TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
[Illustration: Michael J. Schaack.]
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,
CAPTAIN OF POLICE.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AUTHENTIC PHOTOGRAPHS,
AND FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS
BY WM. A. MCCULLOUGH, WM. OTTMAN, LOUIS BRAUNHOLD, TRUE
WILLIAMS, CHAS. FOERSTER, O. F. KRITZNER, AND OTHERS.
[Illustration]
CHICAGO:
F. J. SCHULTE & COMPANY.
NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA: W. A. HOUGHTON.
ST. LOUIS: S. F. JUNKIN & CO. PITTSBURG: P. J. FLEMING & CO.
MDCCCLXXXIX.
COPYRIGHT, 1889,
BY MICHAEL J. SCHAACK.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
_THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS WORK ARE ALL ORIGINAL, AND ARE
PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT._
TO
HON. JOSEPH E. GARY
AND TO
HON. JULIUS S. GRINNELL
THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
IT has seemed to me that there should be a history of the development,
the revolt, and the tragedy of Anarchy in Chicago. This history I have
written as impartially and as fairly as I knew how to write it. I have
kept steadily before my eyes the motto,—
“Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.”
It will be found in the succeeding pages that neither animosity against
the revolutionists, nor partiality to the State, has influenced the
work. I have dealt with this episode in Chicago’s history as calmly
and as fairly as I am able. I have tried to put myself in the position
of the misguided men whose conspiracy led to the Haymarket explosion
and to the gallows; to understand their motives; to appreciate their
ideals—for so only could this volume be properly written.
And to present a broader view, I have added a history of all forms of
Socialism, Communism, Nihilism and Anarchy. In this, though necessarily
brief, it has been the purpose to give all the important facts, and to
set forth the theories of all those who, whether moderate or radical,
whether sincerely laboring in the interests of humanity or boisterously
striving for notoriety, have endeavored or pretended to improve upon
the existing order of society.
After the dynamite bomb exploded, carrying death into the ranks of men
with whom I had been for years closely associated—after an impudent
attack had been made upon our law and upon our system, which I was
sworn to defend—it came to me as a duty to the State, a duty to my
dead and wounded comrades, to bring the guilty men to justice; to
expose the conspiracy to the world, and thus to assist in vindicating
the law. How the duty was performed, this story tells.
It is a plain narrative whose interest lies in the momentous character
of the facts which it relates. Much of it is now for the first time
given to the public. I have drawn upon the records of the case, made
in court, but more especially upon the reports made to me, during the
progress of the investigation, by the many detectives who were working
under my direction.
I can say for my book no more than this: that from the first page to
the last there is no material statement which is not to my knowledge
true. The reader, then, may at least depend upon the accuracy of the
information presented here, even if I cannot make any other claim.
It would be unfair and ungrateful if I did not seize this opportunity
to put on lasting record my obligations to Judge Julius S. Grinnell,
who was State’s Attorney during the investigation. His support, steady
and full of tact, enabled me to go through with the work, in spite of
obstacles deliberately put in my way. My position was a delicate and
difficult one: had it not been for him, and for others, success would
have been almost impossible.
Nor can I forego this occasion to bear testimony to the magnificent
police work done in the case by Inspector Bonfield and his brother,
James Bonfield, and by the officers who acted directly with me. These
were Lieut. Charles A. Larsen and Officers Herman Schuettler, Michael
Whalen, Jacob Loewenstein, Michael Hoffman, Charles Rehm, John Stift
and B. P. Baer. Mr. Edmund Furthmann, at that time Assistant State’s
Attorney, as I have elsewhere recorded, worked upon the inquiry into
the conspiracy with an acumen, a perseverance and an industry which
were beyond all praise. I knew, when he was first associated with me
in the case, that the outcome must be a victory for outraged law, and
the result vindicated the prediction. To Mr. Thomas O. Thompson and to
Mr. John T. McEnnis much of the literary form of this volume is to be
credited, and to them also I am under lasting obligations.
MICHAEL J. SCHAACK.
_Chicago, February, 1889._
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Beginning of Anarchy—The German School of Discontent—The
Socialist Future—The Asylum in London—Birth of a Word—Work
of the French Revolution—The Conspiracy of Babeuf—Etienne
Cabet’s Experiment—The Colony in the United States—Settled
at Nauvoo—Fourier and his System—The Familistère at
Guise—Louis Blanc and the National Work-shops—Proudhon,
the Founder of French Anarchy—German Socialism: Its Rise
and Development—Rodbertus and his Followers—“Capital,”
by Karl Marx—The “Bible of the Socialists”—The Red
Internationale—Bakounine and his Expulsion from the
Society—The New Conspiracy—Ferdinand Lassalle and the
Social Democrats—The Birth of a Great Movement—Growth of
Discontent—Leaders after Lassalle—The Central Idea of the
Revolt—American Methods and the Police Position, 17
CHAPTER II.
Dynamite in Politics-Historical Assassinations—Infernal
Machines in France—The Inventor of Dynamite—M. Noble
and his Ideas—The Nitro-Compounds—How Dynamite is
Made—The New French Explosive—“Black Jelley” and the
Nihilists—What the Nihilists Believe and What they
Want—The Conditions in Russia—The White and the Red
Terrors—Vera Sassoulitch—Tourgenieff and the Russian
Girl—The Assassination of the Czar—“It is too Soon to Thank
God”—The Dying Emperor—Two Bombs Thrown—Running Down the
Conspirators—Sophia Perowskaja, the Nihilist Leader—The
Handkerchief Signal—The Murder Roll—Tried and Convicted—A
Brutal Execution—Five Nihilists Pay the Penalty—Last Words
Spoken but Unheard—A Deafening Tattoo—The Book-bomb and
the Present Czar—Strychnine-coated Bullets—St. Peter and
Paul’s Fortress—Dynamite Outrages in England—The Record of
Crime—Twenty-nine Convicts and their Offenses—Ingenious
Bomb-making—The Failures of Dynamite, 28
CHAPTER III.
The Exodus to Chicago—Waiting for an Opportunity—A
Political Party Formed—A Question of $600,000—The First
Socialist Platform—Details of the Organization—Work at
the Ballot-Box—Statistics of Socialist Progress—The
“International Workingmen’s Party” and The “Workingmen’s Party
of the United States”—The Eleven Commandments of Labor—How
the Work was to be Done—A Curious Constitution—Beginnings
of the Labor Press—The Union Congress—Criticising the
Ballot-Box—The Executive Committee and its Powers—Annals
of 1876—A Period of Preparation—The Great Railroad
Strikes of 1877—The First Attack on Society—A Decisive
Defeat—Trying Politics Again—The “Socialistic Party”—Its
Leaders and its Aims—August Spies as an Editor—Buying the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_—How the Money was Raised—Anarchist
Campaign Songs—The Group Organization—Plan of the
Propaganda—Dynamite First Taught—“The Bureau of
Information”—An Attack on Arbitration—No Compromise with
Capital—Unity of the Internationalists and the Socialists, 44
CHAPTER IV.
Socialism, Theoretic and Practical—Statements of the
Leaders—Vengeance on the “Spitzels”—The Black Flag in the
Streets—Resolutions in the _Alarm_—The Board of Trade
Procession—Why it Failed—Experts on Anarchy—Parsons,
Spies, Schwab and Fielden Outline their Belief—The
International Platform—Why Communism Must Fail—A French
Experiment and its Lesson—The Law of Averages—Extracts
from the Anarchistic Press—Preaching Murder—Dynamite
or the Ballot-Box?—“The Reaction in America”—Plans for
Street Fighting—Riot Drill and Tactics—Bakounine and the
Social Revolution—Twenty-one Statements of an Anarchist’s
Duty—Herways’ Formula—Predicting the Haymarket—The Lehr
und Wehr Verein and the Supreme Court—The White Terror and
the Red—Reinsdorf, the Father of Anarchy—His Association
with Hoedel and Nobiling—Attempt to Assassinate the German
Emperor—Reinsdorf at Berlin—His Desperate Plan—“Old Lehmann”
and the Socialist’s Dagger—The Germania Monument—An Attempt
to Kill the Whole Court—A Culvert Full of Dynamite—A Wet
Fuse and no Explosion—Reinsdorf Condemned to Death—His Last
Letters—Chicago Students of his Teachings—De Tocqueville and
Socialism, 74
CHAPTER V.
The Socialistic Programme—Fighting a Compromise—Opposition
to the Eight-hour Movement—The Memorial to Congress—Eight
Hours’ Work Enough—The Anarchist Position—An _Alarm_
Editorial—“Capitalists and Wage Slaves”—Parsons’
Ideas—The Anarchists and the Knights of Labor—Powderly’s
Warning—Working up a Riot—The Effect of Labor-saving
Machinery—Views of Edison and Wells—The Socialistic
Demonstration—The Procession of April 25, 1886—How the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_ Helped on the Crisis—The Secret Circular of
1886, 104
CHAPTER VI.
The Eight-hour Movement—Anarchist Activity—The Lock-out at
McCormick’s—Distorting the Facts—A Socialist Lie—The True
Facts about McCormick’s—Who Shall Run the Shops?—Abusing the
“Scabs”—High Wages for Cheap Work—The Union Loses $3,000 a
Day—Preparing for Trouble—Arming the Anarchists—Ammunition
Depots—Pistols and Dynamite—Threatening the Police—The
Conspirators Show the White Feather—Capt. O’Donnell’s
Magnificent Police Work—The Revolution Blocked—A Foreign
Reservation—An Attempt to Mob the Police—The History
of the First Secret Meeting—Lingg’s First Appearance
in the Conspiracy—The Captured Documents—Bloodshed at
McCormick’s—“The Battle Was Lost”—Officer Casey’s Narrow
Escape, 112
CHAPTER VII.
The _Coup d’État_ a Miscarriage—Effect of the Anarchist
Failure at McCormick’s—“Revenge”—Text of the Famous
Circular—The German Version—An Incitement to Murder—Bringing
on a Conflict—Engel’s Diabolical Plan—The Rôle of the Lehr
und Wehr Verein—The Gathering of the Armed Groups—Fischer’s
Sanguinary Talk—The Signal for Murder—“Ruhe” and its
Meaning—Keeping Clear of the Mouse-Trap—The Haymarket
Selected—Its Advantages for Revolutionary War—The Call for
the Murder Meeting—“Workingmen, Arm Yourselves”—Preparing the
Dynamite—The _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ Arsenal—The Assassins’ Roost
at 58 Clybourn Avenue—The Projected Attack on the Police
Stations—Bombs for All who Wished Them—Waiting for the Word
of Command—Why it was not Given—The Leaders’ Courage Fails, 129
CHAPTER VIII.
The Air Full of Rumors—A Riot Feared—Police
Preparations—Bonfield in Command—The Haymarket—Strategic
Value of the Anarchists’ Position—Crane’s Alley—The Theory
of Street Warfare—Inflaming the Mob—Schnaubelt and his
Bomb—“Throttle the Law”—The Limit of Patience Reached—“In
the Name of the People, Disperse”—The Signal Given—The Crash
of Dynamite First Heard on an American Street—Murder in the
Air—A Rally and a Charge—The Anarchists Swept Away—A Battle
Worthy of Veterans, 139
CHAPTER IX.
The Dead and the Wounded—Moans of Anguish in the Police
Station—Caring for Friend and Foe—Counting the Cost—A City’s
Sympathy—The Death List—Sketches of the Men—The Doctors’
Work—Dynamite Havoc—Veterans of the Haymarket—A Roll of
Honor—The Anarchist Loss—Guesses at their Dead—Concealing
Wounded Rioters—The Explosion a Failure—Disappointment of the
Terrorists, 149
CHAPTER X.
The Core of the Conspiracy—Search of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_
Office—The Captured Manuscript—Jealousies in the Police
Department—The Case Threatened with Failure—Stupidity at
the Central Office—Fischer Brought in—Rotten Detective
Work—The Arrest of Spies—His Egregious Vanity—An Anarchist
“Ladies’ Man”—Wine Suppers with the Actresses—Nina Van
Zandt’s Antecedents—Her Romantic Connection with the
Case—Fashionable Toilets—Did Spies Really Love Her?—His
Curious Conduct—The Proxy Marriage—The End of the
Romance—The Other Conspirators—Mrs. Parsons’ Origin—The
Bomb-Thrower in Custody—The Assassin Kicked Out of the Chief’s
Office—Schnaubelt and the Detectives—Suspicious Conduct at
Headquarters—Schnaubelt Ordered to Keep Away From the City
Hall—An Amazing Incident—A Friendly Tip to a Murderer—My
Impressions of the Schnaubelt Episode—Balthasar Rau and Mr.
Furthmann—Phantom Shackles in a Pullman—Experiments with
Dynamite—An Explosive Dangerous to Friend and Foe—Testing the
Bombs—Fielden and the Chief, 156
CHAPTER XI.
My Connection with the Anarchist Cases—A Scene at the Central
Office—Mr. Hanssen’s Discovery—Politics and Detective
Work—Jealousy Against Inspector Bonfield—Dynamiters on
Exhibition—Courtesies to the Prize-fighters—A Friendly
Tip—My First Light on the Case—A Promise of Confidence—One
Night’s Work—The Chief Agrees to my Taking up the
Case—Laying Our Plans—“We Have Found the Bomb Factory!”—Is
it a Trap?—A Patrol-wagon Full of Dynamite—No Help Hoped
for from Headquarters—Conference with State’s Attorney
Grinnell—Furthmann’s Work—Opening up the Plot—Trouble
with the Newspaper Men—Unexpected Advantage of Hostile
Criticism—Information from Unexpected Quarters—Queer Episodes
of the Hunt—Clues Good, Bad and Indifferent—A Mysterious
Lady with a Veil—A Conference in my Back Yard—The Anarchists
Alarmed—A Breezy Conference with Ebersold—Threatening
Letters—Menaces Sent to the Wives of the Men Working
on the Case—How the Ladies Behaved—The Judge and Mrs.
Gary—Detectives on Each Other’s Trail—The Humors of the
Case—Amusing Incidents, 183
CHAPTER XII.
Tracking the Conspirators—Female Anarchists—A Bevy of
Beauties—Petticoated Ugliness—The Breathless Messenger—A
Detective’s Danger—Turning the Tables—“That Man is
a Detective!”—A Close Call—Gaining Revolutionists’
Confidence—Vouched for by the Conspirators—Speech-making
Extraordinary—The Hiding-place in the Anarchists’
Hall—Betrayed by a Woman—The Assassination of Detective Brown
at Cedar Lake—Saloon-keepers and the Revolution—“Anarchists
for Revenue Only”—Another Murder Plot—The Peep-hole
Found—Hunting for Detectives—Some Amusing Ruses of the
Revolutionists—A Collector of “Red” Literature and his
Dangerous Bonfire—Ebersold’s Vacation—Threatening the
Jury—Measures Taken for their Protection—Grinnell’s Danger—A
“Bad Man” in Court—The Find at the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_
Office—Schnaubelt’s Impudent Letter—Captured
Correspondence—The Anarchists’ Complete Letter-writer, 206
CHAPTER XIII.
The Difficulties of Detection—Moving on the Enemy—A
Hebrew Anarchist—Oppenheimer’s Story—Dancing over
Dynamite—Twenty-Five Dollars’ Worth of Practical Socialism—A
Woman’s Work—How Mrs. Seliger Saved the North Side—A
Well-merited Tribute—Seliger Saved by his Wife—The Shadow
of the Hangman’s Rope—A Hunt for a Witness—Shadowing a
Hack—The Commune Celebration—Fixing Lingg’s Guilt—Preparing
the Infernal Machines—A Boy Conspirator—Lingg’s Youthful
Friend—Anarchy in the Blood—How John Thielen was Taken into
Camp—His Curious Confession—Other Arrests, 230
CHAPTER XIV.
Completing the Case—Looking for Lingg—The Bomb-maker’s
Birth—Was he of Royal Blood?—A Romantic Family History—Lingg
and his Mother—Captured Correspondence—A Desperate and
Dangerous Character—Lingg Disappears—A Faint Trail
Found—Looking for Express Wagon 1999—The Number that Cost
the Fugitive his Life—A Desperado at Bay—Schuettler’s
Death Grapple—Lingg in the Shackles—His Statement at
the Station—The Transfer to the Jail—Lingg’s Love for
Children—The Identity of his Sweetheart—An Interview with
Hubner—His Confession—The Meeting at Neff’s Place, 256
CHAPTER XV.
Engel in the Toils—His Character and Rough Eloquence—Facing
his Accusers—Waller’s Confession—The Work of the Lehr
und Wehr Verein—A Dangerous Organization—The Romance
of Conspiracy—Organization of the Armed Sections—Plans
and Purposes—Rifles Bought in St. Louis—The Picnics at
Sheffield—A Dynamite Drill—The Attack on McCormick’s—A
Frightened Anarchist—Lehman in the Calaboose—Information
from many Quarters—The Cost of Revolvers—Lorenz Hermann’s
Story—Some Expert Lying, 283
CHAPTER XVI.
Pushing the Anarchists—A Scene on a Street-car—How
Hermann Muntzenberg Gave Himself Away—The Secret
Signal—“D——n the Informers”—A Satchelful of Bombs—More
about Engel’s Murderous Plan—Drilling the Lehr und Wehr
Verein—Breitenfeld’s Cowardice—An Anarchist Judas—The
Hagemans—Dynamite in Gas-pipe—An Admirer of Lingg—A
Scheme to Remove the Author—The Hospitalities of the Police
Station—Mrs. Jebolinski’s Indignation—A Bogus Milkman—An
Unwilling Visitor—Mistaken for a Detective—An Eccentric
Prisoner—Division of Labor at the Dynamite Factory—Clermont’s
Dilemma—The Arrangements for the Haymarket, 312
CHAPTER XVII.
Fluttering the Anarchist Dove-cote—Confessions by
Piecemeal—Statements from the Small Fry—One of
Schnaubelt’s Friends—“Some One Wants to Hang Me”—Neebe’s
Bloodthirsty Threats—Burrowing in the Dark—The
Starved-out Cut-throat—Torturing a Woman—Hopes of _Habeas
Corpus_—“Little” Krueger’s Work—Planning a Rescue—The Signal
“? ? ?” and its Meaning—A Red-haired Man’s Story—Firing the
Socialist Heart—Meetings with Locked Doors—An Ambush for the
Police—The Red Flag Episode—Beer and Philosophy—Baum’s Wife
and Baby—A Wife-beating Revolutionist—Brother Eppinger’s
Duties, 334
CHAPTER XVIII.
The Plot against the Police—Anarchist Banners and
Emblems—Stealing a Captured Flag—A Mystery at a
Station-house—Finding the Fire Cans—Their Construction and
Use—Imitating the Parisian Petroleuses—Glass Bombs—Putting
the Women Forward—Cans and Bombs Still Hidden Among the
Bohemians—Testing the Infernal Machines—The Effects of
Anarchy—The Moral to be Drawn—Looking for Labor Sympathy—A
Crazy Scheme—Gatling Gun _vs._ Dynamite—The Threatened Attack
on the Station-houses—Watching the Third Window—Selecting a
Weapon—Planning Murder—The Test of Would-be Assassins—The
Meeting at Lincoln Park—Peril of the Hinman Street
Station-house—A Fortunate Escape, 364
CHAPTER XIX.
The Legal Battle—The Beginning of Proceedings in Court—Work
in the Grand Jury Room—The Circulation of Anarchistic
Literature—A Witness who was not Positive—Side Lights on the
Testimony—The Indictments Returned—Selecting a Jury—Sketches
of the Jurymen—Ready for the Struggle, 376
CHAPTER XX.
Judge Grinnell’s Opening—Statement of the Case—The
Light of the 4th of May—The Dynamite Argument—Spies’
Fatal Prophecy—The Eight-hour Strike—The Growth of the
Conspiracy—Spies’ Cowardice at McCormick’s—The “Revenge”
Circular—Work of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ and the _Alarm_—The
Secret Signal—A Frightful Plan—“Ruhe”—Lingg, the
Bomb-maker—The Haymarket Conspiracy—The Meeting—“We are
Peaceable”—After the Murder—The Complete Case Presented, 390
CHAPTER XXI.
The Great Trial Opens—Bonfield’s History of the Massacre—How
the Bomb Exploded—Dynamite in the Air—A Thrilling
Story—Gottfried Waller’s Testimony—An Anarchist’s
“Squeal”—The Murder Conspiracy Made Manifest by Many
Witnesses, 404
CHAPTER XXII.
“We are Peaceable”—Capt. Ward’s Memories of the Massacre—A
Nest of Anarchists—Scenes in the Court—Seliger’s
Revelations—Lingg, the Bomb-maker—How he cast his Shells—A
Dynamite Romance—Inside History of the Conspiracy—The Shadow
of the Gallows—Mrs. Seliger and the Anarchists—Tightening
the Coils—An Explosive Arsenal—The Schnaubelt Blunder—Harry
Wilkinson and Spies—A Threat in Toothpicks—The Bomb
Factory—The Board of Trade Demonstration, 419
CHAPTER XXIII.
A Pinkerton Operative’s Adventures—How the Leading Anarchists
Vouched for a Detective—An Interesting Scene—An Enemy in the
Camp—Getting into the Armed Group—No. 16’s Experience—Paul
Hull and the Dynamite Bomb—A Safe Corner Where the Bullets
were Thick—A Revolver Tattoo—“Shoot the Devils”—A Reformed
Internationalist, 445
CHAPTER XXIV.
Reporting under Difficulties—Shorthand in an Overcoat
Pocket—An Incriminating Conversation—Spies and Schwab in
Danger—Gilmer’s Story—The Man in the Alley—Schnaubelt
the Bomb-thrower—Fixing the Guilt—Spies Lit the Fuse—A
Searching Cross-Examination—The Anarchists Alarmed—Engel
and the Shell Machine—The Find at Lingg’s House—The Author
on the Witness-stand—Talks with the Prisoners—Dynamite
Experiments—The False Bottom of Lingg’s Trunk—The Material
in the Shells—Expert Testimony—Incendiary Banners—The
Prosecution Rests—A Fruitless Attempt to have Neebe
Discharged, 457
CHAPTER XXV.
The Programme of the Defense—Mayor Harrison’s
Memories—Simonson’s Story—A Graphic Account—A Bird’s-eye
View of Dynamite—Ferguson and the Bomb—“As Big as a Base
Ball”—The Defense Theory of the Riot—Claiming the Police were
the Aggressors—Dr. Taylor and the Bullet-marks—The Attack
on Gilmer’s Veracity—Varying Testimony—The Witnesses who
Appeared, 478
CHAPTER XXVI.
Malkoff’s Testimony—A Nihilist’s Correspondence—More
about the Wagon—Spies’ Brother—A Witness who Contradicts
Himself—Printing the Revenge Circular—Lizzie Holmes’
Inflammatory Essay—“Have You a Match About You?”—The Prisoner
Fielden Takes the Stand—An Anarchist’s Autobiography—The Red
Flag the Symbol of Freedom—The “Peaceable” Meeting—Fielden’s
Opinion of the _Alarm_—“Throttling the Law”—Expecting
Arrest—More about Gilmer, 491
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Close of the Defense—Working on the Jury—The Man who
Threw the Bomb—Conflicting Testimony—Michael Schwab on the
Stand—An Agitator’s Adventures—Spies in his Own Defense—The
Fight at McCormick’s—The Desplaines Street Wagon—Bombs and
Beer—The Wilkinson Interview—The Weapon of the Future—Spies
the Reporter’s Friend—Bad Treatment by Ebersold—The Hocking
Valley Letter—Albert R. Parsons in his Own Behalf—His
Memories of the Haymarket—The Evidence in Rebuttal, 506
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Opening of the Argument—Mr. Walker’s Speech—The Law
of the Case—Was there a Conspiracy?—The Caliber of
the Bullets—Tightening the Chain—A Propaganda on the
Witness-stand—The Eight-hour Movement—“One Single Bomb”—The
Cry of the Revolutionist—Avoiding the Mouse-trap—Parsons and
the Murder—Studying “Revolutionary War”—Lingg and his Bomb
Factory—The Alibi Idea, 525
CHAPTER XXIX.
The Argument for the Defendants—“Newspaper Evidence”—Bringing
about the Social Revolution—Arson and Murder—The Right to
Property—Evolution or Revolution—Dynamite as an Argument—The
Arsenal at 107 Fifth Avenue—Was it all Braggadocio?—An Open
Conspiracy—Secrets that were not Secrets—The Case Against the
State’s Attorney—A Good Word for Lingg—More About “Ruhe”—The
“Alleged” Conspiracy—Ingham’s Answer—The _Freiheit_
Articles—Lord Coleridge on Anarchy—Did Fielden Shoot at
the Police?—The Bombs in the Seliger Family—Circumstantial
Evidence in Metal—Chemical Analysis of the Czar Bomb—The
Crane’s Alley Enigma, 535
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, 545
CHAPTER XXXI.
Grinnell’s Closing Argument—One Step from Republicanism to
Anarchy—A Fair Trial—The Law in the Case—The Detective
Work—Gilmer and his Evidence—“We Knew all the Facts”—Treason
and Murder—Arming the Anarchists—The Toy Shop Purchases—The
Pinkerton Reports—“A Lot of Snakes”—The Meaning of the
Black Flag—Symbols of the Social Revolution—The _Daily
News_ Interviews—Spies the “Second Washington”—The
Rights of “Scabs”—The Chase Into the River—Inflaming
the Workingmen—The “Revenge” Lie—The Meeting at the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_ Office—A Curious Fact about the Speakers
at the Haymarket—The Invitation to Spies—Balthasar Rau and
the Prisoners—Harrison at the Haymarket—The Significance of
Fielden’s Wound—Witnesses’ Inconsistencies—The Omnipresent
Parsons—The Meaning of the Manuscript Find—Standing between
the Living and the Dead, 560
CHAPTER XXXII.
The Instructions to the Jury—What Murder is—Free Speech and
its Abuse—The Theory of Conspiracy—Value of Circumstantial
Evidence—Meaning of a “Reasonable Doubt”—What a Jury May
Decide—Waiting for the Verdict—“Guilty of Murder”—The
Death Penalty Adjudged—Neebe’s Good Luck—Motion for a New
Trial—Affidavits about the Jury—The Motion Overruled, 578
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Last Scene in Court—Reasons Against the Death
Sentence—Spies’ Speech—A Heinous Conspiracy to Commit
Murder—Death for the Truth—The Anarchists’ Final
Defense—Dying for Labor—The Conflict of the Classes—Not
Guilty, but Scapegoats—Michael Schwab’s Appeal—The Curse of
Labor-saving Machinery—Neebe Finds Out what Law Is—“I am
Sorry I am not to be Hung”—Adolph Fischer’s Last Words—Louis
Lingg in his own Behalf—“Convicted, not of Murder, but of
Anarchy”—An Attack on the Police—“I Despise your Order, your
Laws, your Force-propped Authority. Hang me for it!”—George
Engel’s Unconcern—The Development of Anarchy—“I Hate and
Combat, not the Individual Capitalist, but the System”—Samuel
Fielden and the Haymarket—An Illegal Arrest—The Defense
of Albert R. Parsons—The History of his Life—A Long
and Thrilling Speech—The Sentence of Death—“Remove the
Prisoners,” 587
CHAPTER XXXIV.
In the Supreme Court—A _Supersedeas_ Secured—Justice
Magruder Delivers the Opinion—A Comprehensive Statement of
the Case—How Degan was Murdered—Who Killed Him?—The Law of
Accessory—The Meaning of the Statute—Were the Defendants
Accessories?—The Questions at Issue—The Characteristics
of the Bomb—Fastening the Guilt on Lingg—The Purposes
of the Conspiracy—How they were Proved—A Damning Array
of Evidence—Examining the Instructions—No Error Found
in the Trial Court’s Work—The Objection to the Jury—The
Juror Sandford—Judge Gary Sustained—Mr. Justice Mulkey’s
Remarks—The Law Vindicated, 608
CHAPTER XXXV.
The Last Legal Struggle—The Need of Money—Expensive Counsel
Secured—Work of the “Defense Committee”—Pardon, the Only
Hope—Pleas for Mercy to Gov. Oglesby—Curious Changes
of Sentiment—Spies’ Remarkable Offer—Lingg’s Horrible
Death—Bombs in the Starch-box—An Accidental Discovery—My
own Theory—Description of the “Suicide Bombs”—Meaning of
the Short Fuse—“Count Four and Throw”—Details of Lingg’s
Self-murder—A Human Wreck—The Bloody Record in the Cell—The
Governor’s Decision—Fielden and Schwab Taken to the
Penitentiary, 620
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Last Hours of the Doomed Men—Planning a Rescue—The
Feeling in Chicago—Police Precautions—Looking for a
Leak—Vitriol for a Detective—Guarding the Jail—The Dread
of Dynamite—How the Anarchists Passed their Last Night—The
Final Partings—Parsons Sings “Annie Laurie”—Putting up the
Gallows—Scenes Outside the Prison—A Cordon of Officers—Mrs.
Parsons Makes a Scene—The Death Warrants—Courage of the
Condemned—Shackled and Shrouded for the Grave—The March to
the Scaffold—Under the Dangling Ropes—The Last Words—“Hoch
die Anarchie!”—“My Silence will be More Terrible than
Speech”—“Let the Voice of the People be Heard”—The Chute
to Death—Preparations for the Funeral—Scenes at the Homes
of the Dead Anarchists—The Passage to Waldheim—Howell
Trogden Carries the American Flag—Captain Black’s Eulogy—The
Burial—Speeches by Grottkau and Currlin—Was Engel
Sincere?—His Advice to his Daughter—A Curious Episode—Adolph
Fischer and his Death-watch, 639
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Anarchy Now—The Fund for the Condemned Men’s Families—$10,000
Subscribed—The Disposition of the Money—The Festival
of Sorrow—Parsons’ Posthumous Letter—The Haymarket
Monument—Present Strength of the Discontented—7,300
Revolutionists in Chicago—A Nucleus of Desperate Men—The
New Organization—Building Societies and Sunday-schools—What
the Children are Taught—Education and Blasphemy—The
Secret Propaganda—Bodendick and his Adventures—“The
Rebel Vagabond”—The Plot to Murder Grinnell, Gary and
Bonfield—Arrest of the Conspirators Hronek, Capek, Sevic and
Chleboun—Chleboun’s Story—Hronek Sent to the Penitentiary, 657
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
The Movement in Europe—Present Plans of the Reds—Stringent
Measures Adopted by Various European Governments—Bebel and
Liebknecht—A London Celebration—Whitechapel Outcasts—“Blood,
Blood, Blood!”—Verestchagin’s Views—The Bulwarks of
Society—The Condition of Anarchy in New York, Philadelphia,
Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis and other American Cities—A
New Era of Revolutionary Activity—A Fight to the Death—Are we
Prepared? 682
APPENDICES, 691
[Illustration: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION—“THE FEAST OF REASON.”]
ANARCHY AND ANARCHISTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Beginning of Anarchy—The German School of Discontent—The
Socialist Future—The Asylum in London—Birth of a Word—Work
of the French Revolution—The Conspiracy of Babeuf—Etienne
Cabet’s Experiment—The Colony in the United States—Settled at
Nauvoo—Fourier and his System—The Familistère at Guise—Louis
Blanc and the National Work-shops—Proudhon, the Founder of French
Anarchy—German Socialism: Its Rise and Development—Rodbertus and his
Followers—“Capital,” by Karl Marx—The “Bible of the Socialists”—The
Red Internationale—Bakounine and his Expulsion from the Society—The
New Conspiracy—Ferdinand Lassalle and the Social Democrats—The Birth
of a Great Movement—Growth of Discontent—Leaders after Lassalle—The
Central Idea of the Revolt—American Methods and the Police Position.
THE conspiracy which culminated in the blaze of dynamite and the groans
of murdered policemen on that fatal night of May 4th, 1886, had its
origin far away from Chicago, and under a social system very different
from ours.
In order that the reader may understand the tragedy, it will be
necessary for me to go back to the commencement of the agitation,
and to show how Anarchy in this city is the direct development of
the social revolt in Europe. After “the red fool fury of the French”
had burnt itself out, the nations of the Old World, exhausted by the
Titanic struggle with Napoleon, lay quiet for nearly a quarter of a
century. The doctrines which had brought on the Reign of Terror had not
died. After a period of quiet, the evangel of the Social Revolution
again began. There was uneasiness throughout Europe. In France the
Bourbons were driven out, although the cause of the people was betrayed
by Louis Napoleon. In Germany the demand for a constitution was pushed
so strongly that even the sturdy Hohenzollerns had to give way before
it. In Hungary there was a popular ferment. Poland was ready for a new
rising against Russia. In Russia the movement which subsequently came
to be known as Nihilism was born. In Italy Garibaldi and Mazzini were
laying the foundations for the throne which the house of Savoy built
upon the work of the secret societies.
Nor must the reader believe that all this turmoil had not beneath it
real grievances and honest causes. The peasantry and the laboring
classes of Europe had been oppressed and plundered for centuries. The
common people were just beginning to learn their power, and, while the
excesses into which they were led were deplorable, it is not difficult
to understand the causes which made the crisis inevitable.
There is nothing ever lost by endeavoring to enter fairly and
impartially into another’s position—by trying to understand the
reasons which move men, and the creeds which sway them. Anarchy as a
theory is as old as the school men of the middle ages. It was gravely
debated in the monasteries, and supported by learned casuists five
centuries ago. As a practice it was first taught in France, and
later in Germany. It caught the unthinking, impressible throng as
the proper protest against too much government and wrong government.
It was ably argued by leaders capable of better things,—men who
turned great talents toward the destruction of society instead of
its upbuilding,—and the fruit of their teachings we have with us in
Chicago to-day.
[Illustration: STORMING THE BASTILE.]
Our Anarchy is of the German school, which is more nearly akin to
Nihilism than to the doctrines taught in France. It is founded upon
the teachings of Karl Marx and his disciples, and it aims directly at
the complete destruction of all forms of government and religion. It
offers no solution of the problems which will arise when society, as
we understand it, shall disappear, but contents itself with declaring
that the duty at hand is tearing down; that the work of building up
must come later. There are several reasons why the revolutionary
programme stops short at the work of Anarchy, chief among which is
the fact that there are as many panaceas for the future as there are
revolutionists, and it would be a hopeless task to think of binding
them all to one platform of construction. The Anarchists are all agreed
that the present system must go, and so far they can work together;
after that each will take his own path into Utopia.
[Illustration: KARL MARX.]
Their dream of the future is accordingly as many-colored as Joseph’s
coat. Each man has his own ideal. Engels, who is Karl Marx’s successor
in the leadership of the movement, believes that men will associate
themselves into organizations like coöperative societies for mutual
protection, support and improvement, and that these will be the only
units in the country of a social nature. There will be no law, no
church, no capital, no anything that we regard as necessary to the life
of a nation.
The theory of Anarchy will, however, be sufficiently developed in the
pages that follow. It is its history as a school which must first be
examined.
England is really responsible for much of the present strength of the
conspiracy against all governments, for it was in the secure asylum
of London that speculative Anarchy was thought out by German exiles
for German use, and from London that the “red Internationale” was and
probably is directed. This was the result of political scheming, for
the fomenting of discontent on the continent has always been one of the
weapons in the British armory.
In England itself the movement has only lately won any prominence,
although it was in England that it was baptized “Socialism” by Robert
Owen, in 1835, a name which was afterwards taken up both in France and
Germany. The English development is hardly worth consideration in as
brief a presentation of the subject as I shall be able to give. Before
passing to an investigation of the growth and the history of Socialism
and Anarchy, I wish to express here, once for all, my obligations to
Prof. Richard T. Ely’s most excellent history of “French and German
Socialism in Modern Times.” This monograph, like everything else which
has come from the pen of this gifted young economist, contains so clear
a statement and so complete a marshaling of the facts that it is not
necessary to go beyond it for the story of continental discontent.
The French Revolution drew a broad red line across the world’s history.
It is the most momentous fact in the annals of modern times. There is
no need for us to go behind it, or to examine its causes. We can take
it as a fact—as the great revolt of the common people—and push on to
the things that followed it.
[Illustration: MICHAEL BAKOUNINE.]
Babeuf—“Gracchus” Babeuf, as he called himself—after serving part
of a term in prison for forgery, escaped, went to Paris in the heat
of the Revolution, and started _The Tribune of the People_, the
first Socialistic paper ever published. He was too incendiary even
for Robespierre, and was imprisoned in 1795. In prison he formed the
famous “Conspiracy of Babeuf,” which was to establish the Communistic
republic. For this conspiracy he and Darthé were beheaded May 24, 1797.
Etienne Cabet was a Socialist before the term was invented, but he
was a peaceful and honest one. He published, in 1842, his “Travels in
Icaria,” describing an ideal state. Like most political reformers, he
chose the United States as the best place to try his experiment upon.
It is a curious fact that there is not a nation in Europe, however
much of a failure it may have made of all those things that go to make
up rational liberty, which does not feel itself competent to tell us
just what we ought to do, instead of what we are doing. Cabet secured
a grant of land on the Red River in Texas just after the Mexican War,
and a colony of Icarians came out. They took the yellow fever and were
dispersed before Cabet came with the second part of the colony. About
this time the Mormons left Nauvoo in Illinois, and the Icarians came to
take their places. The colony has since established itself at Grinnell,
Iowa, and a branch is at San Bernardino, California. The Nauvoo
settlement has, I believe, been abandoned.
Babeuf and Cabet prepared the way for Saint Simon. He was a count,
and a lineal descendant of Charlemagne. He fought in our War of the
Revolution under Washington, and passed its concluding years in a
British prison. He preached nearly the modern Socialism,—the revolt of
the proletariat against property,—and his work has indelibly impressed
itself upon the whole movement in France.
Charles Fourier, born in 1772, was the son of a grocer in Besançon, and
he was a man who exercised great influence upon the movement among the
French. He was rather a dreamer than a man of action, and, although
attempts have been made to carry his familistère into practice, there
is no conspicuous success to record, save, perhaps, that of the
familistère at Guise, in France, which has been conducted for a long
time on the principles laid down by Fourier.
[Illustration: PIERRE JOSEPH PROUDHON.]
All these men had before them concrete schemes for a new society in
which the evils of the present system would be avoided by what they
considered a more equable division of wealth, and each made the effort
to carry his scheme from theory into practice, so that the world might
see the success and imitate it. Following them came the men who held
that, before the new society can be formed, the old society must be got
rid of—the men who see but one way towards Socialism, and that through
Anarchy.
Louis Blanc was the first of these, although he would not have
described himself as an Anarchist, nor would it be fair to call him
one. He represented the transition stage. He attempted political
reforms of a most sweeping character during the revolution of 1848. The
government of the day established “national work-shops” as a concession
to him. Of these more is said hereafter.
Pierre Joseph Proudhon, born in Besançon July 15, 1809, is really
the father of French Anarchy. His great work, “What Is Property?”
was published in 1840, and he declared that property was theft and
property-holders thieves. It is to this epoch-making work that the
whole school of modern Anarchy, in any of its departments, may
be traced. Proudhon was fired by an actual hatred of the rich. He
describes a proprietor as “essentially a libidinous animal, without
virtue and without shame.” The importance of his work is shown by the
effect it has had even upon orthodox political economy, while on the
other side it has been the inspiration of Karl Marx. Proudhon died in
Passy in 1865.
Since his time until within the last year or two, French Socialism has
been but a reflex of the German school. It has produced no first-rates,
and has been content to take its doctrine from Lassalle. Karl Marx and
Engels, the leaders of the German movement, and Bakounine and Prince
Krapotkin, the Russian terrorists, have impressed their ideas deeply
upon the French discontented ones. The revolt of the Commune of Paris
after the Franco-German war was not exactly an Anarchist uprising,
although the Anarchists impressed their ideas upon much of the work
done. The Commune of Paris means very much the same as “the people
of Illinois.” It is the legal designation of the commonwealth, and
does not imply Communism any more than the word commonwealth does. It
was a fight for the autonomy of Paris, and one in which many people
were engaged who had no sympathy with Anarchy, although certainly the
lawless element finally obtained complete control of the situation. The
rising in Lyons several years later was distinctly and wholly anarchic,
and it was for this that Prince Krapotkin and others were sent to
prison.
At the present day there is no practical distinction between Socialism
and Anarchy in France. All Socialists are Anarchists as a first step,
although all Anarchists are not precisely Socialists. They look to the
Russian Nihilists and the German irreconcilables as their leaders.
German Socialism is really the doctrine which is now taught all over
the world, and it was this teaching that led directly to the Haymarket
massacre in Chicago. It began with Karl Rodbertus, who lived from 1805
to 1875. He first became prominent in Germany in 1848, and he was for
some time Minister of Education and Public Worship in Prussia. He was
a theorist rather than a practical reformer, but competent critics
assign to him the very highest rank as a political economist. His first
work was “Our Economic Condition,” which was published in 1843, and
his other books, which he published up to within a short time of his
death, were simply elucidations of the principles he had first laid
down. His writings have had a greater effect on modern Socialism than
those of any other thinker, not even excepting Karl Marx or Lassalle.
His theories were brought to a practical issue by Marx, who united into
a compact whole the teachings of Proudhon and of Rodbertus, his own
genius giving a new luster and a new value to the result. Marx is far
and away the greatest man that the Socialism of the nineteenth century
has produced. He was a deep student, a man of most formidable mental
power, eloquent, persuasive, and honest. His great book, “Capital,”
has been called the Socialist’s Bible. Ely places it in the very first
rank, saying of it that it is “among the ablest political economic
treatises ever written.” And while the best scientific thought of the
age agrees that Marx was mistaken in his premises and his fundamental
propositions, there is accorded to him upon every hand the tribute
which profound learning pays to hard work and deep thinking.
Coming from theory to practice brings us naturally from Marx to the
International Society. It was founded in London in 1864 and was meant
to include the whole of the labor class of Christendom. Marx was the
chief, but he held the sovereignty uneasily. The Anarchists constantly
antagonized him. Bakounine, the apostle of dynamite, opposed Marx
at every point, and finally Marx had him expelled from the society.
Bakounine thereupon formed a new Internationale, based upon anarchic
principles and the gospel of force. The Internationale of which Marx
was the founder has shrunk to a mere name, although the organization
is still kept up, and the body with which the civilized world has now
to reckon is that which Bakounine formed after his expulsion from the
old body in 1872. It is a curious fact that many of the Socialists in
Chicago to-day are enthusiastic admirers of Marx and at the same time
members of the society and followers of the man Marx declared to be the
most dangerous enemy of the modern workingman.
Marx is dead, however; many things are said in his name of which
he himself would never have approved, and the “Red Internationale”
proclaims the man a saint who refused either to indorse its principles
or to consult with its leaders. It is the same as though, twenty years
hence, the men who last year followed Barry out of the Knights of Labor
were to hold up Powderly to the world as their law-giver and their
chief.
Louise Michel, who was a very active worker in the radical cause
during the outbreak of the Paris Commune, was born in 1830, and first
attracted attention by verses full of force which she published very
early in life. She was sentenced in 1871 to deportation for life,
and was transported with others to New Caledonia. At the time of the
general amnesty, in 1880, she returned to Paris, and became editor of
_La Révolution Sociale_.
Ferdinand Lassalle, like Marx of Hebrew blood, and of early
aristocratic prejudices, was the father of German Anarchy as it exists
to-day. He was a deep student, and a remarkably able man. He took his
inspiration from Rodbertus and from Marx, but applied himself more to
work among the poor. Marx was over the heads of the common people. His
“Capital” is very hard reading. Lassalle popularized its teachings.
On May 23, 1863, a few men met at Leipsic under the leadership of
Lassalle and formed the “Universal German Laborers’ Union.” This was
the foundation of Social Democracy, and its teachings were wholly
anarchic. It aimed at the subversion of the whole German social
system, by peaceful political means at first, but soon by force.
Lassalle was shortly afterwards killed in a duel over a love-affair,
but he was canonized by the German Social Democrats as though his death
were a martyrdom. Even Bismarck in the Reichstag paid a tribute to his
memory. Lassalle died just about the time that a change was occurring
in his convictions, and had he lived longer, and if contemporary
history is to be believed, he would have taken office under the German
Government and applied himself heartily to the building up of the
Empire.
[Illustration: LOUISE MICHEL.]
After Lassalle’s death the movement which he had initiated went
forward with increased force. The German laborer was finally, as the
Internationalists put it, aroused. The German Empire, following the
example of the Bund, decreed universal suffrage in 1871. Before this,
in Prussia especially, the laborer had but the smallest political
influence. The vote of a man in the wealthiest class in Berlin counted
for as much as the vote of fifteen of the “proletariat,” so called.
Lassalle died in 1864, and suffrage was first granted in 1867. The
Social Democrats at first were in close accord with Bismarck. It was
the Social Democratic vote which elected Bismarck to the Reichstag in
the first election after the suffrage was granted. In the fall of 1867
they sent eight members to the parliament of the Bund. In the elections
after the formation of the Empire the Socialistic vote stood: In 1871,
123,975; in 1874, 351,952; in 1877, 493,288; in 1878, 437,158. The
Social Democrats poll nearly 10 per cent of the whole vote of Germany
at the present time.
In 1878 occurred the two attempts on the life of the Emperor of Germany
described in a succeeding chapter, and the result was severe repressive
measures against the Social Democrats. Their vote fell off, and their
influence declined, but in the past two years, 1887 and 1888, they have
more than recovered their past strength, and they now poll more votes
and seem to exercise a greater political control in Germany than ever
before.
[Illustration: FERDINAND LASSALLE.]
The passage of the “Ausnahmsgesetz,” the exceptional law against
German Socialists, drove many of them to this country, but had no
effect in diminishing the propaganda in Germany. The result was an
exodus of Socialists, or rather Anarchists, to America—by this time
the two terms, wide apart as they may seem, had become one—and
to Chicago came most of the irreconcilable ones. The American
sympathizers, thus formed, at first fixed their attention upon the
political situation in the old country, and they applied themselves
closely to work in connection with the agitators who had not
expatriated themselves. Money was sent in large quantities to the old
country.
In Germany, in the meantime, the movement varied and shifted with
each wind of doctrine; one president after another was tried and
found wanting, until at last Jean von Schweitzer was chosen, and he
guided the party until it was finally swallowed up in the organization
perfected by Liebknecht and Bebel. Liebknecht was really but an
interpreter of Marx, but he was honest, enthusiastic and devoted, and
no man in the whole line of German political energy has left his name
more thoroughly impressed upon the time. Out of these conditions and
born of these ideas came the Anarchy which hurled the bomb whose crash
at the Haymarket Square first aroused us to the work which is being
done in our midst.
The Anarchists of Chicago are exotics. Discontent here is a German
plant transferred from Berlin and Leipsic and thriving to flourish in
the west. In our garden it is a weed to be plucked out by the roots
and destroyed, for our conditions neither warrant its growth nor
excuse its existence.
The central idea of all Socialistic and Anarchic systems is the
interference with the right of property by society. If we can convince
ourselves that society has the right and the duty thus to interfere,
then there is to be said nothing more. As long as the American citizen
can buy his own land and raise his own crops, as long as average
industry and economy will lead a man to competence, Socialism can only
be like typhus fever—a growth of the city slums. There is no real
danger in it. There is no peril which those charged with the protection
of law and order are not ready to face, for every officer of the law
that unreasonable discontent may menace is backed by the whole power of
the republic; and the republic is founded upon principles which this
alien revolt can neither harm nor affright.
There is a fact which, before I leave this chapter, I wish to bring
home to the mind of every reader, and that is this:
The police of Chicago, like the police of every city in the Union, are
actuated by no feeling of hostility to these people. We understand the
genesis of their movement; we can put ourselves in their places and
feel the things which actuate them; we are prepared to make as many
excuses for them as they can make for themselves; we are ready to grant
everything that they could claim, and more; but we see beyond this, and
above this, facts which they forget and forego.
We have a government in these United States so firm and so elastic that
it has every bulwark against either foreign or domestic attack, and
yet it provides every opportunity to adjust itself to the will of the
people.
The majority must rule, and does rule; but under our Constitution
it rules only along lines decreed by the fathers long ago for the
protection of the minority. There is a legal and constitutional means
provided for every man to carry his theories of good government into
actual practice. Every citizen has the right to vote, and to have his
vote counted, and this right belongs to Anarchist and conservative,
to radical and reactionist. There is no man can stand before the
American people and say we have refused him his right: if it were
done, the whole power of the Government would be marshaled to do
him justice. When, then, we have provided every man with a means to
impress his convictions upon the government of the country—when we
have done everything that human ingenuity can do to secure a full and
free expression of the popular will, as the final and supreme test
upon every public question, we may be excused for refusing to let the
Anarchists have their way. They are a minority of a minority, yet
they would impose their system and their doctrine upon the majority.
They would substitute for the ballot-box the dynamite bomb—for the
will of the people the will of a contemptible rabble of discontents,
un-American in birth, training, education and idea, few in numbers and
ridiculous in power.
Thus, while the police entertain no animosity against these men, we
feel—I feel and every officer under my command feels—that we are
bound by our oaths and by our loyalty to the State and to society
to meet force with force, and cunning with cunning. We are the
conservators of the law and the preservers of the peace, and the law
will be vindicated and the peace preserved in spite of any and all
attacks.
If our system is wrong, which I do not believe; if the principle that
the majority of the citizens is to be ruled by an alien minority is
to be accepted, which I do not accept, still there is the orderly and
well-protected means provided by law, and guaranteed by the Government,
to transform that idea into a governing fact. There is the ballot,
free to every citizen, safe, satisfying, final. The men who try
other methods are rushing to their own destruction. We pity them, we
sympathize with them; but our duty is clear and manifest. We have a
government worth fighting for, and even worth dying for, and the police
feel that truth as keenly as any class in the community.