Polly Pry vs. The Labor Unions

Leonel O'Bryan, otherwise known as Polly Pry, sits for a studio portrait wearing the late Victorian or Edwardian style clothing. Her outfit features a large hat adorned with silk flowers or faux foliage and a high collared coat. A sheer, black veil with chenille dots covers her face.

Leonel Ross Anthony wearing a veil. WH280-2026-111

1900-1910

The Polly Pry

Leonel Ross Anthony O’Bryan was a woman of many accomplishments. She was the Denver Post’s first female journalist. She became one of the first women to run her own newspaper, titled after her signature pen name - The Polly Pry ("Polly Pry", 2024). The Polly Pry covered controversial topics, attacking politicians, legislation, capitalists, anarchists, and communists alike. Her paper also published articles from guest writers such as Susan B. Anthony that promoted women's suffrage (Anthony, 1904). However, there was one topic that landed her in trouble, nearly resulting in her own murder.

The Colorado Labor Wars

On August 10th, 1903, the Western Federation of Miners (W.F.M.) called for a strike against mine operators throughout Colorado, demanding better working conditions (Colorado Mine Operators' Association, 1904). “We want wages that will enable our men to move into houses and not rear their family in tents,” wrote Bill Haywood of the W.F.M in his autobiography. (Haywood, 1929). Clashes between miners and mine operators grew violent, leading to strings of assaults, attempted murders, and bombings (Colorado Mine Operators' Association, 1904).

Poster published by the Western Federation of miners in Colorado. Shows an American flag listing the grievances of the union; a union miner, Henry Maki, shackled to a telephone pole in Telluride; and an appeal for donations to the union.

Is Colorado in America? C331.892822 W525is 1902

1902-1904

Polly Pry took aim at the labor unions, calling them “antagonistic to the business interests of their employers and indifferent to the welfare of the community” (Pry, 1903, p.3). She praised James Peabody, the governor of Colorado, for deploying the National Guard on striking miners. When Mother Jones, a prominent labor organizer, visited miners in Trinidad, Polly Pry printed a tirade against her. "Mother Jones - mother of idleness and want and misery! God send us barrenness of motherhood if such as Jones be the alternative" (Pry, 1903, p.8).

Women wear sashes that read: "Trinidad". One woman holds a sign that reads: "Mother Jones Has Not Done Anything That We Would Not Do".

Women's march. X-60505

January 1914

The Assassination Attempt of Polly Pry

Pry's controversial opinions came at a near-fatal cost. On January 10, 1904, a man arrived on Pry’s doorstep, armed with a gun (Pry, 1904, p. 3). When Pry opened the door, he fired two shots and ran, missing her by inches (Pry, 1904, p.3).

“Last Sunday night some cowardly brute attempted to assassinate me...” Pry wrote in the following issue of her paper, “I have been in almost daily receipt of anonymous letters, warning me that I would have to stop attacking union men in my paper, or be killed and my office blown to atoms,” Pry wrote, “I have been threatened with everything from kidnapping to shooting, but unsigned letters are such cowardly weapons that I thought I could afford to despise them” (Pry, 1904, p.3-4).

Pry continued to publish her paper until 1905, regardless of controversy. These newspapers have been added to the Leonel Ross Anthony O’Bryan papers in our Digital Collections, alongside new photographs of Polly Pry!