The Ludlow Massacre of 1914 occurred when the Colorado National Guard and forces from the coal mining companies fired into a group of striking coal miners. The striking miners had erected a tent colony in Ludlow, Colorado, land leased by the miner’s union close to a mine whose chief owner was John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Shooting began when the striking miners tried to flank a machine gun erected by the mining companies near the camp. The gunfight continued all day long and by day’s end nineteen people had lost their lives and the tent colony had been destroyed.
The following day “a telephone linesman going through the ruins of the Ludlow tent colony ... found the charred, twisted bodies of eleven children and two women.” They had taken cover in a pit below a tent and suffocated when the tent above them had caught fire, trapping them beneath.
This initial massacre sparked ten days of fighting that only ended after President Wilson sent in federal troops to disarm both sides. A report on the massacre led to both the 8-hour work day and the development of child labor laws.
