On November 21, 1927 in the small town of Serene, Colorado, site of the Columbine Mine, during the Industrial Workers of the World strike against the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, I.W.W. members Jerry Davis, John Eastenes, Rene Jacques, Frank Kovitch, Nick Spanudakhis, and Mike Vidovitch were murdered by state police and mine guards opening fire into a crowd of strikers. Dozens were wounded. The funerals reported below.

‘Great Crowds of Coal Miners Attend Funerals of Wobblies Murdered by Columbine Thugs’ by A.K. Orr from Industrial Worker. Vol. 9 No. 49. December 10, 1927.

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 23rd, we laid to rest fellow worker John Eastenes: laid him to rest in the same dark ground that he toiled in.

At the union hall the Rev. Boner read the service and the miners quartette sang “Some day they will understand”, a most appropriate song for the occasion. Yes some day the capitalists will understand that the murder of our fellow workers has not served their purpose, that of breaking the ranks of labor, but has on the other hand strengthened them.

At the grave fellow worker Duke read the last verse of the “Commonwealth of Toil” and the last verse of the “Red Flag.”

Three thousand sad faced miners followed the remains to the cemetery; tears could be seen streaming down the faces of the strongest; a widow and six children saw their loved one lowered into the dark earth of Colorado that already holds so many victims of the class struggle.

Thursday afternoon another victim was interred. Fellow worker Nick Spanudakhis was followed to his last resting place by 4,000 fellow workers. At the union hall a clergyman of the Greek Orthodox Church spoke of the life led by the fellow worker, a life of good, a life of labor for his fellow workers. The miners quartette sang “One by one to the valley we are going.” At the grave fellow worker Duke took the labor part: his reading of the last verse of the “Red Flag” brought a determined look on the faces of the toilers assembled to pay their last tribute to a fighting class conscious worker.

Friday the largest funeral ever held in the mining district of Lafayette, Colorado was held. Six thousand striking miners, their wives and families, assembled in Lafayette to pay their respects to their dead fellow workers, Jerry Davis and George Kovich. At the service in the union hall which was conducted by Rev. Boner and a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church, fellow worker Joseph sang the “Workers Funeral Hymn.”

The Greek priest in his remarks said: “They were not of the same nationality; one was an American, the other a Serbian; but they fought under the same flag in the dark earth, fought for existence. When the people are all together in one they, the people, will be able to get what these men died for.”

What is believed to be the largest assembly of coal miners ever gathered together in one locality in Colorado attended this funeral. Motor cars from throughout the entire state poured into the little mining town, starting early in the morning and continuing up to the time of the funerals at 2 o’clock. More than 1,000 people crowded into the union hall for the services there, and more than five times that number filled the streets for blocks on both sides of the hall. Following the services a procession over a mile long marched four abreast behind the hearse and the mourner’s car to the Lafayette cemetery.

At the grave a number of fellow workers found it hard to maintain their composure; strong men wept, women and children made no attempt to hide their grief as fellow worker Duke read from the I.W.W. song book the words of Helen Keller, “and from the depths of my heart I cry out against those who persecute the weak and the unfriended.”

Saturday fellow worker Rene Jacques was buried. A funeral service held in the Redman’s hall was conducted by the Rev. A.F. Archer, pastor of the Methodist Church at Louisville, who mentioned that if the people returned better men to power such tragedies would be averted. Fellow worker Sheader sang the workers funeral hymn, “Sleep, Worker, sleep, strong hearts the watch will keep.” As the body was lowered each miner solemnly avowed that the watch would be kept. Fellow worker Duke made the labor service.

While the Rev. Archer conducted the service and the hymns were sung, the father 65, and the mother, 70, sat silently. The mines had taken both their boys. Eight years ago their eldest son, Pete, was killed in a mine accident near Louisville the day he returned to work after serving in France unharmed with the A.E.F. He also was 23 when he met his death.

As a mark of respect to Jacques, stores in the town were closed from 2 to 4 p.m. Over 1,000 automobiles from all parts of the Northern Colorado coal fields crowded the little town during the services and more than 5,000 persons, most of them miners and their families, stood around the grave as the boy was laid beside his brother in the cemetery.

They died that we might live.

Yesterday, accompanied by fellow worker Charles Jacobs I visited the wounded in the various hospitals and it certainly was a pleasure to hear those wounded fellow workers, lying on their hospital cots with bullets in their legs, arms and bodies talk of nothing but the strike. None of them were interested in anything but the progress of the strike.

The first hospital visited was Longmont where there were 5 wounded, one of whom fellow worker Mike Vidovitch, has since died: he had his left leg amputated above the knee two days ago, and since the shooting we have had but little hope for his recovery. The other fellow workers in Longmont hospital are Tom Milo, C.R. Nelson, John Sparrows and Orlando Huerras all suffering from bullet wounds.

On entering the hospital we were taken for capitalist reporters and the fellow workers not knowing who we were refused to answer our questions. Some of them said: “if you are from the Denver Post we have nothing to say.” However we soon convinced them that we represented the I.W.W. publications.

On leaving Longmont we proceeded to the Boulder Community Hospital where fellow worker and Mrs. Morrison are confined. Mrs. Morrison is suffering from a bullet wound in the pelvis and fellow worker Morrison is suffering from two bullet wounds, one in the right arm and one the left leg. Fellow worker Morrison gave me a message for strikers, “Tell the boys I’m with the strike to the finish.” Such is the spirit of the miners. The assassins’ bullets cannot break their spirit. True they may kill a few, and think therein by to break the strike, but that only spurs gave the strikers on to greater efforts.

The road on which the fellow workers were killed last Monday was paid for by the miners of this district and is a public highway although the fellow workers were brutally murdered for walking on it. In 1923 the miners employed at the Columbine had from three to five dollars deducted from their wages to pay for that particular road. Each of the men then employed at the mine was requested to sign a sheet authorizing the deduction of a certain amount from his pay envelope for the construction the road, those who did not sign had the money deducted also.

Yet a coroners handpicked jury finds that | the miners who paid for this road were unlawfully trespassing on it at the time of their murder. The families residing on the Columbine property who desired to move after the murder of Monday last were refused permission to do so and had to remain on the mine property against them their wishes. Among were a few scabs who were not prompted so much by fear by shame at thinking of were as they which necessitated the their past acts demonstration on the public highway and led to the killing.

The Industrial Union Bulletin, and the Industrial Worker were newspapers published by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) from 1907 until 1913. First printed in Joliet, Illinois, IUB incorporated The Voice of Labor, the newspaper of the American Labor Union which had joined the IWW, and another IWW affiliate, International Metal Worker.The Trautmann-DeLeon faction issued its weekly from March 1907. Soon after, De Leon would be expelled and Trautmann would continue IUB until March 1909. It was edited by A. S. Edwards. 1909, production moved to Spokane, Washington and became The Industrial Worker, “the voice of revolutionary industrial unionism.” A victim of finances and internal disputes, the IW ceased publication in 1913, only to be revived in 1916 and surviving as a weekly, sometimes more, until 1931. Easily among the most important working class newspapers in U.S. history and an essential resource on the wobbly, and larger radical labor experience.

PDF of full issue: https://washingtondigitalnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=IWW19271210