The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-06-26

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O'Clock and later. accompanied by Mr..
Davis. will go to the White House to
discuss strike matters with President
Harding.
CEy the Associated Press1
Herrin. Ill. June 26.-Williamson
county buried the dead in her latest
mine war yesterday, conducted an in
quest to determine the cause of their
death. and today faced the RESPONSE
hility of bringing the guilty to justice.
With not a single arrest made since
the massacre of last Thursday, when
at least nineteen men were killed after
strike sympathizers stormed the Les
ter mine. and with county officials
making no visible effort TO place the
blame. the investigating is being done
By state and federal agents.
Jury Was Home Talent"
Representative Of the department
CT justice. department OF labor. the
state attorney generals office and the
adjutant general are quietly delving
into-the cloak of secrecy which so far
has surrounded the identity of the
5000 men who marched from Herrln
in broad daylight. took more than
fifty unarmed men prisoner. marched
them back down the road into a wood.
and there killed nineteen and wound
ed nearly as many more.
Yesterday six men of Williamson
COunLN-LnFee miners. n merchant an
electrician and the superintendent of
the Herrin waterworks-were SOL
EMMY impanelled, listened to the evil
dence of witnesses called by Coroner
William McCorwen, and returned
their verdict.
They found and so recorded that c.
X. Mcdowell murdered superintend-
ent of the Lester mine, killed union
miner on Wednesday, the day before
the massacre. OF the other dead.
nineteen in all. including two other
strikers. the jury found they came to
their death by gunshot wounds inflict-
ed by unknown persons.
Some Came-FrOm Curiosity.
Yesterday morning sixteen unknown
dead. all nonunion workers and guards
at the Lester mine, were buried by the
county in potter's field On a bleak
hillside, beneath broiling sun union
miners, led by State Senator W. J.
Sneed. dug sixteen shallow graves
four rows of four each.
The bodies of the massacre victims
in plain black caskets. were placed
side by side on the parched grass.
-Four Protestant ministers of Herrin. |
a Methodist. Baptist, a Presbyterian
and a Christian. conducted the BRIEF |
burial service, while a hundred overall !
clad miners and a dozen newspaper |
correspondents looked on. On a dis |
taat hillside three women in starched |
summer dresses furnished the only |
touch of color.
The brief service over, the ministers
hurried away to their waiting flocks |
The overau-clad miners shoveled the |
red clay over the rough pine boxes.
No flowers graced the graves but a
the head OF each the undertaken stuck |
a little metal sign with a glass covered |
card On each was a number and the |
date, June %. 1922" For each num-
bered card the undertaken preserved
a description of the man buried be-
meath. IL relatives should appear to
claim him.
Union Mnn-They HOnored Him.
In the afternoon. Joe Picavish. a !
union miner killed in the attack on
the mine. was buried. Five thousand
miners marched behind and in his
funeral cortege. and IFS automobiles
brought up the rear
The state and federal investigators
worked far into the night following
clues which have reached them. AT
! o'clock this morning they visited the
Herrin hospital to question Allen p. |
Fidley. 6304 South Halsted street, Chi
cago, timekeeper for the detective
agency which supplied the 26 mine |
guards.
F'indlay was in the front rank when
the mob marched its victims into the |
death woods and fell at the first volley |
with 46 shotgun pellets in his side As |
he lay on the ground a miner with a /
revolver fired shot point blank thru /
Mcdowell Killed First Man.
Findlay told the investigators and |
Col Samuel \. Hunter. Illinois Ma
tional Guard, that he could recognize |
the leader OF the execution squad and
gave a partial description of an /
elderly. gray haired man, who took !,
Superintendent Mcdowell from the |
ranks before the wood was reached /
and killed him.
Findlay testified at the coroner's in
quest that Mcdowell shot at two men /
on Wednesday during the first attack |
on the mine and that he saw one
crumple up and the other throw up /
his arms and fall. The coroner's jury /
decided from his description that one /
of the two was a miner named Hen !
derson and so found Mcdowell re-
sponsible for his death
The umekeeper told the investiga- |
tors that snipers attacked the mine /
about noon on Wednesday and kept /
up q more or less steady fire until /
about 3 o'clock. when Mcdowell see
ing the two men on hillside, a quar- |
ter OF a mile away. shot them with a 1
high powered rifle.