"...they ought to have known better than to come down here; but now that they're here, let them take what's coming to them."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Lester mine coal shovel destroyed during the siege by union members and sympathizers. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Site of the massacre
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The massacre at the Herrin Cemetery, as depicted by by an artist in Paul Cadmus' book, "Yesterday & Today."
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sources for this page include:
 

Things progressively got worse, and Thaxton's men never took action.  Hunter himself contacted the Adjutant General and convinced him to mobilize troops.  Lester, who had left the area a couple days earlier, was reached by phone in Chicago.  Realizing the gravity of the situation, he agreed to close the mine for the remainder of the nationwide UMWA strike.  Hunter and a citizen's group laid out a plan to get a truce in place -- telephoning McDowell to tell him raise a white flag and hold fire, and asking the UMWA sub-district vice president, Fox Hughes, to go out to the site and do the same.  The details for how to get the strikebreakers safely out of the mine would be worked out later, they figured. 

McDowell later reported by phone that the shooting had died down some, and Hunter and others were optimistic that a disaster was going to be avoided.  The National Guard troops were not needed after all, they decided. 

As it turns out, the UMWA offical Hughes went to the mine with a white flag, but never took it out and raised it.  He later claimed to never have seen the agreed-to Lester mine white flag, so he believed Lester's men hadn't lived up to their part of the truce.  He went home and took no further action, explaining later that he found out his boss in the UMWA leadership, Hugh Willis,  was now involved and therefore concluded his role in the drama was finished. 

During the evening more and more union supporters gathered guns and ammunition, and made their way to the strip mine.  McDowell was to have called when the truce took effect, but the call never came.  When Hunter tried to telephone the mine, he found the phone lines were dead. 

Amazingly, nobody bothered to actually take responsibility to go to the mine, and at least monitor what was taking place.  Nobody accompanied Hughes to check if the white flags were raised; no troops were ever activated by the Guard despite repeated signs that the local sheriff could not be counted on to act.  No action was taken to enforce a truce. 

Late in the evening of June 21st, Sheriff Thaxton reluctantly agreed to go to the mine to make sure the truce was carried out and that the strikebreakers were given safe passage out of the county.  Despite urgings that he go immediately, he insisted he needed rest and that it could wait until morning.  Thaxton agreed to meet Hunter and and Major Davis of the Carbondale National Guard Unit at the sheriff's office at 6 a.m. the next day.  Meanwhile that evening Hugh Willis, essentially the leader of the UMWA in the area,  spoke to union supporters in Herrin.  As Paul Angle relates it in his book, Willis summarized his view of the strikebreakers:

"God damn them, they ought to have known better than to come down here; but now that they're here, let them take what's coming to them."

Finally, after pleadings by the besieged mine employees, the mine superintendent, McDowell, agreed to surrender.  One of the mine guards approached the attackers in gesture of conciliation, carrying a broomstick with a cooking apron tied to it.  He told the union men that they would surrender if they could come out of the mine unharmed.  The reply:  "Come on out and we'll get you out of the county."

The strikebreakers came out and lined up.  The union miners started marching them towards Herrin, a distance of perhaps five miles. 

At Crenshaw Crossing, about a half mile north of the mine, the procession stopped where a group of men waited.  One of them started to wave his revolver and yelled out, "The only way to free the county of strikebreakers is to kill them all off and stop the breed!"

While some called out for cooler heads to prevail, the mob grew more agitated and violent as they turned west and continued to march the captives along.  Some struck the strikebreakers with the butts of their guns.  A half mile past Crenshaw Crossing at Moake Crossing, McDowell was bloodied and limping, unable to go any further.   The man who'd spoken earlier said "I'm going to kill you and use you for bait to catch the other scabs."  He and another man grabbed McDowell and walked down the crossroad, and everyone else continued towards Herrin.

Shortly, shots rang out in the distance and they all knew McDowell was dead.

As Angle describes in his book,  the procession stopped a bit later and a car drove up and halted.  Out came a man whom some of the strikebreakers overheard being called "Hugh Willis" and "the president."  According to the accounts of surviving captives, he said, "Listen, don't you go killing these fellows on a public highway.  There are too many women and children around to do that.  Take them over in the woods and give it to them.  Kill all you can."

They marched the prisoners into the woods near a barbed wire fence.  Somebody shouted, "Lets see how fast you can run between here and Chicago, you damned gutter-bums!"  Shots were fired and the panicked strikebreakers ran for the fence, desperately trying to climb through or over.   Some never made it to the fence.

As they ran in horror, some of the captives got caught in the fence and were riddled with bullets.  Others, unfamiliar with the area, ran through the dense underbrush and trees known as Harrison's woods, in the general direction of Herrin. 

During the morning some of the 'scabs' who remained alive were chased down and murdered.  Some were re-caught and marched to Herrin Cemetery, only to be slaughtered there in front of a crowd.  It was about noon on that day, June 22nd, when men took turns beating several captives, then shot them dead.   To end the massacre in a final act of grotesque brutality, somebody stepped forward with his pocket knife and slit the throats of those still alive.

During all this time, law enforcement did nothing to prevent the violence.  Sheriff Thaxton had failed to meet Col. Hunter and Major Davisat his office at 6 a.m. as promised; he finally showed up at 8 a.m.  By that time Hunter and Davis had heard rumors of the violence against the strikebreakers.  When the three finally arrived at the mine, what remained of the operation was in flames, and they learned the mob had left some three hours prior.

When they all retraced the steps of the mob, they found the grisly evidence of the dead, dying, and wounded.  By then, of course, Sheriff Thaxton had given the union miners all the time they needed.  Those that weren't dead were taken to Herrin Hospital.  But at least 20 of the 50 strikebreakers died during the massacre.  Three union miners were shot and killed during the siege of the strip mine. 

Later, most of the dead strikebreakers  were buried in the potter's field area of Herrin Cemetery.

Defendants all acquitted
Word got out across the nation about the massacre almost immediately.  The media reacted in horror and disgust.  Denunciations were pronounced in newspapers, magazines, and in the U.S. Congress.  And they all called for justice to be done.

The coroner's jury quickly concluded that all the strikebreakers were killed by unknown individuals, and according to Paul Angle's book, took the incredible position that "the deaths of the decedents were due to the acts direct and indirect of the officials of the Southern Illinois Coal Company."  They recommended that the company and its officers be investigated in order to affix appropriate responsibility on them.

These findings stirred the nation up even more.  After several months' time, thanks to continued pressure from outside the county, indictments were handed down against six individuals for the murder of one of the strikebreakers.   The prosecution's case in resulting trial in Marion relied very heavily on eyewitness testimony supporting the case.  In some cases multiple eyewitnesses corroborated eachother's testimony.  The defense focused on first exposing the foolish and abusive actions of Lester's workers and guards, providing justification of the mob actions.  Then they marched out alibis for all the defendants on trial.

The jury acquitted all defendants.  Again, the press and public officials outside the area were shocked and outraged.  Of course many residents of Williamson County the surrounding area felt the same, but it was probably not considered very wise to take such a public position.

A second trial took place in the winter of '23.  Public attention by that time had abated.  The prosecution indicted three of the original six defendants, this time for the murder of a second strikebreaker.  Again, the prosecution relied almost soley on eyewitness testimony, and the defense took the same approach as in the first trial.  And again, all defendants were acquitted.   Bloody Williamson's reputation was sealed.