Herrin Massacre (1922)

Wed Jun 21, 1922

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Image: “Herrin Massacre”, by Paul Cadmus, depicting the violence in Herrin Cemetery

The Herrin Massacre began on this day in 1922 in Illinois when striking coal miners looted ammunition and guns from a hardware store and laid siege to their mine, filled with strikebreakers, killing twenty-three people. Depiction of the massacre shown is by Paul Cadmus.

The violence took place in a coal mining area during a nationwide strike called months prior by the United Mineworkers of America (UMWA). The owner of the local Illinois mine, W.J. Lester, negotiated with the union to allow his mine to remain open and for miners to go back to work, as long as no coal was shipped out.

By June, over 60,000 tons of coal had been dug up and Lester decided to break his agreement and attempted to sell the coal. Early in the morning of June 21st, a truck carrying Lester’s guards and strikebreakers was ambushed near Carbondale, Illinois on its way to the mine. The union miners marched into Herrin, looted the hardware store of its firearms and ammunition, and laid siege to the mine.

The strikebreakers working in the mine surrendered to the union workers firing on them and were captured as prisoners. Despite promises of safety, they were brutally tortured and massacred by the union miners.

Six strikebreakers were ordered to remove their shirts and shoes and told to crawl to Herrin Cemetery. A large crowd watched as the scabs were roped together, and union men took turns beating, shooting them, and urinating on them.

In total, twenty-three workers were killed, most of whom were members of the strikebreaking group. W.J. Lester, the owner of the mine, made a significant sum from selling his mine after the massacre occurred.