David C. Coates

Who was David C. Coates?

David Courtney Coates was a Pueblo, Colorado businessman, 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, Durham, 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.

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