Virden

While the "General" and the UMWA had successfully bridged ethnic differences among various European and non-English-speaking miners, the Chicago-based company for a mine in Virden, Illinois, looked south of the Mason-Dixon Line for an old tactic of division.

Jeff Biggers: Mother Jones Is Still Calling Out Deadbeat Coal Barons (on Coal Miner's Day) Jeff Biggers 2010

Looks like there’s a little place called Virden about two miles up.

Shift Jennifer Bradbury 2008

Looks like there’s a little place called Virden about two miles up.

Shift Jennifer Bradbury 2008

Virden Rodeo and that disgusting grad stag that I could not bribe you not to attend.

Man, I was sooooo wasted... Tyler 2009

When the escorted strikebreakers arrived at an armed stockade set up near the train station in Virden around midday on October 12, 1898, a shootout erupted.

Jeff Biggers: Mother Jones Is Still Calling Out Deadbeat Coal Barons (on Coal Miner's Day) Jeff Biggers 2010

Today is Coal Miner's Day -- or used to be: October 12th marks the day a small band of striking coal miners in southern Illinois called out Chicago coal barons and stood their ground at Virden in 1898.

Jeff Biggers: Mother Jones Is Still Calling Out Deadbeat Coal Barons (on Coal Miner's Day) Jeff Biggers 2010

It had been established after the Virden battle, when a Mount Olive church refused to inter the bodies of the seven strikers.

Jeff Biggers: Mother Jones Is Still Calling Out Deadbeat Coal Barons (on Coal Miner's Day) Jeff Biggers 2010

For most historians, the defiance of union coal miners at the Virden Massacre marked the turning point in the labor movement, impacting the lives of untold thousands of laborers over the next century.

Jeff Biggers: Mother Jones Is Still Calling Out Deadbeat Coal Barons (on Coal Miner's Day) Jeff Biggers 2010

Although he s retired, Gary Cotterman, 62 years old, of Virden, Ill., was still concerned about putting his name to a lawsuit alleging that his long-time employer, General Dynamics Corp., failed to seek competitive bids from service providers for its 401 (k) plan.

Earlier Retirement: Beating Back the High Fees Eleanor Laise 2010

Although he s retired, Gary Cotterman, 62 years old, of Virden, Ill., was still concerned about putting his name to a lawsuit alleging that his long-time employer, General Dynamics Corp., failed to seek competitive bids from service providers for its 401 (k) plan.

Earlier Retirement: Beating Back the High Fees Eleanor Laise 2010