Shots at the Strike Headquarters

During a bitter strike at a large textile mill, a national union set up headquarters and a tent colony for strikers. One night officers went to the union grounds. As they were taking one of the union's armed guards from the yard to their car under arrest, shooting broke out. The police chief was mortally wounded, and two other officers and a civilian with them were also shot, one in the back. Prosecutors said the strike leaders and guards had agreed to resist officers to the death, making every one of them responsible for the killing. A first trial ended in a mistrial when a juror became insane. At the retrial the union organiser and others were convicted. The defence said the injured officers were victims of their own guns.