Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1887 — SEVEN TO SWING. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SEVEN TO SWING.

The Supreme Court of Illinois Enters a Ruling Against the Anarchists. Spies, Schwab, Lingg, Fielden, Parsons, Fischer, and Engel to 0; Hanged. Their Counsel Will Take the Case to the Halted States Supreme Court. How the Condemned Men Bear Themselves—Precautionary Measures Taken. [Chicago special.] Justice Magruder, for the Supreme Court of -the State of Illinois, sitting at Ottawa, on Wednesday, affirmed the finding of the Criminal Court of Cook County, and thereby sentenced to death August Spies, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, Albert B. Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, and Louis Lingg, found guilty of the murder of Policeman Matthias J. Began. By the same finding Oscar W. Neebe goes to the penitentiary for fifteen years. The -date of the execution is fixed for NoV. 11. The crime charged is the throwing of a dynamite bomb on the evening of May 4, 1886, at a meeting held in Haymarket Square, corner of Bandolph and Desplaines streets, Chicago, when seven policemen were killed and a number more Injured. It is undisputed that the bomb was thrown, and that it was the cause of Degan’s death, but there is not evidence to show that jny one of the defendants had a hand in throwing it. It is conceded that no one of them actually committed the deed. The charge is that they were accessories before the fact. There are sixty-nine counts in the indictment. Some of the counts charge that the eight defendants above named, being present, abetted and assisted in the throwing of the bomb; others, that, not being present, aiding, abetting, or assisting, they advised, encouraged, aided, and abetted such throwing. Some of the counts charge that said defendants ad-

vised, encouraged, aided, and abetted one Rudolph Schnaubelt in the perpetration of the crime ; others, that they advised, encouraged, aided and abetted an unknown person in the perpetration thereof. The statute on this subject reads: “Sec. 2. An accessory is he who stands by and aids, abets, or assists, or who, not being present, aiding, abetting, or assisting, hath advised, encouraged, aided or abetted the perpetration of the crime. He who thus aids, abets, assists, advises or encourages shall be considered as principal and punished accordingly. “Every such accessory, when a crime is committed within or without this State by his aid or procurement in this State, may be indicted and convicted at the same time as the principal, or before or after his conviction, and whether the principal is convicted or amenable to justice or not, s nd punished as principal.” In consideration of this statute the court asks the questions: Bid the defendants have a common purpose or design to advise, encourage, aid, or abet the murder of the police ? Bid they combine together and with others with a view to carrying that purpose or design into effect? Bid they, or either, or any of them, do such acts or make such declarations in furtherance of the common purpose or design as did actually have the effect of encouraging, aiding, or abetting the crime in question ? The questions are based on the propositions -of law as laid down by the court and sustained by previous decisions of this and other States. The premises are held that if the defendants advised, encouraged, aided, or abetted the killing of Beegan they are as guilty as though they took his life with their own hands. If any of them stood by and aided, abetted, or assisted in the throwing of the bomb, those of them who did so are as guilty as theugh they threw it themselves. Joined to this is the charge that the defendants formed a common purpose and were united in a common design to aid and encourage the murder of the policemen among whom the bomb was thrown. If they combined to accomplish such murder by concerted action the ordinary law of conspiracy is applicable, and the acts and declarations of one of them, done in furtherance of the common design, are, in contemplation of law, the acts and declarations of all. This prosecution, however, is not for conspiracy as a substantive crime. Proof of conspiracy is only proper so far as it may tend to show a common design to encourage the murder charged against the prisoners. It may be introduced for the purpose of establishing the position of the members of the combination as accessories to the crime es murder. Also the statute abolishes the distinction between accessories before the fact and principals. By it all accessories before the fact are made principals. As the acts of the principal are thus made the Vets of the accessory, the latter may be charged as having done the acts himself, and may be indicted and punished accordingly. Following the propositions of law above laid down, the court holds that the evidence under them amply sustains the charge that the defendants were engaged in a great conspiracy to overthrow the law, and that the throwing of the bomb In Haymarket Square on the evening of May 4 was the direct result of that conspiracy. First, there was at that time existing in Chicago an organization of Socialists or Anarchists whoso purpose was the overthrow of

all laws which were enacted for the protection of private property. This overthrowal was to be accomplished by force. The organization was a national one, divided into groups, eighty in all, of which there were located in Chicago, the North Side, with headquarters at No. 58 Clybourn avenue; the Northwest side, No. 636 Milwaukee avenue; the American, No. 54 West Lake street; the Karl Marx, No. 63 Emma street: the Southwest. No 611 Throop street; the Jefferson, No. 600 Milwaukee avenue, and t>e Freiheit, on Sherman street. Schwab, Neebe, and Lingg belonged to the North Side group; Engel and Fischer to the Northwest; Spies, Parsons, and Fielden to the American. Connected with these groups wi re armed sections, the Lehr und Wehr Verein. containing one thousand drilled men, and these soldiers were known by numbers instead of names, desire for cecrecv being so great. The other armed sections were to be commanded by details from the Lehr und Wehr Verein if called into action. The proof shows that it was this organization, which called the meeting of May 4, during which the bomb was thrown. This bomb was spherical in shape, filled with dynamite and lighted by a fuse, The globe was of composite metal mainly tin and lead, with a trace of antimony. This composition is mt a commercial metal, and yet Lingg was discovered making bombs of exactly the same material, of the same form, and corresponding so nicely that the nut which fitted the bolt which held the Haymarket bomb together, also fitted the threads of other bolts found in Lingg's room, and which were intended to hold together other similar bombs. The evidence also shows thatthe meeting of May 4 was the result of a previous conference at which all the defendants took part; that the call for the meeting, the word “ruhe," was printed in two neVspapers which some of the defendants controlled; that at that meeting when a speaker said "We are peaceable," he used the word “ruhe,“ which was the signal for the bomb-throwing, and immediately the bomb was thrown. It is held that the police were right in their presence at the meeting. The times were troublous, strikes were everywhere. There had been trouble at McCormick’s the day before, and the circulars which called the meeting were threatening in their character. Hence it was the duty of the police to be on hand to protect the peace and to break up the meeting, which was not an orderly one. In view of the facts presented by the record, the finding is that the defendants were engaged in a common conspiracy; that that conspiracy was for the purpose of overthrowing the law; that the meeting was called to further the conspiracy, and the bomb-throwing was the result of it; that Officer Began died from wotmds received from the explosion of the bomb. Held, that the defendants are guilty of murder as accessories before the fact. Justice Mulkey thought there was error in

the record, but not enough to vitiate the verdict. He did not file an opinion. THE FATED SEVEN HEAR THE NEWS. The scenes at the County Jail yesterday were somewhat exciting. At the morning hour the usual visitations were not disturbed until about six minutes before the signal was gh en for the anarchists to return to their cells. It was then that August Spies received a telegram from Carl Axwansl, editor of the Ottawa German Herald, informing him that there was no hope from that quarter. The telegram was passed from one to the other of the condemned men, but its contents was not fully realized when they were ordered into confinement, so that there was no opportunity for them to exhibit their feelings to those who were visiting the cage. They Lad not long to meditate upon the sad tidings, however, when they were disturbed by missives from newspaper reporters asking the “special favor" of an interview. The old rule still held good. That is to say, an accredited reporter would be admitted to the doors of their cells upon their request. It must probably be admitted that the reporters, generally sneaking, had not won the confidence of the anarchists to a very high degree, and in this hour of their great grief the condemned men probably turned to a remembrance of some of their long-forgotten prayers, and found more consolation therein than from reportorial visits. At any rate, they one and all returned the same answer to these applications, to wit: “There is no answer ” The hours passed wearily, if not sadlv, with the condemned men. The visitor to the cage could easily watch their movements as they passed to and fro in their cells. Lingg appeared less stubborn than usual. He took down from the shelf in his cell the several little pieces of handiwork which he nas made since his confinement, and seemed to contemplate them fondly, yet sadly. He arranged them before him, and then appeared to assume an attitude of prayer. A careful observation of the manner in which he placed his hands and his occasional movement es them told plainly that the ironhearted German bombmaker had been conquered, and was going back to the recollections of an early German Christian home and endeavoring to recall them for his own consolation in this hour of trial. The reporter called Chief Turnkey Pearce to the scene, and he, comprehending its import, turned away without a remark. Engel sat with his face buried in his hands and did not move during the two hours that he was more or less constantly observed Fischer passed to and fro in his cell with the agility and nervousness of a tigress. Fielden was restless, but appeared to be packing up his cell effects as if it were moving day. Schwab sat in plain view of the party in the cage reading a newspaper in a calm, careless attitude. Spies was examining photographs, probably one of Nina, and came to his cell door occasionally with a smile of contempt for these whom the recognized below. Parsons was too sly to render his actions visible. TO THE FEDERAL SUPREME COURT. The attorneys for the condemned men will next make an appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The brief in the case has already been prepared. The first j oint raised is on au alleged error in Judge Gary’s ruliugs concerning the selection of the jurv. In tnis connection the sixth amendment of tjio Constitution is quoted • “In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury.” The second point raised is regarding the forcible search of the editorial rooms of the Ar-

better Zeitvng. In this connection the fourth amendment to the Constitution is quoted: -The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures snail not be violated." It is claimed, of course, that the forcing onen of Spies’ desk, whereby the letters of Herr Most were discovered, is a violation of this provision of the Constitution. The third error claim ed is that Spies was compelled to ba a witness against himself and against all of the defendants when he was compelled to state whether or not he had received the famous Most letters. The fifth amendment to the Constitution is quoted in support of this contention : “Nor shall any person be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness agaffist himself." The fourth error claimed is supported by the sixth and eighth amendments to the Constitution, as follows : “In all criminal prosecutionl the accused shall be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation;" and "Cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted." On this head the defense claim that, while a conspiracy to incite may have been proved, a conspiracy to use violence was not proved, but that, nevertheless, the penalties of the latter were administered. The.fifth error which the United States Supreme Court will be asked to pass upon is the right of the defendants to preach and teach socialism and anarchy. In support of this the first amendment to the Constitution is cited: “Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The point may seem a little far-fetched, but it is proposed to protect the teachers of anarchy and socialism by this constitutional provision. But the point upon which the main hopes of the Anarchists rest with the Supreme Court of the United States is the alleged error concerning the right of the prisoners to hold the Haymarket meeting. The first amendment to the Constitution is quoted : “Congress shall make no laws abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” It is believed by the attorneys for the condemned men that one or more of these errors will be found available for their purpose. The procedure in reaching the United States Supreme Court in the case cannot be determined until the full text of the State Court opinion is examined. If the latter cites all constitutional points raised in the record, then the defense will have nothing more to do with that Court, but if, as is often the case, some of th se points raised are not replied to, then it will be necessary for the attorneys for the Anarchists to apply to the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court for a certificate to the effect that the record contains such alleged errors. With this certificate, if one be obtained, and the complete record of the case from Judge Gary’s court, and from the Supreme Court of Illinois, application will be made to one of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court for a writ of error and supersedeas. If the former is granted, of course the latter will be. and the next step will be to argue the case before that court. A writ of error may be granted by any one of the Justices of the Federal Supreme Court. EXECUTIVE CLEMENCY. A movement is at once to be inaugurated to circulate a petition for Executive clemency This was started at tue time the verdict in Judge Gary’s court was rendered, but was soon afterward dropped until the decision of the Supreme Court should be reached. Now it is to be undertaken in earnest. POLICE PRECAUTIONS. Ample precautions against an outbreak or violence of any kind on the part of the anarchists have been taken by both the police and shrievalty authorities. DEFENSE COMMITTEE. The Anarchist Defense Committee has entered upon a new lease of activity. As soon as the decision of the Supreme Court that the condemned men were to hang Nov. 11 was received, a meeting of the committee was at once called, und steps taken to raise money to defray the expense of an appeal to the highest court in the land.

A R Prisons.

Louis Engle.

Adolph Fisher.

Samuel Fielden.

August Spies.

Michael Schwab.

Louis Lingg.