On this day in 1898, the Battle of Virden began when armed members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) surrounded a train full of strikebreakers and exchanged fire with company guards. 13 people were killed, dozens more wounded.
After a local chapter of the UMW began striking at a mine in Virden, Illinois, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company hired black strikebreakers from Birmingham, Alabama and shipped them to Virden by train.
The company hired armed detectives or security guards to accompany the strikebreakers, and an armed conflict broke out when armed miners surrounded the train as it arrived in town. A total of four detectives and seven striking mine workers were killed, with five guards, thirty miners, and an unrecorded number of strikebreakers wounded.
After this incident, Illinois Governor John Tanner ordered the National Guard to prevent any more strikebreakers from coming into the state by force. The next month, the Chicago-Virden Coal Company relented and allowed the unionization of its workers.
"When the last call comes for me to take my ο¬nal rest, will the miners see that I get a resting place in the same clay that shelters the miners who gave up their lives on the hills of Virden, Illinois...They are responsible for Illinois being the best organized labor state in America."
Mother Jones
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Utena is so rewarding on a rewatch.
spoiler
In Juri's first episode, Anthy offers her a flower but the gesture reminds Juri too much of Shiori so she slaps her and tells her not to not to get too familiar. When Juri has her conversation with Utena by the fountain, there's a moment where she seemingly loses herself and strokes Utena's hair before leaning in almost to kiss her, but then she tries to violently take Utena's ring, insults her ideals, and challenges her to a duel. Juri is so deeply closeted that when she experiences an attraction to another girl that gets too strong, she has to reassert her self-control through violence. The depth of her tragedy is right there in her first ep.