June 22, 1922 “Herrin Massacre,”

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/history/06/22



A 1940 painting by Paul Cadmus depicted the Herrin Massacre.

In what became known as the “Herrin Massacre,” a group of several hundred striking miners seized a group of strikebreakers who had been brought in by the Southern Illinois Coal Company. The strikers marched the strikebreakers to a woods near Herrin, Illinois, and opened fire, killing 19. Several strikers were held in the Williamson County jail, which has been turned into a historical museum focusing on the conflict. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat called the shootings “the most brutal and horrifying crime that has ever stained the garments of organized labor.”