Herrin Massacre - The Chase and Massacre

The Chase and Massacre

By about half mile past Crenshaw Crossing at Moake Crossing, McDowell was already bloodied and limping, unable to walk any further. A union man told him, "I'm going to kill you and use you for bait to catch the other men." He and another man grabbed McDowell and led him down a side road. Gun shots were heard, and the rest continued towards Herrin. A farmer later discovered McDowell's body. He'd been shot four times - twice in the stomach, and once each in the chest and head.

A car drove up to the procession, and a man came out whom some said they overheard being called "Hugh Willis" and "the president." According to the accounts of surviving captives, Willis said, "Listen, don't you go killing these fellows on a public highway. There are too many women and children and witnesses around to do that. Take them over in the woods and give it to them. Kill all you can."

The breakers were taken into the woods, where they reached a barbed wire fence. They were then told to run for their lives. A union man shouted, "Let's see how fast you can run between here and Chicago, you damned gutter-bums!" The mob opened fire as they ran. Many were caught in the fence and shot dead. Others, making it over the fence but not knowing where they were, ran through Harrison's Woods toward Herrin, a mile further north. One strikebreaker was caught and hanged and three more were shot to death at his feet. The assistant superintendent of the mine, was still alive but unconscious. A union man noticed and shot him in the head. The chase continued into the morning of the 22nd.

Six breakers were recaptured and ordered to remove their shirts and shoes. They were then told to crawl to Herrin Cemetery. By noon a crowd of about 1,000 spectators had gathered at the cemetery. They watched as the strikebreakers were roped together and men took turns beating and shooting them. They urinated upon. Those still alive at the end had their throats cut by a union man with a pocketknife. Townspeople came to watch and taunt the dead and dying along the route to the cemetery. A reporter tried to give a dying men some water and was told that if he did, "he wouldn't live to see the next day."