10
of three Pinkertons, six strikers, and two sympathizers as historically factual, and recorded the total fatality
count for the event as eleven.
To present, not all such discrepancies have been satisfactorily resolved. Further research might
afford even greater reliability. Then again, it might not. Due to the imperfections inherent to the historical
record as described above, some incidents simply lack precise counts. Historians have suggested that
official mortality figures likely underestimated the true number of fatalities in such events as the Great
Railway Strike of 1877 (Bruce 1959) and coal-field wars of Appalachia (Lens 1973), for instance, because
family members often removed and buried corpses without formal inquiry. Where discrepancies remained,
the total fatality count listed per each event represents the most conservative estimate barring strong
evidence to the contrary. Although conservative estimates are not necessarily the most accurate, such an
approach serves to minimize the risk of overestimation.
Estimates for an undeterminable number of events thus remained potentially incomplete if not
erroneous. Other relevant events were likely missing altogether. Every research project, however, reaches
the point of diminishing returns. That is to say, the likelihood of a significant find and/or oversight
decreases with the integration of each new piece of evidence. Given the efforts and safeguards that went
into the project as described above, therefore, I am confident that my compilation reasonably approximated
the general contours of U.S. strike fatalities as found within the historical record—the full reality of which
will forever remain unknown.
Time-Series Summation:
Altogether 1,086 strike deaths were identified within more than a dozen industries across the
United States during the period 1877-1947. Despite being the most comprehensive count presently
available, surpassing Taft & Ross’ (1969) total count by more than three hundred deaths, the sum of
recorded fatalities provided here still most certainly underestimates the overall level of violence within and
against the American labor movement. Such underestimation is likely due to any number of the threats to
accuracy outlined above, the generally conservative approach that I have taken in determining the number
of fatalities during disputed incidents, and the exclusive emphasis upon strike-related fatalities that omits
other forms of collective action taken by labor and capital.
Convention