The Nation - News from June 11, 1989

The last ashes of union martyr Joe Hill were scattered at a Lafayette, Colo., cemetery where five striking unionized coal miners who were gunned down by militiamen and guards at the Columbine Mine on Nov. 21, 1927, are buried. Hill was an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies. A granite marker with the names of six slain miners was unveiled in the cemetery 20 miles northwest of Denver. In 1915, Hill was executed in Utah for a murder in Salt Lake City, where he had been organizing workers. Supporters said the mining industry framed Hill. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered in many states.