While doing genealogy research I recently came across a book called "Bloody Williamson" about southern Illinois coal mining towns and the bitter wars in the early 1900's between mine owners and the UMWA.
While I've always been a supporter and friend of organized labor and heard all the stories about the history and brutal struggles of the early labor movement, the story of the Herrin Massacre with its racial overtones and the later rise of the Ku Klux Klan among the UMWA were surprising.
Link to the story of the Herrin Massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacrehttp://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7847/massacre.htmLong story short, during the national mineworkers strike in 1922, a mine owner in Herrin, Ill on the verge of bankruptcy brought in guards and 50 strikebreakers, mostly poor black men from Chicago. As the mine prepared to ship the coal, the situation escalated and national UMWA leaders stirred their members into violent action. During an armed siege at the mine, an agreement was reached to allow the strike breakers and guards to leave the mine and be escorted out of the county.
"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 off down a side road. Shots rang out, and everyone else continued towards Herrin. A farmer later found McDowell's body. He'd been shot four times: twice in the stomach, and once each in the chest and head.
A car pulled up to the procession, and a man came out 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."
The prisoners were taken off the road into the woods, where they reached a barbed wire fence. The strikebreakers were told to run for their lives. One man shouted, "Let's see how fast you can run between here and Chicago, you damned gutter-bums!" The mob opened fire behind the strikebreakers as they ran. Many of the captives were caught up in the fence and shot to death. Others, making it over the fence but not knowing where they were, ran through Harrison's Woods toward Herrin, still a mile north. One strikebreaker caught inside the woods was hanged and three others were shot to death at his feet. The assistant superintendent of the mine, was alive but unconscious. One of the union men noticed that he was still alive and shot him in the head. The chase continued on into the morning of the 22nd.
Six men were recaptured and ordered to remove their shirts and shoes. They were then told to crawl to Herrin Cemetery. By noon a crowd of about 1,000 spectators had gathered at the cemetery. They watched as the strikebreakers were roped together and men took turns beating and shooting them. Those who were still alive at the end had their throats cut by a man wielding a pocketknife. Other townspeople came out to look at and taunt the dead and dying along the route to the cemetery. One reporter tried to give one of the dying men some water and was told that if he gave the man water, "he wouldn't live to see the next day".
It turns out the man accused of cutting the throats of the strikebreakers was my great grandfather's second cousin. The accused muderers stood trial, but all were found not guilty, in spite of overwhelming evidence and witness testimony. Sadly, the incident spawned an era of lawlessness that ushered in a strong movement of the KKK. It seemed to unleash a tide of racism that resulted in riots, raids on the homes of those the clan opposed, including Catholics, Italians, Jews and blacks. The KKK even took over the local police department and threw the mayor in jail. The Illinois Guard were called in numerous times to stop the riots and lynchings and restore order.
It would be easy to write these things off to a bad coincidence between labor uprisings mixed with southern racism in vogue at the time. It seems there was also a long history of mine owners using poor blacks as strikebreakers, inadvertently feeding racist beliefs. Sad to say, in my years working in a heavily union environment, there were still many remnants of racism and a disturbing growth in sometimes violent sexism as the Women's Movement encouraged women to pursue good paying jobs in the union trades. While never a victim of violence myself, I was verbally abused, threatened and physically intimidated and I knew many women who were subjected to violent acts. Even today, women in the building trades sometimes face violence, threats and intimdiation.
I hope for a return of manufacturing and industry jobs to the US and look forward to seeing an increase in union membership for US workers. But lets hope that unions learn from past lessons and the last vestiges of racism and sexism disappear forever. They've made progress so far and I hope it continues.
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