“Was there a conspiracy? There has been a conspiracy existing in this community to overthrow the law of the State of Illinois by force, for years and years. In 1885, upon the anniversary of the birth of George Washington, in the city of Grand Rapids, the arch-conspirator in this case—because he is the one that is the most contemptible—said in the city of Grand Rapids—I refer you now to the testimony of Mr. Moulton and George Schook: ‘There are three thousand men, armed, in the city of Chicago, secretly drilled. They are known by numbers and not by names. Whoever wishes to join may join, but before you have joined you cannot know their secrets, Mr. Moulton. There will be a revolution when the eight-hour movement takes place. We will favor the eight-hour not because we believe in it, but because it will assist us in the social revolution, and the eight-hour movement will occur on or about the 1st of May, 1886. If I fail, I shall be hanged.’ And then the man that puts the word ‘Ruhe’ for the purpose of this case on the shoulder of Fischer, compares himself to George Washington, and in his grotesque and horrible vanity says: ‘I am a rebel, and if I don’t succeed I shall be hanged.’
“On October, 17, 1885, in the city of Chicago, at the West Twelfth Street Turner Hall, August Spies again, in a public meeting, admitted the great conspiracy and again foreshadowed the coming revolution on the first of May; and this was published by his coördinate editor in the Alarm, at the same office, 107 Fifth Avenue, Mr. Parsons.
“The defendant Spies has been upon the stand. He only denied as to a conspiracy, and never whispered a word of denial except when he got to the word ‘Ruhe.’ Without explanation he could never escape the effect of that word, and his explanation is the evidence of his guilt; he tried to put that on Fischer.
“August Spies was introduced at this point and offered the following resolutions: Whereas, a general move has been started among the organized wage-workers of this country for the establishment of an eight-hour work-day, to begin on May 1, 1886; whereas, it is to be expected that the class of professional idlers, the governing class who prey upon the bone and marrow of the useful members of society, will resist this attempt by calling to their assistance the Pinkertons, the police and State militia: Therefore, be it
“Resolved, That we urge upon all wage-workers the necessity of procuring arms before the inauguration of the proposed eight-hour strike, in order to be in a position of meeting our foe with their own argument, force.
“Here is shown the sincerity of these men in their endeavor to ameliorate the laborer—as they call it, the wage-worker.
“Resolved, That while we are skeptical in regard to the benefits that will accrue to the wage-worker from the introduction of the eight-hour work-day, we nevertheless pledge ourselves to aid and assist our brethren of this class with all that lies in our power as long as they show an open and defiant front to our common enemy, the labor-devouring class of aristocratic vagabonds, the brutal murderers of our comrades in St. Louis, Chicago and Philadelphia and other places. Our war-cry is, ‘Death to the enemy of the human race, our despoilers.’
“What does that mean? It was published in the Alarm. Was there a conspiracy, gentlemen, against the police on the first day of May, 1886? After the reading, these resolutions were received with round after round of applause, and the chair was about to put a vote, when Mr. J. K. Magie arose and said that he understood a discussion of them to be in order. He denounced the revolutionary character of the resolutions. He believed that six hours of labor was enough! This man was a labor agitator and believes in the amelioration of labor. ‘This is the best form of government that ever existed,’ he said of this Republic. He is an American citizen and believes in the institutions of his country. ‘If there are abuses, there is a proper way to correct them. Eighty per cent. of the voting population are working people; they should strike with the ballot and not with the bullet.’ Then this ameliorator of labor, August Spies, supposed that Mr. Magie did not like the terms in which the members of the Government were referred to. The reason of this was that Mr. Magie was one of those political vagabonds himself. There were nine millions of the best people engaged in the industrial trades of this country. There were but one million of them as yet organized—one million, and by the way, that is significant in the fact that these men fought to achieve this result all over the country. Schnaubelt had said at 54 West Lake Street the night before, the 3d of May, ‘We must telegraph our success to all the other cities throughout the country.’
“To make the movement in which they were engaged—the eight-hour movement for the 1st of May—a successful one, it must be a revolutionary one. ‘Don’t let us,’ he exclaimed, ‘forget the most forcible argument, the gun and dynamite.’
“Was there a conspiracy? Turn to the cross-examination of Wilkinson by Capt. Black, and find that part where Wilkinson said he had heard Joe Gruenhut say that the revolution that Spies spoke of was to occur, the conflict was actually to occur on the 1st or after the 1st of May, 1886. This was brought out by Capt. Black himself on cross-examination of this witness. In the first place you must remember that Lingg was in this country before the Christmas of 1885, between the 1st day of January and the 14th day of January. The Czar bomb, but six or eight weeks after Lingg came here, was handed to Wilkinson by Spies—the twin, the same bomb in general construction and general make-up as that used at the Haymarket on that night, made by Lingg on the afternoon of that day, or filled with dynamite on the afternoon of that day.”