“There was in fact no editor-in-chief of the Arbeiter-Zeitung; there was a kind of autonomous editorial arrangement, but I was looked to as the editor-in-chief. I mean in the editorial department every one wrote what he pleased, and it was published without my looking at it. I never assumed any responsibility for the editorials. I never was made responsible by the company for the management of the paper. Schwab’s salary was the same as mine; our positions were coördinate. The management of the paper was left with the board of trustees; the editors had very little to say about it. Nobody looked over the editorials before they were inserted. Contributed articles were looked over sometimes by one of the reporters, sometimes by Schwab or Schroeder, or myself. Schroeder was editor for four months. I usually glanced at the paper to keep track of what it contained. Fischer was merely a compositor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung; he had nothing to do with the editorials or management of the paper. I had nothing to do with the Alarm, except for four or five weeks, when I edited it in the absence of Mr. Parsons.”
“Was money ever sent you for the Alarm?”
“There was. I also paid the bills for the printing of the Alarm.”
“Did you ever write contributions for the Alarm?”
“I have occasionally, whenever they were in need of manuscript. Of the bombs I had I received the two iron cast ones first. That was about three years ago. A man who gave his name as Schwape or Schwoep brought them to me. I only saw him once. I think he was a shoemaker, came from Cleveland, and left for New Zealand. He asked me if my name was Spies. I told him yes; and he asked me if I had seen any of the bombs that they were making, or something like that. I don’t know to whom he referred by ‘they.’ He spoke of people in Cleveland with whom he had associated; I didn’t ask him and didn’t know what class of people. I said I hadn’t seen any of them. I don’t remember anything more about the conversation I had with him. I would have twelve or fifteen conversations every day; this one was out of the order of my regular conversations; my recollection is, I got rid of him as soon as he would leave. He left those there; he said he would not take them along. I didn’t ask him if he had any more with him. They were bombs exploding by percussion, heavier on one side than on the other, so that when they were thrown the cap would always come down. I think they were at the Arbeiter-Zeitung on May 4. I never saw the man before or after that. The other two bombs which Wilkinson called ‘Czar bombs,’ a term which I never used to him, were left one day, in my absence, in the office. When I came from dinner I saw them on my desk and was told that a man had brought them there to inquire whether they were bombs of a good construction, and the man never called for them. That was about a year and a half or two years ago. One I gave to Wilkinson; the other one, I suppose, was at the office ever since. I don’t know what became of it and of the two iron bombs. I had not seen them for some time, but I thought they were at the office. I got the dynamite about two years ago from the Ætna Powder Company. I got two of those bars. My intention at first was to experiment with them.”
“What object did you have in experimenting with the dynamite?”
“I had read a great deal about dynamite and thought it would be a good thing to get acquainted with its use, just the same as I would take a revolver and go out and practice with it. I don’t want to say, however, that it was merely for curiosity. I can give no further explanation. I got the caps and the fuse, because I would need them to experiment with. I was never present, to the best of my recollection, when experiments were made with dynamite. Neither bombs nor dynamite were ever distributed through the Arbeiter-Zeitung office. I did not tell Mr. Wilkinson that they were. I never handled any dynamite outside of the two cartridges; never had anything to do with the distribution of dynamite. I know Herr Most; I guess I have known him for three years. This letter here is from Most. I do not know whether I answered that letter. I cannot remember.”
“In whose handwriting is this postal card?”
“It is Most’s handwriting. I suppose I received it—I see my address on it. I do not remember having read that postal or this letter at this date. I don’t remember the contents of that letter. I have undoubtedly received and read it, but don’t recollect anything about it now. I never carried on any correspondence with Most. I don’t remember whether I answered the postal card, and whether I said or wrote to Most anything in regard to the inquiries made of me in this letter. I know positively I did not give him the directions where to ship the material mentioned in the letter. There may have been a letter addressed in my care which I may have sent to Most, but I know absolutely nothing outside of that.
“As to the phrase, ‘The social revolution,’ which occurs in my writings, I mean by it the evolutionary process, or changes from one system to another, which take place in society; I meant a change from a wage system, from the present relations between labor and capital, to some other system. By the abolition of the wage system I mean the doing away with the spoliation of labor, making the worker the owner of his own product.