“Parsons said to me that when the social revolution came, it would be better for all men; it would place every man on an equality. He pictured me personally as a wage slave, referring to my position as a newspaper reporter, and that all reforms had to be brought about through revolution, and bloodshed could not be avoided. I frequently heard him give expression to such ideas in friendly conversation, in which the social outlook of the country was talked over, and Parsons frequently insisted that any method would be justifiable to accomplish the object which he advocated as the intended result of a social revolution. Parsons once stated to me that if it became necessary they would use dynamite, and it might become necessary. Parsons never expressed any distinct proposal to inaugurate the revolution at any particular time, or by the use of any particular force. He simply spoke of the social revolution as the inevitable future. I am not certain as to whether the paper which Parsons gave me, which contained those diagrams, was a copy of the Alarm or of some other paper. This article here in the Alarm of July 25, 1885 (indicating), under the title, ‘Street Fighting—How to Meet the Enemy,’ is, to the best of my recollection, the article to which my attention was called by Mr. Parsons at the time. I am positive these diagrams here (indicating) are the same as in the article given me by Parsons.
“The position of these parties in meetings that I have attended, since January 18, 1885, when they spoke of the industrial condition, was that they predicted a social revolution, and they also advised the workingmen to bring about that revolution. It was Mr. Fielden on the lake front—I cannot fix the date—who used language of that import, advised the men to go forward and get that which did belong to them by force.”
Paul C. Hull, a reporter of the Daily News, attended the Haymarket meeting and heard Fielden speak. He testified as follows:
PARSONS’ HANDWRITING.
The Manuscript of an Advertisement calling
a Meeting of the “American Group.”
“When the bomb exploded I was on the iron stairway, about four steps from the top landing. After the bomb exploded the firing began from the crowd before the police fired. I saw the bomb in the air. My head was probably within twelve or fifteen feet above the crowd. It was quite dark. Directly opposite me was a pile of boxes on the sidewalk, and an area-way surrounded by an iron railing. My eyes were directed toward the speakers’ wagon. As the words were in his mouth, I saw arching through the air the sparks of the burning fuse. According to my recollection it seemed to come from about fifteen or twenty feet south of Crane’s alley, flying over the third division of police and falling between the second and third. It seemed to throw to the ground the second and third divisions of police. At almost the same instant there was a rattling of shots that came from both sides of the street and not from the police. The meeting was noisy and turbulent. When the speaking began there were about eight hundred to one thousand people in the crowd. At the time the police came it had dwindled away a third from what it was at its largest number. About a quarter of the crowd, that part which clustered about the wagon, were enthusiasts, loudly applauded the speakers and cheered them on by remarks. The outskirts of the crowd seemed to regard the speakers with indifference, often laughed at them and hooted them.
“Spies told his version of the McCormick riot. He had been charged with being responsible for the riot and the death of those men, by Mr. McCormick. He said Mr. McCormick was a liar and was himself responsible for the death of the six men which he claimed were killed at that time; that he had addressed a meeting on the prairie, and when the factory bell rang a body of the meeting which he was addressing detached themselves and went toward the factory, and that there the riot occurred. He then touched upon the dominating question of labor and capital and their relations very briefly, and asked what meant this array of Gatling guns, infantry ready to arms, patrol wagons and policemen, and deduced from that that it was the Government or capitalists preparing to crush them, should they try to right their wrongs. I don’t remember that he said anything in his speech about the means to be employed against that capitalistic force.
“Parsons dealt considerably in labor statistics. He drew the conclusion that the capitalists got eighty-five cents out of the dollar, and the laboring man fifteen cents, and that the eight-hour agitation and the agitation of the social question was a still hunt after the other eighty-five cents. He advised the using of violent means by the workingmen to right their wrongs. Said that law and government was the tool of the wealthy to oppress the poor; that the ballot was no way in which to right their wrongs. That could only be done by physical force.
“I only heard a part of Fielden’s speech. He said Martin Foran had been sent to Congress to represent the Labor Party, and he did not do it satisfactorily. When McCormick’s name was mentioned during the speeches there were exclamations like ‘Hang him,’ or ‘Throw him into the lake.’ Some such a remark would be made when any prominent Chicago capitalist’s name was used. When some one in the crowd cried ‘Let’s hang him now,’ when some man’s name was mentioned, one of the speakers, either Spies or Parsons, said, ‘No, we are not ready yet.’”