The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1924-02-15
DAILY NEWSPAPERS PAINT illinois
Community IN CoLoRS OF FALSEHOOD
Constable eagle, Klansman, Shot Down
by Members Of Middle.west Coal
Field Ganesters.
BY INVESTIGATOR

., by lNVESIIGATOR
Herrin, Ill.-If Bloody William
son" county were an actuality the
crimson stain would come from the
broken hearts of its best citizens;
men and women whose home town has
been ravished by. rotten politicians,
bootleggers, gamblers, resort keep
ers and their supporters and patrons;
men and women who have seen their
"Main Street" corrupted into an
avenue of pitfalls for sons and
daughters; men and women whose
lives and works as good citizens were
sacrificed by a small group of vicious
lawless men, melted by the basest
passions and mad with greed for
money and political power.
AS a matter Of fact "bloody Will
hanson" county exists today only on
the front pages of the yellow press,
except for that dark stained side
walk in front of the Rome Club, where
Constable Caesar eagle, Klansman,
died a martyr last week. He was
shot down by the gang that opposes
the reestablishment of law and order
in the coal fields.
With S. Glenn Young, noted law
enforcement officer, acting as chief of
police by appointment of John Ford,
Chief; with Mayor C. E. Anderson,
Sheriff George Galligan, Chief Depu-
ty John Layman, Ora. Davis, head of
the "Flaming Circle" anti-Klan or
ganization, and score of their assist
ants, deputies and henchmen under
arrest on charges of murder in con-
nection with the death of Constable
eagle; with men of unquestioned in
tegrity, practically all of whom are
said to be Klansmen, sworn in as po-
icemen to replace the Ander- -Galligan
piratical crew, Herrin is experience
ing the restoration of order out of
chaos, and enjoying the life of a
well-regulated American town for
the first time in many a long day.
The raids led by Mr.. Young, and
conducted by the best citizens Of the
county, sworn in as officers for this
special duty, have closed up the sal
oons on the principal thoroughfares,
the joints directly across the street
from the city hall, and a half a hund-
red "bootlegging dens" throughout
the county. Dozens of whisky ped
dlers, gamblers, gun men, and "im-
ported gangsters" are under arrest
so this little city is now as quiet and
orderly as Chicago's highbrow sub
urb, Evanston.
Were it not for the nine companies
of Illinois National Guardsmen call
ed here for some reason by Sheriff
Galligan before there was a hint of
trouble, and some hours before Con-
stable eagle was decoyed to his
death, Herrin with its autocratic, but
benefcient Acting Chief of Police
and his citizen aides, would be going
about its business in its usual way
with the exception, of course, that all
the "joints" are closed and the gang
sters that have given the community
a bad reputation these many years
are in Jail Somewhere in Illinois"
Klansmen and other good citizens
do not repent the presence of the
soldiers. They just feel that their
presence is unnecessary; that the
state is put to a great expense and
the officers and men to a needless in
convenience by the mobilization here.
Interviews with more than twenty of
the most highly connected business
and professional men did not disclose
single one who thought that the
soldiers should have been sent here.
News-stories asserting that thous-
ands of miners in this district are
striking in order to fight the Klan
and the good citizens who stand with
that organization are untrue. I am
authorized to say that hundreds of
miners, the men who are known to be
steady, honest, hardworking, are
members of the Knights Of the Ku
Klux Klan. The United Mine Work.
ers Of America, radical labor organ
ization, to which all union miners
must belong attempts, by constitu-
tional provision, to bar its members
from affiliation with the Kan, but
hundreds Of Williamson county coal
miners are 1000 Americans first, and
pawn's of U. M. W., officials last, if
at all.
It is true that some miners are Bit