Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-06-28
DAMAGES ASKED
FOR LOSSES IN
HERR|N AFFAIR
Evidence of Survivors Being
Taken By Company;
Lives of Men in Hospital
Reported in Jeopardy.
(By The Associated Press.)


ciated Press) Men who success
fully ran the gauntlet of bullets in
the Herrin. H., mine war and then
eluded strike sympathizers who
patrolled the roads near Herrin, ar
rived here today. The refugees
told their experiences to the attor-
neys for the Sout'ern Illinois Coal
company and the evidence will be
used by the company in suits it ex-
poets to bring against the United
Mine Workers of America and the
the county of Williamson to re-
cover damages.
Several of the half dozen men
arriving today were captured at the
Herrin mine last Thursday morning
by striking miners and strike SYM
pathizers. Their comrades were
shot down when the captors indi-
Gated a barbed wire fence and told
them to run for it,"
Fred Macy. a full-blooded Cher
okee Indian employed at the Herrin
mine, told the attorneys his story
of running the gauntlet of fire.
"They say run to fence" he ex-
planned. "They raise guns. Me
hIlOW WlldL tOIllt' hS HlS -Dets thiS
way, that way. Me dodge bullets
jump fence"
Macy came through without a
scratch. After escaping the first
hail of lead, he said he hid In a
thicket while armed men beat the
brush near him in search of any
who had escaped.
Farmers Use Weapons.
Vernon Wilson of Battle Creek,
Mich, carpenter, was wounded
in the shoulder when he tried to
escape through the barbed wire
fence at the command of his cap
tors. He also hid for several hours,
then attempted 10 make his way
out of the Herrin district. AS he
crossed a field a short distance
from Herrin he said a farmer saw
him and took pot shot at him, but
missed. Thereafter he hid in
thickets in the daytime and trav-
eled ct night, until out OF the, dam
ger zone. lie arrived In Chicago
Sunday with his wounded shoulder
still unattended. He was sent to a
hospital here.
Another man said that while he
was hiding i'm a thicket an airplane
which he believed was being used
by the strikers flew only a few feet
above his head.
Sheriff Refuses Aid.
Some of the refugees said they
had appealed to the sheriff at Ma
rion, ILL.,. for protection and assert
ed he told them that they had bet
ter leave town in a hurry. Others
told of hiding for hours in thickets
while watching autos filled with
patrol the road in search OF
employees of the mine who had
escaped.
Toilette ]. Bull OF the firm of
Bull, Lytton & Olson. counsel for
the Southern Illinois Coal conf
pany, said he had sent a man. a |
former resident of Williamson
county, to Herrin to learn il the
wounded men in the hospital there
could be removed.
"This man. whose name l dare
not divulge, informed me that II
would be folly to attempt it," Mr..
Bull said. "These men are in dan
ger of attack at the hospital. Ger
tain death awaits them If they at
tempt to leave. We do not dare to
send one of our own representa-
tives to Herrin. We cannot even
try to identity the dead, care for
the wounded or make survey or
the damage done at the mine"
"Our property-what there Is
left of it-has been absolutely un-
since the massacre. l pre-
sumo an attempt to make an IN
yentory Of the losses to our prop
erty would constitute an alarming
Officials Favor Strikers.
"There is not a man in William
son county who will brave the wrath
or the strikers. The sheriff openly
a dmits his sympathy with the strik-
ers. The attorney general has told
me that he considers it dangerous
to send his own men there at TINS
time"
William J. Lester. president OF
the Southern Illinois Coal company, |
said he had been informed that
striking miners and their sympa-
thizers expected to make an attack
on the hospital where wounded
mine employees are being cared for.
or to spirit the men away so they
will be unacIe to testify concerning |
the killing of their fellow workmen. |