Believe It or Not as the largest cobblestone building in the U.S. Colorado Coalfield War In September 1913, after months of sporadic strikes and years of mining accidents, the United Mine Workers of America union declared a general strike in Colorado's southern counties in opposition to coal mining companies violating state laws surrounding safety, pay, and compensation. The strike targeted in particular the partially Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) in Huerfano, Las Animas, and Pueblo counties. After over 10,000 miners were evicted from company-owned towns across Southern Colorado in the immediate aftermath of the strike's declaration, sporadic violence began between strikers and the company-backed strikebreakers, mine guards, and deputized local militia hired by Baldwin-Felts detectives. Now Adjutant General, General John Chase was ordered by Governor Elias M. Ammons to dispatch troops to Walsenburg and other sites along the Colorado and Southern railway to disarm strikers and prevent further violence. Chase, a veteran of the 1903-1904 strikes, favored an aggressive strategy in dealing with the strikers. A company from the National Guard and four artillery pieces arrived in the strike zone by train on 9 October 1913 to supplement a growing local militia. Following the shooting deaths of several strikers by deputized horsemen in Walsenburg on 24 October, strikers, and militia engaged in a shootout in Berwind Canyon, Las Animas County. The militia was led by Karl Linderfelt, a lieutenant in the National Guard. A National Guardsman from Denver was killed by the strikers. Militia backed by a machine gun ultimately drove off the strikers. The National Guard was mobilized on 28 October and began field operations the next day, arresting strikers accused of arson and assault. On 1 November, after an agreement between General Chase and John R. Lawson, the National Guard marched between the mines and tent colonies to effect disarmament on both sides. The military report of the incident records a warm reception by the strikers, especially at Ludlow, though the National Guard only received a reported 20-30 weapons, including a toy gun, and were ultimately mocked by the strikers. In January 1914, Ammons and Chase authorized the arrest and detention of Mother Jones, a labor activist, in Trinidad. Multiple attempts by strikers and Trinidad residents to liberate her by both demonstration and riots failed. In late January, an unexploded bomb was located near the encampment of several National Guardsmen, likely in relation to these events.