Letters to the Editor

“Scourge of the Underworld,” Alan Prendergast, February 7

Going Gangbusters!

Kudos to Alan Prendergast for a marvelous story of crime and corruption in Denver in the early 1900s. Special applause for his use of the vernacular of the times.
Joe Gallegos
Denver

I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed “Scourge of the Underworld.” As soon as I finished it, I went online and purchased a copy of Philip Van Cise’s Fighting the Underworld. Thank you for your excellent work and for shining some light on an important figure in Denver’s history.
Seth Nelson
Brighton

Denver is a great place to raise a family because it is one of the safer cities to live in. Denver could have easily become a Los Angeles or Chicago, but it didn’t, because of incorruptable crimefighters such as Philip Van Cise.
Michael Cryer
Denver

Thank you for Alan Prendergast’s fine article. He mentioned Philip Van Cise’s part in investigating the Ludlow massacre but did not go into his service as a peacekeeper before the massacre. In 1913 he commanded a company of National Guardsmen that was sent to Ludlow to maintain order.

In complete contrast to Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt’s Company B, Captain Van Cise’s Company K carried out its mission impartially and fairly. Van Cise and his men treated the strikers with respect, and in return, the strikers cooperated with him fully. He is favorably mentioned in several books about the Coalfield War, including Buried Unsung: Louis Tikas and the Ludlow Massacre, by Zeese Papanikolas, The Great Coalfield War, by Senator George McGovern, and Out of the Depths, by Barron Beshoar.

An example of Van Cise’s character occurred on November 30, 1913, when a train arrived at Ludlow carrying strikebreakers. When hundreds of strikers and their wives rushed to the train station intending to murder the strikebreakers, Van Cise risked his life to keep the two sides apart and prevent violence. In the end, he ordered the strikers to return to their tents, and he ordered the strikebreakers to continue to Trinidad in accordance with the governor’s orders.

I also wish to point out that Van Cise warned his superiors that Linderfelt’s Company B was the biggest threat to peace at Ludlow months before Company B committed the Ludlow Massacre — when Van Cise was almost 200 miles away in Denver.
Frank Manning
Denver

“Four Questions,” Noah Van Sciver

No Strip Tease

I would like to commend you on the new comic strip in the past two issues of Westword. I am so glad you’ve hired a music cartoonist again! Keep the strips coming!
Robin Edwards
Denver

I miss Derf! It’s the first thing I look at!
Mike Pokorny
Denver 

Editor’s note: Derf’s The City was displaced by a recent redesign of this page. But we’ve added a new, and local, cartoon; find Four Questions on page 70 of this issue.

“The Candidate,” Naomi Zeveloff, January 17

Servant to the Truth

The only thing more amusing than the profile of Ali Hasan was the letter from his mother in the January 31 issue!
Jody Miles
Denver

It is sad that the only impression most of your readers will have of the Hasan family is from Naomi Zeveloff’s recent article. She paints a picture of them that is simply misleading at best and malicious at worst.

I have known the Hasans for more than two decades and have always found them to be gracious. Their children have been raised and challenged to be the best they can possibly be and to make a contribution to the world. You never mentioned the eldest daughter, who is a respected and brilliant physician in Colorado, and only glossed over Asma, who is a bright and thoughtful attorney and author. These are children who could have chosen to do nothing in life and simply live off their parents’ accomplishments. They did not; and honestly, Seeme and Malik would never have allowed that.

It’s simply too bad that your readers were given a very different image.
Linda Backstein Kirscht
Greenwood Village