After learning that the miners' Union was about to organize a strike, the Colorado fuel and iron ore company naturally tried every means to obstruct it.
First, they recruited a large number of new immigrants from other countries as miners, in order to make miners have problems in language communication, so as to weaken the organization of miners.
Second, more armed guards were hired to prepare for a possible strike.
The miners' Federation then made seven requests to the Colorado fuel and iron ore company to improve the situation of miners, but they were categorically rejected.
In September of the same year, the miners' Federation officially organized a miners' strike at the Colorado fuel and iron ore company.
In response, the Colorado fuel and iron ore company immediately fired all the miners who took part in the strike and expelled them from the dormitory area.
In this regard, the miners' Federation has long been prepared. They rented a large area of land in ledero area near the mine and set up many tents to accommodate the expelled miners and their families.
Therefore, History magazine described the conflict as "Colorado coalfield war" and "Ludlow Massacre".
Facing the resistance of the miners, the Colorado fuel and iron ore company controlled by ward group did not choose to discuss, but continued its strong style and even intensified!
They hired the then notorious "bodvin fields detective agency" to deal with the miners.
This detective agency is not as law-abiding as today's firm. It had the nickname of "strike eradicator" at that time. In essence, it was a mercenary company, which armed and suppressed striking workers for rich enterprises.
In order to achieve the goal of rapid suppression, the mercenaries were so crazy that they sent out an armored vehicle modified from a large trailer and placed a heavy machine on the armored vehicle!
When late at night, mercenaries drove armored vehicles to randomly shoot at the ledero tent area where the striking miners lived.
Therefore, the miners in ledero tent area called the armored vehicle "special god of death".
In addition, the Colorado fuel and iron ore company even hired a group of snipers to kill miners in the tent area.
Faced with the threat, the miners and their families in ledero tent area fought back and dug many underground holes - sleeping in the holes every day to avoid flying bullets.
Looking at these historical facts, Chen Liang couldn't help but sound the war scene during liberation.
But these miners are all civilians.
As the conflict intensified, Colorado finally stepped in.
The then governor ordered the state's National Guard to quell the conflict.
But who knows, at that time, the commander of the Colorado National Guard completely stood on the side of the Colorado fuel and iron ore company and jointly suppressed the striking miners.
Shortly after the National Guard joined, a man's body was found on the railway track near Colorado Forbes. The National Guard commander quickly razed a residential area of the striking miners on the grounds that "the striking miners killed the man".
After the six-month crackdown, most of the National Guard was withdrawn from the strike area because the finance had no money to maintain the large-scale operation of the National Guard, but the private guards of Colorado fuel and iron ore company were allowed to wear the uniforms of the National Guard and continue to "maintain order".
So after the withdrawal of most of the National Guard, the private guards of Colorado fuel and iron ore company became more unscrupulous.
In April of the second year after the strike broke out, three private guards of the Colorado fuel and iron ore company broke into the ledero tent area and falsely accused "the striking miners detained a man and demanded that he be released immediately".
Subsequently, the company's private guards set up a machine grab position on the hill next to ledero's tent area. And aimed the grab at the tent area. In addition, a large number of private guards put on an offensive posture about 800 meters away from ledero tent area.
The miners in the tent area thought that "the company will be poisoned", so they took weapons and rushed to the nearby hill, trying to eliminate the machine grab position on the hill. The two sides began to fight.
In this conflict, the miners in ledero tent area could resist for a while at first, but the situation changed that afternoon; The company sent hundreds of private guards to join the battle, and the private guards had heavy firepower such as machine robbery, so the miners' resistance gradually weakened.
By dusk, the miners who had almost run out of ammunition were in a desperate situation. What made them more worried was that there were a large number of miners' families - unarmed women and children in the tent area.
Fortunately, there was a railway line not far from ledero tent area, and a freight train happened to pass through the area. The conscientious train driver stopped when he saw the guards of the mining company attacking the miners. Most of the miners in ledero tent area climbed onto the train with their families, and then the train started and fled the battlefield.
However, not everyone escaped the disaster. The company's private guards finally stormed the ledero tent area and began searching for the remaining miners. At 7 p.m. that day, private guards began to light the whole tent area. Two women and 11 children suffocated or burned alive due to the fire. Three other strike leaders in the tent area were arrested.
It is believed that they were subsequently ordered to be executed by a lieutenant of the National Guard. Finally, the bodies of the three of them were abandoned beside a railway, and the private guard threatened to "forbid anyone to collect the bodies and let the passing train passengers see the fate of these people".
According to afterwards statistics, a total of 19 striking miners and their families were killed in the disaster that day.
The Ludlow tent massacre ignited the anger of the miners' Federation and Colorado miners. The miners' Union began to distribute weapons and ammunition directly to the striking miners, which led to the subsequent guerrilla war in Colorado.
About 1000 striking miners attacked the mines, killing or expelling private guards at the mines. The mining companies immediately organized a counterattack and mobilized a large number of private forces to fight the striking miners.
The situation is completely out of control.
Finally, the struggle between the working people and the capital bureaucrats even attracted the attention of the president, who personally ordered the federal forces to enter Colorado to disarm the striking miners and the private forces of mining companies.
Due to the gradual depletion of operating funds, the miners' Federation soon announced the suspension of organizing strikes in Colorado.
According to afterwards statistics, about 200 people were killed in the strike conflict, but the blood sacrifice also paid off.
The strike prompted the ward family to reflect on their company's management policies, and then improved the treatment of miners to a certain extent. From the bloody and brutal violent oppression, they embarked on a more "peaceful" development path.