Sworn Testimony

Title

Sworn Testimony

Creator

Mary Beniger and Mary Ludvik

Identifier

WWP18112

Date

1913 October 21

Source

Wilson Papers, Library of Congress, Library of Congress, Washington, District of Columbia

Subject

Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924--Correspondence

Relation

WWP18161, WWP18045, WWP18147, WWP18159

Text

EXHIBIT “C”

STATE OF COLORADO,
COUNTY OF LAS ANIMAS.

MARY BENIGER and MARY LUDVIK, after having been duly sworn, each for herself, that what they shall say is the truth, depose as follows:

Monday, October 13, 1913, we left Trinidad at eight o’clock am on the Colorado and Southern for Delagua. After arriving in Ludlow to take a carriage for Delagua, where our men, Matt Beniger and John Ludvik, are working, we were surrounded by a crowd of men and women, who all said that we would not be allowed to go in the carriage. They forced us to go with them into their camp and into the tents. As we refused, several women grabbed us and pulled us along; there were two men with them, armed with rifles and a revolver. The Delagua carriage then departed without us. After we had been brought to the camp a woman named Valentine Udevich pointed a revolver at us and said if we tried to go to Delagua she would kill us with a revolver. Soon after that we were surrounded by all the men and women, who insulted us and assured us they would surely come to Delagua and would kill all men, women and children who lived there and then would burn everything. Then we were forced, against our will, to write to our men that we did not want to come to Delagua, but that they would have to come down to us into the camp. One of the crowd mailed the letters. On that occasion, when we were in the tent, two men, vis., John Prius and Frank Slaves, informed us that we would have to live with them like man and wife, and they also used other expressions. We were then kept in the tent inhabited by Matt Valensich and his wife. On that afternoon, a gentleman came to us who said he was Major Lee, sent by the Governor of Colorado, and asked us if we wanted to go to Delagua, and we said yes. Then he began to talk to us in such language that we became afraid and said we would return to Trinidad. A little later an automobile arrived which took us to Trinidad. Many strikers assembled around us and insulted us with “scabs” and other ugly expressions. Before we departed a man came to us into the tent, who said he was a member of the union, and ordered us, in case we should be questioned, to tell that when we went to Delagua we had been stopped by the guards in Hastings and were not permitted to pass on, and that, not knowing where to go, we had gone to the tents to ask for advice. He also asked us to tell that during all the time we had been well treated. After our arrival in Trinidad, they dropped us there and went away. There we remained until the next day. Then the Sheriff and EP Linskey promised that we would be brought to Delagua in an automobile, and they assured us that nothing would happen to us; we then followed them and arrived in Delagua at four o’clock P. M., October 14, 1913.

MARY BENIGER
LUDVIK MARY
John Pachak, Witness.

Subscribed and sworn to before me by the above named deposetnts, this 21st day of October, 1913.

My commission expires July 10, 1915.

SAVERIO VECCHIO, (SEAL) Notary Public.This is a correct translation of the Slavish original in my possession.
Denver, November 1st 1913
JC Schwegel
Consul of Austria Hungary

The words “Exhibit ‘C’” and the number 55334 are typed on a small piece of paper, which is attached to the center top of a regular-sized sheet of paper.

Original Format

Report

To

State of Colorado

Files

http://resources.presidentwilson.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Temp00634C.pdf

Citation

Mary Beniger and Mary Ludvik, “Sworn Testimony,” 1913 October 21, WWP18112, First Year Wilson Papers, Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library & Museum, Staunton, Virginia.