ON THIS DAY IN UNITED STATES HISTORY
June 22, 1922
The Herrin Massacre Occurs
On this day in 1922, 19 strikebreakers and 2 union miners where killed during a clash between the strikebreakers
(scabs) and union miners in Herrin, IL.
News of the brutality of the murders quickly spread. Many of the local Herrin residents sided with the union
minders and turned out to spit on the bodies of the strikebreakers.
The rest of the nation reacted with disgust, some calling for Herrin to be ostracized and comparing the townspeople
to the Germans in World War I.
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