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(Continued from Page One.) ing the guilty to justice. With not a single arrest made since the move of Thursday, when at least 19 men were killed after strike sympera stormed the Lester mine, and with county officials making no visible ef fort to place the blame, the Investigat ing is being done by State and Federal agents. . . Representatives of Itment Justice, Department o ber, State's Attorney General's office and the Adjutant General are quietly delv ing into the cloak of secrecy which so far has surrounded the identity of the 6,000 men who marched from Herrin in broad daylight, took more than fifty unarmed men prisoner, marched them back down the road into a wood, and there killed 19 and wounded nearly as many more. Yesterday six men of Williamoon County—three miners, a merchant, an electrician and the superintendent of the Herrin -Water Works—were sol emnly simpannelled, listened to the evi dence of witnesses called by Coroner William McCowenl and returned their verdict. They found, and so recorded, that C. K. McDowell, murdered superintendent of the Lester mine, killed twe union miner on Wednesday, the day before the massacre. Of the other dead, 19 in all, including two other strikers, the jury found they came to their death by gunshot wounds inflicted by unknown persona. ' Yesterday morning sixteen unkne dead, all non-union workers and guard at the Lester mine, were buried by the county in Potter's field. On a bleak hillside, beneath broiling sun, six miners, led by State Senator firam J. Bneed, dug sixteen shall graves ‘four rows of four each. The bodies of the massacre victims, in plain black caskets, were placed side by side on the parched grass. Four Protestant ministers of Herrin, a Meth odist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and a Christian, conducted the brief burial service, while a hundred overall clad miners and a dozen newspaper corre spondents looked on. On a distant hill side three women in starched summer dresses furnished the only touch of a dolor. The ministerial quartet sang “Near er, My God, to Thee, read a Psalm, de livered a prayer, and in an abbreviated form of burial service committed the Wobles to the earth. No mention of the dead, nor of the manner of their death, was made at the graveside. The brief services over, the minis ters hurried away to their waiting flocks. The overall-clad miners shov elled the red clay over the rough pine boxes. No flowers graced the graves, but at the head of each the undertaker stuck a little metal sign with’ a cross covered card. On each card Was a number and the date, “June 22, 1922. For each numbered card the under taker preserved a description of the men buried beneath, if relatives should appear to claim him. Go To Their Grave! Herrin, 11., June 25.—The unknown head of Herrin‘s labor war went to their graven today. Sixteen of them were buried in the “Potters Field” while union men who had dug the raves leaned on their spades, and eld their shapeless hate in work gnarled bandas summer aun beat down on the long ass of the Herrin cemetery, the daisies and red clover and the sing ing of meadow larka mingled with the words of the four pastors who con ducted the brief service. Perhaps 75 persons were present, most of them miners’ who had dug the 16 graves since dawn today. Senator William J. Sneed, In their overalls—he had been digging too, was there; the mayor of Herrin, George Pace, and Colonel Samuel Hunter of the adjutant general's staff. The caskets of the unknown dead, bore stamped plates of aluminum “At Rest.” No more is recorded on the marker of the graves’ head than that each’ “Died June 22, 102%. The preachers i and prayed. The miners shifted sometimes for they were tired from, digging in the sun but there were no =eas of disrespect. The 16 oo were re down the road to the cemetery in ambulances and heartes. . This afternoon several ousand turned out to honor a young union man at Wedny near eo Wiefa in Frineg. Hiegengh was unprovoked, his
Newspaper Details
Roanoke World News
Roanoke, Virginia, US
Mon, Jun 26, 1922
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Sandy M.
USA 06 Jan 2026
Other Publications Near Roanoke, Virginia
Roanoke Tribune
Roanoke World News
Roanoke Times
Roanoke Baptist Union
Roanoke Evening News
