November 21, 1927: The Colorado State Police open fire on 500 rowdy but unarmed miners during a strike in Serene, killing 6 of them. It becomes known as the Columbine Mine Massacre.
This should not be confused with the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado in 1914, or with the Columbine High School Massacre in Littleton in 1999.
A Statewide coal miners' strike began on August 8, called for by the leftist International Workers of the World (IWW), looking for a $1.00 per day wage increase. The company town of Serene was the home of the Columbine mine. The strikers had been conducting morning rallies at Serene for 2 weeks, since the Columbine was one of the few coal mines in the State to remain in operation.
On November 21, 500 miners, some accompanied by their wives and children, arrived at the north gate just before dawn, carrying 3 U.S. flags. The recently disbanded State Police known as the Colorado Rangers were recalled to duty, and barred the picketers' path.
The miners were surprised to see men dressed in civilian clothes but armed with pistols, rifles, riot guns and tear gas. The Rangers were backed up by rifle-toting mine guards stationed on the mine dump. The Head of the Rangers, Louis Scherf, shouted to the strikers, "Who are your leaders?" "We're all leaders!" came the reply.
Scherf announced that the strikers would not be allowed into the town, and for a few moments, the strikers hesitated outside the fence. There was discussion, with many strikers asserting their right to proceed. They argued that Serene had a public post office, and some of their children were enrolled in the school in Serene. One of the Rangers reportedly taunted, "If you want to come in here, come ahead, but we'll carry you out."
Strike leader Adam Bell stepped forward and asked for the gate to be unlocked. As he put his hand on the gate, one of the Rangers struck him with a club. A sixteen-year-old boy stood nearby and was holding one of the flags. The banner was snatched from him, and in the tug of war that followed, the flagpole broke over the fence.
The miners rushed toward the gate, and suddenly the air was filled with tear gas launched by the police. Enraged, the strikers forced their way through the wooden gate. At least two, and possibly three, machine guns were available at the mine. Miners later claimed that their ranks were decimated by a withering crossfire from the mine tipple – a structure where coal was loaded onto railroad cars – and from a gun on a truck near the water tank. Five died initially on the day of the massacre.
No one was ever charged with any crimes as a result of the deaths. On January 12, 1928, two more people were killed by police raiding the IWW's hall in Walsenburg, Colorado while strikers were rallying there. In May, the strikers got their extra dollars a day.
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November 21, 1927 was a Monday. Georgia Frontiere, eventually to be the owner of the Los Angeles Rams, who moved them first down the Freeway to Anaheim, and then halfway across the country to her hometown of St. Louis, was born.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And there were no games scheduled in the NHL. So there were no game on this historic day.
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