that strikers faced resistance from many fronts. The chocolate factory had three thousand workers, and the larger corporation employed nearly two thousand people in other areas of the company that wanted nothing to do with the strike. The most resistance came from thousands of dairy farmers from surrounding areas who relied on selling their milk to the Hershey factory. They were losing 800,000 pounds of milk per day—enough to supply a city of a million people. These dairy farmers were natural allies to the anti-union groups because they were losing money each day the factory stayed closed. On Monday, April 5, the fourth day of the strike, dairy farmers met with strikers to discuss lost milk sales. The strikers decided to help the farmers by agreeing to operate the factory's creamery so the milk could be processed. The next day, Hershey milkmen failed to pick up the milk. On the evening of April 6, 1937, several thousand loyal workers and farmers marched through Palmyra, PA in support of the Hershey Chocolate Corporation. Violence By eleven o’clock the next morning of April 7, more than three thousand Hershey supporters rallied to remove the strikers. They decided to give the strikers an ultimatum—leave the plant by 1:00 or face forcible eviction. Executive Murrie and head union organizers Bull Behman and John Loy had agreed to end the strike, and asked Murrie to intervene to prevent violence. Seemingly averting violence, it is unclear why men from the rally spontaneously grabbed bats, billy clubs, and hammers and ran to the factory. In minutes there were thousands outside the factory. After several insults from strikers inside, they stormed the factory. The anti-union loyalists outnumbered the strikers four to one. Dozens were injured, and the three leading union organizers, Behman, Loy, and a CIO man named Miles Sweeney were severely beaten. Sweeney had been hit with a baseball bat, Loy lost several teeth, and stones were thrown at them as they left the factory. Aftermath In the days after the strike, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) investigated the Hershey company and required that they hold a union election. The chocolate workers chose a small, loyalist organization called the Independent Chocolate Workers of Hershey over the CIO by a landslide. However, federal authorities found the election was not legitimate and called for a second election. The second election in 1939 favored the Bakery and Confectionery Workers