“State what he said,” put in the State’s Attorney.
“He was speaking in a general way,” said the witness, “about trouble with the workingmen and the people, what he called the proletariat class, and spoke about their enemies, the police and the constituted authorities; that the authorities would use the police and militia and they would have to use force against them. He advised them to purchase rifles. If they had not money enough for that, then to buy pistols, and if they couldn’t buy pistols they could buy sufficient dynamite for twenty-five cents to blow up a building the size of the Pullman building?”
“What, if anything, did you hear Fielden say at that meeting?”
“The speeches were very nearly alike; they spoke about dynamite and fire-arms to be used against the police, and any one who opposed them in their designs; they wanted things their way and to regulate society. The speeches were alike Sunday after Sunday. I heard Spies speak on the lake front before and after the meetings I mention; he represented, as he said, the oppressed class, the workingmen, as opposed to the capitalists and property-owners; the latter were the enemy of the workingmen; if they couldn’t get their rights in a peaceable manner they must get them in a forcible way. I heard that talk about ten or fifteen times; the meetings were held there every Sunday until late in the fall. After the picnic, Mr. Parsons, I think—I won’t be sure of that—spoke about the young German experimenting with dynamite at this picnic; that this young German had a small quantity of dynamite in a tomato-can; it was thrown into a pond or lake, and he spoke of the force this amount of dynamite exerted, and what could be done with it in destroying buildings and property in the city.”
On cross-examination Mr. Ryan stated:
“Those lake front meetings were held publicly in plain view to everybody in every instance. The largest number of persons I ever saw attend one of these meetings was not more than 150. The meetings that I attended usually lasted two or three hours. I heard two or three other persons speak on the lake front at those meetings—Mr. Henry, Mrs. Parsons, Mrs. Holmes, and, one Sunday, a young Englishman whose name I did not hear; also an Irishman whose name I never heard. The meetings were held about half past two. The speeches were made in a loud, clear tone, sometimes very loud when they would get excited. A policeman who evidently had charge of the park was usually around there. It was a general propagation of ideas and doctrines, down there on the lake front. Once I heard Mr. Parsons say that now was the time to do it. I heard the opinion expressed there that the workingmen would have to secure their rights by force, and therefore should be prepared for it.”
Fig. 1.————Fig. 2.
1. Package left at Judge Tree’s house.
2. Package left at C. B. & Q. offices.