The list of worker deaths in United States labor disputes captures known incidents of fatal labor-related violence in U. It does not include killings of enslaved persons.
According to a study in , the United States has had the bloodiest and most violent labor history of any industrial nation in the world, and few industries were immune from that blot. This list is not comprehensive. Several factors including multi-sided conflicts, physically remote locations, company-controlled locations, and exaggerated or biased original reporting make some of the death and injury counts uncertain.
In all, the number of deaths documented total over The table below has three sections: violence perpetrated by law enforcement and companies' militia, armed detectives and guards; executions by the state; violence perpetrated by vigilantes , strikers, mobs and hate groups. The Molly Maguire trials were a surrender of state sovereignty. A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency.
A private police force arrested the alleged defenders, and private attorneys for the coal companies prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the gallows. Any objective study of the tenor of the times and the entire record must conclude that the Mollies They were, therefore, denied one of the fundamental rights that William Penn guaranteed to all of Pennsylvania's citizens.
Following an investigation years after his death, John Kehoe was posthumously pardoned by the governor , who wrote, "[I]t is impossible for us to imagine the plight of the 19th Century miners in Pennsylvania's anthracite region. We can be proud of the men known as the Molly Maguires", [ ] whom he praised as "these martyred men of labor". Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version.
