“One of these bombs which Louis Lingg admitted that he made differed from the others in that it contained a trace of copper. In the trunk of Louis Lingg was found this piece of metal, which he had undoubtedly used in making that particular bomb, and which accounts for the trace of copper in it, the point being that everything found in any one of those bombs was found in some shape in Louis Lingg’s trunk and possession.
“The answer to all this is that the bomb, instead of being thrown from the alley, was thrown thirty-five feet south of the alley. What of it? What if they have proven that? What if they have satisfied your minds clearly that the bomb came from thirty-five feet south of the alley? Can there be any question in the minds of any reasonable man that he who threw that bomb, whether he stood in the alley or thirty-five feet south of the alley, was one of the Anarchists associated with these men?
“When that question is settled in your minds, that ends this case. We have proven the conspiracy. It has not been denied. We have proven that Degan died from the effects of that bomb; it has not been denied. We have proven it by circumstances making it as clear as the daylight that that bomb was thrown by one of the Anarchists, and when we have done that we have proven this case—when we have done that we have sealed the fate of these men, if jurors do their duty under the law as it is written and declared.
“There was a conspiracy. These men know it and have not denied it. That bomb came from that conspiracy, and the moment it resulted in the death of Degan the crime of conspiracy was merged in the crime of murder, and every one of these men made amenable under the law.
“The meeting came; the crowd did not. The Haymarket was covered with little groups of people scattered around. Spies goes around and picks out the place for the meeting, and, although he knew that the word ‘Ruhe’ had been published, although he knew that these armed groups were scattered all over this city, although he knew that Balthasar Rau in an hour could not notify every man who knew of that plan, he himself called it to order in the very place where the police force could be massed together and the most enormous destruction done. He told Wilkinson that it was discovered that bombs of composite metals were best, and when on that fatal night the bomb was thrown seven men were killed and sixty wounded, and to-day in a public hospital of this county, while these men sit here decked with flowers, there is one man with eighteen drainage tubes in his body. Was Spies right when he said that bombs of composite metal were best?”
CHAPTER XXX.
Foster and Black before the Jury—Making Anarchist History—The Eight Leaders—A Skillful Defense—Alibis All Around—The Whereabouts of the Conspirators—The “Peaceable Dispersion”—A Miscarriage of Revolutionary War—Average Anarchist Credibility—“A Man will Lie to Save his Life”—The Attack on Seliger—The Candy-man and the Bomb-thrower—Conflicting Testimony—A Philippic against Gilmer—The Liars of History—The Search for a Witness—The Man with the Missing Link—The Last Word for the Prisoners—Captain Black’s Theory—High Explosives and Civilization—The West Lake Street Meeting—Defensive Armament—Engel and his Beer—Hiding the Bombs—The Right of Revolution—Bonfield and Harrison—The Socialist of Judea.
MR. W. A. FOSTER was the next speaker, and he made a very strong case for his clients—the strongest that could be made in face of the many disadvantages under which he labored in view of the evidence against the Anarchists. He is a fluent, easy and graceful talker and held his facts well in hand. He began in a deliberate manner, and grew at times, as he proceeded, quite eloquent in his exposition of the virtues of the defendants. He was pointed and caustic sometimes, but he never seemed to lose the purpose of making a strong impression on the jury. The opening of his argument was largely devoted to showing that the Haymarket meeting was not riotous or boisterous, but that it had been called for a peaceable purpose. Then he said: