"We've Got A War A Goin'!"

After the Progressives struck the Peabody mines in the Taylorville area, the United Mine Workers recruited workers from southern Illinois to break the strike.

Pauline Lindsey's father was member of the United Mine Workers who was recruited from Carterville, Illinois, about 150 miles south of Taylorville.



"These men that came up - they didn’t have any money. That’s the problem. And they came to get jobs. Because Carterville-owned mines out there had quit. It was done. So they had no jobs and they had no money."

In a recent interview, Pauline described what it was like to live under martial law in Taylorville.

"You didn’t know whether to speak to somebody or not and then the soldiers came in – we lived right across from that building – big old building up there. They were on the roof.

And of course, I wanted to go up town and I started up town. And the man hollered down with his gun. And he said, 'Go home woman!' And he said it again the next day. He said, 'We’ve got a war goin’!' So I didn’t go out any more."