The Ludlow Massacre

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