The bomb used was undoubtedly similar to the lot discovered a few days previously. But how it became separated and in what manner it was concealed and smuggled into Lingg’s hands after he had been placed in a new cell and put under strict surveillance, are matters of conjecture. My own theory is that Lingg had a confidential friend among the smaller class of criminals. To such a friend this bomb was intrusted for safe-keeping in the event of the discovery of the bombs in his own cell, and when they were found he relied on that trusted friend to help him to escape the gallows. In no other way could this bomb have come into the possession of Lingg, since the prisoner had been searched several times and nothing found upon him. A confederate must have carefully kept the bomb and smuggled it to him at the last moment. Everything indicated that the bomb had been part of the discovered explosives, and its use fully corroborated the opinion I had given to Sheriff Matson and Jailor Folz at the time of the find, that the bombs were only intended for suicidal purposes and had been brought into the jail for no other object. At the time this opinion was given I was severely criticised by Chief Ebersold and others—the newspapers especially—for advancing such a theory. They maintained that the bombs had been brought in to be thrown at the time of the execution, so as not only to kill all who might become spectators, but to enable the Anarchists to escape hanging by death in the general destruction around them. A few of the papers even went so far as to attribute the opinion to “Schaack’s stupidity.”
The doomed Anarchists were closely watched when it became quite apparent that there was no chance of their escaping the gallows either through an intervention of the courts or through executive clemency. Before this, however, some latitude had been allowed them. They had been watched, of course, but the rigorous scrutiny subsequently adopted had not then prevailed. Visitors had been admitted, and, although separate conversations had not been permitted, prisoners and friends had been close together. No contraband articles had ever been noticed, however, the general opinion among the jail officials being that, considering the prisoners were so hopeful of good results from the labors of their counsel, such a thing as suicide was not contemplated by any one of them.
The first thing to arouse Jailor Folz’s suspicion was Engel’s action one day about the 1st of November. It appears that at that time Engel was very nervous and restless, and secured some morphine to quiet his nerves. He took an over-dose, and when charged with having deliberately done so with suicidal intent, he stoutly maintained that he had taken too much by mistake. Folz thought no man could take such a dose except with a view to suicide, and he resolved to keep a close watch on Engel thereafter and allow him no medicine save what was administered by a physician. The others were also more closely watched after that episode. All were searched at stated intervals, as I have already mentioned.
One day, while Parsons was being searched, he was handed a common white shirt by Otto Folz, a son of the Jailor. Parsons looked at it for a moment and then exclaimed:
“My God! you are not going to put a shroud on a live man?”
After the bomb discovery the doomed Anarchists were removed from their old cells and placed on the lower floor, along the tier containing Lingg’s cell. Parsons was put in cell No. 7, Fischer, No. 8, and Engel, No. 9. When Lingg had been removed to the bath-room, his comrades were again subjected to an examination, and their clothes were all changed in the Jailor’s office. While this change was being effected, Parsons became greatly agitated, and he remarked:
“If I only had one of the bombs Lingg had in his cell, I would make very short work of all this.”
Fischer also made a similar remark. He said that he was ready to die at any time, and he did not care how he died. He was very defiant, and showed that he was in earnest in his expressions.
Late in the afternoon of November 10, Gov. Oglesby gave his decision on the various applications for mercy. It reads: