Anarchy and Anarchists / A History of the Red Terror and the Social Revolution in America and Europe; Communism, Socialism, and Nihilism in Doctrine and in Deed; The Chicago Haymarket Conspiracy and the Detection and Trial of the Conspirators

by Michael J. Schaack

“Take the theory just suggested by the prosecution in this case, that the time had come now that was conceived of years and years ago; the time had come now which was suggested by August Spies at Grand Rapids, Michigan, the time had come now which was foreseen in conversation had with the various defendants to various newspaper reporters at various times and various places; the time had come now when the attack could be made that was to be incited by the McCormick meeting and the McCormick riot; the time had come now when by reason of the gathering of the laboring people at the Haymarket Square the attempt was to be made and the response was to be made effectual; now history was to be written, now the point had come when bowie knives, when sharpened files poisoned with acids, when all of these implements of modern warfare, as we are told, were to be turned loose upon the world; when property rights were to be destroyed, when the police were to be killed, when any one aiding, assisting, abetting, standing up for or protecting the law was to be ruthlessly slain. The time had come. The men were there, the arrangements had been perfected, the police were in line, halt was made, and they were commanded to disperse. The time, the grand culmination of all the arrangements and conspiracies and confederations for years back had arrived—the time when the blow was to be struck which was to overturn civilization, which was to overturn the country.

“These eight men are the leaders, they tell us. They tell us that there are hundreds more that ought to have been indicted, and should be indicted—should be prosecuted, and should be convicted, and should be destroyed. But the time had come, and the leaders and their friends, having been preparing for years, were ready. They courted the attack—they hailed the day. They had pleaded for the opportunity, and the opportunity had now arrived. Where are these men? Where are the men that were to take charge and carry on the warfare that had been agreed upon for the last five or six years, or longer, in the city of Chicago? Where were they? In the first place, Mr. Parsons and Mr. Fischer are at Zepf’s Hall. Think of it! For six long years they had been making their preparations for the attack; for days and weeks and months they had sown and preached revolution; the skirmish lines had met, and they were prepared; and still Parsons and Fischer were quietly discussing matters between themselves over a glass of beer at Zepf’s Hall. They were principals in this matter, leaders in the overthrowing of the Government and the establishment of this idea. They were at Zepf’s Hall, away from any scene of action. Where is Engel? Engel, the great conspirator—Engel, who made the inflammatory speeches at Clybourn Avenue? Quietly at home, engaged in a game of cards with his friend—not there at all. There is no man that pretends or claims that Mr. Engel, at the time the bomb was thrown, was at the Haymarket meeting or near it.

WILLIAM A. FOSTER.
From a Photograph.

“Where was Schwab, one of the brainy men of this conspiracy, a man whose pen had added to its formation, whose genius and whose brain had been instrumental in bringing it about? An hour’s ride away, at Deering, addressing a quiet meeting of laboring men.

“Where was Neebe? Neebe, one of the leading conspirators, they tell us. He is one of the eight heads, one of the chiefs in the overthrow of the Government and of property rights, and he was quietly at home. Lingg, the man who has prepared the implements of warfare, the man who has taken the dynamite, who has prepared the shells and loaded them, has inserted the caps and the fuse and made all the preparations for the destruction of the police, for the destruction of the militia and for the destruction of property everywhere—where is Lingg? Wandering about upon Larrabee Street, in the neighborhood of Clybourn Avenue.

“Where is Spies and where is Fielden? Spies and Fielden, the only remaining ones of the eight, are upon the wagon, in the presence of line after line of the police, armed to the teeth, having not only the regulation revolvers in their coat-pockets, but those of larger caliber, in some instances, so far as some of the companies were concerned, in their belts. Those men were quietly standing upon the wagon, right in sight and within the aim of all of these murderous weapons, with the idea that an attack was to be made, with the idea and knowledge that an assault was to take place, with the idea and the knowledge that now the final blow was to strike which should carry terror to the hearts of the capitalists and overturn society and government. They were there, quietly arguing, arguing with the police in command there, that the meeting was peaceable.

“But they say, gentlemen, ‘Ruhe’ is a German word and means peace, quiet, rest; that because it means quiet, therefore—this is what they intend to have you believe—that because Fielden said, ‘This is a quiet meeting,’ or that it was peaceable, or, ‘We are peaceable,’ that that was the watchword which was to be an order in cipher to commence immediately an attack. Now, gentlemen, I say that this is, in my opinion, an unfair deduction; it is an unfair conclusion. The testimony all agrees that Captain Ward appeared there and said: ‘In the name of the people of the State of Illinois, I command you to quietly and peaceably disperse.’ That was the expression—‘I command you to peaceably disperse’—to which Mr. Fielden replied: ‘We are peaceable,’ or ‘This is a peaceable meeting, Captain.’ Could anything be more natural than that that reply should be made? Suppose, gentlemen, now, that the theory of the prosecution is right; suppose that it was the grand beginning of an uncertain end; suppose that it was the culmination of the idea that had existed for years. Do you believe that bombs would not have hailed from the top of every building? Do you believe they would not have been thrown from every sidewalk? Do you suppose they would not have been thrown from the rear and from the front? In the nature of things, can you, in the light of this testimony, say that because some man somewhere, on account of some reason, which is not explained here, which never can be explained, acting upon his own individual responsibility, lighted a bomb and threw it, that therefore you must say that the grand conspiracy, the arrangement for years and years had this result, or rather that the throwing of that bomb was the result of that conspiracy?

“But there is one thing the gentlemen have lost sight of in this case, it seems to me. Of course they haven’t, but in their argument they have carefully avoided it. A Socialist is not to be believed, a Communist is a liar, and an Anarchist is capable of committing any crime. That is what they tell us in plain language—that we have produced some witnesses here who are Socialists, Communists and Anarchists, and because we have done so, their testimony, for that reason alone, is to be discarded. Mr. Walker and Mr. Ingham both made reference to the character of some of our witnesses upon the theory and upon the ground that the evidence showed that they were Anarchists or Communists. Well, they were Anarchists, Socialists and Communists, some of them.

“Although the gentlemen claim that a conviction might exist, leaving out the testimony of Gilmer and of Thompson, they would never concede that under any circumstances a conviction could be had were it not for the testimony of Seliger and the testimony of Waller; they never would concede that, and did the gentlemen ever think, while they were presenting to you the case upon which they demanded a conviction, that the very witnesses that they proved the facts by upon which they ask you to hang these men are Socialists and Communists and Anarchists?