John Rankin Lawson (March 5, 1871 – May 12, 1945) was a Colorado union leader and businessman. He was the leader of District 15 of the

United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American Labor history of the United States, labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing worke ...

(UMWA) at the time of the

Colorado Coalfield War The Colorado Coalfield War was a major labor uprising in the Southern and Central Colorado Front Range between September 1913 and December 1914. Striking began in late summer 1913, organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) agai ...

and the Ludlow Massacre. He was convicted on May 3, 1915 of the murder of a deputy sheriff who died at Ludlow during the massacre at a trial held in Trinidad, Colorado and sentenced to life at hard labor, but freed on appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court in June 1917. He served as president of the Colorado Federation of Labor and on the International Executive Board of the United Mine Workers. He was a vice-president and director of the

Rocky Mountain Fuel Company The Rocky Mountain Fuel Company was a coal mining company located in Colorado, operating mines in Louisville, Lafayette, and other locations northwest of Denver. The company also operated mines in Las Animas, Routt, Garfield and Gunnison counties. ...

(CF&I).

Life

Born to Scottish parents in Pennsylvania in 1871, Lawson was raised in a

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

household by a father who was at various times part of the

Knights of Labor Knights of Labor (K of L), officially Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also ...

and

United Mine Workers The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...

. At age 10, Lawson began work as a "trapper boy," preventing the build-up of dangerous gases in the enclosed spaces of a mine. Lawson was sent to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

at 17 to aid his brother in stone-working. After working at mines in

Rosenburg Rosenburg is a castle in the municipality Rosenburg-Mold, Lower Austria, Austria. Rosenburg is on a cliff above the valley of the River Kamp at an elevation of above sea level. It is one of Austria's most visited Renaissance castles. It is si ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and Rock Springs,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, Lawson moved to Walsen (near

Walsenburg, Colorado The City of Walsenburg is the Statutory City that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Huerfano County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 3,049 at the 2020 census, down from 3,068 in 2010. History Walsenbur ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

with his father in 1896. After moving to another CF&I owned and operated town– New Castle–he joined the UMWA when a local chapter was founded there in 1898. Lawson would be elected to the International Executive Board of the UMWA in 1906 and serve as a board member through 1917. Lawson participated in strikes in 1900, 1903-1904 (in what is known as the Cripple Creek Strike), 1910, and in the major 1913-1914. During the Cripple Creek Strike–on the night of 17 December 1903–Lawson's family home was among those of other strikers that were dynamited in what some historians believe was an attack executed by mine operators. His daughter Fern was not injured in the explosion, but is reported to have been thrown from her crib by the force of the blast. Local minor mine owner Perry C. Coryell, had previously shot and seriously injured Lawson five months prior with a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

in New Castle, near where Coryell owned a mine in Garfield County. During the 1913-1914 strike against CF&I, Lawson was involved in activities both pertaining to organizing peaceful elements of the UMWA strike as well as formally ordering armed striking miners to attack targets, such as the

Colorado and Southern Railway The Colorado and Southern Railway was an American Class I railroad in the western United States that operated independently from 1898 to 1908, then as part of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until it was absorbed into the Burli ...

that passed near

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The t ...

.McGovern, George; Guttridge, Leonard. ''The Great Coalfield War''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1972. 88, 89 p. Following years of strikes which ended in relative failure, Lawson joined the

as vice president, serving in that position from 1927 to 1939.

Commission on Industrial Relations

In 1915 Lawson testified before the

Commission on Industrial Relations The Commission on Industrial Relations (also known as the Walsh Commission) p. 12. was a commission created by the U.S. Congress on August 23, 1912, to scrutinize US labor law. The commission studied work conditions throughout the industrial Uni ...

castigating

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

for his ignorance regarding conditions at his coal mines and camps in Colorado describing local elections in the Rockefeller-controlled company towns in Colorado where election judges counted the votes of sheep, mules, and even box cars. He also testified that on the night of December 17, 1903 his home in New Castle, Colorado, and those of 4 other union organizers had been dynamited.

Notes

*Beshoar, Barron B., ''Out of the Depths: The Story of John R. Lawson, A Labor Leader'', The Colorado Labor Historical Committee of the Denver Area Labor Federation (1st edition, April, 1942; 4th printing Golden Bell Press, Denver, 1980), trade paperback, 372 pages {{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, John R 1945 deaths Trade unionists from Colorado United Mine Workers people 1871 births Businesspeople from Colorado