Bloody Williamson

by Paul M. Angle

  In the remainder of this chapter I have relied principally on the Marion Republican. In addition: the Illinois Miner of September 16, 1922 on the anti-union motives of the employing class; Philip Kinsley in the Chicago Tribune for September 2 and August 29; and the Literary Digest of October 14, 1922, summarizing editorial reaction, including that of labor papers, to the report of the Williamson County grand jury.

  4. TWO TRIALS AND AN INVESTIGATION

  The first pages of this chapter—to the point, in fact, where Kerr makes the opening speech for the defense—are based upon the stories of metropolitan-newspaper correspondents, principally McAlister Coleman in the New York World, November 14, 1922, and the Illinois Miner, January 27, 1923; Philip Kinsley in the Chicago Tribune, November 19, 1922; Landon Laird in the Kansas City Star (quoted at length in the Literary Digest, February 10, 1923); and staff correspondent in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 26 and December 3, 1922. Philip Kinsley’s dispatches—colorful, comprehensive, balanced—seem to me to be models of reporting. The same could be said of McAlister Coleman’s were it not for their strong prolabor bias.

  The reports of the Marion Republican are my source for both trials, and provided considerable material for the account of the legislative investigation. That part of the chapter, however, is drawn in the main from the stenographic transcript of the hearings before the Herrin Investigating Committee, to which I have already referred. Both majority and minority reports were printed in the Journal of the House of Representatives of the 53rd General Assembly (Springfield, Ill.: 1923).

  Editorial commentary on the verdict of the first trial is taken from a comprehensive summary in the Literary Digest for February 3, 1923. The quotations used are from the Baltimore American, the Newark (N.J.) News, the New York Daily News, the Chicago Journal of Commerce, the Rockford Star, the New York Call, the Pennsylvania Labor Herald, and the Herrin News.

  5. THE BLOODY VENDETTA

  The most complete account of the Bloody Vendetta is to be found in the incomparable book of Milo Erwin, originally published in 1876 as The History of Williamson County, Illinois, but reprinted in 1914 and again in 1927 with the cover title, The Bloody Vendetta, by which it is generally known. Erwin’s narrative is verbose, tortuous, and clothed in purple prose the like of which one seldom encounters, but the man had firsthand knowledge of the feud and a high regard for accuracy. The shorter treatment by George W. Young, “The Williamson County Vendetta,” in Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for 1914, is also useful.

  Newspapers of the time devoted many columns to the Bloody Vendetta. Long summary accounts appeared in the Illinois State Journal (Springfield), February 9, 1875, which reprinted an article from the St. Louis Democrat which I have been unable to locate, and in the Chicago Weekly Tribune, August 18, 1875. My account of the effort to obtain state aid for Williamson County is based on the reports that appeared in various issues of the Chicago Tribune during January, February, and March, 1875. Editorial condemnation of Governor Beveridge is drawn from a “round-up” article that the Chicago Tribune published August 10, 1875. A file of the Marion Monitor for 1874 and 1875, now in the Marion Public Library, contains much useful information.

  6. DOCTRINAIRE VS. UNION

  No history of mining in Illinois even approaches adequacy. The best is S. O. Andros, Coal Mining in Illinois (Urbana: Bulletin No. 13, Illinois Coal Mining Investigations; 1915), but even my brief account of the development of the Williamson County field and the beginnings of Brush’s operation had to be chiseled from the Illinois official publication, Statistics of Coal in Illinois: A Supplemental Report of the State Bureau of Labor Statistics, issued annually during the 1890’s. There is good local material in the History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin and Williamson Counties, Illinois (Chicago: 1887), and in the Historical Souvenir of Williamson County Illinois (Effingham, Ill.: 1905).

  Existing accounts of the unionization of the Illinois coalfield are unsatisfactory. McAlister Coleman deals with the subject in Men and Coal, but I have relied principally upon Statistics of Coal in Illinois, Karl Myron Scott’s unpublished doctoral dissertation, “The Coal Industry and the Coal Miners’ Unions in the United States Since the World War” (University of Illinois; 1931), Chris Evans, History of United Mine Workers of America (n.p., n.d.), and the testimony of John Mitchell and other U.M.W.A. officials before the Industrial Commission, published in Vol. XII of the Commission’s Reports, Report of the Industrial Commission on the Relations and Conditions of Capital and Labor Employed in the Mining Industry (Washington, D.C.: 1901).

  Brush’s first difficulties with the union are described in summary articles in the Marion Leader, October 5, 1899, which reprinted a recent Chicago Inter-Ocean story that I have not seen in its original form, and in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat of December 9, 1899. Good accounts of the Virden and Pana riots, which tie into Brush’s fight with the union, are included in the fourth and fifth Annual Reports, State Board of Arbitration of Illinois, and in John Winfield Scott’s unpublished doctoral dissertation, “The Policing of Non-urban Industry” (University of Chicago; 1929). The Marion Leader for the period, now in the Marion Public Library, provides the local day-to-day record.

  My story of the Lauder riot is taken from the Chicago Tribune, July 1 and 2, 1899, and from the Marion Leader, July 6, 1899. The account of the Carterville riot is drawn from contemporary news-dispatches in the Chicago Tribune and Marion Leader, and from testimony offered at the trial of the rioters. Both trials were reported in great detail by the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The stories appeared in that paper almost daily from early December 1899 to January 8, 1900, and again from mid-February to early March, 1900.

  7. MILLIONAIRE VS. UNION

  The best source for Leiter’s venture into coal mining and for his side of his struggle with the union is the elaborate Brief and Argument for Joseph Leiter and Nancy Lathrop Carver Campbell, Appellees, in the case of Marguerite Hyde Suffolk and Berks vs. Joseph Leiter et al., Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, October Term, 1928. In this case, a celebrated one, Leiter defended himself against charges that he had mismanaged his father’s estate. He and his associates are quoted at length in the brief. Their testimony, though biased, is invaluable. For a copy of the brief I am indebted to Mr. Alfred M. Rogers of Chicago, one of Leiter’s counsel and now president of the Zeigler Coal & Coke Company. Through the courtesy of Judge Charles G. Briggle of the United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois, I have also used to good purpose the Amended and Supplemental Bill in the case of the Zeigler Coal Company vs. William Morris et al., filed in the Circuit Court of the United States in and for the Southern District of Illinois, December 20, 1905. C. H. Leichleiter’s article, “The War at Zeigler,” in The Reader Magazine for February 1905, is objective, thorough, and colorful. For a running account of the strike I have depended mainly on the St. Louis Globe-Democrat for the months of July and August, 1904. Its coverage was excellent.

  Statistics of Coal in Illinois, to which I have already referred, furnishes the best accounts of the disasters of April 3, 1905, January 10, 1909, and February 9, 1909. The Brief and Argument, cited in the preceding paragraph, also contains valuable material.

  The whole Leiter story is well told in a feature article by Dickson Terry, “Final Shutdown for Famous Coal Mine,” in the Everyday Magazine of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 13, 1949.

  8. KLANSMAN AND DICTATOR

  In addition to the Marion Republican, I have drawn heavily on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and the Chicago Tribune, all of which covered in great detail the principal events described in this chapter. Galligan’s own story, In Bloody Williamson, written by Jack Wilkinson and published in 1927 (n.p.), is a sounder work than its lurid paper covers would indicate. On the other hand, the Life and Exploits of S. Glenn Young (Herrin: Mrs. S. Glenn Young; 1924), is such an egregious piece of special pleading that it is almost worthless.

 
There is valuable material, which I have used in the first part of this chapter, in two magazine articles: “Bloody Williamson County,” by Edward A. Wieck, in The Nation, January 3, 1923, and “Ku Kluxing in the Miners’ Country,” by Agnes Barnes Wieck, in The New Republic, March 26, 1924. The S. Glenn Young File of the Department of Justice, now in the Department of Justice Files, National Archives, is rich and often, in perspective, amusing.

  9. THE KLAN WAR

  No part of the book has presented more problems than the sketch of S. Glenn Young with which this chapter opens. Most of the biographical material that Young inspired is sheer fiction. George B. Young (a brother) of Lisbon, Iowa, Ira C. Young (not related) of Long Island, Kansas, and Marquette University have supplied some facts; but many more came from the Young files in the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department. The Treasury file is invaluable, and I am deeply indebted to Secretary John W. Snyder for allowing me to use it. It was there that I found the report of Special Agents A. A. Young and David Nolan, April 30, 1921, which resulted in Young’s dismissal from the Prohibition Unit.

  The story of the events narrated here is taken almost entirely from the contemporary press—principally the Marion Republican, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. I have also made use of a series of feature stories by Jack M. Williams that appeared in the Danville Commercial News at various times during February and March, 1924.

  10. DEATH IN A CIGAR STORE — 15. JUSTICE

  The narrative in these six chapters is derived almost entirely from contemporary newspapers—the Marion Republican, the Marion Post (especially for the gang war and Birger), the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and the St. Louis Star. Dates not given explicitly in the text will be found in the Chronology (this page–this page), so readers who want to consult the newspapers I have used should have little difficulty in finding the specific issues.

  CONCLUSION

  The story of the Sheltons is told in detail by John Bartlow Martin in “The Shelton Boys,” one of the chapters in his Butcher’s Dozen and Other Murders (New York: Harper; 1950). Mauritz A. Hallgren’s article, “Bloody Williamson Is Hungry,” appeared in The Nation, April 30, 1932. Seven Stranded Coal Towns: A Study of an American Depressed Area, by Malcolm Brown and John N. Webb, was published by the Government Printing Office in 1941, but is already a hard book to find.

  St. Louis newspapers have printed a number of articles recently on the industrial progress of Williamson County, but I have received most of my information from those who have had a hand in the work.