1927 — Nov 21, Colorado Rangers shoot striking miners, Columbine Mine, Serene, CO–  6

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 2-21-2025 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/-

—  6  Colorado Encyclopedia. “Columbine Mine Massacre.” Accessed 2-21-2025.

—  6  Muhovich, Will. “Columbine Mine Massacre” website. Colorado.edu, 4-8-2005.

—  6  Rebel Graphics.  The Columbine Mine Massacre (website).

—  6  Waymarking.com. “Columbine Mine Massacre – Lafayette, CO.” Colorado Hist. Markers.

—  6  Weir, Robert E. Workers in America: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2013, p. 155.

—  6  Wikipedia. “Columbine Mine massacre.” 3-13-2013 modification.

—  6  Wikipedia.  “List of massacres in the United States.” 3-25-2013 modification.[1]

Narrative Information

Colorado Encyclopedia. “Columbine Mine Massacre.”

“On November 21, 1927, members of a Colorado militia fired into a crowd of hundreds of striking miners in the Weld County town of Serene, killing six and wounding twenty. The Columbine Massacre showed that little had changed in Colorado in terms of relations between workers and companies, as well as between labor and the state, in the thirteen years since the Ludlow Massacre, the deadliest labor conflict in state history.” [This is a summary of the article that follows – link is in Sources.]

 

Muhovich:  “From the time of its inception in the late 1880’s until this incident, the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company was well-known as being one of the most ardent anti-union mine operators, having competed with the American Fuel Company during the organized strikes that preceded the Ludlow Massacre.” In January 1913…American Fuel company mines were open and operating with nearly 1,000 union miners. Rocky Mountain Fuel Co., still refusing to negotiate to settle the strike, was using strikebreakers and operating behind barricades. When Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. reportedly began to cut coal costs for Boulder contracts, American Fuel Co. and the miners worked out a plan to keep the mines open and the miners at work. With negotiating help from John Lawson…and support of United Mine Workers of America, the union miners voluntarily agreed to work for 50 percent of their usual wage. UMWA Headquarters made up the difference for the 50 percent wage donation. American Fuel Co. could compete and keep mines open, miners were working, and Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. was not in a position to control the coal market.”[2]

 

“The Columbine Mine strike of 1927 was instigated by International Workers of the World.  A more militant labor movement, the IWW, called Wobblies, recruited members around the Northern Field coal mines in the 1920’s.  The goal was to take members and power away from UMWA. The ultimate plan of IWW was to organize the working class to do away with capitalism….

 

“Rocky Mountain Fuel Co. operated the mine at Serene, south of Erie.  All other mines in the Northern Field had been shut down but Columbine Mine {Weld County} continued in operation with imported miners.  They were housed in Serene, a fenced compound with guards posted around the community.

 

“In November 1927, the union miners in all Northern Field communities were idle and many had been congregating at the mine entrance for rallies and to picket the company.

 

“November 21 began in the usual way as a crowd of several hundred (estimates are between 200 and 600) was milling around in front of the guards at the compound gates. The day’s confrontation might have been determined ahead because Colorado National Guard and several observers were on hand.

 

“Guards challenged the crowds rights to picket and demonstrate….Words became angry words and then a scuffle.  Rocks were thrown at the guards, miners rushed towards the gate, and the shooting began. The miners had no weapons, only the rocks, as they had been instructed to check any weapons at the union hall in Erie. As further proof of the one-sided shooting, no guards were wounded….Six miners…died…thirty-six were wounded.

 

“Josephine Roche, one of the directors of Rocky Mountain Fuel Co., came from Denver at the first word of the massacre.  She buried a machine gun in a mine shaft and promised the welfare of the miners would become the company’s concern.”[3]  (Muhovich, Will. “Columbine Mine Massacre” website. Colorado.edu, 4-8-2005.)

 

Waymarking.com:  “Long Description:

 

“Columbine Massacre Rest Area is on a busy State Highway 7…. The sign reads as follows:

 

Colorado’s Northern Minefield: Lest We Forget

 

Colorado’s immense northern coal field, centered beneath these rolling hills, contributed to the early development and growth of Colorado and the birth of nearby towns. Miners and mine owners in this area battled over issues of workers’ conditions, wages and rights through many conflicts over the years. In 1927 tensions mounted for weeks as pickets urged Columbine Mine workers to join the statewide strike called by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). On November 21, several hundred men and women gathered at the mine, 1 1/2 miles northwest of here. After a confrontation with state police, gunfire erupted killing six union miners and wounding many others. Following this tragedy, mine owners finally signed lasting union contracts with the Union Mine Workers of America (UMWA). The sacrifice of these miners and their families manifested the struggle for the rights and dignity of all Colorado coal miners.

 

“….A second memorial can be found a few miles west of this marker in the Lafayette Cemetery at N40° 00.073; W105° 05.507. Five of the six miners who were killed are buried in this old cemetery. The memorial stone reads as follows:

 

Lest we Forget


At Dawn November 21, 1927, Six Union Miners were killed at the Columbine Mine fighting for a living wage and a measure of human dignity. Five are buried here:

Jerry Davis 1906-1927
John Eastenes 1893-1927
Frank Kovich 1885-1927
Nick Spanudakhis 1893-1927
Mike Vidovich 1892-1927
The Sixth, Rene Jacques 1901-1927, is buried at the Louisville, Colorado Cemetery.”

 

(Waymarking.com. “Columbine Mine Massacre – Lafayette, CO.” Colorado Historical Markers.)

 

Weir:  “Columbine Mine Massacre

 

“The Columbine Mine Massacre was a 1927 assault on unarmed strikers in Serene, Colorado, that left six coal miners dead and added to Colorado’s reputation as the bloodiest labor state in the union.  It also indirectly involved the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I), the same firm involved in the 1914 Ludlow Massacre, which had been a major player during the Colorado labor wars. Serene was a company town owned by the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company (RMFC).

 

“The norther mining region where the Columbine mine stood was largely unorganized, though the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) had made minor inroads.  Tension in the area began with a series of sympathy strikes to protest the August 23, 1927, execution of anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti.  Most of the region’s 12,000 miners – about half of whom worked for CF&I – left their jobs for three days.  In the ensuing weeks, the IWW organized some workers and issued a strike call for higher pay and improved safety conditions.  The strike did not begin until October 18, as state officials refused o recognize the IWW officials as representatives for the workers.  Most of the mines were closed completely, but the Columbine mine was one of a handful kept open by scabs.  Workers rallied and set up pickets in support of the strike, usually gathering in the town of Serene before doing so.  The RMFC was actually in the hands of Josephine Roche, who had taken over after her father’s recent death and was a supporter of labor unions.  She had ordered that coffee and donuts be offered to strikers as they gathered each morning.

 

“The strike was roughly five weeks old in Serene when, on November 21, workers, their wives, and children marching behind a phalanx of American flags found the town gate closed and barred by ex-state policemen associated with the Colorado Rangers, a notoriously anti-union paramilitary force under the control of the governor.  The CF&I was in the region to protect scabs and probably had to direct tie to the RMFC.  Taunting and scuffles broke out at the gate.  When the guards tore flags and clubbed workers, the miners rushed the gate and forced their way inside.  There they were fired upon by police with at least two and possibly three machine guns. By the time firing stopped, six miners lay mortally wounded and dozens more had serious injuries.  The Colorado Rangers denied using machine guns, but testimony is clear that they were used and that strikers were armed with nothing more lethal than rocks and pocket knives.

 

“RMFC owner Josephine Roche quickly settled with workers at Columbine, though she invited the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) to negotiate a contract, not the IWW.  The IWW continued to suffer harassment in the region, and a January 12, 1928, raid on its hall in Walsenburg, Colorado, left two IWW members dead.  Roche’s direct involvement with the unions paid off – UMWA productivity rates were the highest in the state.

 

“Although the facts of the Columbine Mine Massacre were obvious, lawsuits against Colorado’s governor, the Rangers, and CF&I were dismissed in 1932.  When CF&I records were opened after the company went bankrupt in 1990, they revealed the firm’s culpability in many of the region’s worst labor conflicts.  The Columbine Mine Massacre stands as an egregious example of corporate might and abuse.”[4] (Weir, Robert E. Workers in America: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2013, pp. 155-156.)

 

Sources

 

Colorado Encyclopedia. “Columbine Mine Massacre.” Accessed 2-21-2025 at: https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/columbine-mine-massacre-0

 

Muhovich, Will. “Columbine Mine Massacre” website. Colorado.edu, 4-8-2005. Accessed 4-12-2013 at: http://www.colorado.edu/geography/cartpro/cartography2/spring2005/muhovich/CoalMiningProject/Columbine_Massacre.htm

 

Rebel Graphics. The Columbine Mine Massacre (website). Accessed 4-12-2013 at: http://www.rebelgraphics.org/columbinestory.html

 

Waymarking.com. “Columbine Mine Massacre – Lafayette, CO.” Colorado Historical Markers. Accessed at: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1904_Columbine_Mine_Massacre_Lafayette_CO

 

Weir, Robert E. Workers in America: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2013. Partially Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=Feb0w1622soC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Wikipedia. “Columbine Mine massacre.” 3-13-2013 update. Accessed 4-12-2013 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_Mine_massacre

 

Wikipedia. “List of massacres in the United States.” 3-25-2013 modification. Accessed 4-11-2013 at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_the_United_States

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Cites:  May, Lowell and Richard Myers (eds.). Slaughter in Serene: The Columbine Coal Strike Reader. Denver: Bread and Roses Workers’ Cultural Center & Industrial Workers of the World, 2005.

[2] Cites:  Conarroe, Carolyn. Coal Mining in Colorado’s Northern Field. Louisville, CO, Conarroe Companies, 2001, p. 40.

[3] Cites:  Conroe, Carolyn. Coal Mining in Colorado’s Northern Field. 2001, pp. 43-44.

 

[4] Cites for suggested reading: May and Myers, Slaughter in Serene, 2005; “1927: Colorado Miners Strike and Columbine Mine Massacre,” libcom.org; Fred Thompson and Patrick Murfin, The I.W.W.: Its First Seventy Years (1905-1975), 1976.