THE HERRIN MINE MASSACRE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3145, 27 November 1922, Page 2

THE HERRIN MINE MASSACRE.

VIOLENT STRIKERS AND WEAK OFFICIALS. Cable messayes from New York mak mention of the trial in connection wit) the Herrin mine massacre in Ohio, an we were told that on the first day th prosecution had' been unable to obtaii a single juror, all those called pleading excuses for not serving. A speciia Grand Jury investigating th© massacr made its final report on Septem.be 23rd, with additional indictments bring ing the total to 214, comprising 44 fo murder, 116 of conspiracy to commi murder and rioting, and! 54 for assatul to commit murder. The report con demned the ineptitude of the official and the callousness of the President o the Mine. Adjutant-General 1 Carlo Mack's statement, made after th mine-killing, that he had no authorit; to send troops unless asked by th Sheriff, was denied by the jury, am charged certain authorities with failur to protect life and property in not Bend ing troops to the mine. Sheriff MelVi'i Thaxton. who is a member of th Miners' Union, was accused of failin, in his duty, and Senator William S Sneed, who figures in the matter, is ; sub-district President of the Miners Union. The report gives information as t the crime, and a reproduction of it wil enable our readers to understand th case : "Tbo atrocities and cruelties of the murderers are beyond the power o words to describe," the jury report as serted. "A mob is always cowardly, bu the savagery of the mob in its relent less brutality is almost unbelievable Tbo indignities heaped upon the dene did not end until their bodies were in terred in unknown graves." "About the middle of .June this year," the jury report says, "aftei suspension of the coal industry as th< result of a strike of the United Miiu Workers of America, the Southern II linois Coal Company decided to operate a. strip mine owned by it and lo catcd about midway between Marioi and Herrin. "The miners' union apparently raised no objections to the uncovering o; the coal by the use of steam shovels, but when the coal company began tc ship coal there was bitter resentmenl on the part of the union miners. Th< coal company aggravated this resentment by employing armed guards anc closing for tlie public use certain established highways traversing the miiu property and treating as trespassers citizens attempting to use the accustomed highway. "The Haunting of arms in a community devoted almost exclusively tt mining coal was conducive to strife. II was a challenge and certain to be accepted, and for four or five days preceding the tragedy it was known to tin authorities that a conflict was inevitable^ "The State administration showed il undoubtedly realised the acute situation b sending to Williamson count} Colonel Hunter of the Adjutant General's staff. This representative of the State Government testified that he recognised upon his arrival in Marion an imminence of a conflict and immediately asked the Adjutant General to send State troops to protect the property and conserve the peace. This request Colonel Hunter renewed several time* before tho actual conflict and was invariably asked by the Adjutant General of Illinois if the sheriff of Williamson county had asked for the troops. The Adjutant General denied his authority to order them into Williamson county except on the sheriff's request, which, as your Honor knows, is not the law. "Melvin Thaxton, the sheriff of Williamson County, is the holder of a card in the Miners' Union and a candidate for county treasurer at the forthcoming election. Either because of loyaltj to the Union or from fear of injuring bis candidacy, the sheriff would make no demand for troops, nor did he take adequate measures to 'preserve the peace. "From the evidence heard the attack of .June 21, upon the men employed' at the strip mine was the result of a conspiracy which had been several days in the perfecting, the object of which was the closing of the strip mine. Sheriff Thaxton could not have been unaware of the development of this plan. "On June 19, State Senator William A. Sneed. District President of the Inited Mine Workers of this district, received 1 from John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers of America, a telegram reading as follows: 'William Sneed, President Sub-District 10, district 12. United Mine Workers of America, Herrin, 111.—Your wire eighteenth. Steam Shovel Men's Union was suspended from affiliation with American Federation of Labor some years ago. It was also ordered suspended from the mining department of the American Federation of Labor at the Atlantic City Convention. We now find that this outlaw organisation is permitting its members to act as strikebreakers at numerous strip pits in Ohio. This organisation is furnishing steam shovel engineers, to work under armed guards with strike breakers. It is not true that any form of agreement exists by and between this organisation and the mining department or any other branch of the American Federation of Labor, permitting theni to work under such circumstances. AVe have through representatives officially taken this question up with the officers of the Steam Shovel Men's Union and have failed to secure any satisfaction. Representatives of our organisation are justified in treating this croud as an outlaw organisation and in viewing its members in the same light a,* they do any other common strikebreakers.—John L. Lewis.' "A copy of this telegram was posted and read in various places. Following the publication of the telegram from President Lewis preparations for an attack upon the mine were made. Tho hardware stores in all the cities of Williamson County were searched for firearms. The weapons wore either taken by force or upon a verbal assurance the local .union would pay for them. "The men working at the strip mine ivere evidently ignorant of being strikebreakers. The men operating the steam shovel were affiliated with a union, even 'bough unrecognised by the American Federation of Labor." Describing how the non-union men v.tc killed after being captured in tile nine, the expert says:— "The captive men were marched down he road toward Herrin in double file. Vfter they had marched about one mile superintendent McDowell, being criplied and unable to keep up with the irocession, was taken: aside by members il the mob and shot to deatli. The reiiainder of the captives were marched in the public road and were stopped it the power-house of the Interurban hiilroad, about three miles from Herin. "Here a change in leadership took ilace and a man who had guaranteed he safety of the men who had surrenlered was deposed and another leader ustalled. The new commander ordered ho captive men to march into the .'ood?i adjacent to and beyond the ower-house. Here the new leader diected that only those in the crowd! ho had guns should follow into the. oods and those who were unarmed! hould remain without. i

"The surrendered men were then marched some 200 yards back of the power house to the vicinity of a barbed wire fence, where they were told they would be given a chance to run for their lives under fire. The firing began immediately and thirteen of the forty-seven non-union men were killed l and most of the others severely wounded. "The mob pursued those who had escaped and two were hanged to trees, six were tied together with a rope about their necks and marched through the streets of Herrin to an adjacent cemetery, where they were shot by the mob and the throats of three were cut. One of the six survived. "On the first day of the attack u»on the mine two union miners were killed by the answering fire from the men in the strip mine and 1 another so seriously injured as to die subsequently from his wounds. It had been difficult for this Grand Jury to determine who fired the shots from the strip mine which caused the deaths of the union miners. When asked to present evidence to the Grand -Jury which would tend to fix responsibility, counsel for the miners' union announced they would lend no aid to the Grand Jury. "It is true the electorate of the county is responsible for those of its supine, weak, and cowardly officials who permitted the disorders to grow from desultory rioting into a hideous massacre. Those evils can be corrected by the great majority of the population who believe in law and order asserting themselves and no longer consenting to V>e intimidated by a disorderVv minority. "The Grand .Jury, while not denying the right of private property and its lawful uses, cannot help but feel that the Southern Illinois Coal Company, of which L. J. Lester is president while, perhaps, within its legal rights, was either woefully ignorant of the danger of its operations or blindly determined to risk strife and conflict if profits could be made. "The Adjutant-General's office and the Sheriff alternated in passing responsibility, with neither taking decisive action to prevent disorder and protect property. We condemn the laxity of the local police in the various cities wherein stores were looted for firearms without interference by them. We commend the State's' Attorney for Williamson County, Delos Duty, for liis courage and fidelity to his oath of office, and we express our gratitude to the Attorney-General of Illinois and his efficient assistants whose aid greatly facilitated the tremendous task confronting the Grand Jury."