41 chapters
54 hour read
Selected Chapters
41 chapters
Anarchy and Anarchists.
Anarchy and Anarchists.
A HISTORY OF THE RED TERROR AND THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION IN AMERICA AND EUROPE. COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM, AND NIHILISM IN DOCTRINE AND IN DEED. THE CHICAGO HAYMARKET CONSPIRACY, AND THE DETECTION AND TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS. BY Michael J. Schaack, Captain of Police . WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AUTHENTIC PHOTOGRAPHS, AND FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS By Wm. A. McCullough, Wm. Ottman, Louis Braunhold, True Williams, Chas. Foerster, O. F. Kritzner, and Others. CHICAGO: F. J. Schulte & Company. Ne
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
It would be unfair and ungrateful if I did not seize this opportunity to put on lasting record my obligations to Judge Julius S. Grinnell, who was State’s Attorney during the investigation. His support, steady and full of tact, enabled me to go through with the work, in spite of obstacles deliberately put in my way. My position was a delicate and difficult one: had it not been for him, and for others, success would have been almost impossible. Nor can I forego this occasion to bear testimony to
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
The Beginning of Anarchy—The German School of Discontent—The Socialist Future—The Asylum in London—Birth of a Word—Work of the French Revolution—The Conspiracy of Babeuf—Etienne Cabet’s Experiment—The Colony in the United States—Settled at Nauvoo—Fourier and his System—The Familistère at Guise—Louis Blanc and the National Work-shops—Proudhon, the Founder of French Anarchy—German Socialism: Its Rise and Development—Rodbertus and his Followers—“Capital,” by Karl Marx—The “Bible of the Socialists”—
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Nitro-glycerine, although not the strongest explosive known to science, is the only one of any industrial importance, as the others are too dangerous for manufacture. It was discovered by Salvero, an Italian chemist, in 1845. It is composed of glycerine and nitric acid compounded together in a certain proportion, and at a certain temperature. It is very unsafe to handle, and to this reason is to be ascribed the invention of dynamite, which is, after all, merely a sort of earth and nitro-glycerin
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
Abolition of all class legislation and repeal of all existing laws favoring monopolies. All means of transportation, such as railroads, canals, telegraph, etc., to be controlled, managed and operated by the State. Abolition of the prevailing system of letting out public work by contract, the State or municipality to have all work of a public nature done under its own supervision and control. An amendment to the laws in regard to the recovery of wages, all suits brought for the recovery of wages
3 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
Gentlemen, before we call this meeting to order, I want you to be sure that we are all right and all one. I want you to see if there are any reporters or policemen present. See if you can discover any spies. If you find any one here, you can do with him as you please, but my advice to you is, take him and strangle him and then throw him out of the window; then let the people think that the fellow fell out. And if you should give one of them a chance for his life, tell him, if he has any more not
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
We of the Internationale are frequently asked why we do not give our active support to the proposed eight-hour movement. Let us take what we can get, say our eight-hour friends, else by asking too much we may get nothing. We answer: Because we will not compromise. Either our position that capitalists have no right to the exclusive ownership of the means of life is a true one, or it is not. If we are correct, then to concede the point that capitalists have the right to eight hours of our labor, i
43 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
A STRIKE. The Walking Delegate Sowing the Seed of Discontent. The grant of such a request would, they held, be virtually placing the management of the concern in the hands of outsiders. When, therefore, the employés, instigated by the Anarchists, resolved to strike for their demand, McCormick took time by the forelock and ordered the works closed on and after nine o’clock on the morning of February 16, to remain closed until the strikers decided to return. GREIF’S HALL. By this “lock-out” the em
46 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
Revenge! Revenge! Workmen to arms! Men of labor, this afternoon the bloodhounds of your oppressors murdered six of your brothers at McCormick’s. Why did they murder them? Because they dared to be dissatisfied with the lot which your oppressors have assigned to them. They demanded bread, and they gave them lead for an answer, mindful of the fact that thus people are most effectually silenced. You have for many years endured every humiliation without protest, have drudged from early in the morning
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
The city authorities fully comprehended the situation, but concluded not to interfere with the meeting unless the discussion should be attended with violent threats. In order to be prepared for any emergency, however, it was deemed best to concentrate a large force in the vicinity of the meeting—at the Desplaines Street Station. One hundred men from Capt. Ward’s district, the Third Precinct, under command of Lieuts. Bowler, Stanton, Penzen and Beard, twenty-six men from the Central Detail under
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Timothy Flavin —Fourth Precinct; residence, No. 504 North Ashland Avenue; was struck with a piece of shell four inches above the ankle joint, tearing away a portion of the large bone and fracturing the small bone. He also had two wounds just below the shoulder joint in the right arm, caused by a shell, and there were two shell wounds in the back, one passing into the abdomen and the other into the lung. His leg was amputated above the knee, the second day after the explosion, and he had besides
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
Subsequent investigation by Mr. Furthmann of all the scraps of paper brought over by the police revealed Spies’ manuscript with the signal word “Ruhe,” the manuscript of the “Revenge Circular,” issued on the afternoon of May 4, the manuscript for the “Y, come Monday night” notice, Spies’ copy of the article headed “Blood,” published in the Arbeiter-Zeitung of May 4, and a number of other documents damaging in their character. This discovery was regarded as highly important, and in the trial it p
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
On the next evening the crash of dynamite was for the first time heard on the streets of an American city. The Red Terror was upon us. What was done? Every citizen of Chicago demanded justice for the brave men who had fallen—justice on the miscreants who had done them to death. Knowing what I did of the manner in which the detective work was apt to be done, it will not be wondered that I at once made up my mind to do what lay in my power to hunt these murderers down. Even had I not so concluded,
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
In fact, if any man laid out a plan to perpetrate mischief, they would show themselves much more eager to carry it out than the men, and it always seemed a pleasure to the Anarchists to have them present. They were always invited to the “war dances.” Judge Gary, Mr. Grinnell, Mr. Bonfield and myself were usually remembered at these gatherings, and they fairly went wild whenever bloodthirsty sentiments were uttered against us. The reporters and the so-called capitalistic press also shared in the
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
One of the first arrests which I made was that of Julius Oppenheimer, alias Julius Frey. This man was a peculiar genius and was possessed by an unbounded admiration for Anarchists and all their methods. He had come to America five years before and had been brought up an Anarchist. He was a Hebrew of a very pronounced type, twenty-five years of age, a butcher by occupation, but an Anarchist in and out of season. Whenever he succeeded in securing employment he was sure speedily to lose it by his p
3 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
Louis Lingg was born in Schwetzingen, Germany, on the 9th day of September, 1864, and, while his childhood was spent pleasantly enough, a cloud gradually gathered which overshadowed his life and embittered him against society. His mother, at the age of eighteen or twenty, had worked as a servant, and, possessing a very handsome face, a shapely figure and attractive manners, had caught the eye of a Hessian soldier in the dragoons. This man was young, dashing and handsome, and mutual admiration so
3 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
“Well, this is very strange.” The officers then told him that I desired to see him immediately, and he responded that if that was the case he supposed he must go with them. When he arrived at the station he was informed again of the nature of the charge against him, and the floor, so to speak, was accorded him for any explanations he might desire to make. “I am the most innocent man in the world,” he began, in a slow, deliberate voice. “I could not hurt a child or see any one hurt.” Engel was th
3 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
The three prisoners were taken to the station, and Muntzenberg was locked up by himself over night. The next day he was brought into my office. The density of his ignorance respecting Anarchy or Anarchists was astonishing. Like the rest, he absolutely knew nothing. Some days afterwards, however, he took a different view of things. A confession was looked for, and he was given an opportunity. “I see everybody is in trouble,” Muntzenberg began dolefully. “I am in for it myself. I cannot help anybo
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
“What do you mean?” I inquired. “We have not asked you for your oath, and we do not want it.” “Oh, I see now,” said Rudolph, beginning to get angry, “you only want the small fry. Well, look here, Captain, I don’t give a continental. I will tell on the other big fellows, now, for the fun of the thing. They must be punished as well as the little fellows. It is evident that the other big fellows want to talk themselves out.” “I think you have got the thing down very fine,” were my consoling words.
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
During the searches by the department for other suspicious and inflammatory articles, several fire-cans were found in the northwest part of the city, on the 3d of June, by Officer Whalen. In exterior appearance these looked very harmless, but an examination of their contents showed them capable of doing a great deal of mischief. They each had a capacity of a quart, and were made of medium heavy tin, with a round hole in the center of the top, about an inch in diameter. This opening was provided
46 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
You will perceive in a moment that the construction of the United States constitutional right has been interpreted, if I may so express myself, in the Constitution of the State of Illinois, and that interpretation is the one that the courts have always recognized, and that, while a man may speak freely and write and publish upon all subjects, he is responsible for the abuse of the liberty of speech. I refer to these constitutional rights because some men are so inconsistent as to say there shall
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
HON. JULIUS S. GRINNELL. From a Photograph. “We have been in this city inclined to believe, as we have all through the country, that, however extravagantly men may talk about our laws and our country, however severely they may criticise our Constitution and our institutions; that as we are all in favor of full liberty, of free speech, the great good sense of our people would never permit acts based upon sentiments which meant the overthrow of law. We have believed it for years; we were taught it
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
“The orders were, that no man should draw a weapon or fire or strike anybody until he received positive orders from his commanding officer. Each officer was dressed in full uniform, with his coat buttoned up to the throat and his club and belt on, and the club in the holder on the side. Capt. Ward and myself had our weapons in our hand; pistols in pockets. As we approached the truck, there was a person speaking from the truck. Capt. Ward turned slightly to the right and gave the statutory order
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
Michael Hahn , a tailor working on Halsted Street, stated that he was at the Haymarket and received an injury in his back, one in his thigh, and one in the leg: “I went to the hospital that same night. Dr. Newman removed something from my person that night; that is what he said; he showed it to me. It was some kind of a nut. (Witness is handed an ordinary iron-threaded nut.) I guess that was about the size. I left the hospital two weeks after. I think that is the same nut.” Reuben Slayton , a po
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
“I have known Neebe perhaps fifteen or twenty years. I was in the habit of meeting some of them daily, at labor meetings or at the office of the Arbeiter-Zeitung . I am myself interested in labor movements, formerly the Labor Party of the United States. It changed its name into the Socialistic Labor Party. I am a Socialist. I don’t consider myself an Anarchist. I am not a member of any group of the Internationals in the city, nor of the Lehr und Wehr Verein. I was present at interviews between t
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
“The first that I have written out of Fielden’s speech is: ‘There are premonitions of danger—all know it. The press say the Anarchists will sneak away; we are not going to. If we continue to be robbed it will not be long before we will be murdered. There is no security for the working classes under the present social system. A few individuals control the means of living and hold the workingmen in a vise. Everybody does not know that. Those who know it are tired of it, and know the others will ge
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
MOSES SALOMON. From a Photograph. He next read the law with reference to conspiracy and proceeded: “The proof in this case, with the exception of Gilmer’s testimony, showed and shows only that the State has a case within those sections which I have last read to you, and no other, if they have a case against them at all. Now, gentlemen, I have read to you the section of the statute relating to accessories. As I have told you before, it is only the perpetrator and abettor in the perpetration of a
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
On cross-examination Mr. Malkoff said: “I have been five years in the country; in Chicago about two years and a half. When I first came to the country, I was private teacher of the Russian language in Brooklyn. I taught Paesig, the editor of the Brooklyn Freie Presse . He is not a revolutionist; his paper is not a revolutionary one. Then I went to Little Rock for about half a year, working as a printer for the Arkansas Staats-Zeitung . Then I went to St. Louis for about three months, found no wo
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
“The man who threw it was about my size, maybe a little bit bigger, and I think he had a mustache. I think he had no chin beard, and his clothes were dark.” “Did you ever see that picture before?” (handing witness photograph of Schnaubelt). “Yes, sir; Mr. Furthmann showed it to me about two weeks ago.” “Do you recognize that as being the man who threw the bomb?” “I guess not.” “Did you tell Mr. Furthmann so at the time?” “Yes, sir.” On cross-examination Bernett said; “I never could recognize any
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
FRANCIS W. WALKER. From a Photograph. Following is one of the extracts from Most’s book: “Shield your person as long as there is a possibility to preserve it for future deeds, but when you see that you are irredeemably lost, then use the short respite to make the most of it for the propaganda of your principles. We have regarded it our duty to give you these instructions, the more so as we see from day to day even people who are expert in revolutionary matters violating even the plainest rules.
56 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Mr. Zeisler held that in the progress of the civilized world a social revolution was inevitable, not by the use of dynamite or force, but by the peaceable forces at work among the people. “Now, the attorneys for the State talk to you about the social revolution, and try to make you believe that the social revolution means bombs and dynamite, and killing and arson and murder and all crimes that we know of. Mr. Fielden on the stand gave the proper expression. Asked whether he believed in the revol
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXX.
“Where was Schwab, one of the brainy men of this conspiracy, a man whose pen had added to its formation, whose genius and whose brain had been instrumental in bringing it about? An hour’s ride away, at Deering, addressing a quiet meeting of laboring men. “Where was Neebe? Neebe, one of the leading conspirators, they tell us. He is one of the eight heads, one of the chiefs in the overthrow of the Government and of property rights, and he was quietly at home. Lingg, the man who has prepared the im
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXI.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Following this, Mr. Grinnell took up the case against each of the conspirators as follows: “Why was Engel preparing for the purchase of a large amount of arms? That has not been disputed. There is testimony in this case that Engel not later than last winter, and perhaps in the spring, negotiated for a large amount of arms, with his daughter present. His daughter has not been placed upon the stand to deny that fact. Why? He was not a dealer in arms. It could have been denied if not true. He is a
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XXXII.
“The court instructs the jury that a conspiracy may be established by circumstantial evidence the same as any other fact, and that such evidence is legal and competent for that purpose. So also whether an act which was committed was done by a member of the conspiracy, may be established by circumstantial evidence, whether the identity of the individual who committed the act be established or not; and also whether an act done was in pursuance of the common design may be ascertained by the same cl
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
After some further explanation of Socialism, he said: “I may have told that individual who appeared here as a witness that the workingmen should procure arms, as force would in all probability be the ultima ratio , and that in Chicago there were so and so many armed men, but I certainly did not say that we proposed to inaugurate the social revolution. And let me say here: Revolutions are no more made than earthquakes and cyclones. Revolutions are the effect of certain causes and conditions. I ha
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
“About the 1st day of May, 1886, the workingmen of Chicago and of other industrial centers in the United States were greatly excited upon the subject of inducing their employers to reduce the time during which they should be required to labor on each day to eight hours. In the midst of the excitement growing out of this eight-hour movement, as it was called, a meeting was held on the evening of May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket, on Randolph Street, in the West Division of the city of Chicago. This m
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXV.
CHAPTER XXXV.
“Although a juror called as a juryman,” said the court, “may have formed an opinion based upon rumor or newspaper statement, he is still qualified as a juror if he states that he can fairly and impartially render a verdict thereon in accordance with the law and the evidence. Indeed, the rule of the statute of Illinois as construed by the trial court is not materially different from that which has been adopted by the courts in many other States without any legislation. We agree entirely with the
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
But the jail officials joined me in most rigid measures to prevent the execution of each and all of the plots, and officers and detectives were stationed in goodly numbers about the building, night and day, to watch the movements of suspicious characters. When the decision of the Governor was finally announced this vigilance was redoubled, and we made sure that no secret mines had been constructed under any of the sidewalks surrounding the building or across under the alley on the west side of t
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Dungeon No. 7, Cook County Jail, Chicago, ILL. , November 9, 1887.— To My Darling, Precious Little Children, Albert R. Parsons, Jr., and his Sister, Lulu Eda Parsons : As I write this word I blot your names with a tear. We never meet again. Oh, my children, how deeply, dearly your papa loves you. We show our love by living for our loved ones; we also prove our love by dying, when necessary, for them. Of my life and the cause of my unnatural and cruel death you will learn from others. Your father
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Two women and a man, says the correspondent, lay in senseless stupor, with the crowd treading on them. One woman’s rags did not half cover her. An illiterate Englishman pushed the Pole aside and began to harangue the people from the platform. It was the most shameless, ribald and obscene harangue imaginable. In the midst of it one woman struck another with a piece of a broken beer glass, and the two females began to fight like cats. Faces were cut and bleeding. No one paid the slightest attentio
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX A.
APPENDIX A.
List of names of Anarchists and Socialists as found on record with Secretaries Seliger and Lingg, at 442 Sedgwick Street: William Hesse. Moritz Neff. William Lange. Balthasar Rau. Albert Bonien. Michael Schwab. H. Harmening. William Medow. A. Hovestadt. Oscar Neebe. Franz Hoffman. Ch. Charlevitz. H. Kaune. H. Tietgens. Theodore Polling. Louis Hensling. E. Buschner. Henry Bonnefoi. George Meng. W. L. Rosenberg. Carl Wichmann. Ch. Mauner. Chr. Mauer. John Nedovlacid, alias Pohl. A. Hirschberger. E
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter