Detail View: Colorado Coal Project: 1980 interview with Mike Livoda (part 2 of 3)

Colorado Coal Project

1980 interview with Mike Livoda (part 2 of 3)

Margolis, Eric, 1947-

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n00101170

McMahan, Ronald L.

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no94033808

United Mine Workers of America

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/515758

Coal mines and mining

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/865355

Coal mines and mining--Colorado--Huerfano County

Coal mines and mining--Colorado--Las Animas County

Interviews

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1423832

Coal Strike, Colo., 1913-1914

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1404237

Jones, Mother, 1837-1930

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1730605

Labor disputes--Colorado

Lawson, John R., 1871-1945

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/372494

Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Colorado

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85128770

Coal miners--Personal narratives

When the Ludlow massacre began, Mike Livoda and John Lawson were in Trinidad -- guards kept them out of Ludlow After the Ludlow massacre, Mike recalls that for about a week, he and about 100 armed men were trapped about 1.5 miles outside the Ludlow tent colony. They were preparing to storm the Ludlow colony, but needed ammunition and hot food. They couldn't light a fire and didn't know the number of fatalities for almost 2 weeks after the massacre. Funerals were held for the Ludlow victims: almost 4,000 attended Louis Tikas's funeral. After the Ludlow massacre came the "10-day war": at Forbes mining camp, miners burned the houses of strikebreakers who were working the mine. [background hum]Mike describes John Lawson as "a good trade-unionist". [interspersed with fragments of a phone call] Kate Livoda joins the conversation: she describes growing up as a miner's child near Trinidad, with lots of coal mines in the area. She worked at the phone company when the strike began and met Mike when he was trying to place a call. They wed in 1917and have been married 63 years at the time of this interview. The local authorities confined Mother Jones to a hospital in Trinidad. Women marched in town and were opposed by guards on horseback. When Mother Jones was released from hospital, she joined the marchers and confronted guards with a machine gun at the bank building: placing her hands over the barrel of the gun, she declared, "You dirty cowards, shoot if you must, but I'm not gonna move!"[background hum] When Belcher was killed in Trinidad, the phone company employees were kept at work, overnight, as the phone company feared it was too dangerous for them to go home. As a miner, Kate's father was paid in script and could only shop at the company store. Her father quit mining and they moved into Trinidad, where he helped to maintain the school buildings. Kate was at the switchboard when Bill Lippiatt was killed. Townsfolk collected guns and ammo in support of the miners; some even fought in support of the miners. Louis Tikas was trying to make peace during the Ludlow massacre; he approached the guardsmen while waving a white flag. A young man named Titsworth helped burn the tents at Ludlow, including the one over the "Death Hole"; Kate recalls Mother Jones as "not a ladies' lady, she was always surrounded by men. A little woman, very small." Mother Jones exhorted the women to stand up with their men; she had a strong voice, that could be heard over a large crowd. She was also intelligent and well-spoken, but used a lot of profanity. "She wasn't afraid of the devil." Kate was on the post office steps, during the women's march in Trinidad. While working at the switchboard, she could listen in on conversations relating to the strike. The miners had been the major consumers in Trinidad, supporting the local stores. Kate's family would travel between mines in the caboose of a train. Her dad worked in the Primrose, Sopris, and Tercio mines. Kids would pick up spilled coal from the railroad tracks. Her father was black-balled in the mines, because of his labor activism, and then worked as a janitor in Trinidad schools. Mike was the only one she knew with an automobile. After the strike, her parents moved to California. Mike recalls the 1913/1914 strike as like "slavery times": men couldn't express their opinions, and "the local officials were tools of the coal corporations." Several of Mike's predecessors were killed, and thugs tried to kill him. Picking up his weapon, Mike declares "that was a union rifle." During the strike, he declared, "the company was so powerfully strong, with the consent and allowance of the state government to crush the miners." In Huerfano County or Trinidad, Republicans were never again able to get back into office.

summary

00:05:00 -- Mike Livoda recalls the first few days after the Ludlow massacre; 00:10:00 -- "10-day war" after the massacre, retaliation at the Forbes camp; 00:15:00 -- Kate Livoda adds her memories of childhood and of the strike; 00:20:00 -- Trinidad: Mother Jones fights back, murder of Sheriff Belcher; 00:25:00 -- Murder of Lippiatt, community support for striking miners; 00:30:00 -- memories of Louis Tikas, the "Death Hole" at Ludlow, Mother Jones; 00:35:00 -- Women march in Trinidad in support of striking miners; 00:40:00 -- Kate recalls life as a miner's child; 00:45:00 -- Mike shouts about the actions of coal companies and government during the strike; 00:46:00 -- Local republicans were never elected after the strike.

timeline

University of Colorado Boulder Archives

Livoda, Mike, 1886-1984

1980-09-20

Audio

audio/mp3

15-97B Livoda.mp3

https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/dx3h0t83h0dw

English

Title: Interview with Mike Livoda (part 2 of 4), including his wife, Kate

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Title: 1980 interview with Mike Livoda (part 1 of 3)

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Title: Interview with Mike Livoda (part 3 of 4), including his wife, Kate

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Las Animas County (Colorado, United States, North America) (civil)

1907/1980

Huerfano County (Colorado, United States, North America) (civil)

Trinidad (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)

Ludlow (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)

Walsenburg (Huerfano, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)