The New York herald., 1922-07-10
TOWN is CERTAIN RIOTS
WILL NOT BE AVENGED

! employing union men and was merely
uncovering the coal for shipment when
the strike ended, the union let him do
it, But presently Lester announced that
he was going to mine and ship coal. His
union men quit he replaced them with
non-union men from the George T. Bert
rand agency. 561 West Madison street.
Chicago. and to protect them and the
property he imported thirty guards,
hired from the Hargraves Secret Service
in Chicago. and armed them with Marlin
and Winchester rifles and revolvers.
Twice before attempts had been made
to operate with non-union men In
Williamson county. Each time blood
was shed and the union men won. 1t
is, moreover. county with traditions
of deadly feuds and of avenging with
shot gun and rifle from ambush, notably
cthe famous vendetta" of the seventies.
which gave the county its nickname.
Bloody Williamson"
Action Was Foolhardy.
Lester, bucking this dual tradition,
knowing that the universal union hatred
OF "scabs' was murderously intensified
in Williamson county, knowing the
county's reputation for lawlessness, did.
it is admitted on all sides. an incred-
| IDLY foolhardy thing when he set up his
arsenal at the strip mine half way be-
tween Marion and Herrin, Ave miles
from each town. and proceeded to load
| coal into railroad cars and send them
away under the muzzles of his guards
rifles, while every other mine in Illinois
was closed by the strike.
Lester's course of conduct and the
ensuing events will be precisely de-
| scribed in another dispatch. There is
given here just enough of the back
ground to make understandable to the
reader the remarks Of States Attorney
Duty to this correspondent.
ION June IT," said Mr.. Duty. they
got their gunmen down from Chicago.
| The Sheriff and his deputies and myself
went out to the mine. The guards had
been stopping citizens. including a
| farmer and his wife. on the public high
! way near the mine had been searching
persons and vehicles and soaring fam
lilies almost to death. Citizens had COM
planned to me. and / went out to talk
TO the superintendent, Mcdowell. On
| the road leading from the main high
way to the mine office a big guard with
a repeating rifle and a pistol held US
( up and wanted to know who we were
and what our business was.
II said We want to see the biggest
boss on the works. whoever he is. You
get on the running board and take us to
him and you'll find out who we are He
| obeyed and took US to Mcdowell. After
a talk he promised to disarm his guards
and keep them off public property He
did not keep his promise.
1.-TWO days later, on June 19, William
| j. Lester president Of the company,
came to Marion from Chicago. Col
Hunter of the Adjutant-General's Of
flee had been sent here by the Gov
ernor Hunter. the Sheriff, Judge Hart
we'll and A. B. McLaren, big coal
operator. all tried to convince Lester
that he was flirting with death. He re-
piled that he had been In this busi-
ness for years. in Missouri. Pennsylvania
and West Virginia that he knew his
business and would continue operating
the strip mine. He did.
Truck Fired Upon.
IT knew there was bad feeling among
| the miners but heard no talk OF an
attack on the mine until the afternoon
1t happened. The first attack was made
late in the forenoon on truckload of
men who had come from Chicago by
4 train and were being taken to the mine
| from the railroad station at Carbon
dale. Just over the line. In Williamson
county, bunch of men lined UP. fired
| on the truck, and wounded one man.
"The Sheriff and 1 went over to Car.
bondale to look into this shooting. We
put the wounded men in hospital and
got back to Marion at p. M. We then
learned that Col. Hunter and others
had been talking with the mine owners
and with union headquarters at Herrin
by telephone that truce had been
arranged, and that the trouble was over.
IT left my office at midnight and went
to bed. The first thing in the morning
] heard everything had gone wrong and
the strike breakers had been taken out
into the woods and shot. Later heard
that in the mob there were miners from
| Williamson, Saline. Franklin and Jack
son counties. i was told they had gath
cred at the Herrip cemetery. about nine
| miles from here. and gone to the mine
where two union miners had been killed
and before daybreak all the strike break