Edward Cosgrove, a detective connected with the Central Station, was on duty at the Haymarket. He gave the substance of some of the speeches, and, referring to Spies, said:
“Then he talked about the police, the bloodhounds of the law, shooting down six of their brothers, and he said: ‘When you are ready to do something, do it, and don’t tell anybody you are going to.’ A great number of the crowd cheered him loudly. The enthusiastic part of the crowd was close to the wagon. Sometimes there would be some on the outskirts. I did not hear all of Spies’ speech and only part of Parsons’. Parsons talked of statistics—about the price laboring men received. He said they got fifteen cents out of a dollar, and they were still on the hunt for the other eighty-five. He talked of the police and capitalists and Pinkertons. He said he was down in the Hocking Valley region, and they were only getting twenty-four cents a day, and that was less than Chinamen got. And he said his hearers would be worse than Chinamen if they didn’t arm themselves, and they would be held responsible for blood that would flow in the near future. There was a great deal of cheering close to the wagon during his speech. I was in Capt. Ward’s office when the police were called out. I came down the street at the time the police did. When the police came to a halt, I was on the northwest corner of Randolph and Desplaines. I heard no firing of any kind before the explosion of the bomb, but immediately after that. I can’t tell from what source the pistol shots came, whether the police fired first or the other side. I reported at the station from time to time what was going on at the meeting.”
On cross-examination Cosgrove said:
“I was twice at the station reporting. My second report was that Mr. Parsons said they would be held responsible for the blood that would flow in the streets of America in the near future. The police remained at the station after this report. I didn’t hear any part of Fielden’s speech. When I came out before the police quite a number of the crowd had gone away. When I saw Schwab he was about forty feet south of the south sidewalk of Randolph Street, on Desplaines. I saw Schwab about half past eight, or a little later, at the wagon. My impression is that I saw Mr. Schwab near the close of Parsons’ speech, but I am not sure. When I saw him at the wagon it was about the time Mr. Spies came back the second time to speak.”
Timothy McKeough, a detective, was present when the meeting opened.
“Spies got on the wagon and called out twice: ‘Is Mr. Parsons here?’ He received no answer, and said: ‘Never mind, I will go and find him myself.’ Somebody said: ‘Let us pull the wagon around on Randolph Street and hold the meeting there.’ Mr. Spies said: ‘No, that might stop the street-cars.’ He started away then, and Officer Myers and myself followed him as far as the corner. There was a man with him who, I think, was Schwab, but I am not very sure about that, and in about fifteen minutes he returned, and when I got back he was addressing the meeting, talking about what happened to their brethren the day before at McCormick’s. He had been down to McCormick’s and addressed a meeting, and they wanted to stop him; tried to pull him off the car because he was a Socialist; that while he was talking a portion of the crowd started toward McCormick’s and commenced to throw stones, the most harmless amusement they could have; how wagons loaded with police came down the Black Road and commenced firing into the crowd. Somebody halloaed out: ‘Let us hang him,’ and he said: ‘My friends, when you get ready to do anything, go and do it, and say nothing about it.’ About that time Parsons arrived and Spies introduced him, saying Parsons could talk better English than he, and would probably entertain them better. The crowd in the neighborhood of the wagon appeared very much excited when Spies spoke about the shooting down of workingmen at McCormick’s. Parsons quoted from some book on labor statistics, which he thought his hearers probably had not read, because they didn’t have the money to buy it or leisure to read it, as they had to work too much. He said out of every dollar the laboring man makes for capitalists he only gets fifteen cents, and they are on a still hunt for the other eighty-five. He had been down to the coal mines, and, according to labor statistics, they received 24½ cents for their daily labor on the average during a year. That was just half as much as the Chinaman would get, and he said: ‘If we keep on we will be a great deal worse than Chinamen. I am a tenant and I pay rent to a landlord.’ Somebody asked, ‘What does the landlord do with it?’ Parsons said the landlord pays taxes, the taxes pay the sheriff, the police, the Pinkertonites and the militia, who are ready to shoot them down when they are looking for their rights. He said: ‘I am a Socialist from the top of my head to the soles of my feet, and I will express my sentiments if I die before morning.’ The crowd near the wagon loudly cheered him. Later I heard Mr. Parsons say, taking off his hat in one hand: ‘To arms! to arms! to arms!’ Then I went over to Desplaines Street Station and reported to Inspector Bonfield. When I came back Fielden was speaking. He criticised Martin Foran, the Congressman that was elected by the working people. Speaking about the law, he said the law was for the capitalists. ‘Yesterday, when their brothers demanded their rights at McCormick’s, the law came out and shot them down. When Mr. McCormick closed his door against them for demanding their rights, the law did not protect them.’ If they loved their wives, their children, they should take the law, kill it, stab it, throttle it, or it would throttle them. That appeared to make the crowd near the wagon more excited, and I made another report to Inspector Bonfield. I saw Spies, Parsons and Fielden on the wagon. I saw Schwab on the wagon in the early part of the evening, and a man named Schnaubelt.”
Henry E. O. Heineman, a reporter of the Chicago Tribune, testified:
“I saw the bomb, that is the burning fuse, rise out of the crowd and fall among the police. It rose from very nearly the southeast corner of the alley. I didn’t hear any shots before the bomb exploded. Almost instantly after it shots were heard. I could not say whether the first shots came from the police or the crowd. It seems to me as if I heard some bullets close to myself, whizzing from the north as I was going south.
“Spies started out by saying that the meeting was intended to be a peaceable one—it was not called to raise a disturbance—and then gave his version of the affair at McCormick’s, the day before. The crowd near the speaker’s wagon was in sympathy with the speakers. There was occasionally applause. I heard a few Germans talk with one another. I heard Parsons call out toward the close of his speech, ‘To arms! to arms! to arms!’ Fielden, towards the end of his speech, told the crowd to kill the law, to stab it, to throttle it, or else it would throttle them. I was formerly an Internationalist. I ceased my connection with them about two years ago. At that time the defendant Neebe belonged to the same group I belonged to. It is not in existence now. I met Spies and Schwab occasionally in the groups. I ceased my connection with the Internationale immediately after, and on account of the lectures Herr Most delivered in this city. I saw on the wagon at the Haymarket meeting Spies, Parsons, Fielden, and at one time Rudolph Schnaubelt.”