Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1887 — THE HAYMARKET RIOT. [ARTICLE]

THE HAYMARKET RIOT.

Evonta Directly Leading lu K—The Airlul “""STutiKhter amt tlie Trial. For months before the first of May, 1886, the labor agitators of the country had been busy/urging the adoption of tke eight-hour* law. The Ist of May had been set by them sos concerted action to compel employers to come to their terms. The agitation had been very active in Chicago, arid a general feeling of unrest prevailed. When the first of May arrived, many shops were closed, and-, in many other.-, the mein streek, ana all socalled workingmen were out of employ meut in many parts of the city. On :he afternoon of May S the men employed in McCormick’s reaper factory, in the South western psy/t of the city-, most of whom were not mqiribers of any of the trades-unions, were set upon by a large body of strikers as they were leav ing the shops, and a lively and bloody "Skirmish ensued. The police, who were on the aiert, hurried to the scene, and with clubs and revolvers soon put the strikers to rout, several Of them being Very dangerously wounded. That night a circular headed “Revenge,” calling upon the workingmen of all classes to arm and resist the bloodhoundfc’of the law, and also called a meeting of workmen in Haymarket square, less than one block distant from the Desplaines police station, was printed and circulated by men on horseback in all the parts of the city. Copies of it were printed in the morning papers of May 4, and added to the general feeling of alarm. On the evening of May 4 an immense crowd assembled, pursuant to the call, at the -Haymarket. Addresses were made by several speakers, among them August Spies, A. R. Parsons and Samuel Fielden, all ot whom spoke froma wagon standing near the sidewalk, opposite an alley in the rear of Crane Brothers’ manufacturing works. Shortly after 10 o’clock, detectives,who had been at the meeting in citizens clothes, reported to Inspector Bonfield, who was in command at the police Btation, that the speeches were becoming more violent; and the inspector resolved to disperse the meeting. He accordingly called out the large force of policemen which had been kept waiting at the Desplaines street 'Btation, marched, down on the crowd and called upon it in the name of thelaw to oisperse. The police had proceeded almost to the wagon, where Fielden was then speaking, calling upon hiß hearers to throttle the law, when from the direction of the alley a leaden bomhwas throWninto tfae closed ranks of the policemen, and exploded with

terrific farce mortally or dangerously wounding sixty-eight officers. The shattered ranks closed up immediately, and with their revolvers and clubs the officers soon put the crowd to flight. The wounded were gathered up and taken to the station. On the way Officer Matthias Degan, who had been hit in the side with a large piece of the shell, died. The other officers were taken to the county hospital, where, within the succeeding ten days, six more died. The others all subsequently recovered. On the day following, the police were busy making arrests. All the more vio lent agitators were sought out and taken into custody. v pies had been the editor of an anarchist paper. Parsons was the editor of the Alarm, another anarchist paper. These men were fonnd in their offices and taken into custody, together with Michael Schwab, a sub-editor of the Arbeiter Zeitung, Spies’s paper, and Adolpb Fischer, foreman of the news room. On searching the office, the officers found considerable quantities of dynamite in various forms, and it was taken, together with the pris, oners,to the Centra) police station, whorthey were locked up. Later in the daye Samuel Fieldenr, who is a teamster, was found at his home with a bullet wound in his leg, which he had received the night before. One other prisoner was taken, and, for some reason never yet explained, was allowed to* go. His name was Rudolph Schnaubelt, a brother-in law ot Schwab, and on the trial it was proven that he was the man who threw the bomb. Since that time he has been a fugitive from justice and has been heard of from time to time in various countries, though officers and others who have been on his track have never yet been able to over take him. Some days later old man Engel, who was known to have been an ardent sympathizer with the anarchists in their doctrines, was taken into custody, although vigorously protesting his innocence, and in the course of three or four weeks Louis Lingg was surprised jnhis own room, on Ambrose street, engaged in the very act of making bombs. The trial of these seven men, indicted for the murder of Matthias J. Degan, began June 21, before Judge Gary. Three weeks were consumed in getting a jury, as under the Illinois law twenty' challenges are alTdwed’for each defendant, making a total of 140. These were all exhausted before the last juror was obtained, as it was evidently the pose of the defense that they should be, and the last two jurors were selected without the right of peremptory challenge. The theory of the prosecution was that a conspiraby had been formed to wreak vengeance upon the police, and that it had been completed at the meeting of the anarchist groups held in Zi ph’s hall, on West Randolph Btreet, on Monday night, after the riot at McCormick’s reaper factory; that the “Revenge” circular was issued after that meeting was broke up; that Ling had

previously made the bombs; and that several men that he selected there were to provide themselves with a sufficient supply of the missiles and hurl them at the police in case they should attempt to disperse the meeting the following evening. It was » clearly shown that Lingg had for a long time been engaged in the manu ufaeture o< dynamite bombs of various kinds; that on Tuesday night, before the gathering in the Haymarket, he took a number of these in a satchel, and in company with one or two other persons, one of whom was Engel, took them to a place on Clybotirn avenue, more than two miles from the Haymarket, arid left them in a hallway; that several people subsequently called and helped themeeives to the contents of the satchel and went their several ways. It was shown also from a chemical analysis of portions of the bomb that were taken from tne bodies of the wounded officers that its shell was composed of identically the same material an that of the bombs "captured in Lingg’s room. One witness swore positively that he saw Spies light the bomb, and another man, whose photograph he identified, threiw it. The photograph was that of Schnanbelt. The case was given to the jury on August 20, the six ietli day of the trial. The jury retired at 2:30 o’c« ek and reached its verdict at, 10 o’clock in the evening: The verdict found Spies, Schwab, Fielden, Parpons, \ Fischer. Engel and Lingg guilty of murder, and fixed the penalty at death. An eighth defender);! named Oscar Neebe, Who had been active as an agitator, bai whose connection with the conspiracy bad not been positively proved, was also found guilty and sentenced to the penitentirry for fifteen years. Liter events are so familiar to the public blind that wq do not repeat them here