Illinois House of Representatives Committee on the Investigation of the Herrin Massacre, Transcript of Testimony (digital)
Collection Number: 5180 (d)
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
Illinois House of Representatives
Committee on the Investigation of the Herrin Massacre, Transcript of Testimony
(digital),
Collection Number:
5180 (d)
Creator:
Illinois House of
Representatives
Quantity:
0.1 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Testimonies, transcripts.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Transcript of testimony heard in April and May of 1923
before an Illinois House of Representatives Committee consisting of the following
members: Frank A. McCarthy (chairman), Thomas Curran, Norman G. Flagg, M.L. Igoe,
W.B. Phillips, William L. Pierce, and M.P. Rice; also abstract of testimony and
exhibits.
Language:
Collection material in English
Includes the testimony of key individuals involved in the incident along with that of
the following major local and political figures: Carlo Black (adjutant general of
the State of Illinois), Charles R. Edrington (commercial secretary for the Marion
Association), Charles F. Hamilton (operator of the Enterprise Mine near Moke
Station, and business partner of Lester), DeWitt T. Hartwell (county judge), Robert
Herrin (chief of police in Herrin), Fox Hughes (sub-district vice-president and
United Mine Workers of America official), A.B. McLaren (coal operator), Ralph B.
Mitchell (general manager of Cosgrove Interests), Len Small (governor), William J.
Sneed (state senator and president of sub-district, Illinois Miners Organization),
S.D. Storme (county clerk and deputy under Thaxton), and Robert Tracy (locomotive
engineer). The transcript also contains testimony of other figures involved in the
incident, such as miners, hardware store clerks and newspaper reporters.
A violent incident, known as the Herrin Massacre, resulted from an attempt to run a
strip mine in Williamson County, Illinois during the coal strike of 1922. Involved
was a conflict between members of the Steam Shovel Men's Union (SSMU), an
independent union, and members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW). The SSMU
men were employed by William J. Lester to break the UMW strike at the strip mines in
Herrin and Marion, Ill., owned by the Southern Illinois Coal Company, of which he
was the president. On June 22nd, 1922, forty-seven men working at the strip mine
surrendered, under a promise of safe conduct, to an armed force of several hundred
striking miners. Twenty-one SSMU men were subsequently killed. In the ensuing trial,
public opinion made it impossible to convict any of those individuals indicted for
murder or related crimes.
Names:
Hughes, Fox.
Lester, William J.
McLaren, A. B.
Sneed, William J.
Storme, S. D.
Tracy, Robert.
Illinois. General Assembly. House of
Representatives.
Illinois Miners' Organization.
Southern Illinois Coal Company.
United Mine Workers of America.
Steam Shovel Men's Union.
Herrin Massacre, 1922.
Subjects:
Southern Illinois Coal Company Strike, 1922.
Strikebreakers -- Illinois.
Coal miners
Form and Genre Terms:
Testimonies.
Transcripts.
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
Illinois House of Representatives Committee on the Investigation of the Herrin
Massacre, Transcript of Testimony (digital) #5180 (d). Kheel Center for
Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
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