The New York herald., 1922-07-11
SURVIVOR DESCRIBES
BATTLE AT THE MINES
Continued from First Page.

have told the writer they had no trouble
IN buying the city papers" with stories
OF the massacre that the charge of gem
eral suppression is not sustained.
Fifth-The Lions arranged their meet
ing long before the flareup at the mine
They had merely a social evening and
sent delicacies across the street to the
wounded in the hospital.
Sixth-Accounts OF mutilation with
knives were somewhat exaggerated. Ac-
cording to undertakers who took care
Of the bodies and others who saw them.
the throats of two men had been cut.
\ Third man thus knitted is still in the
hospital The lower part of the face OF
one OF the victims was blown off with
a shotgun. A man was shot In the
groin, but the bullet apparently entered
his body at the spine.
Were Shot Many Times.
Nearly all the dead had been shot
many times. An undertaken Is ready to
swear that c. x Mcdowell, mine super
iEtendent, who was dubbed to death with
pistol, was shot only four times
alshough there was evidence Of eleven
bullet wounds in addition to the cranial
fractures caused by the beating.
The complaints of Herrin people hav-
Ing thus been noted and satisfaction
having been given we may proceed to
-the massacre itself Nearly everybody
IN the region knew the mine was to be
attacked and the scabs cleaned out.
Ii they resisted. the fight was to go on
until they gave up.
The mine, as has been said. is half
way between Herrin and Marion, about
four and one-half miles from either city.
Evidence of what happened there is still
to be seen. Two carloads Of coal, fired
by the union army after the fall Of the
citadel, are still burning. The upper
deck of the enormous steam shovel used
for stripping the surface away from the
vein of coal reminds one of wornout
battleship converted into target for the
gunners of the Atlantic fleet 1t Is a
tumble OF twisted and broken steel.
Dynamite's Work Effective.
Dynamite did that Dynamite wrecked
the big steam shovel, the smaller one
which scooped up the coal and dropped
house, the reservoir dam, the machine
shop, the storehouse. the office, the sup
ply cars, a bunk car and one car loaded
with coal.
The office where Mcdowell the one
legged superintendent spent June 21 and
part OF the night trying by telephone to
bring troops to the relief Of the garri-
son-troops which he thought had been
promised, but which were not mobilized
until hours after Mcdowell and his men
died-this office is now only a concrete
do 1aI nit
Down the road toward Herrfn about
two and half miles there is wood
land. Its oak trees might do for pic
mic grove. except that the upderbrush
has felt no Christening hand About
500 yards from the road. along a wind
ing path briery with ripening blackber-
ries, one comes to a spot where the trees
are not so thick. A four strand barbed
wire fence, the top strand about four
feet high, cuts across the path. for this
part Of the woods is part of a COW
pasture.
. From the barbs hang two strips Of
blue serge cloth, an old brown cap. two
black stockings. Near the fence a once
white handkerchief has been wadded
into the mud by a heavy heel Torn
bits Of cloth are to be seen among the
leaves. Leaning against an exposed
root Of an oak is an old shoe. One
SIDE OF eacn tree at tnlS spot Is SCARED
with the marks of many bullets and
buckshot. Souvenir hunters have cut
some Of them out with knives.
1t was at this fence that the sorry
procession OF the morning of June %
halted. The forty-seven captives INC
Dowell had been killed earlier and left
a. the roadside) were lined up about
fifteen feet from the fence. The union
miners formed a semicircle back of them.
Rifles and shotguns were raised. Now
run YOU - - scabs,
ordered the miners leader. They ran
into the barbed wire fence. with the
guns popping behind them. That after
noon eight dead men were collected from
7 the fence and the clearing, four from
George Harrison's woods, half mile
away, where one body was found hang
ing; three from che roadside near the
Herrin cemetery-three OF six fugitives
who when captured and rounded up were
roped together, so that when the execu-
TONERS began their work the man who
! fell first carried the others down with
him and the. rest of the shooting was
into PROSTATE bodies.
Now let's get back TO the mine and
learn just how the trouble started and
how 1t went forward. The correspond
enet has had access to sworn statements
! of survivors, whose names have not been
mentioned before and who give complete
stories, instead of the fragments here
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