It was early springtime and the strike was on
You drove us miners out of our doors
Out of the houses that the company owned
Into the tents up a little at low
We were worried bad about our children
State troopers guarded the railway bridge
Every once in a while
A bullet would fly
And kick up gravel around our feet
We were so afraid
That you'd kill our children
That we dug a cave
That was seven foot deep
Took the children and the pregnant woman
Down inside the cave to sleep
It was late springtime and the strike was on
Late that night
The soldiers waited
The lawless miners
Who were asleep
Crept around our little camptown
And soaked our tents in kerosene
Well they struck a match
And the blaze had started
They pulled the triggers
On their Gatling guns
Made a run for the children
But the fire wall stopped me
And thirteen children
Died from their guns
Drug my blanket
To the wire fence corner
And to watch the flames
Till the blaze died down
Saw some folks
Drag their belongings
While your bullets
Killed them all around
Well they struck a match
Well they rang the governor
For to phone up the president
Tell him call off
The National Guard
But the National Guard
Belonged to the governor
Oh I guess he didn't
Try very hard
I never will forget
The looks on the faces
Of the men and women
That awful day
As they stood around
To preach the funeral
And lay the corpses
Of the dead away
Well the women from Trinidad
Drug some potatoes
Up to Wallensburg
In a little cart
They sold the potatoes
And they brought some guns back
And put a gun
In every hand
It was late that night
The troopers charged us
They didn't know
That we had guns
And the rednecked miners
They shot the soldiers
You should have seen
Them bastards run
We took some cement
And walled the cave up
Where the thirteen
Lived and died
Little children died
I tanked gold
For the mine workers' union
And then I hung
My head and cried