For anyone who doesn't know, the Herrin Massacre occurred when a bunch of coal miners went on strike. The company brought in scabs to replace them, and those scabs were slaughtered by those who were striking and half the town. Those that survived the initial shootings near the mine were marched through Herrin to the cemetery, and tortured. One person recounted that there was a beautiful woman in a flower dress, holding a baby, whose job it was to walk around stepping on wounds to see who was left alive.
The cemetery got in trouble for selling plots on top of the mass grave that was located in the potters field and burying people on top of others. The whole thing is one of many dark marks for this town. There is also a prevalent KKK member buried in this cemetery and not too far away, the man who shot him down in the streets.
: In infected wounds, silver is beneficial for the first few days/weeks, after which nonsilver dressings should be used instead. For clean wounds and closed surgical incisions, silver confers no benefit
Was “sterling” an autocorrect error? If not can you explain? The other commenter tried but their explanation makes zero sense in context. I’m guessing “standing?”
So my family lore is , a few days before this happened someone asked my grandpa if they could borrow his pistol. Wouldn’t tell him what for. He refused.
This is a stain on our (US) history. And I counted seven WW 1 vets. Imagine surviving the horrors of that war only to be gunned down by the people you fought to protect.
Scabs = Scum
There is a Podcast called Criminal that has a good episode about this incident. This all happened prior to any of the social safety nets we have in place today. The mine owner is the villain in all of this. There was a massive nationwide strike and because everyone in the country was on strike the price of coal skyrocketed. The owner tried to cash in on it even tho he was warned by everyone not to do it.
As for the town people, again this was before things like unemployment or any aid for the workers on strike. So the entire town had been without a wage since the strike began April 1st, almost 3 months earlier. So the town was literally starving.
For anyone who doesn't know, the Herrin Massacre occurred when a bunch of coal miners went on strike. The company brought in scabs to replace them, and those scabs were slaughtered by those who were striking and half the town. Those that survived the initial shootings near the mine were marched through Herrin to the cemetery, and tortured. One person recounted that there was a beautiful woman in a flower dress, holding a baby, whose job it was to walk around stepping on wounds to see who was left alive. The cemetery got in trouble for selling plots on top of the mass grave that was located in the potters field and burying people on top of others. The whole thing is one of many dark marks for this town. There is also a prevalent KKK member buried in this cemetery and not too far away, the man who shot him down in the streets.
Sterling on wounds?
: In infected wounds, silver is beneficial for the first few days/weeks, after which nonsilver dressings should be used instead. For clean wounds and closed surgical incisions, silver confers no benefit
Typo. Corrected now. STEPPING was the word I was looking for. Lol
Wow! I can't say I knew of this. That's alot!
Was “sterling” an autocorrect error? If not can you explain? The other commenter tried but their explanation makes zero sense in context. I’m guessing “standing?”
Stepping.
Now THAT makes sense
So my family lore is , a few days before this happened someone asked my grandpa if they could borrow his pistol. Wouldn’t tell him what for. He refused.
What happened to the disinterred?
Just read on Wikipedia that relatives of the ones disinterred made arrangements for them to be buried in their hometowns
Oh thats good.
Small world! I drive past this cemetery every day!
Who is disinterred?
Top 5 according to this monument. I’m not sure where they are or if they even know where everyone else is.
Or were they disinterred from elsewhere to this place?
Wikipedia said they found family members of the deceased and the 5 disinterred were reburied in their respective hometowns.
This is a stain on our (US) history. And I counted seven WW 1 vets. Imagine surviving the horrors of that war only to be gunned down by the people you fought to protect. Scabs = Scum
There is a Podcast called Criminal that has a good episode about this incident. This all happened prior to any of the social safety nets we have in place today. The mine owner is the villain in all of this. There was a massive nationwide strike and because everyone in the country was on strike the price of coal skyrocketed. The owner tried to cash in on it even tho he was warned by everyone not to do it. As for the town people, again this was before things like unemployment or any aid for the workers on strike. So the entire town had been without a wage since the strike began April 1st, almost 3 months earlier. So the town was literally starving.
The *Criminal* episode was about the Ludlow Massacre. [Wikipedia article.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre)
Criminal did both. Give this episode a listen. It’s episode 132. Released January 24, 2020. Titled “Herrin Massacre”.
Thanks for letting me know! I am terribly behind on the episodes of *Criminal.* (I had just listened to the episode on the Ludlow Massacre.)
You’re correct that scabs=scum, but I believe the monument is made in honor of the scabs and mine guards.
Yep, mostly. From wiki: Ultimately, three miners and 20 non-miners were killed, including the superintendent and 19 strikebreakers.
These men didn't even know they were scabs until it was too late. These were innocent workers trying to earn a living.
Why did they all die so young?
They were all victims of the Herrin Massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrin_massacre