Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-10-17
THE HERRIN MURDER
TRIALS

~NE DAY after election day,
~ Nov. s, is set for the begin
ming Of the trials of. 214 men in
dicted for participation in the
Herrin. Ill. massacre. Fifty-tour
of these indictments are for muir
der, So are for conspiracy to muir
der. So for rioting and 81 tor as
sault with intent to commit muir
der. The grand jury's report is a
terrible document and o han
bears out the newspaper statement
Of crueities and atrocities perpe-
trated by the striking coal miners
against the members of a rival
union. the Shovelers' Union, who
took up the work the coal miners
abandoned. 1t recites how on
Tune Ii there was an attack upon
he men working at the mine, and
the fire was returned by the
guards. At the break OF day the
following morning firing began in
a severe volume" Finally thu men
at the mine. Surrounded by hun
dreds of men, most of them
armed" ran up a white flag n
the spokesman from the attacking
parry promised safe conduct II
arms were laid down. Fo~rty-seven
ren surrendered. The report then
states:
The captive men were marcheo
down the road toward Herrin IN
double file. After they had
marched about one mile, Superin-
tendent Mcdonald, being crippled
and unable to keep up with the
procession, was taken by numbers
Of the mob and shot to death. The
remainder of the captives were
marched on the public road and
were stopped at the power house
Of the %interurban railroad, about
three miles from Herrin. Here a
change in the leadership took
place. and the mar who had guar
anteed the safety of the men who
had surrendered was deposed and
another leader installed.
'The new commander ordered
the captive men to march INTO the
woods. adjacent to and around the
power house. Here the new leader
dir .cted that only those IN the
crowd who had guns should toll
low into the woods, and those who
were unarmed should remain with
out.
eThc surrendered men were
then marched some 200 yards bach
of the power house to the vicinity
Of a barbed wire fence, where they
were told they would be given
chance to run for their lives under
fire. The firing began imnedi-
ateIy, and IS of the AZ non-unior
men were killed and most OF the
others severely wounded.
The mob pursued those who
had escaped and I'VE were hung tc
trees, six were tied together with
a rope about their necks ano
marched through the streets OF
Herrin to an adjacent cemetery
where they were shot by the mob
and the throats of three were cut
One of six survived.
THE indignities heaped upon th'
dead did not end until the bodie:
were inferred into unknown graves
"On the first day of attack upor
the mine two union miners were
killed by shots from the men II
the strip mine and another so seri
ously injured as to die subse
ouently from his wounds.
cit has been difficult for thu
grand jury to determine who fire.
the shots from the strip MINI
which caused the deaths OF tn
union miners. When asked II
present evidence to the grand jur,
which would tend to fix RESPONSE
bility, counsel for the miners
union announced that they woul
lend no aid to the grand jury"
The list of names of those IN
dictcd for these terrible crimes
show that the perpetrators wer
of pure native stock. There wa
no admixture Of foreign blood Il
their veins. Most of them cam
from the mountains OF kentuck
and Tennessee, the feudist cour
try. These men are as a rui
lilliterate and primitive in thei
character. They are not witnou
their virtues, but respect tor LAY
is ne one of these virtues. More
over. human life is held cheaply b
them. They have, moreover, bee
educated from childhood in tn