Massacre at Ludlow: Murder and Arson
to hunt down any who helped the strikers. The Colorado Federation of Labor issued a call to arms. Miners organized to protect themselves, and throughout the state they attacked and destroyed mine properties.
According to the Committee on industrial Relations, The Ludlow Massacre "precipitated an armed and open rebellion against the authority of the State as represented by the militia. This rebellion constituted perhaps one of the nearest approaches to civil war and revolution ever known in the country in connection with an industrial conflict."
At a meeting of the chamber of commerce in Denver on April 24, Former U.S. Senator Patterson declared, "It has been brought home to me in many ways that the [state stands] on the brink of a volcano. The chasm is not only wide, but it is widening. . . . . No one can tell, unless wisdom and moderation control both sides, what the outcome may be."
President Woodrow Wilson ordered federal troops into the strike zone to restore order on April 30.
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