Today in History
22 June 2010
June 22, 1922 - In what became known as the “Herrin Massacre,” a group of several hundred striking miners seized a group of strikebreakers who had been brought in by the Southern Illinois Coal Company. The strikers marched the strikebreakers to a woods near Herrin, Illinois, and opened fire, killing 19. Several strikers were held in the Williamson County jail, which has been turned into a historical museum focusing on the conflict. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat called the shootings “the most brutal and horrifying crime that has ever stained the garments of organized labor.”
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