A History of Organized Felony and Folly - The Clarence Darrow ...

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A History of Organized Felony and Folly After the iron work had gotten under way, the president of the firm received a second visit from the union business agent, and Skinner quotes McNamara as saying that there would be "contention on the job" as long as no iron workers from Local No. 22 were employed. Following these conversations, Skinner appealed to the Board of Public Safety for police powers. These powers were offered him for his place of business, but they would be void where the construction work was going on. He was assured, however, that he would receive police protection. The Farmers' Terminal Grain & Feed Co.'s elevator was burned to the ground and several other buildings were damaged on the night of September 19, 1922, causing a loss estimated at $100,000, and at the same time the steel work of the building under construction for the Duesenburg Auto- mobile & Motor Co., less than two blocks distant, collapsed. City detectives expressed the belief that the elevator had been ignited in order that wreckers, operating under cover of the fire and its attendant excitement, might destroy the steel work on the Duesenburg plant with little fear of detection. Whatever may have caused the fire—and the theory of the detectives is not unplausible—there is no doubt about the cause that wrecked the building. The steel work had progressed to a point where the side columns were in place and a truss at one of the ends had been raised. A gin pole had also been placed for hoisting trusses and other framework. Nuts had been removed from bolts at the base of the columns on the west side of the building, and the guy ropes of the gin pole had been cut, causing the pole to fall and carry with it the truss and several columns. As far as property damage was concerned, this was a trifling loss compared with the losses resulting from the long list of outrages committed by the Bridge & Structural Iron Workers from 1906 to 1911, but, coming just as it did, and following a veiled threat from J. J. McNamara, it calls loudly upon the president of the American Federation of Labor for an explanation of the employment by one of the Federa- tion's affiliated unions of this arch-criminal. 52
A History of Organized Felony and Folly Union Instigated Herrin Massacre The causes leading up to the Herrin massacre, the nature of the crime itself—one of the most heinous in the history of trade unionism—the negative attitude of local and state offi- cials towards investigations and prosecutions suggest that Illinois has not changed much since the days v/hen President Cleveland was forced to fill the state with Federal troops over the protest of Governor Altgeld. The story of the crime itself must be resei-ved for another article, but some of the events leading up to it will be considered here and more particularly the public statements of union leaders and their organs before and after the crime, because this massacre was imdoubtedly incited, whether wilfully or not, by the national head of the coal miners, and was certainly condoned by the Illinois head. Williamson county, where the crime occurred, has a population of about 60,000, of whom more than three-fourths are union miners or members of miners' families or by other ties reflect union sentiment. All business exists by virtue of union custom and all office-holders are elected by union votes. Sheriff Melvin Thaxton, who refused to swear in deputies or call for the National Guard, although repeatedly urged to do so! by Colonel Hunter, representing the Adjutant General, is a former coal miner and owes his position to the union vote. The political "boss" of the county is State Senator William J. Sneed, president of the sub-district of the United Mine Workers of America. Under Sneed's control, the union vote was thrown in the last election to Governor Len Small, although it had previously gone to another political faction. This may account for the fact that the Attorney General, un- able to obtain state funds, had to pledge his personal credit to carry on an investigation of the massacre until commercial bodies came to his financial aid. William M. McCown, county coroner, was a union miner and is a union sympathizer. There was some doubt concerning the status of strip miners employed by the Southern Illinois Coal Co., whose employes were the victims of the massacre, and on June 18, 1922, Senator Sneed wired to John L. Lewis, international 53
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A History of Organized Felony and Folly - The Clarence Darrow ...

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