On this day, October 12, in 1898

The Virden Massacre occurred when a labor conflict between the Chicago-Virden Coal Company and their unionized miners in St. Louis turned violent. The tension began after the Virden Company backed down on their promise to enforce an 8-hour workday and a pay increase. The Company then brought in hundreds of non-unionized black laborers from Alabama and locked the union workers out of the mines. As the train carrying the strikebreakers arrived, shots were fired between the strikers and the armed guards, resulting in the death of many union members and a few guards. The Virden Company then left the black workers stranded in St. Louis with no money or shelter and gave in to the mining Union's terms.