On cross-examination, Lieut. Steele stated:
“My experience is that where the police make a descent upon a riotous gathering, a mob, the latter scatter to all sides, so as to get out of the way. But when we pass through a peaceful, quiet body of men, they separate to the sides instead of rushing down the alleys and out the other way. I do not mean to say that the remark about the bloodhounds coming was made by the speaker from the wagon. Mr. Fielden was on the sidewalk when the bomb exploded. Capt. Ward was just a step or two in front of me when he gave the order to disperse. Any loud exclamation made by Mr. Fielden, either in the wagon, or getting out of the wagon, or immediately after he got out, I would have heard. I did not hear him make any.”
Martin Quinn, Lieutenant of Police, had a company of twenty-five men on the left of Lieut. Steele, and when they marched to the Haymarket they had their clubs in their belts and their pistols in their pockets. He heard the remark: “Here they come now, the bloodhounds. Do your duty, men, and I’ll do mine.” The man who was speaking at the time they came up was Fielden. Quinn’s testimony then runs as follows:
“Just as he was going down, he said: ‘We are peaceable.’ Some person had hold of his left leg. He reached back, and just as he was going down he fired right where the Inspector was, Capt. Ward and Lieut. Steele. After that I dropped my club, took my pistol and commenced firing in front. The crowd formed a line across the street in our front, and immediately when that bomb was fired, and almost instantaneously with it that shot from the wagon, they commenced firing into our front and from the side, and then from the alley. I fired myself. Fourteen men of my company were injured. I lost sight of Fielden as he got on the sidewalk. I could not distinguish which was first, the explosion of the bomb or the shot fired by Fielden. There was another very loud report immediately after this first explosion. I did not know what it was. The bomb exploded about the same instant that the remark, ‘We are peaceable,’ was made. And at the same time he fired that shot. Ward at that time had not quite finished his expression. The pistol was aimed in a downward direction, towards where Ward, Steele and Bonfield stood. After I was looking to the front, and had discharged my weapon, I looked back and saw the explosion of the bomb—it was just the same as you would take a bunch of firecrackers and throw it around, just shooting up in all directions, in the rear. Some of the men were lying down, some of them lying dead, some crippled around. All along on Desplaines Street the lamps were dark. Where the speaker was there was a torch on the wagon, and also the lamp was lit there. I had emptied my pistol. Then I turned around to look at the result of the explosion. Then I went over in under the wagon, and where the speaker was, and I found a pistol there that was loaded. I picked it up and emptied it myself afterwards. It was a thirty-eight Smith & Wesson. I saw Fielden fire only that one shot. It was not aimed at the man who had hold of his leg. There were Ward, Bonfield and Steele there right in a bunch, close by together, and it should have hit some one of them.”
The cross-examination did not change the testimony; he only added to its force, and with reference to Fielden only modified it so far as to say:
“I would not swear that it was or was not Fielden who fired the pistol, but it was a speaker, that I know, that fired at the instant he finished saying, ‘We are peaceable.’ While standing in the wagon, in the presence of the police force and all the audience, he fired a revolver right where Lieut. Steele was and Capt. Ward, and the right of Lieut. Steele’s company; fired right into them. The torch was still on the wagon at that time, and the street lamp near by was lighted.”
James P. Stanton, Lieutenant of Police, had charge of eighteen men and saw the shell coming through the air. He shouted to his men: “Look out, there is a shell,” and just then it exploded. It fell just four feet from where he stood, and his men were scattered upon the street. All but one or two of his command were wounded. He himself was injured, his body being hit in eleven different places with pieces of the shell, and he was confined to a bed at the hospital for two weeks and a half, after which he was taken home.
“After that I commenced to limp around. I had to suffer from a nervous shock. The holes in my clothing are larger than the holes in my limbs. My company was on the west side of the street, Bowler on the east. When I first saw the shell it was in the air, very near over my head. It came from the east, I think, a little north of the alley. It was about three inches in diameter. The fuse was about two inches long when I saw it. When we advanced I heard speaking from the north. I saw some parties standing on the wagon. Don’t know anything about what transpired after the officers came to a halt. No shot was fired to my knowledge before the explosion of the bomb. Immediately after that shots were fired. I turned myself and drew my revolver and immediately commenced to fire. I cannot swear from whom the firing began first. My men were supposed to be armed; they had their clubs in their belts.”
The cross-examination brought out no new points.