Frank Little

by Mark Ross

Come and listen to my story for it is a tale of shame,

About a union organizer Frank Little was his name,

Organized for One Big Union and against the rich man's war

He was murdered by the Company,

We'll never see his like no more.

There was a war in Europe raging there was money to be made,

A miners' life ain't worth a nickel when a penny can be saved,

The Granite Mountain Mine caught fire, many died there in that blaze,

The only good from that disaster

Was a Union reborn in Flames.

Frank Little came to Butte, Montana to help them in their fight

He said, "Why should you got to Europe it's here you'll do what's right,

Why should workers kill each other? Don't you know this war is wrong?"

That evening he lay sleeping,

Never dreaming he'd never see the dawn.

6 men came for him that evening tied him up behind their car,

Dragged him to the Railroad trestle I'm amazed he lived that far,

It was early the next morning when the air was bright & clear,

Someone found Frank Little's body,

Hanging in the air.

Hear the miners' wives all weeping see the men dressed up in black,

10,000 going to the graveyard and one won't be coming back,

And the words carved on his tombstone, we still feel as they did then,

"SLAIN BY CAPITALIST INTERESTS FOR ORGANIZING

AND INSPIRING HIS FELLOW MEN."