14-year-old miner’s daughter Elizabeth Riskosky, active in the 1927-8 Colorado Strike, dies tragically.

‘Junior I.W.W. is Drowned in Firestone Lake’ from Industrial Worker. Vol 11 No. 33. August 17, 1929.

Elizabeth Riskowsky, 14, Who Rendered Loyal Aid in the Late Strike, Is Victim of Unfortunate Accident While Bathing.

FREDERICK, Colo. Elizabeth Riskosky, a member of the Junior I.W.W., was drowned in Firestone Lake on Wednesday, July 31st, while bathing. Elizabeth was 14 years of age. With her mother she had gone to the lake in the evening and had been in the water only a few minutes when she stepped into a hole beyond her depth. She called for help but there was no one near except a young lad who was a very poor swimmer and could render no assistance. He summoned aid immediately from the towns of Frederick, Firestone and Evans but help arrived too late to save the girl’s life. A search was kept up all night and the body was recovered Thursday morning at 10:30 when it came to the surface.

Fellow Worker Elizabeth will be remembered for her activity during the recent strike. In January, 1928 she was suspended from school after being accused with her brother and another pupil of singing Solidarity and leading a parade of 200 pupils about the school grounds in protest against the oppression of the miners and the vicious methods used in the efforts of the employers and police to break the strike. The pupils, mostly children of the loyal union miners, cut their classes, Superintendent Paul Nicholson suspended them but they were soon reinstated due to the united protest raised by the striking miners.

Elizabeth made a number of speeches during the strike and appeared on the platform with James P. Thompson when he spoke in Frederick. She had inherent talent as a speaker and was possessed of a winning personality that endeared her to everyone with whom she came in contact. Her splendid loyalty during the strike and the stand she took in behalf of the miners made a great impression and endeared her to thousands who will mourn her untimely death. Her brief life should be an inspiration to the workers.

The funeral was held in Frederick on Monday, August 5th at the Presbyterian Church and was largely attended. The floral offerings were profuse and included a large wreath from the fellow workers of Northern Colorado with the initials of the I.W.W. across it. The organization extends its sympathy to the bereaved parents and relatives in their great loss. Elzabeth is survived by her parents, three sisters, Mary Petroff of Arizona, Zenie Robison of Oklahoma and Dorothy living with her parents, and two brothers, Buddie and Jimmie, living at home.

Del. 53-C-9.

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=IWW19290817