AtD - (36) pgs 1007 - 1012

Tue Jul 8 14:26:39 CDT 2008

here are the lyrics to the Guthrie song:
(from the Guthrie website:  http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/Ludlow_Massacre.htm)

Ludlow Massacre
It was early springtime when the strike was on,
They drove us miners out of doors,
Out from the houses that the Company owned,
We moved into tents up 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 you would kill our children,
We dug us a cave that was seven foot deep,
Carried our young ones and pregnant women
Down inside the cave to sleep.

That very night your soldiers waited,
Until all us miners were asleep,
You snuck around our little tent town,
Soaked our tents with your kerosene.

You struck a match and in the blaze that 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 drag their belongings,
While your bullets killed us all around.

I never will forget the look 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 belonged 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 they put a gun in every hand.

The state soldiers jumped us in a wire fence corners,
They did not know we had these guns,
And the Red-neck Miners mowed down these troopers,
You should have seen those poor boys run.

We took some cement and walled that cave up,
Where you killed these thirteen children inside,
I said, "God bless the Mine Workers' Union,"
And then I hung my head and cried.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Bekah <bekker2 at mac.com>
>Sent: Jul 8, 2008 2:09 PM
>To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Re: AtD - (36) pgs 1007 - 1012
>
>And this one is great,   Zinn speaking over film clip with Guthrie's  
>Ludlow Massacre also in the background:
>http://webmunism.com/vids/of/labor+historians
>(scroll down on the left to "Howard Zinn and the Ludlow Massacre")
>
>You can also hear samples of tunes from Guthrie's   "Hard Travelin':  
>The Asch Recordings, Vol. 3"  at:
>http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/trackdetail.aspx?itemid=35036
>
>Awesome stuff.   Listen to some of the other clips, too -
>
>Bekah
>
>
>On Jul 8, 2008, at 8:08 AM, kelber at mindspring.com wrote:
>
>> I attempted to send a link to the Woody Guthrie song, The Ludlow  
>> Massacre, but apparently the file was too large to make it  
>> through.  It's worth looking it up on i-tunes.
>>
>> Laura
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Bekah <bekker2 at mac.com>
>>> Sent: Jul 8, 2008 2:33 AM
>>> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>>> Subject: AtD - (36) pgs 1007 - 1012
>>>
>>> Starting at page 1007 -
>>> This whole Ludlow section is written exactly like the history as it's
>>> documented in several places on the net - a few mentioned below.  All
>>> that deliberate misery-making can get quite depressing.   There is no
>>> need here for anything other than a pretty straightforward account
>>> (and inserting some characters) - the events speak for themselves.
>>>
>>>
>>> Winter of 1913-1914
>>>  Stray goes from Trinidad to Ludlow (about 12 miles southeast) where
>>> the coal miners had been striking and living in a tent colony since
>>> September.
>>>
>>> *
>>>  The tent colony was for those union members who were on strike and
>>> therefore had been evicted from their company owned homes.  These
>>>
>>> *
>>> Guns lined up: (!)
>>> http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/life/homepage_files/image021a.gif
>>>
>>>
>>> Ludlow Massacre:
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre
>>> http://www.cobar.org/index.cfm/ID/581/dpwfp/Historical-Foreward-and-
>>> Bibliography/
>>>
>>> Excellent Photo Galleries -( scroll right)
>>> http://www.du.edu/anthro/ludlow/cfphoto.html
>>>
>>>
>>> Today Ludlow is a ghost town -
>>> http://www.cultimedia.ch/ghosttowns/htme/ludlowco.htm
>>> with a monument:
>>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/surlymonkey/935096702/
>>>
>>> *
>>>
>>> Photo of the "Death Car"
>>> http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/life/homepage_files/image010a.gif
>>>
>>> "They used an improvised armored car, mounted with a M1895 Colt-
>>> Browning machine gun that the union called the "Death Special," to
>>> patrol the camp's perimeters. The steel-covered car was built in the
>>> CF&I plant in Pueblo from the chassis of a large touring sedan.
>>> Because of frequent sniping on the tent colonies, miners dug
>>> protective pits beneath the tents where they and their families could
>>> seek shelter."
>>>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre#The_mine_strike
>>>
>>> *********************
>>>
>>> page 108
>>> Jesse shows up via the Colorado and Southern railway
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C%26S_RR_map.jpg
>>> *
>>>
>>> Light as torture / darkness as compassion
>>> "The Colorodo militia were in fact giving light a bad name.  Military
>>> wisdom had it that putting searchlights on the enemy allowed you to
>>> see them, while blinding them to you, giving you an inestimable edge
>>> both tactical and psychological. In the tents, darkness in that awful
>>> winter was sought like warmth or quiet.  It seemed like a form of
>>> compassion. "
>>>
>>> Jesse goes out - comes back smug and the lights are out.
>>>
>>>
>>> *********************
>>> page 109
>>> It was a very bad winter - tents collapse from the snow, etc.
>>> http://www.sangres.com/history/coalfieldwar01.htm
>>> http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/life/homepage_files/exp01.htm
>>> (stick around there - the images change)
>>>
>>> *
>>> Strike breakers coming in via cattle cars from Pennsylvania and
>>> trains escorted from the Mexican border.
>>> There were 24 languages spoken in the tent city.
>>> http://www.cobar.org/index.cfm/ID/581/dpwfp/Historical-Foreward-and-
>>> Bibliography/
>>> *
>>> Moss Gatlin (Johann Most?) preaches forbearance and violence at the
>>> same time
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Most
>>> *
>>> The mood grows uglier, women are raped, kids are beaten,  in Trinidad
>>> the military attacked women marching in support of the strike, no one
>>> killed (to this point)
>>> see "The Autobiography of Mother Jones" - Part 3:
>>> http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/RonMBaseman/mojones3.htm
>>> *
>>>
>>> The 2 colt machine guns on armored "Death Car"
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1895_Colt-Browning_machine_gun
>>>
>>>
>>> Baldwin-Felts "detective" agency.
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin-Felts
>>>
>>> "Baldwin-Felts had a reputation for aggressive strike breaking.
>>> Agents shone searchlights on the tent villages at night and randomly
>>> fired into the tents, occasionally killing and maiming people. They
>>> used an improvised armored car, mounted with a M1895 Colt-Browning
>>> machine gun that the union called the "Death Special," to patrol the
>>> camp's perimeters. The steel-covered car was built in the CF&I plant
>>> in Pueblo from the chassis of a large touring sedan. Because of
>>> frequent sniping on the tent colonies, miners dug protective pits
>>> beneath the tents where they and their families could seek shelter. "
>>>
>>> A different pov:  http://www.baldwinfeltsdetectives.com/     (right -
>>> just fyi)
>>>
>>> *******
>>>
>>> page 1010
>>> Guardsmen are bad news -  blonde - shades of Nazi
>>>
>>> Jesse finds a level of evil never expected in adults until now.
>>>
>>> Not one but a  whole fleet of Death Specials and the drivers fear
>>> they will be the victims.
>>>
>>> Jessie denies association with Union group
>>>
>>> ****
>>>
>>> page 1011
>>> but Jessie also steals  two 30 caliber machine gun rounds to prevent
>>> them being shot
>>>
>>> Meanwhile,  (and at this point it's April 19, 1914 or so -  the day
>>> prior to the massacre)
>>> Frank Traverse is in Aguilar,  between Walsenberg and Trinidad
>>> at the 29 Luglio Saloon named for Anarchist Bresci assassinated King
>>> Umberto of Italy
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Bresci
>>>
>>> He's checking out a gun - (imaginary? no)
>>> Benet Mercier
>>> http://tinyurl.com/63bttu
>>> (follow links):  http://forums.gunboards.com/archive/index.php?
>>> t-20386.html
>>>
>>>
>>> Empire Mine - dangerous
>>> there was an explosion there killing 13 people in 1919
>>> NY Times 3 days after Ludlow Massacre:
>>> http://tinyurl.com/4qvvb5
>>>
>>>
>>> Frank sees a woman  who looks like Michelangelo's Pieta to others:
>>> (in case you forgot)
>>> http://www.saintpetersbasilica.org/Altars/Pieta/Pieta-ah06.jpg
>>>
>>> Stray - recognizes Frank and tells him the night's young
>>> It's Stray - dressed as a "Sister of Charity"
>>> http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/vol296/issue8/images/medium/
>>> jbk60126fa.jpg
>>>
>>> ***************
>>>
>>> Page 1012
>>>
>>> Frank and Stray get reacquainted, there in the bar and  find out if
>>> each other is free, relationship wise - Ewball / Ren
>>> Frank is not just Reef without the loco streak - he's different - not
>>> so readable now here in coalfields which were about to explode
>>>
>>> Frank:  "They're fixing to do away with all them tents."
>>>
>>> "Creeping along,  her nun's shadow in the search light beams..."
>>>
>>>
>>> April 19 - Jesse has gone with Balkan kids -  "It's their Easter or
>>> somethin."
>>>  The Balkan kids" would likely be Eastern Orthodox religion and
>>> their Easter falls at some point between early April to early May,
>>> following the cycle of the moon.  After several centuries of
>>> disagreement, all churches accepted the computation of the
>>> Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first
>>> Sunday after the first fourteenth day of the moon (the Paschal Full
>>> Moon) that is on or after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox.
>>>
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter
>>>
>>> ***********************
>>>
>>
>