A RECORD OF THE Terrible Scenes of May 4, 1 886. Chicago and New York : BELFORD, CLARKE & CO. 1886. CHIEF OF POLICE EBERSOLD. THE CHICAGO RIOT A RECORD OF THE TERRIBLE SCENES OF MAY 4, 1886. BY PAUL C. HULL, AN EYE-WITNESS OF THE TRAGEDY. ILLUSTRATED BY TRUE WILLIAMS. BELFORD, CLARKE & CO., CHICAGO AND NEW YORK. iff, COPYRIGHT, BY BELFORD, CLARKE & CO. 1886. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF SOCIALISM . 7 CHAPTER II. THE FATAL FOURTH OF MAY 38 CHAPTER III. THE DAY AFTER 98 ILLUSTRATIONS. CHIEF OF POLICE EBERSOLD Fipntistiect, INSPECTOR BONFIELD 17 AUGUST SPIES 33 A. R. PARSONS 49 MICHAEL SCHWAB 65 SAMUEL FIELDEN 81 MAP OF THE SCENE OF THF. RIOT 61 EXPLOSION OF THE BOMB 97 CHARGE OF THE POLICE 113 THE WOUNDED AND DYING AT DESPLAINF.S ST. STATION. . . 121 THE RED FLAG. What nation and what government This crimson tatter all besprent With human skulls, and flame and gore, Circling and flaunting evermore What people does it represent ? Emblem of treason and of hate, Red banner of an outlawed state, Each fold a lighted torch conceals, Each wave a glittering pike reveals, Each with its lurking, coward mate. Baptized in riot, blood, and fire, A faggot saved for freedom's pyre; Companion of the garb of shame, Without a home, without a name Base bastard of an unknown sire! What deed of valor has it wrought ? What hero hosts have cheered and fought, Keeping it ever in their sight, And died for principle and right And blessed liberty, blood-bought? No emblem can inspire so well A sortie of the hosts of hell! Where malice lurks and treason plots And foreign lepers bare their spots There floats this ghastly sentinel. Haul down the flaunting alien rag Foul insult to our starry flag! When they go waving side by side Where is the freeman's vaunted pride? Haul down the red, spew out the gag! F. 0. Bennett. 5 SOCIALISM A theory of society which advocates a more pre- cise, orderly and harmonious arrangement of the social relations of mankind than that which has hitherto prevailed. Webster. COMMUNISM The reorganizing of society, or the doctrine that it should be reorganized, by regulating property, industry and the means of livelihood, and also the domestic relations and social morals of mankind; socialism; especially the doc- trine of a community of property, or the negative of individual right in property./. H. Burton. ANARCHY Want of government ; the state of society where there is no law or supreme power, or where the laws are not efficient, and individuals do what they please with impunity. Webster. THE CHICAGO RIOT. CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF SOCIALISM. Socialism is the parent stem of all, and from it spring many branches of many names. All lead to the same point by different roads. All wish to attain a common end, but by different methods. But it is not the province of this pamphlet to dis- cuss or analyze the forms of Socialism. Leave that to those who have more ability and leisure than the writer. The aim of this little book is to show the rise, progress and work of the Socialists of Chicago and to tell the story of the great riot of the night of May 4, 1886, and the causes of that riot. The writer is the only man who was a dis- interested spectator of that bloody scene. Let us, then, begin at the beginning : For many months a few hundreds of profes- sional Communistic Anarchists in Chicago have created the growing fear that something in the nature of a Nihilistic mine threatened life and property in the city. The Communistic utterances of the leaders on the lake front and in Haymarket 8 THE CHICAGO RIOT. square has evidenced that a serious social conflict was imminent. The fact that Chicago has been for years the central distributing point for all the vast European immigration that has sought the United States in the last decade has made it peculiarly the abiding- place of the only human material from which social peace in America has anything to fear. The sober, industrious, economical and desirable stream of foreign immigration flows into and out of the city, adding to its population and prosperity and to the wealth and population of the great west tributary to it. But borne along by this stream are the scum and dregs of countries where despotism has made paupers and tyranny has bred conspirators. From Russia Chicago receives Nihilists, the gift of cent- uries of Slavonic slavery and cruelty. From the German states come Socialists, the offspring of military exactions and autocratic government, and from Europe generally, including Great Britain and Ireland, Chicago drains the feverish spirit of hu- man resentment against laws of life, of property, and of conduct which it has no hand in making or enforcing. From the nature of its situation Chicago catches far more than its share of this undesirable residuum of the national immigration, but it was thought that THE CHICAGO RIOT. 9 in no other city in the Union could it be received with less danger to the community. Chicago con- gratulated itself that the ceaseless activity of its business life was not the atmosphere in which plots and conspiracies against property, law and social order could prosper. The opportunities to obtain individual property are so many and infectious that they should exorcise the spirit of the Commune that cries, " Burn, destroy, level ! " But there is always, in every residuum, some irreclaimable dregs. So in the thousands of immigrants who come to Chicago to escape the grinding oppression of Europe, imbued with bitter hatred of everything that seems an injustice in the distribution of wealth and honors in this world, there remains an insignificant number who do not appreciate the new civilization to which they have come and into which they should assimilate. The prejudices of these have been fed and fostered by designing and selfish leaders or crazed fanatics. They are told that all law is tyranny, all society is their enemy, and that all individual prosperity is robbery the world over in America where they have a hand in the government, as in Europe where they had not. And it is this band of ignorant villains and design- ing demagogues that has bred riot and bloodshed in Chicago. Socialism in Chicago grew out of or rather was 10 THE CHICAGO RIOT. coincident with the agitation for shorter working hours. That agitation was begun by German workingmen after the panic of 1857, and increased until it was overwhelmed by the excitement attend- ing the war of the Rebellion. After the war 1,500,- ooo men were thrown on the labor market of the country, and trades unions were formed and began again to agitate for a reduction of the hours of labor. The movement has continued ever since. The Chicago Socialists first showed their politi- cal strength in 1867 and 1868, when tickets were put up by the labor party, and in the latter year it elected several aldermen. Just previous to that time the Socialistic labor movement had broken out in Germany, and it was transplanted to this country by the natural spread of ideas and through the aid of German immigrants. In 1874 the Socialists placed a ticket in the field at election, and Francis Hoffman, the present cor- poration counsel, appeared on it as a candidate for Congress. He helped to frame the platform and made speeches all through the campaign. He got about five hundred votes. In the same year or the one following A. R. Parsons ran for county clerk on a Socialist ticket and got 8,000 votes. At that time the Socialists called their party the working- men's party of the United States. Two years later they changed its name to the Socialistic labor THE CHICAGO RIOT. 11 party, and at the next election polled 12,000 votes. In April, 1878, Frank Stauber, a Socialist, was elect- ed alderman from the I4th ward. In 1879 a So- cialist named Lorenz was elected his colleague. Stauber was reelected in 1880. In 1881 Altpeter was elected from the 6th and Meier from the i6th ward. The latter was reelected in 1883. The others wouldn't run for reelection, and the Socialists stopped putting up canditates. Dr. Schmidt, Socialist candidate for mayor against Harrison at his first election, polled 12,000 votes and split the Republican party so that Harrison was elected. He would have appointed a number of Socialists to office, but they didn't want the positions. They were satisfied with organizing unions and trying to make the Democratic party a labor party. The only Socialists now holding office under the city are these : Joseph Gruenhut, recorder of statistics, ex- Alderman Meier, police clerk at Chicago avenue station, Harry Rubens, attorney of the board of education, and Francis Hoffman, corporation coun- sel. The Socialists have been strong enough to elect four representatives to the legislature. They were Senator Artley, and Representatives Meier, Erhardt and Meilbeck. Chicago has been the hotbed of 12 THE CHICAGO RIOT. Socialism in this country. She has been the leader. The Germans and Bohemians, of whom the last school census gives Chicago 209,631 and 28,281 respectively, are essentially Socialistic. From those nationalities Socialism gets its main strength. The Anarchists are an offshoot from the Social- ists, and embrace those who think that mere organ- ization and voting-are not sufficient. They believe in the ideas of the Nihilists of Russia and the Communists of France. Herr Most, who is a lunatic, may be considered their first leader in this country. The Communistic Anarchists, numbering only a few hundreds, have for the past ten years been the disturbing element in Chicago labor agitations. They believe in the destruction of all government and all private property. They want absolute po- litical and social confusion. The fulfillment of their dreams would be a community where no order, system or arrangement of society prevailed. They do not admit that such a community should be formed of humanity bred and educated to such a moral and intellectual height that violation of moral law would be unknown and impossible, and hence physical force to compel obedience to such law would be unnecessary. They do not propose to effect this wonderful change in society and human nature slowly, gradually and by natural THE CHICAGO RIOT. 13 means. None will place the limit of time beyond fifty years. All propose to establish by the most violent of physical forces a society where physical force will be unknown. Every Communistic An- archist is willing to become a robber, an incendiary and a murderer in order to establish a state .of soci- ety for his own benefit, of which no man could be a member whose moral character was not equal to that of Jesus Christ. It was an advocate of such a doctrine who hurled the murderous bomb in Hay- market square. The acknowledged leaders of the Communistic Anarchists in Chicago are August Spies, A. R. Par- sons, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, P. J. Dusey, known as " Dynamite " Dusey, and Chris. Spies, brother of August. Their prominence as leaders and expounders of the cause is indicated by the order in which they are named above. August Spies is a pale-faced, intellectual-looking German, thirty-six years of age. He was born in Hessia and came to this country in 1873. He has been a Socialist all his life, and started a newspaper in support of that cause in 1879. His paper was called the Arbeiter Zeitung, and a sheet was never published which contained matter more revolution- ary to the law and order of the community. He was an agitator among his class as early as 1877, and in the past six years has been very active and 14 THE CHICAGO RIOT. successful in stirring up revolution among his people. He is the author of many tracts on the subject of Socialism, and as a violent speech-maker he stands the peer of the lunatic Most. He is passionate and emotional, and entirely incompe- tent to discuss the principles of his creed calmly or logically. He was a student of explosives and their use, and an expert in the manufacture of bombs and infernal machines, as will appear below, and evidences of which were discovered in abundance in his office after the riot. A. R. Parsons is a medium sized, slimly built man, with a light mustache. By trade he is a printer. He is well educated, thoroughly posted on Socialism, and a fluent and stirring speaker. Unlike Spies, he is cool and calculating, and in his most rabid and inflammatory speeches weighed every word. He was the editor of the Alarm, an English edition of the Arbeiter Zeitung. He is well known in Pittsburgh, where, during the last few years, he has been a frequent visitor and made many inflammatory speeches. He was in that city in January, at which time he was asked by a reporter if it was true that a quantity of bombs had been discovered in the office of the Alarm, in Chicago. Parsons' reply was: " Certainly it is true. We do not pretend to make a secret of the manu- facture of these bombs to be employed by Anarch- THE CHICAGO RIOT. 15 ists everywhere upon emergency. Would you like to see one? If so, I can gratify the wish, as I have two fine specimens with me which now calmly repose in the inside pocket of my coat." A Houston, Texas, special says of him: " Several citizens here recognize an old acquaint- ance in Anarchist Parsons. Parsons is the son of the famous Confederate general, W. H. Parsons, commander of Parsons' brigade. General Parsons was one of the brilliant men of Texas, and this eldest Anarchist son is said to inherit his father's versatile talents. For several years after the close of the Rebellion General Parsons published the Daily Telegraph of this city, the first daily paper in Houston. In 1872 he joined the Republican party and accepted the nomination from this district for state senator in the twelfth legislature. The twelfth legislature was notoriously a corrupt body, and when General Parsons closed his sen- atorial career he was charged with being a rich man and shortly afterward left Texas to reside in New York. The Anarchist son followed his father east, taking with him a colored woman, whom he is reported to have since married. Parties who knew the Anarchist here years ago are surprised at his degradation. He comes from an aristocratic southern family and his affiliation with dynamiters cannot be accounted for." 16 THE CHICAGO RIOT. Michael Schwab is a German, past thirty-five years of age. He was assistant editor of the Arbeiter Zei- tung, and a speaker on all occasions of meetings of Anarchists. He always addressed his countrymen in German. Samuel Fielden is below the medium height, thick set and muscular. His face is swarthy and covered with a heavy beard. His brow is low, his face dull, and his appearance indicates the pre- dominance of the brute. But this is not the character of the man. Unlike any of his associates he is a laboring man. He drove a stone wagon, and worked hard for his daily bread. He was kind to his family, and bore a good reputation among men. He was bitter against society be- cause of the position he occupied in it, and prob- ably his greatest crime was that committed by Old Dog Tray he was in villainous company. Speaking for himself, he says: " I was thirty-nine years old last February, and was born in Todmorden, Lancashire, England. My parents were poor, but I succeeded in obtaining a fair education. The first memorable event in my life was when I lost my mother. I was then only ten years old. At the age of eighteen I attended an old-fashioned revival meeting, at which I was con- verted to the cause of Christianity. Then I joined the Methodist church, and subsequently preached INSPECTOR BON FIELD THE CHICAGO RIOT. 17 the gospel in my immediate neighborhood. In 1869 I decided to leave England and emigrate to the United States, and reached here in July, 1869, going first to Olneyville, R. I., where I obtained employment in a woolen mill. The following July I went to Ohio and worked on a farm a short time, when I came to Chicago. On arriving here I was employed by ' Long John ' to work on his farm at Summit, 111. When winter came I found employ- ment in stone quarries, and have followed that class of work most of the time since. "Soon after my arrival in America I began reading the works of Tom Paine, to which I became a convert, though I am now what is termed a Materialist. My Socialistic career began five years ago, when I joined an organization called the Chicago Liberal League. I at once became an active and prominent member of the organization, and it was principally owing to my efforts that the National Liberal League was compelled to adopt the labor platform. My connection with the or- ganization brought me into intimate relations with well-known Socialistic agitators, and I soon became an enthusiastic disciple of their cause. In 1884 I joined the Working-People's Association, with which I have ever since been prominently identi- fied. I believe that I have attained considerable celebrity as a public speaker, and especially as an 2 18 THE CHICAGO RIOT. advocate of the laboring people's rights. I have assisted in building up Socialistic organization in Chicago, and am proud of the fact that we are now 3,500 strong in membership, not including several thousands of known sympathizers. Carter Harrison ought to know the strength of our organi- zation, as it was the Socialists that elected him mayor of Chicago." P. J. Dusey and Chris. Spies deserve but pass- ing mention. Dusey is a reckless fanatic, imi- tating and embellishing in his speeches the vio- lent utterances of others. Chris. Spies was a silent worker, and a tool of his more talented brother. The Communistic Anarchists first made their presence felt in Chicago in the lumber riot of 1876. A strike of the lumbermen continued for some time, an-d the mob and the police fought at inter- vals for a week. In these battles the strikers used pickets as weapons. The result was several wounded strikers, and one officer killed. Following this came the great railroad riots of 1877. A strike of railroad employes was in prog- ress then which created an uproar for a week be- tween the police and the mob. Many skirmishes were had, and the trouble culminated in the " via- duct riot " on Halsted street. The police on this occasion commanded the viaduct, and fought the THE CHICAGO RIOT. 19 mob from both approaches. Many strikers and Anarchists were killed and wounded. During the progress of this strike the German and Bohemian furniture workers held a meeting in Twelfth Street Turner Hall. Nearly all of these men were Socialists and many were Anarchists. The meeting was a turbulent one, and owing to the disjointed times the police determined to disperse the crowd. A posse entered the hall and were met at the entrance by Mike Wasserman, the proprietor, who demanded that they go away. He was knocked down, and the police entered. There is dispute as to whether the riot act was read to the crowd. The police fired into the crowd, killing one man and wounding many more. The men made frantic efforts to escape. Scores of them jumped from the windows to the ground and many limbs were broken. The rout of the crowd was complete and humiliating. This action of the police caused great excitement among the laboring classes. The matter was eventually brought into the courts, where those who held the meeting sued the city for damages. They asked for but nominal damages, but demanded vindication of their right to hold meetings. Judge McAllister, still on the bench in Chicago, rendered a decision in favor of the prose- cution, and in his summing up said in effect that if every policeman had been killed no member of 20 THE CHICAGO RIOT. tne crowd attacked could have been legally pun- ished for it. i That assault of the police engendered more murder in the hearts of the Socialists of Chicago than any previous or subsequent act of the authori- ties. There are men in Chicago now who curse the law at every mention of that raid. A Socialistic leader said to the writer a week after the Hay- market riot: "I am a fatalist. Nothing happens by accident. The last riot was not an accident. I can clearly trace the throwing of that bomb back to the bloody scene in Turner Hall. That act of the police called for revenge, and we have never for- gotten it, and will never forgive it. The blood spilled in Haymarket square is a partial atonement for the blood spilled in Turner Hall. I do not con- sider that the blot has yet been washed out." It is certain that this act of the police had the effect of forming military companies among the Anarchists. They armed themselves with muskets, and a few of the companies were provided with uniforms. They subsequently grew bold, and at intervals paraded the streets with their arms, and under the red flag. Their movements and the strength of their increasing numbers grew omi- nous, and in 1879 an act was passed in the state assembly prohibiting the parading in public of THE CHICAGO RIOT. 21 armed companies of men without the sanction of the governor. This was a direct blow at the Anarchists. Since then they have made no parades with arms, but kept up their drilling secretly. In the winter of 1883 a newspaper scare was started concerning the dangerous st/ength of the armed Socialists. It was charged by the heads of the Chicago militia that this Socialistic strength was such that the combined force of the police and militia could not successfully oppose it in case of an outbreak. The matter was thoroughly investi- gated by the police and by the writer. The police claimed to have found no armed or drilling So- cialists. The writer discovered the meeting places of three companies who were armed and who drilled regularly. Two of these companies were drilled by English speaking, American-born drill- masters. The strength of all these companies was not above one hundred men. It developed in the next general assembly of the state that this scare was not without a purpose. A bill appropriating $20,000 to the state militia was passed. In regard to the presence of armed companies of Socialists in Chicago Mr. George Schilling, a leading agitator, said to the writer: "There are armed companies of Socialists in Chicago, but their strength amounts to nothing. 22 THE CHICAGO RIOT. It has always seemed to me that this idea of my countrymen in forming military companies is the sheerest nonsense. Their strength will effect nothing, and I have ridiculed them for years. Every handful of Socialistic Germans who come to our shores think that if they form themselves into a military company they may by some lucky turn destroy this great government." A visitor to Chicago, just a month before the Haymarket riot, tells a thrilling story of his experi- ence in a Socialists' drill-hall. He says: " Missing an outgoing train for the east a few Saturday nights ago I sought recreation in a State street theater. Seated near were two intelligent- looking, plainly dressed laboring men of middle age. They retired at the end of each act for refreshments. At the close of the play I politely invited them to join me in a glass of beer at a neighboring saloon. There the conversation turned on the labor question. They were both enthusiasts on the subject and both evinced great familiarity with history and politics. One was a machinist and the other a master stair-builder. They ex- pressed great sympathy with the working classes. At my mention of Socialism and Communism they exchanged significant glances. I purposely sneered at the idea of there being an organized body of Socialists or Communists. My sarcastic allusions THK CHICAC.O RIOT. 23 to the cowardice of the working classes evoked passionate replies. I had said I was a stranger, and they said that if I could convince them of the truth of my statement they would show me some- thing to change my opinion. Going to my hotel I produced documents that satisfied them I was ' straight goods,' as they expressed it. "Crossing to Clark street we entered a saloon on the west side of Clark, between Madison and Monroe streets. Going to the wine-room in the rear I sipped a glass of beer with one while the other retired. Returning in five minutes he told me I would have to submit to being blindfolded. With some misgivings I agreed, and my silk muffler was bound over my eyes. We went through the rear door, entered a cab, and were driven, I should think, about a dozen squares. We crossed at least one bridge. Ascending two flights of stairs we traversed a long hall and went down a short flight of steps, where we halted. Here one of my con- ductors left me. "The musty air led me to believe I was in the ante-room to a lodge hall. I could hear an indis- tinct hum of voices, shuffling footsteps, and the muffled rap of a gavel. After a long wait I was taken by the arms and pushed along various halls and around abrupt turns through a door into a warmer but no purer atmosphere. Slipping the 24 THE CHICAGO RIOT. bandage from my eyes I was seated between two guards. I found myself in a large hall surrounded by at least three hundred men. The hall looked like an improvised skating-rink. About thirty platoons of eights were moving around in close marching order with arms folded behind the backs, each wearing rubber shoes and black masks. The drill-master gave orders by number, which were executed with the utmost precision. The falling of the gavel called a halt, and soon all were seated. "Under the head 'good of the order' the presi- dent said a visiting brother from Springfield would address them. Numbers 97 and 51 were named to escort the speaker to the rostrum. He advanced, saluted the chairman, and spoke to him in a whis- per. Two quick raps of the gavel caused the assembly to crowd closely around the platform. There was no confusion and little noise. The ad- dress was begun in a low tone. There were no rhetorical flourishes, but every word and sentence fell with the precision and execution of a well- directed blow. There was no applause, but the deep breathing of the men, the convulsive clench- ing of hands, and indignant shrugs of broad shoulders plainly told the effect the address was having. He said in substance : "Brothers of the Strong Arm: As you have heard, I am of the Springfield division. There, as here ; there, as throughout THE CHICAGO RIOT. 25 the west, east, and south, the selfishness, the greed, the injus- tice of men have driven those who labor to organization and combination for self-defense. There, as everywhere, those who earn their bread by the sweat of their brows are compelled to meet by stealth, to bind each other to secrecy by the most terrible of oaths, to devise methcds, to secure means, and to concert actions for protection against a common foe. That common foe seeks to wrest the tools from our hands and de- prive our wives and little ones of bread. It is the wealth and power which bears on every dollar and every grain the impress of our own hard toil. " Thirty years ago William N. Whitely was the proprietor of small machine works in Springfield, Ohio. He was involved and embarrassed to an extent that threatened bankruptcy. Myself and two others were his principal machinists. He came to us and asked us if we would work on without our wages being paid until times improved. He was negotiating for a loan of $2,500 upon his property, and if that could be obtained he could pay some debts, buy some stock and machinery, and weather it out. If we would stand by him he could get through. We did so and he got through the bad time. We staid with him and saw his business grow and increase from the $2,500 invested to a gigantic manufacturing concern which turns out millions of dollars' worth of property each year. From the half dozen laborers of that time the help has in- creased until thousands are now employed. The income of William N. Whitely has increased from nothing thirty years ago to $350,000 a year. He was en- riched over a thousandfold, while we were allowed only our bread and shelter and clothing. It has now become a branch of political economy to figure to a penny what a work- ingman can live on and yet be able to work. A few years ago he reduced the wages of his employes because his immense 26 THE CHICAGO RIOT. profits slightly fell off. Grand houses, fast horses, diamonds, silks, trips to Europe and snap investments must be kept up, but the poor devils who toil, sweat and moan in their serfdom must bear its brunt Wages have been cut and cut until it is impossible to live at the wages paid. - " The conflict is on between the Knights of Labor on the one side and capital and the governments of the state and na- tion on the other ; for capitalists make legislatures as well as laws. If, in this struggle, capital is triumphant, as it has ever been, then, brothers of the strong arm, we will avenge the wrongs they cannot redress. That is the object of our organization. " The days proceeding the French revolution are now being experienced. The wails of the hungry, the groans of the sick, the moans of the dying, go up to heaven from every part of. this broad land. Do those fearful sounds awaken sym- pathy in the breasts of those who have the power to relieve want ? Let the neighing of Mrs. Westinghouse's horses, which are shod with silver and rest on Brussels carpet, answer the question! Let the barking of Mrs. Potter's $7,000 poodle dog, whose blanket cost $700, answer! Let the New York woman who wears to parties $1,000,000 worth of diamonds answer the question! Let the fool who paid $18,000 for the Morgan peachblow vase answer! Let the great man of Roches- ter who spends $50,000 yearly on butterflies answer! Let Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, who wears fifteen new dresses each week, each one of which costs more than would keep a laboring man's family in comfort a whole year, answer! Let the law- makers of Congress, who, at an expense of $5,000 of the peo- ple's money, passed a law relieving Mrs. Grant from the pay- ment of $90 duty on an imported picture on the same day, too, on which Webster & Co. gave her a check for $200,000 as royalty on her husband's book answer! ** # * * # * * * THE CHICAGO RIOT. 27 " Brothers of the strong arm! Is God hardening the hearts and clouding the intellects of these fools that destruction may come swift and sure? Oh, I pray that he may put it into their hearts to heed the mutterings of the coming storm; that capitalists may share their profits with those whose brain and bra\vn have made that capital what it is; that the selfishness of riches may become transformed into a human generosity, and the impending danger be averted. If prayers and tears do not avail we must be prepared for the worst. "At the close of the address the president said experiments would be. tried wifh a pocket torpedo, for a supply of which the committee was negotiat- ing. A dummy figure dressed in police uniform and carrying a club was taken from a closet and placed in a corner of the room. The dummy was packed with sawdust. The crowd moved to the farthest corner from the effigy. A torpedo about the size of a marble was handed to the president. With a quick movement he threw it at the figure, striking it midway. A puff of smoke, a smoth- ered report, and bits of blue clqjh, brass buttons, and sawdust were scattered over the room. " In the confusion that succeeded the bandage was reapplied to my eyes and I was led to a cab, which left me at my hotel at 3:50 o'clock in the morning." When the band of prospective murderers could no longer gather strength by public drilling they resorted to dynamite. The utmost caution 28 THE CHICAGO RIOT. and secrecy was enjoined and observed by all. At the time of their last blow their organization was - divided into clubs of two men each. Beyond this - i ^ J - l they knew nothing ^ of each other, thus insuring themselves against betrayal. A had a compact with B, B with C, C with D; etc. Each man com- .. municated with but one person at a time ^nd was safe in the secret plotting. Early in the spring of 1885 the band began ex-" cursions into the country for practice in throwing and firing, bombs. Such a trip meanjt a hard day's work. When they went into camp, as the selection of a practice ground was termed, outposts were placed to give alarm of approaching intrusion. Many of them became sufficiently expert, to hurl a bomb fifty paces. On one'occasion in the summer of 1885 one of the leaders took his followers to a re- tired spot on the lake shore and delivered a. lect- ure on explosives. He then placed a .heavy "street" bomb midway between four trees form-' ing a parallelogram four by six feet. The explo- sive utterly demolished the trees. The Jimbs were stripped of their bark and the trunks were shat- tered so that the fragments strewed the ground in all directions. They possessed themselves of perfect plans of the underground system of Chicago, and studied the manner in which the housetops at various street v THE CHICAGO RIOT. 29 i corners could x be reached. -Locations were selected for defense and congregation. The principal ones .were Market street, between Madison and Ran- dolph streets,/ the lake front park, and Hay- market sqoare. The position upon which they placed most reliance in point, of military vantage was the first location named above. They had planned in this instance three principal fortifications Randolph, Washington- and Madison streets. At. their backs they had the river and the tunnel for refuge for womfen 'and. children. They regarded -this as the .strdngest position in the city, and con- sidered rt as impregnable if guarded by determined men with bombs. Great reliance was placed on the work Qf the men assigned to the housetops in street warfare. It was expected they could do great execution and keep out of the way of -bullets from the street. ' These plans of warfare were discussed in secret meetings and were made the subject of many maps and circulars issued from the Arbeiter /.cit nng office'. _ They were, preparing for a great day in the near future for a day when no leaders would be needed ; when every man would know and see his duty. During 1884 and 1885 the Anarchists held frequent riiass meetings on the lake front and in Haymarket square, when speeches of the most incendiary character were delivered by the leaders. 30 THE CHICAGO RIOT. Public demonstrations were frequently made and processions boldly marched under the red flag. On the night of April 28 the new Chicago Board of Trade was opened, and the Anarchists held a meeting on Market street. On that occasion Samuel Fielden said: " The black flag ought to be unfurled when a Board of Trade is opened. We are glad to live in the meanest hovels; we are glad to wear the . meanest clothes; we are glad to eat the meanest food, while these thieves and robbers sit down to a banquet that costs twenty dollars a plate." A. R. Parsons said: " A new board of thieves is being opened to*-riight. * It is time this thing is stopped. These "Vobbers fatten on our toil. We must bring the revolver and Winchester rifle to our aid and learn the use of dynamite." They marched to the board of trade, headed by a red and a black flag carried by women. They, were met at every approach to the building by solid lines of police. They cursed the officers, and one shouted this prophecy: "We'll get at you fellows yet; we'll be prepared for you next time." The crowd cheered a red flag waving from the office window of the Arbeiter Zeitung. It passed the carriage of Mr. L. P. Kadish, and one shouted, see 1 , ing him: " He's a board of trade man: kill him! " Stones were thrown through the carriage windows, severely injuring Mrs. Kadish. THE CHICAGO RIOT. 31 Then came the street car strike of July, 1885, and in .the riot which ensued the Anarchistic element came to the surface, as it always had when- ever there was a chance to destroy property or shed blood. That they were responsible for the over- turning of cars and resistance to the police one of the leaders acknowledged boastfully in a meeting on the night of July 2. It was on the occasion of this riot that Police Captain Bonfield, than whom a braver man or a more efficient officer does not live, drew down upon him the curses of the Anarchistic rabble and the unjust criticism of the press. He walked alone into the face of an angry mob of over .2,000 men and clubbed a man who had thrown a stone at the police. For this he was called cow- ardly. His order to " shoot every man who throws a stone," caused harsh comment from the press. But Bonfield knew his duty and understood the spirit of the mob better than the general public or the writers *for the press, as subsequent events showed. From that moment he was an object of special hatred to the followers of Spies and Paisons, and a price was set upon his life. Then the long-uttered threats of the Anarchists began to take a more practical form. In January, 1886, an infernal machine was found on the door- step of the residence of Judge Lambert Tree. Who 32 THE CHICAGO RIOT. placed it there was never known. From its nature its purpose was evident. It was in the shape^of a laborer's coffee-flask, and was lined with lead. The diameter was about two inches and the height three and one-half inches. From the top, closed by a thumb-screw, protruded a home-made fuse which smelt strongly of nitric acid. It was of good workmanship and had none of the appearance of a commercial article, being highly polished, Irke a pocket-flask, and carefully finished in almost indiscernible seams. When ex- ploded it made a considerable hole in the snow and ice, but would doubtless have made a considerably better showing for its appearance under more favor- able circumstances. Dynamite and all other high explosives congeal at forty-two degrees, and it was much colder the day the machine was exploded. In a few days another was discovered in the- Chicago, Burlington & Quincy passenger station. It was much different from the one found at the Tree residence. It showed no appearance of cap or fuse ; only a protruding, insulated wire. It was five and a half inches long and one and a half inches in diameter, and had the same screw top the end from which the wire protruded as the one found at Judge Tree's. The body of the package was of tin tubing. The one end had been pressed into the form of a AUGUST SPIES. THE CHICAGO RIOT. 33 screw-thread, and into it was firmly fixed a plug of ordinary cork, sealed hermetically with wax. From the cork a plate of zinc as wide as the tube extended a half inch. It was left, wrapped in a dirty piece of cloth, for the night operator, and no attention was , paid to it until the Tree sensation came out. Then it was stupidly sunk in the Chicago river without an intimation as to its probable character further than suspicion. On February u, 1886, came the strike of the employes of the McCormick Reaper Works, the agitation and excitement which it caused continu- ing until April. Most of the metalworkers and laborers employed there were German and .Bohemian Anarchists. Mr. McCormick took a firm stand, shut down his works and locked out the strikers. This was a surprise to them. For weeks violent meetings were frequently held in the district around Eighteenth street and Center avenue. This region is the hotbed of anarchy in Chicago. McCormick, the police and the law were denounced in the bitterest terms at these meet- ings, and for some time an outbreak was imminent. It was smothered only by the presence of the police. Mr. McCormick finally, increased wages according to the demands of the men, but pro- posed to allow non-union men to work. He opened his works under police protection, and 3 34 THE CHICAGO RIOT. hundreds of non-union men went to work. Fre- quent assaults were made on individual workers at the factory, but no general riot ensued. Many strikers were arrested and fined. The strikers were beaten. Hundreds of them remained idle for a long time, and as idleness and poverty breeds crime, the revolutionary spirit strengthened and spread. Their hatred of the law and of the capitalists, whom they styled " robbers," deepened, and the mutterings of the storm which was to burst were neard. About this time the police, while looking for a murderer, turned up a dynamiter's outfit. In the room of Chris. Kom'ens, at 231 West Twentieth street, was found a long- barreled breech-loading Springfield rifle and twenty rounds of cartridges. Under the bed was found a quantity of lead and a pot or ladle in which to melt it. These .suspicious implements caused other rooms to be overhauled. In Komen's sleeping- room an old trunk was dragged out of a dark corner and its contents examined. Beneath a lot of old rags were four hollow lead balls considerably larger than a base ball. Three of the balls were empty. The fourth was loaded . and a hole partly bored for the insertion of a per- cussion cap. The balls had been cast in a mold on the principle of a bullet mold, with a plaster of Paris ball in the center for a core. The lead shell was from v THE CHICAGO RtOt. 35 a quarter to three-eighths of an inch thick and weighed about five pounds. After casting the shell of the leaden bomb the plaster of Paris ball inside was gouged out as far as possible with a chisel. The hollow space of the loaded bomb was supposed Eb be filled with dynamite, gun-cotton, or other violent explosive. The opening was sealed with lead and a hole bored opposite for the insertion of the percussion cap. Two of the finished but unloaded balls had two holes in them, one of which was made with a screw thread so that the instru- ment containing the cap could be twisted into the ball securely. With the bombs was found a piece of wrought- iron pipe six inches long and one and a quarter in diameter. Both ends were closed with hard-wood plugs, from one of which projected four inches of gutta-percha fuse. The implement was supposed to be filled with an explosive similar to that in the bombs. Ten or fifteen feet of fuse lay beside the bombs. It was filled with powder and burned rapidly, with a hissing, sputtering noise, like the fuse of a fire-cracker. In fact, the iron-pipe machine closely resembled a giant fire-cracker, but was somewhat larger. An old, rusty