Customer Reviews

Bloody Williamson: A Chapter in American Lawlessness

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I write primarily to prevent the interested reader from being influenced by Alan Mills's review. It seems that Alan's review is based on a look at the dustjacket, or perhaps something someone told him while he wasn't exactly paying attention. Had he been listening more closely, he might have learned that Williamson is not a town, but a county. Had he finished Chapter One he might not have missed the central fact that it was not the miners who were killed in what came to be known as the "Herrin Massacre", but the company's mine guards and a group of recent Irish immigrants working the mine during the strike,who surrendered to the union under promise of safe conduct, before being taken to a field and shot by striking miners, who then cut the throats of their victims and urinated on their bodies. It is possible that a reading of the book would have alerted Alan to the fact that in 1922 Williamson County the union was not only well established, but had the support of a majority of the populace, and the collusion of some county officials. It was a combination of public intimidation and bribery that prevented jurors from convicting anyone in the two celebrated murder trials that followed the massacre. I don't understand Alan's point about the federal government fostering the wealth of the rich; worrying about this may be a hobby of Alan's, but the concept has nothing to do with Angle's book, or the events it describes. Those who do go on to read Angle's classic book will find a well-written and exciting account of an extraordinary period of lawlessness in Southern Illinois. It is also well-researched and accurate. Some of the participants in these events later refused to write books of their own, saying that they could never tell the story as well as Paul Angle already had.

Down-home bullies, organized labor, the KKK and gangs of '20s bootleggers converge in this reporter-style history of the bloody county of Williamson in southern Illinois. Formed in 1839, the county reeled from 780 murderous assaults and 50 murders (with only 6 convictions) in its first 37 years and was called a "disgrace to the state" by the Chicago Tribune in 1875. By the early 1900s, the Klan and union mobs moved in, leading to "The Herrin Massacre" of 1922, which General John J. Pershing called "ruthless murder" and the New York Sun disdained as "butchery." This is a fascinating read by a top-notch midwestern historian, who examines the unusual mix of forces leading to generations of fear and lawlessness. "Bloody Williamson" will rock your world; you will marvel at the terrifying history that belongs to this quiet corner of rural America

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, Williamson County, Illinois became a byword for lawlessness. The county first came to nationwide attention in the 1870s, when a bloody feud, comparable to the worst that the mountains of Kentucky and Tennessee had to offer, wracked the area. Then in the 1920s, the town was beset by union and Ku Klux Klan violence to a shocking degree. Indeed, the rest of the country, and even the rest of the world was appalled at the violence, and the townspeople who condoned it.

This is a wonderfully interesting book. The author does an excellent job of bringing bloody Williamson to life, and showing it in all its lack of glory. This tale of union murderers and KKK hoodlums (often the same people) is sure to shock you, and make you very glad that you didn't live then and there!

I highly recommend this book!

This is a true gem, which depicts the violent history of a rural southern county in Illinois. The author tells of organized labor, bootleggers, gangs and the KKK of the 1920s in Williamson County, Illinois. Angle writes in any easy format for most readers and his book is well indexed. I would highly recommend this book to all readers!

Mike Koch, author of "The Kimes Gang."

If you are a history buff, you will almost certainly enjoy this book immensely as I did. It tells the incredible but little known story of one of the most violent chapters in U.S. history. In fact, some historians believe that the gangs of Williamson County were the most dangerous and violent gangs in U.S. History. Paul Angle does a wonderful job of telling this fascinating story which covers a period of about 50 years. I was particularly interested in it because my father lived through it. He lived in Marion, Illinois at the time and the Sheriff who plays a large part in the book was the father of his best friend. He also personally witnessed some of the things mentioned in the book. My father is 99 years old now and he still remembers it all clearly. But even without that personal connection to the story of Williamson County, I would have been just as fascinated.

I was amazed when reading the review by Alan Mills. How could someone get the most basic facts presented in the book so wrong? He claims that the mine owner hired thugs who killed the miners when, in fact, the mine owner hired guards and non-union miners to work the mines and the union miners killed them! And the "thugs" did not hang around because they were dead! Also, Williamson is a county not a town. Another reviewer guessed that Alan had just read the back cover but he couldn't have even done that based on his "review."

While working near Marion, Illinois (Williamson County) in the winter of 2002 and spring of 2003 I was (at first) completely unaware of the history of the area. Finding that I was a history lover, a co-worker, native to the area, told me about "the troubles" and recommended this book. I quickly decided that Bloody Williamson was one of the better books I had ever read concerning this violent era in American history. While reading the book, I rode over many of the roads and visited as many of the old sites as I could find.

The book gives a great review of the actions of Williamson county. My Grandfather was Deputy Al Richardson. His accounts of the day June 21, 1921 paint a different perspective of what happend leading up to the Coal mine massacre. The Sheriff department had a limited staff. The deputy suspected trouble was brewing due to the Scabs (that is what the people of Williamson and surronging counties called them) taking jobs from Union workers. Not to say that either side was in the right. The mine owner being the main person who started the trouble knew he would be up against organized labor which was know for vigallante and backwoods justice. The staff at the sherriff was greatly outnumbered by hundred of people coming in to Take Care of Scabs. Some say the department turned thier back on the crowd. My grandfather stated that with 5 children he had to protect, including my father Lloyd and twin Floyd, Earl, Everett, and Pearl. He was trying to get them to safety and protect the town. The most the deputies could do was try and control traffic in the small town. The accounts of the Sherriff being way was part of his job veritying the killings in the southern part of the county was labor caused or just murder. People forget that telephone contact was limited and the deputies were busy following the sherriffs orders to keep the town under control They did not have enough personnel to cover the mines as well. Grandpa stated it was the worst day possilbe to be a Deputy. I still have his Leather Billy Club. It is a brown strapped handle, carefully wound around a metal cliub with the original nails protuting where the leather was pounded in place. This club could definetly do major harm. I saw his name of page 68, but only his name and title. After the masacre, all the deputies were facing lost of discramanation from the press and Politicians. It did not stop them from continuing carrying out thier other duties. History forgets the impact on familes (mine included). The children were teased by some and pitied by others. My grandfather on my Mothers side was the Postal Inspector and also testified during the trial ( Rono Logan Keefe), but was not mentined in this book. He was listed in other books, but just as a Postal Inspector. It was amazing for me to read historica accounts, but would love to read more about the trial day by day transcipts.

Although there are several books on the Shelton and Birgers that are an easier read, this one was the first and the most popular.

You might want to check out A Knight of Another Sort: Prohibition Days and Charlie Birger, Second Edition (Shawnee Classics) or Charlie Birger and His Shawnee Town Dame, first released as War in Southern Illinois.

Williamsburg County had an unbelievable amount of violence, in both variety and magnitude, in such a short period of time. In less than fifty years this one county had labor wars, Ku Klux Klan wars, gang wars, and one of the worst feuds in American history. Paul Angle is a good writer, but that is only an added benefit. Reading the media accounts of these events would be fascinating enough. Anyone interested in a case study of a dysfunctional community should read this book.

Starting with a strike of the coal miners, the company hires outside thugs, who end up massacring the miners. But this is only the beginning of the blood that made Williamson (a small coal mining town in southern Illinois in the 1920's) Bloody!

The thugs didn't leave. They rather liked having the run of the town. Bootlegging, gang wars, and all [heck] breaks loose.

Its important to remember the context when reading this book--because the author doesn't give you much. The worst race riots in American History happened a few miles away, in East St. Louis, in 1916--a few short years before the time covered in this book. Unions hadn't been legally recognized--that came a few years later, amidst the depression. Coal, and the economy in general, were booming. The stock market was exploding. And the federal government took the position that its role was to foster the wealth of the rich.

Anyone who thinks that political corruption is confined to big cities, hasn't spent much time in small town politics. This book is an eye opener. Of course, anyone who thinks that this sort of corruption is a part of America's long distant past, hasn't been reading the paper much recently. Political shenanigans in down state Illinois are alive and well. Of course, the big economic engine driving the southern Illinois economy today is the prison industry, but that's another book. (see Going Up the River, by Joseph Hallinan, for a description of the same area today, dominated by Tamms Supermax Prison).