Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1887 — THE ANARCHISTS. [ARTICLE]

THE ANARCHISTS.

Dr. M W. Salter, President of the Ethical Culture Society, says a Chicago dispatch of Friday, has drawn up a petition for executive clemency, to which, as he states it, he only wishes the signatures of influential and coolheaded citizens. It is very short, the recital being to the effect that the signers believe justice can be best served by commuting the sentences of the condemned men, etc. He has already obtained about twenty signatures, among which are those of Judge Tuley, exJudge Booth, Julius Rosenfeldt, and Aiderman Manierre. “We are ready for any emergency that may arise,” said Capt. Schaack, of the Chicago police, to a reporter. “We have taken every precaution that we deem possible. lam not apprehensive of any riot or forcible demonstration by the friends of the condemned men, but I thiuk it always well to be prepared. Of course I have heard many threats against life and property, but I find that many of them are unworthy of notice.” Business at the various Chicago gun stores has been brisk during the last few days, says a special from that city. The purchasers of revolvers are generally well-dressed business men. A New York telegram says that at a crowded meeting of the Progressive Labor party in Germania Assembly Rooms, S. E. Shevitch, editor of the Leader, made a speech, in which he said: “I tell you if this crime of base murder [hanging of Spies et al ] is committed the end will soon follow. If these heroes are hanged tho days of all those concerned in the outrageous murder will be reckoned and the day will not be far off when they will have to answer for the blood they shed by every spark of life in their worthless bodies.” [Loud cheers and cries of “Kill them,” “Dynamite!”] “But let them hang. Seven men’s lives will not harm our cause. Let them kill seventy—seven thousand—and out of their graves seven million others will arise. I tell you, if these men are hanged next Friday something thousands of times worse than our late civil war will follow. We will not see it done without acting.” A Chicago special of Saturday says: A sensational report is telegraphed from Pittsburgh that Thomas Owens, a carpenter who had been killed at Homestead, a small station near Pittsburgh, had mode a confession before his death that he had thrown the bomb at the Haymarket riot. A man named Piper, who worked with Owens, testified at the Coroner’s inquest on Owens’ body that Owens had told him in confidence that he belonged to the same group of anarchists as Spies and Parsons, and had gone to the Haymarket meeting with Schnaubelt, his chum, from whom he received the bomb after it was lighted. He threw it and ran and then left Chicago. The Chicago police don’t take any stock in the story. Capt. Schaack says that Owens is the latest addition to the list of cranks who imagine they threw the bomb. He says that before the trial he had four different men locked up who were firm in the conviction that they individually threw the bomb. The condemned anarchists themselves say they never heard of Owens, and pronounce the story as utterly “improbable.” A big sensat on was produced at Chicago on Sunday last by the finding of four bombs which had been smuggled into the jail by some friends of the condemned anarchists. A dispatch from that city says: The bombs were taken from the cell of Louis Lingg. They were found under his cot hidden beneath a mass of papers and odds and ends of various kinds and were inclosed in a harm-less-looking wooden box. A thorough search of all the cells of the condemned men was in progess at the time by direction of the Sheriff. The bombs were at once taken to the jail office, where a cursory examination at once made their capabilities for destructiveness apparent. As soon as their nature was determined it was deemed unwise to make further examination and they were wrapped in newspapers and laid aside to await the Sheriff's disposal, He arrived soon afterwards, and, as neither he nor any of the jail officials had any practical knowledge of the mechanism of infernal machines, the bombs were taken from the jail and placed in the hands of an expert for examination. The bombs were four in number, as stated, and were what are known as the “gaspipe” bombs, in distinction from the spherical bomb thrown at tiro hay market. Tho iron gaspipe used was about six inches long and an inch in diameter. All wire exactly alike as to dimensions and differed only in some of tho minor drtails. All were plugged at each end. August 1 pies, Michael Schwab, and amue Fielden, says a Chicago special, have followed up the formal petition to the Governor which they signed a few days ago wit i a second communicat on of a still more important character. The document reads as follows: To Governor Oglesby, Springfield, III.: SIR —In order that the truth may be known by you and the public you represent, we desire to state that we never advocated the use of force, excepting in the case of self-defense. To accuse us of having attempted to overthrow law and government on May 4, 188C>, or at any other time, is as false ns it is absurd. Whatever we said or did, or said or did publicly, we have never supported, or plotted to commit, an unlawful act, and whilewe attacked the present social arrangernrnts, in writing and speech, and exposed their iniquities, we have never consciously broken any laws. So far from having planned the killing of anybody at the Haymarket. or anywhere < Ise, tho very object of that meeting was to protest against the commission of murder. We believe it to be our duty* as friends of labor and liberty to oppose other use of force than that which is necessary in the defense of sacred rights against unlawful attacks. And our efforts Lave been in the direction of elevating mankind, and to reinoye, as mucn as possible, the causes of crime in.society. Our labor was unselfish. No motive of personal gain or ambition prompted us. Thousands and thousands will bear testimony to this. We may have erred at times in. our judgment. Yes; we may have loved mankind not wisely but too well. If, in the excitement of propagating our views, we were led into expressions which caused workingmen to think that aggressive force was a proper Instrument of reform, we regret it. We deplore the loss of life at the Haymarket, at McCormick’s factory, at East

Bt. Louis, and at the Chicago Stock Yards. Very respectfully, A. Spies, Michael Schwab. Samuel Fielden. George Engel, the condemned anarchist tried to comm t suicide in his cell by taking opium early Sunday morning. Says a Chicago dispatch: By the prompt use of the usual remedies given in cases of poisoning he was restored to consciousness in about ten minutes. Dr. Gray, as soon as he saw Engel, said that he had taken some powerful opiate. The pupils of his eyes were widely dilated, and the action of his heart was almost imperceptible. When the anarchist recovered consciousness an effort was made to induce him to drink some coffee or swallow an antidote. He firmly declined to take anything whatever. “If you let me cook it myself I’ll drink some coffee,” he said; but when the jail officials consented to that Engel said he “had changed his mind,” and refused to anything. He positively denied that he had attempted to commit suicide, but said that “he had been drinking a little whisky.” “Where did you get it?” he was asked. “Oh, I got it easy enough," he answered. A Springfield (Ill.) dispatch of Monday says: The interest in the anarchist case is approaching fever heat at the capital and throughout Central Illinois as the date of the execution of the condemned men approaches. Every movement of Governor Oglesby is watched witn fervid curiosity. Petitions and communications are pouring in upon him, and he is the busiest man in the State. He refuses to talk about the case. The Governor has received a number of letters threatening violence if he refuses to exercise executive clemency in behalf of the condemned men. Gen. W. H. Parsons has addressed a long appeal to Gov. Oglesby, in which he reviews the trial and the evidence in the case, and argues that his brother, A. R. Parsons, is not guilty. A Cincinnati talegram of Monday says: Prominent workingmen here say that the anarchists of Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, and all of the other large cities of the country have been requested to send a number of chosen men to Chicago to be there next Thursday. Over fifty left Cincinnati Friday evening. They were joined by about the same number from Louisville.