearl Jolly, striker who administered aid to the strikers at the Ludlow tent colony, Captions , Center: Portrait of men, boys and girls at the UMWA tent colony for striking coal miners in Ludlow, 1914