Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1887 — THE WESTERN STATES. [ARTICLE]

THE WESTERN STATES.

The Arbeiler-Zeltung, Chicago organ of the Reds, which only a short year and one-half ago craved for the blood of every man who was not an anarchist, has modified its tone a little. Here is its brief comment on the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court in the case of the convicted Reds: So the unexpected, the supposedly impossible, has happened. Our breath halts to speak it, and the ink refuses to flow from the pen to write it. The class hatred of the Citizens’ Association has triumphed over .the most evident demands of humanity. The Supreme Court at Ottawa, the legal instrument of the money aristocracy, this morning acquiesced in the terrible verdict of the lower court, which dooms to martyrdom seven of our best comrades —to die for the cause of the working populace—and the eighth to fifteen yavrs c.f penal servitude. The punishment they are to suffer is not the penalty for the murder of the police officers who fell at the Haymarket The spirit of modern time is to be strangled on the gallows. “Their blood be upon us ana upon our children,’ is the answer which the ruling class makes to our representatives—the same reply which the Pharisees shrieked back to the followers of Jesus Christ, of Nazareth. We, however, the followers of Spies

and his companions, will not cry “revenge" at an inopportune t.n-.e, but do all that there remains to be done. Counsel for the defease will ask for a rehearing Then the Governor will bo asked for a stay of execution. Incidentally steps mnst be taken to bring the case before the Federal Supreme Court, and any individual member of the court asked to grant a aubersedeas. We hope in spite of all! And when all Lope is vain we still hope and wait, confidently, tne approaching day of better understanding. It is n-t yet night! There is nothing very savage or bloodthirsty in this editorial, though there is a remote reference to the possibility of revenge measures if ihe mandate of the law is executed. The amnesty movement on behalf of the anarchists, to take tho shape of a monster petition to Governor Oglesby, is just now exc ting peculiar interest on account of the attitude which the condemned men have assumed toward it, says a Chicago special The association met on Thursday evening, with President Oliver in the chair. Captain Black, who is one of the Vice Presidents of the society, was present, and made a speech, in which, speaking for the anarchists, he approved of the proposal to approach Governor Oglesby for clemency, and gave his sanction to the following form of petition: To His Excellency Richard J. Oglesby, Governor of the State of Illinois : The undersigned, believing that in any case involving life humanity and the state are better served by mercy than by the rigorous execution of a sentence, the justice of which is questioned by many of our people, respectfully but urgently bespeak the exercise of executive clemency by your Excellency in behalf of August Spies, Michael Schwab, Oscar Neebe, Albert K. Parsons, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, and George Engel, being persuaded that such action on your part will conduce to the peace of the State. The friends of the condemned men expect to obtain 50,000 signers in Cook County, 100,COO in the State and 501,000 in the United States. This is a herculean task, but those who have the work in hand affirm their belief that it will be accomplished. On each of the blank petitions is tho headline: “This petition must be at headquarters Amnesty Association Nov. 1, 1887.” The jury in the celebrated Haddock murder case, at Sioux City, lowa, brought in the following verdict: “We, the jury, find the defendant, Fred Munchrath, Jr., guilty of manslaughter.” But two ballots were taken on the question of guilt, the first being: Guilty, 8; not guilty, 4. The second ballot was unanimous for guilt Then came the ballot on the degree of guilt One was for murder, eight for manslaughter, and throe for a les<er offense. A Sioux City dispatch says “tho verdict was received by the defendant calmly. It is the chief topic of conversation, and was a genuine surprise. The public did not expect conviction, especially those at a distance, as it was believed that such a result could not be had in Woodbury County. Expressions of denunciation and commendation are to be heard on all sides. Those in sympathy with the State are happy, and once again have confidence in the majesty of the law. The action in this case will revive interest and confidence in future trials. The line of the defense is,broken and an early solution of the Haddock murder is promised. ” Mrs. R. S. Borden, of Tonica, La Salle County, the last of the victims of the Chatsworth disaster, died last week at the home of her friends, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Martin, at Chatsworth. She was the eightieth victim of the catastrophe.