The coal strike had already seen mock dive-bombing of strike rallies by combat aircraft and massive arrests of strike leaders for "vagrancy". The strike was having an impact on coal stocks and the November weather was turning cold. In the words of the Denver Post, it was time for the state to unleash the "mailed fist", to "strike hard and strike swiftly..."
North of Denver there is a quiet hilltop with a pleasant view of the surrounding plains. Birds flit through the trees and honeybees buzz about the wildflowers along Highway Seven and Interstate 25. There is a small parking area from which a traveler may take in the tranquil view.
"MACHINE GUNS ARE THE BEST ANSWER TO THE PICKETERS. POSTED AT THE COLUMBINE MINE, WILLING WORKERS GO TO WORK WHILE PICKETERS SLINK BACK. MACHINE GUNS MANNED BY WILLING SHOOTERS ARE WANTED AT OTHER COLORADO MINES..." Editorial in the Boulder Daily Camera, November 17, 1927.
It was a chill November morning in Serene, home of the mighty Columbine mine that was nestled peacefully on a rolling Colorado hillside. The strike was five weeks old and strikers had been conducting morning rallies at Serene for two weeks, for the Columbine was one of the few major coal mines to remain in operation. Five hundred miners, some accompanied by their wives and children, arrived at the north gate just before dawn. They carried three American flags. At the direction of Josephine Roche, daughter of the recently deceased owner of Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, the picketers had been served coffee and donuts on previous mornings. This morning men with guns would serve up something different.
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