Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1887 — THAT AWFUL EVENT. [ARTICLE]

THAT AWFUL EVENT.

The Hanging ot the Seven Chicago Anarchists on the 11th. OnnMMbr Picked Men'WUh Picked Wincheaters—The Scaffold—Spies, Fielden and Schwab Ask Clemency. On Friday, Nov. 11th, the seven condemned Chicago anarchists, will hang. Two full companies (fifty-four) of policemen are now quartered in the Chicago jail near the anarchists’ cells, each armed with a Winchester rifle. These men will remain in the building until after the 11th. At this time everything is quiet. The Sheriff is building the scaffolds, of which there will be three. August Spies, Samuel Fielden and Nicholas Schwab signed a petition, Thursday afternoon, humbly begging the Governor to commute tbeir sentences.«, These three of the seven condemned men are the only ones who have not written letters to the Governor that they would not accept commutations of their sentences, and that all efforts in that direction were without their sanction. The signatures of Fie Men and Schwab were secured Thursday morning by Captain Biack and L. D. Oliver, who visited the prisoners at the jail and had private conferences with them. All sorts of entreaties were adopted to get Spies to sign the petition, but he resolutely refused to do so, as did also Lingg, Engel, Fisher and Parsons. At 3:30 p. m. the same petitions were brought to the jail by Dr. Schmidt, Aiderman Frank Staub f er and H. Linnemyer, with permission from the ■heriff to confer with the condemned men. George Schilling arrived laterand joined the party. It was plain that Spies had weakened sines the morning. Reread the petition over several times. After an hour’s pleading, Spies said: “Well, give me a pen,” and with a flourish his name was appended. Over 100 persons will carry the petitions to the Governor. Extraordinary efforts are being made by the friends of the men to create a sentiment favorable to them that it may be used with the Governor. It is suggested that the wives and children of the anarchists will call upon him with the delegation with the petitions. It is claimed that nearly 200,000 signatures have been secured, asking a commutation of sentence. The Arbeiter Zeitung condemns the condition of the Supreme Court and claims it “splutters with mud the good name of the Republic.” Ingersoll declines to intercede with - Governor Oglesby in behalf of the condemned men. He says he is not in favor of anareny.

The decision of the United States Supreme Court upon the petition for a writ of error in the case of the Chicago Anarchists was announced Wednesday evening by Chief Justice Waite in along and carefully-prepared opinion, which occupied thirty-five minutes in the reading. The court holds, in brief: (1) That the first ten amendments to the constitution are limitations on federal and not upon State action. (2) That the jury law of Illinois, upon its face,is valid and constitutional, and that it is similar in its provisions to the statute of Utah which was sustained in the case of Hoyt vs., the Territory of Utah. (3) That it does not appear in the record that upon the evidence the trial court should have declared the juror Sanford incompetent. (4) That the objection to the admission ot the Johann Most letter and the cross examination ot Spies, which counsel for the prisoners maintained virtually compelled them to testify against themselves, were not objected to in the trial court, and that, therefore, no foundation was laid for the exercise of this court’s jurisdiction; and (5), that the questions raised by General Butler in the case of Spies and Fielden upon the basis of the foreign nationality were neither raised nor decided in the State courts, and therefore cannot be considered Here. The writ of error prayed for must consequently be denied. There was no dissenting opinion.

The News in Chicago. The first news of the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of the anarchists was taken to the Cook county jail by a reporter a few minutes after it had been received from Washington. Jailer Folz was in his office, tipped back in his chair, and about to light his cigar. When the reporter told him the news he deliberately struck a match, lit his cigar, and said; “Well, U is just what we expected.” There were no visitors at the jail Wednesday, and all the prisoners were iii their cells when the news arrived. A note was sent up to Spies telling him that the writ had been denied, and asking if he had any statement to make in regard to the matter. Spies was sitting in his cell, busily engaged with some manuscript. He read the note and returned it with a short “I have nothing to say.” None of the other men would say anything, either. Louis Lingg, Adolph Fischer and George Engel, three of the condemned Anarchists, have written open letters to Gov. Oglesov protesting against a commutation of sentence and demanding, as Parsons has done, “either liberty or death.” Engel says: “I am not aware of having violated any law of this country. In my firm belief in the Constitution which the founders- of this Republic bequeathed to this people, and which remains tin: altered, I have exercised the right of free speech, and have eritiefsed the existing condition of society, and sought to succor my fellow-citizens with my advice, which I regard as the right of every honest citizen. The powers that be mav murder me, bat they eannot legally punish me.”

Lingg says He “called the oppressed masses to oppo'-e the force of their oppressors with force, in order to attain a dignified and manly existence by sectiring the full returns of their labor. This and only this, is the crime 'proved against me.” " Fischer says: “I am no murderer, and cannot apologize for an action of which I know I am innocent; and'shnrtld T ask, ‘mercy’ on account of my principles, which I honestly believe to be true and noble? No. 1 am no hypocrite, and have, therefore, no excuse to offer with regard to being an Anarchist, because the experiences of the past eighteen months have only strengthened my convictlbns.” Fischer denies that he is responsible for the death of the policemen at the Haymarket, and closes his letter with along statement about the condition of society and the immense dissatisfaction among the working people.

Failed to Impress the Officers. Friday night Nina Van Zandt and her mother called on Captain fichaax and officers at the Chicago avenue station. Miss Van Zandt presented a petition to Gov. Oglesby asking for commutation of the sentence on the anarchists, and requested the captain to sign it. She pleaded with him for over twenty minutes, but the doughty police official declined to attach his signature. The girl asked and obtained permission to solicit the officers in the station for their names, but failed to secure a single one. Before leaving she distributed a number of Trumbull’s pamphlets, “Was It a Fair Trial?” and left a lot more of them on the sergeant’s desk, by whom, at Schaak’s command, they were promptly consigned to the waste basket as soon as she had left the building.

Socialistic Threat.. At a crowded meeting of the Progressive Labor party in Germania Assembly rooms, New York, S. E. Sh evil ch’, editor of the Leader, made a speech in which he said: “I am expected to make a campaign speech, but I can’t bring myself to speak calmly. This is Friday, November 4th, and on Friday, November 11th, the greatest crime and most atrocious murder ever perpetrated is fixed to fake place at Chicago. But I tell you, if this crime of base murder is committed, the end will soon follow. If the heroes are hanged, the days of all those concerned in the outrageous mur-' det; will be reckoned, and the day will not be far off when they will have to answer for the blood theV shed by every spark of life in their worthless bodies. [Loud cheers, and cries of “Kill theml” “Dynamite!”] Let them hang. Seven men’s lives will not harm our cause. Let them kill seventy—seven thousand, and out of their graves seven millions of others will arise. I tell you, if these men are hanged next Friday, thousands of times worse than our late civil war will follow. We will not see it done wiithout acting.”