Herrin massacre

The Herrin massacre took place on June 21–22, 1922, near Herrin, Illinois, during a nationwide strike by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). W. J. Lester, owner of the Southern Illinois Coal Company, had initially agreed to observe the strike but later hired non-union strikebreakers and mine guards to keep his strip mine operating after coal prices rose. Lester shipped out coal on June 16, 1922, angering local UMWA members.

Tensions escalated after UMWA president John L. Lewis publicly labeled the strikebreakers' union an "outlaw organization," a statement that was widely publicized and read to an angry crowd of miners at a rally in Herrin cemetery on June 21. A truck carrying guards and strikebreakers was ambushed that morning near Carbondale, Illinois. Later that day, several hundred armed union miners surrounded Lester's mine; Lester's guards opened fire, killing two union miners and mortally wounding a third.

Efforts to negotiate a truce, involving National Guard Colonel Hunter, local citizens, and UMWA sub-district vice president Fox Hughes, collapsed amid miscommunication, cut phone lines, and the local sheriff's delays. Overnight, union supporters continued gathering arms and besieging the mine. On the morning of June 22, the roughly 50 strikebreakers, guards, and superintendent C.K. McDowell surrendered after being told they would be escorted out of the county. Instead, the group was marched toward Herrin and subjected to escalating violence. McDowell was shot and killed. Other captives were killed while being marched through the woods and near Herrin Cemetery, where a crowd of about 1,000 witnessed the violence. In total, 19 of the 50 strikebreakers were killed during the massacre, and a 20th died later from his injuries, along with the three union miners killed on June 21 — 23 deaths overall.

A coroner's inquest initially found that the strikebreakers' deaths were tied to the actions of Southern Illinois Coal Company officials, and a Williamson County grand jury faulted the company for bringing in strikebreakers and armed guards and for illegal conduct such as closing public highways, while also criticizing the state for failing to intervene. Only six men were indicted. Two trials — the first beginning November 7, 1922, and the second in the winter of 1923 — ended in acquittals for all defendants, and remaining charges were dropped. One of the initially indicted men, Otis Clark, was later shot and killed by an unidentified assailant; another died in a mine accident.

Sixteen victims were buried in unmarked graves in the potter's field section of Herrin City Cemetery in June 1925, with a seventeenth victim buried there in October 1922. The exact burial locations were lost for decades until a research team led by Eastern Illinois University geologist Steven Di Naso and historian Scott Doody identified the missing graves between November 2013 and October 2015. A memorial monument was erected at the site in June 2015.