The Bismarck tribune., 1922-06-26
SOLEMN FUNERAL SERVICES HELDFOR
Def. in ILLINOIS mine MASSACRE;
vE( (ECTlVES SEEK MEN RESPONSIBLE
Not a Single Arrest Made
Since Massacre on Last As I
! Thursday and County Off
cials Appear to Make no
Effort to Fix Blame .s,s5
.fRx tha lAasociated Presls)

'(By the Associated Press)
Herrin, ILL, June 26.-Williamsoh
county buried the dead in her latest
mine war yesterday. conducted an
inquest to determine the cause OF
their death, and today faced the re-
sponsibility of bringing the guilty
to justice.
With not single arrest made
since the massacre of last Thurs
day, when at least 10 men were
killed after strike sympsthizers
stormcd the Lester mine, and with
county officials making no visible
effort to place the blame, the inves-
tigating is being done by state ana
federal agents. IL
Representatives of the department
of justice, department Of labor, the
states attorney generals office and
the adjutant general are quietly
delving into the cloak of secrecy
which so far has surrounded tne
identity Of the 5000 men who
marched from Herrin in broad day.
light, took more than fifty unarmed
men prisoners, marched them back
down the road intb wood and there
killed 10 and wounded nearly as
many more.
Men Impaneled
Is Yesterday six men of Williamson
county-three miners, q merchant,
an electrician and the superintend-
ent; Of the Herrin waterworks-were
solemnly impaneled, listened to the
evidence of witnesses called by Cor.
oner William McCowen and return.
ed their verdict.
They found, sand so recorded, that
c. X. Mcdowell, murdered superin-
tendent Of. the, Lester mine, killed q
union miner on Wednesday, the day
before the massacre. OF the other
dead, 10 in all, including two other
strikers, they found they came to
their death by gunshot wounds in
flicted by unknown persons.
Yesterday morning sixteen un-
known dead, all non-union workers
and guards at the Lester mine, were
buried by the county in Potters'
Field.
Sixteen Were Buried
On u bleak hillside, beneath =
broiling sun, union miners, led by
State Senator William j. Sneed, dug
sixteen shallow graves-four rows
of four each.
The bodies Of the massacre VIC
tins in plain black caskets, were
placed side by side on the parched
grass. Four Protestant ministers of
Herrin, Methodist, a Baptist, q
Presbyterian and Christian dis
ciple Of CHRISTI conducted the brief
burial service, while a hundred over.
all clad miners and dozen news
paper correspondents looked on. On
distant hillside, their women III
starched summer dresses, furnish
ed the only touch Of color.
The ministerial quartet sang
"Nearer My God to Thee" read a
psalm, delivered prayer and in an
abbreviated form of burial scrvice
committed the bodies to the earth.
No mention of the dead, nor the
manner Of their death was male at
the graveside.
No Flowers on These Graves
The brief service over, the milf
listers hurried away to their wair-
ing flocks. The overall clad miners
shoveled the red clay over -he ronen
boxes. No flowers graced she graves,
but at the head Of each the u.dcr-
taken stuck little metal pin with
glass covered card. On each caro-
was a number and the date Of June
%, 1922. For each numbered card
the undertaken preserved descr:p-
CONTINUED on page p