The killing of Tikas was particularly cowardly and brutal.... Taken prisoner, his skull was cracked open with the butt end of a rifle and he was then shot. Fyler was also killed while a helpless, unarmed prisoner.
The gunmen-militia did not stop at slaughter and arson but turned ghouls, robbing tents and dead bodies of their valuables. Fyler had $300 in cash when he was shot, yet his pockets were empty when his body was found. Louis Tikas and the other dead lost trinkets and money. Mrs. Mary Thomas, a recent immigrant from Wales, was robbed off money and furnishings.
He braved the assailants' iron might,
Their brutal hate, unbridled, wild;
His trust, the miners' naked home;
His care, the mother and her child.
And men in stress of coming days
Shall win by strength his spirit gives;
Who so for justice yield his life,
He, dying, yet, immortal lives.
Oh, Louis Tikas, gallant soul,
Defender of the helpless, weak;
Knight of humanity, you were
More than American or Greek.
Heroic spirits of all time
Attest your manhood's strong avail;
Extend warm hand-clasps as they cry:
"Good brother, noble comrade, hail!"
