The pork packers and brewers amicably adjusted the strikes of their men, but the majority of the employers refused to concede anything. Sunday, the 2d of May, passed without incident, but the police knew the anarchists were plotting and trouble was at hand. Probably 12,000 strikers gathered the next day at the McCormick Reaper Works on Western Avenue, where they shattered the windows with stones. At the moment an attack was about to be made upon the buildings, a patrol wagon dashed up with twelve policemen, who sprang to the ground. Drawing their revolvers they faced the mob and ordered them to disperse. They were answered with a volley of stones. The policemen fired twice over the heads of the rioters, thereby encouraging instead of intimidating them. Seeing the folly of throwing away their shots, the policemen now fired directly at the rioters, who answered with pistol-shots, but they did not hit any of the officers.
OLD HAYMARKET PLAZA, CHICAGO.
This monument shows the spot where on May 3,
1886, a dynamite bomb was thrown by anarchists
into a group of policemen, killing seven,
crippling eleven for life, and injuring
twelve others so they were unable to
do duty for a year.
Other patrol wagons hurried up, and the officers did not wait until they could leap out before opening fire. Their brave attack forced back the mob, and in the course of an hour the streets were cleared. The terrified workmen were escorted by the policemen to their homes. But for such protection they would have been killed by the infuriated rioters.
Tuesday was marked by many affrays between the officers and law-breakers, but no serious conflict occurred. Placards were distributed during the day, calling upon the "workingmen" to meet that evening at the old Haymarket Place, and the organ of the anarchists urged the men to arm against the police. At the meeting the most incendiary speeches were made, and the speakers had roused the several thousand listeners to the highest pitch of excitement, when Inspector Bonfield at the head of a column of officers forced his way to the stand, ordered the speaker to stop, and commanded the crowd to disperse. He was answered with jeers and a storm of missiles. While the policemen were calmly awaiting the orders of the inspector, some one in the crowd threw a sputtering dynamite bomb at the feet of the officers.
A moment later it exploded, killing seven and crippling eleven for life. The enraged survivors dashed into the mob, shooting and using their clubs with fearful effect. Within five minutes the crowd was scattered, but many lay dead and wounded on the ground. In the investigation that followed, it was shown that the anarchists had planned to slay hundreds of innocent people and plunder the city. Their leaders were brought to trial, ably defended, and the most prominent sentenced to death. One committed suicide, a number were hanged, and others sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. All of the latter were pardoned by Governor Altgeld when he assumed office. Since that time, as has been stated, the anarchists have given little trouble.
THE CHARLESTON EARTHQUAKE.
The year 1886 was marked by one of the most terrifying visitations that can come to any country. Earthquake shocks have been felt in different places in the United States, and the earth-tremors are so frequent in California that they cause little alarm, for very few have inflicted any damage to property or life.
On the night of August 31st, the city of Richmond, Virginia, was thrown into consternation by a series of earthquake shocks. The convicts in the penitentiary became so panic-stricken that the militia had to be called out to control them. The shock was felt still more violently in Columbia, South Carolina. The buildings swayed as if rocked in a gale, and hundreds of citizens rushed into the street in their night robes. The scenes were less startling in Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh, Chattanooga, Selma, Lynchburg, Norfolk, Mobile, St. Louis, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, Pittsburg, while the tremor was felt as far north as Albany, N.Y.