In the meantime, Lieut. Benedict and the men at the military camp, reinforced later by Troop A, from Hastings, who came down the northern canyon, were engaging the strikers firing from the arroyo, the tent colony, and beyond.
During the morning the men fighting around the two groups of tents were reinforced by Troop A, the nonunion men from Hastings, and also by the mine guards from both canyons, In the afternoon the men on Water Tank Hill were joined by Capt. Carson and a number of Troop A—men from Trinidad and vicinity, with another machine gun.
Along toward dusk Lieut. K. E. Linderfelt was able to advance as far as the railroad station, about 500 yards from the tent colony. His advance from this point to the colony and beyond to the steel bridge and the arroyo was covered by the two machine guns on Water Tank Hill, which were trained on the colony, and that they were trained down the railroad right of way and not having finally dislodged those who had been firing all day from the cut.
This was the first time the machine guns were turned in the direction of the colony and that they were trained down the railroad right of way and not upon the colony is evident from the most casual inspection. We found the fences, water tanks, pump house, and other objects on the right of way riddled with machine-gun bullet holes, but posts, chicken houses, and other objects that remained standing directly in front of the colony and in the line of fire appeared to be scathless, thus proving beyond any doubt that the colony was never at any time swept by the machine guns.
This does not mean that the machine guns were not fired into the colony, as we shall presently show that they were, but it does show that there was no general and wanton mowing down of the tents as has been imputed. Under the protection of the machine guns' fire Capt. Linderfelt, Capt. Carson, and Lieut. K. E. Linderfelt were from this time able to advance steadily. They were accompanied by a part of the Water Tank Hill detachment, the reinforcements from Trinidad in civilian's clothes, and some mine guards.
Their fire was returned from their front all along the arroyo and from the tent colony itself. The men to the west between the colony and the canyon were about this time likewise able to press closer to the arroyo and the tent colony. As both these forces approached the colony, the heaviest fire seemed to come from the very tents themselves. The fire of all was for the first time drawn directly into the colony.
It was then that Maj. Hamrock tested his range with the machine guns on Water Tank Hill and sent them directly into the first tents of the colony itself; at the same time the strikers' fire drew a return from all combatants into the same tents. It was this concentrated fire upon the nearest tents in the southwest corner of the colony that set them on fire.
It could not be supposed that any women, children, or other noncombatants remained in the colony itself. The women and children had been seen departing early in the morning, and it was impossible to believe that the strikers would draw the fire of their opponents from all sides into the colony if any women and children remained therein.
Shortly after the fire started the detonation of some high explosive, like some giant powder or dynamite, was both heard and seen. From one of the tents a shower of its contents could be seen rising high in the air, emitting a blaze of fire.
As one tent caught after another, several other explosions occurred. During this time some of the men, having nearly reached the tent colony, heard the screams of women and called to men whom they saw firing from between the tents to get their women out.
The only answer were the words, "You go to hell," spoken with a foreign accent and accompanied by a rain of shots. The men in the colony being driven back and the presence of women being thus known, Capt. Carson, Lieut. Linderfelt, and other officers and men made a dash in among the burning tents for the purpose of rescuing the women and children.
At first they took several women from the tents, some of which were on fire and some not, then they discovered some subterranean pits beneath many of the tents and that some of them were stored with human occupants. The rescue work was most difficult as the women refused to accompany the soldiers and even fought against being taken away.
They said afterwards they believed the soldiers would kill them. They had to be dragged to places of safety. When the pits were discovered the difficulty of getting out the women and children was increased.
