The New York herald., 1922-07-10
Continued from First Page.


Williamson county. Melvin Thaxton.
has not as yet rounded up any wit
nesses or made any dscoverable at
tempt to do so. He is blamed by the
military and by the Governor for not
having requested the sending OF militia
in time to avert the massacre. Before
the union miners attack OH the mine.
while IL was going on and up to the
time OF the wholesale murders he re-
ported that he had the situation we'll
in hand" and that the guardsmen were
not needed.
He is a former union miner He is
the Republican candidate for county
treasurer, and the county is union labor
from scalp 10 toe. Virtually every
worker in Williamson, except the
farmer and the common lAborer, be-
longs to a union: the others all have
union relatives. There is no question
about Thaxtons physical bravery. Ha
has personally stopped several lynch
ings. Two years ago he stood on and
vanquished single handed thirteen prfs-
oners who were trying to escape from
the county Jail in this, the county seat.
Coroner Was Miner.
Coroner william McGown already has
done mis- duty in the manner indicated
and ceases TO be figure in this case.
He, too, has been union miner.
The States attorney is Delos Duty.
native born, graduate Of Valparaiso
University, and Captain in the world
war. Like the Sheriff. he tried on June
II to arrange for the peaceful surrender
of the non-union men surrounded in the
mine, and went to bed at midnight Of
that day believing it had been arranged.
So 1t had. but the union mob repudiated
he xr,la v<~;c mi iy,fn
its clutches. Duty has a good record as
a prosecutor. He now says that IL evil
dence and indictments are obtained he
will prosecute the murderers right here
In Williamson county" He declared
that all lawbreakers, union or nom
union. look alike to him; that his oath
OF Office transcends all. At the same
time he expresses doubt as to the pos
sibility of conviction in this county, no
matter how strong the evidence Is. He
cannot get change Of venue. Under
he laws OF Illinois defendant Is en-
titled to trial in another county IL he
cannot get fair trial in his own county,
but the same privilege is not accorded
to the plaintiff. the State. Mr.. Duty
has had talk with Attorney-Genera
Brundage in Chicago, and Mr.. Brundage
Is impressed by his honesty of purpose
by his apparent fearlessness. II
should be noted here that in this 100
per cent. union county 1t would take
an equally fearless man for the job in
hand
THE New YORK HERALD correspondent,
asked States Attorney Duty what he
thought of the killing OF the strip mine
men and what he intended to do about
It.
The killing" he said, was inhumar
beyond words. but who In hell could
have prevented It? Col Sam Hunter and
Major Davis. who were sent down here
by the Governor the Sunday before il
happened, knew what the situation was
and they couldn't prevent it. At least
they did not. As for the Sheriff. don't
believe he knew there would be moi
at the mine that night. 1 do not fee
That he took the best view. everything
considered, but he did the best he could
! guess.
eve Are Not Angels"
Men differ In their Judgment at sucl
times. But those two military men, Hun
ter and Davis--they were on the ground
Hunter had been a civilian. but Davi.
was an officer overseas. Both elegan
gentlemen-but they couldn't prevent 1t
'The people In this county are all gooc
people as long as everything is peace
able and all right. We are not angels
although little isolated. and wher
anything happens it is magnified about
1000 diameters. But In this Herrir
affair there were a lot of men brutally
killed, sure enough
Mr. Duty spoke Of the events tha
preceded the murders. They did no
mitigate the crime, in his view, but dc
explain the commission of It, He sait
that William J. Lester. president of thu
Illinois Coal Company. had permission
from the officers Of the union to strir
the coal, that is, shovel away the sur
face earth until the vein was exposed
but not to mine any coal. So with hi.
tremendous steam shovel--larger thar
any used at the Panama Canal-he con
tinued to strip through April and May
Coal miners all over the country went
on strike April 1. but as Lester was