David C. Coates

David Courtney Coates (1868–1933) was a Pueblo, Colorado businessman,^[1] a radical, the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, secretary of Colorado's State Federation of Labor, and a friend to Big Bill Haywood.

Coates was born in Brandon, England.

In 1901, Lieutenant Governor Coates volunteered, and was dispatched by Colorado Governor James Orman, to be part of a commission sent to Telluride to investigate an uprising of miners from the Western Federation of Miners during a strike. A shooting war was triggered when one of the strikers, believed to have been unarmed, had been shot through the throat by a deputized mine guard. In spite of intense pressure from others, Coates helped to persuade the governor not to send the Colorado National Guard. The commission was able to effect a settlement between the miners and the company, negotiating between union leader Vincent St. John and the Smuggler-Union Mine Company's general manager, Arthur L. Collins.^[2]

David Coates was present at the founding convention of the Industrial Workers of the World.^[3] Coates was offered the presidency of that organization, but declined to accept it.^[4] The IWW later abolished the office of the presidency.

In his autobiography, Bill Haywood credited Coates with suggesting a slogan for the IWW: an injury to one is an injury to all.^[5] The slogan has since been used by a number of labor organizations.

After leaving office, Coates was a member of the Socialist Party of America. He left the party over its pacifist policies and headed the short-lived National Party during World War I.

References

1. ^ The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor 1899-1908, MaryJoy Martin, 2004, page 78.
2. ^ The Corpse On Boomerang Road, Telluride's War On Labor 1899-1908, MaryJoy Martin, 2004, pages 78-79, and 85-87.
3. ^ Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, pp. 78.
4. ^ Roughneck: The Life and Times of Big Bill Haywood, Peter Carlson, 1983, pp. 84.
5. ^ William Dudley Haywood,The Autobiography of Big Bill Haywood,1929,pp. 186.

• political graveyard section including piece on Coates

Persondata
Name	Coates, David C.
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	1868
Place of birth
Date of death	1933
Place of death