Excavation finds remains of 4 killed at Herrin Massacre (Illinois)

HERRIN — Researchers say their excavation of a southern Illinois cemetery has located the likely remains of people killed during a violent 1922 labor strike at a nearby coal mine.

The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reports that the Herrin City Cemetery search headed by Eastern Illinois University geologist Steven Di Naso and author Scott Doody found four coffins matching the description of those used for victims of the Herrin Massacre.

Doody, who in April published a book about the violence, says the discovery drew "a flood of relief" for searchers who realized they had found the right people.

The Herrin Massacre, 1922 Main article: Herrin massacre

Williamson County, Illinois, a county with a "unique history of violence" for a rural county, was the location of the Herrin Massacre, one of the most horrific and perplexing incidents of union violence.[45] The 1922 incident is considered the most notorious of the United Mine Workers' struggles in Illinois.[46] Williamson was a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity at the time, with many in the community embracing that organization in opposition to bootlegging of liquor during Prohibition, and for purposes of racial exclusion.[45][47] The massacre was committed by members (and possibly at the instruction of local leadership) of the United Mine Workers, just eight years after the deaths of miners' wives and children during the Ludlow Massacre.[47] Accounts differ, but most record the strike-related deaths of three union men, followed the next day by union miners committing the brutal murders of 20 men of a group of fifty strikebreakers and mine guards. The ruthless retaliation occurred against the backdrop of broken promises, double dealing, and missed opportunities on both sides.

Via: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_violence#The_Herrin_Massacre.2C_1922

"The Herrin Massacre took place in June 1922 in Herrin, Illinois. Following an early morning gunfire attack on non-union miners going to work on June 21, three union miners (Jordie Henderson, Joseph Pitkewicius and one other) were killed in a confrontation after the striking union members marched on the mine. The next day, union miners killed 19 of fifty strikebreakers and mine guards, many of them in brutal ways. A twentieth victim from the non-union group would later be murdered, bringing the death total to twenty-three."

"Counting the three dead union miners, twenty-three were murdered in the Herrin Massacre. In terms of legal and community repercussions, there were few. The funerals of the slain miners were attended by thousands, while the strikebreakers were interred in a potter's field. "

This one will be going right back into the memory hole.

Union-on-nonunion violence, Klan involvement, mass murder? Fougeddaboudit.

Speaking of the memory hole, anyone heard any more about that "horrific" multiple shooting at Brashear High School in Pittsburg? Happened Wednesday afternoon. Broad daylight. Anyone? Buehler? No?

I wonder why.

While the KKK was very racist, it was also very pro-law and order.

Down in Cromwell Oklahoma, when lawman Bill Tilghman was murdered..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Tilghman

“The local Knights of the Ku Klux Klan demanded justice and printed fliers and warnings to criminal elements to leave town or suffer the consequences.[citation needed] One month after Tilghman’s murder, the town of Cromwell was torched, with every brothel, bar, flophouse and pool hall burned to the ground, and no arrests were ever made.”

Which reminds me of the Shakespeare verse from Julius Caesar...”The evil that men do lives after them, but the good is often interred with their bones.”

"The massacre was committed by members (and possibly at the instruction of local leadership) of the United Mine Workers, just eight years after the deaths of miners' wives and children during the Ludlow Massacre.[47] Accounts differ, but most record the strike-related deaths of three union men, followed the next day by union miners committing the brutal murders of 20 men of a group of fifty strikebreakers and mine guards. The ruthless retaliation occurred against the backdrop of broken promises, double dealing, and missed opportunities on both sides."

I've never heard of this incident before. (Of course I wasn't even born at the time.) Has this been suppressed by the unions? Removed from the history books? Why do unions always get a pass on their violent history and violent behavior and thuggery? Why are they always treated as some sort of holy organizations?

I've never heard of this incident before. (Of course I wasn't even born at the time.) Has this been suppressed by the unions? Removed from the history books? Why do unions always get a pass on their violent history and violent behavior and thuggery? Why are they always treated as some sort of holy organizations?

Just a guess, but it may have something to do with the printing presses for books and newspapers being operated by union members, with the linotype machines that were used to compose newspapers being operated by union members, with movie and television behind-the-camera personnel being members of unions, with the trucks that were used to deliver newspapers being driven by union members, etc., etc.

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