On April 20, 1914, amidst the escalating tensions of a coal miners' strike in Ludlow, Colorado, a young boy named Frank Snyder was killed. The eleven-year-old male was inside his family's tent at the Ludlow tent colony, a makeshift home for the striking miners and their families. For much of that day, a fierce battle raged between the striking coal miners and the Colorado National Guard, forcing many, including the Snyder family, to take shelter in pits dug beneath their tents to escape the
indiscriminate gunfire that tore through the canvas city.
Believing a lull in the fighting had come, the Snyder family emerged from their shelter and returned to the relative comfort of their tent. Frank went to sit in a chair, with his sister joining him on the floor between his knees. In a horrific moment witnessed by his father, William Snyder, a bullet ripped through the tent and struck Frank in the head. His father later recounted hearing the impact of the bullet and the sound of it exploding inside his son's head. Frank's father carried his son's body across the battlefield, crying out, 'They're shooting children!'
The day, which would come to be known as the Ludlow Massacre, saw the deaths of numerous others, including other children, two women, and striking miners. The tent colony was ultimately set ablaze and destroyed. While the events of the Ludlow Massacre led to widespread outrage, no specific individual was ever arrested for the death of Frank Snyder. His death was one of many in a day of violent conflict where a clear line of responsibility for each casualty was blurred by the chaos of the battle. A militia leader was implicated in the death of a strike leader on the same day, but no one was held directly accountable for the shooting of the young boy in his family's tent.
