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.
NEVER was that old saying, “Whom the gods wish to destroy they first
make mad,” better illustrated than in the actions of the Anarchist
leaders after their desperate exploits at McCormick’s Works. That riot
was to have been the pivotal point in their social revolution. It
turned out a humiliating fiasco. They had hoped to make a _coup d’état_
for the scarlet banner and had counted upon such a victory as would
terrorize Capital, appal the people and paralyze the arm of constituted
authority. When they discovered that the police had escaped with only
slight bruises, that some of their own comrades had been seriously
wounded and that even the so-called “scabs” had passed through the
onslaught with nothing worse than fright, their rage knew no bounds.
They saw that “the battle had been lost,” and prompt, energetic action
seemed necessary to retrieve the situation.
Spies, their recognized leader, while the perspiration still dripped
from his face, and his blood still fired by his speech to the strikers
and his “heroic efforts” to rally the routed and fleeing Socialists,
seized a pen, and, dipping it into the gall of his indignation, wrote
what subsequently became famous as the “Revenge Circular.” It was
printed in German and English, and an exact _fac-simile_ is presented
herewith. The German version is somewhat different from the English,
being addressed to the adherents of Anarchy and Socialism, the English
version seeming to have been intended for Americans in general. Several
thousand copies were scattered throughout the city.
The wording of the English portion of the circular may be seen in the
illustration. The German portion, translated, reads as follows:
[Illustration: THE FAMOUS “REVENGE” CIRCULAR.
Engraved from the Original by direct Photographic Process.]
Revenge! Revenge! Workmen to arms!
Men of labor, this afternoon the bloodhounds of your oppressors
murdered six of your brothers at McCormick’s. Why did they murder
them? Because they dared to be dissatisfied with the lot which your
oppressors have assigned to them. They demanded bread, and they
gave them lead for an answer, mindful of the fact that thus people
are most effectually silenced. You have for many years endured
every humiliation without protest, have drudged from early in the
morning until late at night, have suffered all sorts of privation,
have even sacrificed your children. You have done everything to
fill the coffers of your masters—everything for them! And now,
when you approach them and implore them to make your burden a
little lighter, as a reward for your sacrifices, they send their
bloodhounds, the police, at you, in order to cure you with bullets
of your dissatisfaction. Slaves, we ask and conjure you, by all
that is sacred and dear to you, avenge the atrocious murder that
has been committed upon your brothers to-day and which will likely
be committed upon you to-morrow. Laboring men, Hercules, you have
arrived at the cross-way. Which way will you decide? For slavery
and hunger or for freedom and bread? If you decide for the latter,
then do not delay a moment; then, people, to arms! Annihilation to
the beasts in human form who call themselves rulers! Uncompromising
annihilation to them! This must be your motto. Think of the heroes
whose blood has fertilized the road to progress, liberty and
humanity, and strive to become worthy of them!
YOUR BROTHERS.
Not content with this, Spies also wrote and published, in the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_ of May 4, the following:
_BLOOD!—Lead and Powder as a Cure for Dissatisfied
Workingmen.—About Six Laborers Mortally, and Four Times that Number
Slightly, Wounded.—Thus are the Eight-hour Men Intimidated!—This
is Law and Order.—Brave Girls Parading the City!—The Law and Order
Beasts Frighten Hungry Children away with Clubs._
Six months ago, when the eight-hour movement began, representatives of
the I. A. A. called upon workmen to arm if they would enforce their
demand. Would the occurrence of yesterday have been possible had that
advice been followed? Yesterday, at McCormick’s factory, so far as can
now be ascertained, four workmen were killed and twenty-five more or
less seriously wounded. If members who defended themselves with stones
(a few of them had little snappers in the shape of revolvers) had been
provided with good weapons and one single dynamite bomb, not one of
the murderers would have escaped his well-merited fate. This massacre
was to fill the workmen of this city with fear. Will it succeed?
A meeting of the lumber employés was held yesterday at the Black Road
to appoint a committee to wait on the committee of the owners and
present the demands agreed upon. It was an immense meeting. Several
speeches were made in English, German and Polish. Finally Mr. Spies
was introduced, when a Pole cried, “That is a Socialist,” and great
disapprobation was expressed, but the speaker continued, telling them
that they must realize their strength, and must not recede from their
demands; that the issue lay in their hands, and needed only resolution
on their part.
At this point some one cried, “On to McCormick’s! Let us drive off the
scabs,” and about two hundred ran toward McCormick’s. The speaker,
not knowing what occurred, continued his speech, and was appointed
afterwards a member of the committee to notify the bosses of the
action.
Then a Pole spoke, when a patrol wagon rushed up to McCormick’s, and
the crowd began to break up. Shortly shots were heard near McCormick’s
factory, and about seventy-five well-fed, large and strong murderers,
under command of a fat police lieutenant, marched by followed by three
more patrol wagons full of law and order beasts. Two hundred police
were there in less than ten minutes, firing on fleeing workingmen and
women. The writer hastened to the factory, while a comrade urged the
assembly to rescue their brothers, unavailingly. A young Irishman
said to the writer: “What miserable (—— ——) are those who will not
turn a hand while their brothers are being shot down in cold blood!
We have dragged away two. I think they are dead. If you have any
influence with the people, for Heaven’s sake, run back and urge them
to follow you.” The writer did so in vain. The revolvers were still
cracking; fresh policemen arriving; and the battle was lost. It was
about half-past three that the little crowd from the meeting reached
McCormick’s factory. Policeman West tried to hold them back with his
revolver, but was put to flight with a shower of stones and roughly
handled. The crowd bombarded the factory windows with stones and
demolished the guard-house. The scabs were in mortal terror, when the
Hinman Street patrol wagon arrived. They were about to attack the
crowd with their clubs, when a shower of stones was thrown, followed
the next minute by the firing by the police upon the strikers. It was
pretended subsequently that they fired over their heads. The strikers
had a few revolvers and returned the fire. Meantime, more police
arrived, and then the whole band opened fire on the people. The people
fought with stones, and are said to have disabled four policemen. The
gang, as always, fired upon the fleeing, while women and men carried
away the severely wounded. How many were injured cannot be told. A
dying boy, Joseph Doebick, was brought home on an express wagon by
two policemen. The crowd threatened to lynch the officer, but were
prevented by a patrol wagon. Various strikers were arrested. McCormick
said that “August Spies made a speech to a few thousand Anarchists
and then put himself at the head of a crowd and attacked our works.
Our workmen fled, and meantime the police came and sent a lot of
Anarchists away with bleeding heads.”
Mark well the language,—seeking to inflame the minds of the Socialists
by maliciously stating that four men had been killed, when in fact
not one was fatally injured,—its bitter invective, its cunning
phraseology, its rude eloquence and its passionate appeal. All were
well calculated to stir up revengeful feelings at a time when public
sentiment ran high throughout the city. The events following close
upon the heels of the eight-hour strike were critical in the extreme,
and none knew the exact situation better than the Anarchist leaders.
Their course had been shaped with special reference to it.
[Illustration: THE CALL FOR THE HAYMARKET MEETING.—I.
Photographic Engraving, direct from the Original.]
Their secret plottings were directed by the events of the hour. The
time had come, they felt, when the Commune should be proclaimed. It
would not do, they urged, to let the opportunity pass. The failure of
the McCormick riot at once suggested retaliation in a manner best known
to themselves, and the circular was fulminated with a clear knowledge
that its import would be readily understood by all in the dark secret
of their conspiracy.
But that there might be no misdirected effort, and that all might be
properly instructed for the emergency, it was deemed best to hold a
secret conference. The hour seemed to have arrived when their armed
sections, the various groups of the order trained in the use of guns
and explosives, should be brought into requisition, and the police in
particular and the public in general be made to feel their power. How
best to accomplish this purpose had been uppermost in their minds from
the moment of their disaster at the reaper works. A conflict between
the police and the strikers had been counted upon as a certainty under
their inspiration, and plans looking to the best means of taking
advantage of this strike as well as the eight-hour strike had been
discussed even before the McCormick riot.
Only so short a time as the day before that event, the members of the
second company of the Lehr und Wehr Verein and of the Northwest Side
groups had met in joint session at Bohemian Hall, on Emma Street, and
considered the probabilities in view of the eight-hour movement. They
clearly foresaw a conflict, and, among other things, discussed a plan
to meet that contingency. This plan, proposed by Engel and indorsed by
Fischer, and subsequently confessed by one of the conspirators present
at that meeting, was that whenever it came to a conflict between the
police and the Northwest groups, bombs should be thrown into the
police stations. The riflemen of the Lehr und Wehr Verein should post
themselves in line at a certain distance, and whoever came out of the
stations should be shot down. They would then come into the heart of
the city, where the fight would commence in earnest. The members of the
Northwest Side groups were counseled to mutually assist each other in
making the attack upon the police, and “if any one had anything with
him, he should use it.” “As the police would endeavor to subdue the
workingmen by sending all their available force to the place of attack,
the Anarchists could easily blow up the stations, and such officers
as might effect an escape from the buildings could be killed by their
riflemen. Then they would cut the telegraph wires so as to prevent
communication with other stations, after which they would proceed to
the nearest station and destroy that. On their way they would throw
fire bombs at some of the buildings, and this would call out the Fire
Department and prevent the firemen from being called upon to quell the
riot. While proceeding thus they would secure reinforcements, and,
in the intense excitement following, the police as well as militia
would become confused and divided in counsel as to the points where
they could do the most effective service. The attacks should be almost
simultaneous in different parts of the city at a given signal. When
they all finally reached the center of the city, they would set fire to
the most prominent buildings and attack the jail, open the doors and
set free the inmates to join them in future movements.”
This plan, it is almost needless to remark, was unanimously adopted.
But concerted action was necessary among all the groups, and in view
of the “skull-cracking,” to use their own phrase, on the afternoon
of May 3, a secret conference of all groups was determined upon
as a supplement to Spies’ pronunciamento and as an incitement to
future revolutionary movements. A notice understood by all in the
armed sections—“Y, come Monday evening”—was inserted in the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_. The commander of the Lehr und Wehr Verein rented
a beer basement at No. 54 West Lake Street, known to the followers
of Socialism as Greif’s Hall, and along towards eight o’clock
representatives of all the armed sections of the Internationale
gathered there. In order that the utmost privacy might be maintained,
guards were posted both at the front and rear entrances with
instructions to permit no one to stand on the outside and to admit only
trusted adherents.
When the session opened there were between seventy and eighty members
of the various sections present. Their deliberations were presided over
by Gottfried Waller, who subsequently became an important witness for
the State.
Spies’ “Revenge circular,” written late that afternoon, was distributed
in the meeting, and its sentiments were heartily seconded by all
present. Engel finally submitted the plan already given, and some
discussion followed, participated in by various members. Fischer
considered the plan admirable, and, lest there might be evidence of
weakness, he stated that if any man acted the part of a coward, his
own dagger or a bullet from his rifle should pierce that man’s heart.
Inquiries being made with reference to a supply of bombs, he suggested
that the members manufacture them on their own account. The best thing,
he said, was to procure a tin coffee-bottle, fill it with benzine,
attach a cap and fuse, and they would have a most effective bomb.
Engel’s plan went through with a rush. Having now agreed upon a
definite course, it was necessary to adopt a signal to warn the
sections of danger and summon them to action. Fischer was equal to the
occasion. He proposed the German word “Ruhe,”—signifying “rest” or
“peace,”—and added that whenever it should appear in the “Letter-box”
column of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, all would know that the moment for
decisive action had been reached, and that all were expected to repair
promptly to their appointed meeting-places, fully armed and ready for
duty. The suggestion was adopted.
But what are plans without being fortified by enthusiasm on the part
of the mob expected to carry them out? The Socialistic heart must be
fired to a proper pitch of frenzy. Every soul must be made to feel that
the cause of Socialism is his own. A mass-meeting was just the thing,
and a mass-meeting it was decided by this august band of conspirators
to call. The time was the only point in controversy. The chairman
insisted on holding it the following morning on Market Square, which
is a widening of Market Street between Madison and Randolph Streets,
but Fischer protested, because, as he said, it was a “mouse trap,” and
insisted that the meeting be held in the evening, when they could bring
out a crowd of no less than 25,000 people, and that the Haymarket be
the place. There, he said, they would have greater security in case of
disturbance, and more and better means of escape. His counsel finally
prevailed, and after a call had been suitably drafted, Fischer was
intrusted with its printing.
Remembering that “what is everybody’s business is nobody’s business,”
the meeting decided to appoint a committee, consisting of one or two
members from each group. This committee was to keep a close watch on
all movements that might be made at Haymarket Square and in different
parts of the city, and, in the event of a conflict, to promptly report
it to the members of the various armed sections by the insertion in
the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ of the word “Ruhe” if there was trouble during
the day, or illuminating the sky with a red light at night. If either
signal could not be conveniently used, then they were to notify the
members individually.
[Illustration: THE CALL FOR THE HAYMARKET MEETING.—II.
Photographic Engraving, direct from the Original.]
Before the conclusion of this secret conclave, every one present was
directed to notify absent members of what had been done, and Rudolph
Schnaubelt, who has since been proven the thrower of the bomb which
scattered death and devastation on the following evening, wished to
go even further and have Socialists in other cities notified so that
the proposed revolution might become general. The instigators of the
meeting just described were Spies, Parsons, Fielden and Neebe, but for
some reason they failed to put in an appearance.
In accordance with arrangements, the call for the mass-meeting was
printed the next morning. There were two versions of this call.
_Fac-similes_ of both are given.
In the afternoon of May 4 the signal word “Ruhe” appeared in the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_, and all the armed men proceeded to place
themselves in readiness for the conflict. They also devoted themselves
energetically to cultivating revengeful sentiments. While making their
preparations for the projected riot, they communicated the plan decided
upon to every member of the order, and all were urged to come fully
armed with such weapons as they might possess.
[Illustration: NEFF’S HALL.]
But their greatest reliance was placed in the use of dynamite. This
highly explosive material was regarded as the chief arm of their cause.
For many weeks, the leaders had experimented with it. Some six weeks
before the disastrous Haymarket riot, Louis Lingg had brought a bomb
to the house of William Seliger, No. 442 Sedgwick Street, where he
boarded, and announced his intention of making other bombs like it.
Before this he had provided himself with dynamite, the money for its
purchase having been realized at a ball given some time previously and
turned over to him to use in experiments. Being out of employment at
the time, he devoted himself energetically to experiments with that
material, and produced large gas-pipe bombs. One of these he took out
to a grove north of the city, and, placing it in the crotch of a tree,
exploded it, splitting the tree to pieces. The result of the test
appears to have been satisfactory, and he next gave his attention to
the manufacture of globular shells. In the casting of these he used
the kitchen stove to melt his metal, and often received the assistance
of Seliger, Thielen and Hermann. All day Tuesday, May 4, he worked
most persistently and seemed in a great hurry to make as many bombs
as possible. He was helped on that day by the parties named and two
others, Hueber and Munzenberger. Before the close of the day they had
finished over a hundred bombs. While they were at work Lehman visited
them and carried home a satchel of dynamite, which he subsequently,
after the Haymarket riot, buried out on the prairie, and which was
afterwards disinterred by the police. Not alone did he and his friends
experiment with dynamite, but it appears that Spies, Parsons, Fischer,
Fielden and Schwab also tried their hands at it and handled the deadly
stuff at the office of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_. They had several bombs
there and made no secret of the purpose for which they intended them.
The office was afterwards discovered to be an arsenal of revolvers and
dynamite.
After the bombs had been completed by Lingg and his assistants,
Lingg and Seliger put them in a trunk or satchel and carried them
over towards Neff’s Hall, at No. 58 Clybourn Avenue. On the way they
were met by Munzenberger, who took the trunk, and, placing it on
his shoulder, carried it the rest of the distance. At this time—it
being evening—there was a meeting of painters in a hall at the rear
of Neff’s saloon, and the package was placed at the entrance for a
moment’s exhibition. Lingg asked the proprietor if any one had called
and inquired for him, and, on being answered in the negative, proceeded
with Seliger and Munzenberger into the hallway connecting the saloon
and the assembly-room. Placing the trunk on the floor, he opened it
for inspection. Several parties examined the bombs and took some of
them away. Seliger helped himself to two and kept them until after the
Haymarket explosion, when he hid them under a sidewalk on Sigel Street.
Lingg, Seliger and Munzenberger then left the premises. The direction
the last-named took is a matter in doubt. Neff had never seen him
before, Lehman did not know him, and Seliger had not even learned his
name.
It is clear that all this work was part of the conspiracy concocted
at Greif’s Hall the previous evening. It is also well settled that
Munzenberger was the chosen agent to secure the bombs and see that they
were placed in the hands of trusted Anarchists for use at the proper
moment. The secrecy surrounding the latter’s identity was in complete
accord with the method of procedure outlined in the instructions given
to Socialists:
In the commission of a deed, a comrade who does not live at the
place of action, that is, a comrade of some other place, ought, if
possibility admits, to participate in the action, or, formulated
difficulty, a revolutionary deed ought to be enacted where one is not
known.
Still further steps were taken to precipitate the revolution. In
conformity with the Monday night plan, armed men were to be stationed,
on the evening of Tuesday, in the vicinity of the police stations. We
find that Lingg, Seliger, Lehman, Smidke, Thielen and two large unknown
men were in the vicinity of the North Avenue Station. They skulked
about the corners of the streets leading to that station, between
eight and ten o’clock, fully armed with bombs and ready for desperate
deeds. Others, who had secured bombs at Neff’s Hall, went further
northward and hovered around the police station near the corner of
Webster and Lincoln Avenues. Seliger and Lingg also paid that vicinity
a visit. There were also armed men at Deering, where a meeting of
striking workingmen was held, and which was addressed by Schwab after
he had left the Haymarket. Anarchists also posted themselves in the
vicinity of the Chicago Avenue Station. Men were also near the North
Avenue Station, and some twenty-five posted themselves at the corner
of Halsted and Randolph Streets, two blocks from the Desplaines Street
Station. Spies and Schwab entered this group and held some secret
consultation with the leaders. Fischer and Waller were also close to
that station.
It furthermore appears that several men called on Tuesday evening at
Waller’s residence while he was eating his supper and desired him to
accompany them to Wicker Park, saying that they “wanted to be at their
post.” Two of these men were Krueger and Kraemer, belonging to the
“armed sections.” Some men also called at Engel’s store, and one of
them exhibited a revolver. Another, a stranger, explained to a comrade
that he was waiting for some “pills.” He waited only five minutes,
when a young girl about ten or twelve years of age came in, carrying a
mysterious package. This she handed to the stranger, who stepped behind
a screen and then hastened out.
It is thus manifest that the various parties were bent on a carnival
of riot and destruction and only awaited the proper signal from the
committee. The men intrusted with the secrets of pillage, murder
and general destruction belonged to what was known in the order as
the “Revolutionary Group.” The plan was not communicated to any one
else. The utmost secrecy had to be maintained for its successful
accomplishment, and the conspiracy was only communicated to such as
had proved themselves in the past, by word and deed, in full accord
with revolutionary methods. The “revolutionary party” consisted of the
Lehr und Wehr Verein, commanded by Breitenfeld; the Northwest Side
group, under command of Engel, Fischer and Grumm; the North Side group,
commanded by Neebe, Lingg and Hermann; the American group, commanded by
Spies, Parsons and Fielden; the Karl Marx group, directed by Schilling;
the Freiheit group and the armed sections of the International
Carpenters’ Union and Metal-workers’ Union. These various sections,
or groups, were under the management of a general committee which
included among its leading spirits Spies, Schwab, Parsons, Neebe, Rau,
Hirschberger, Deusch and Bélz. This committee met at stated periods
at the office of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ and formulated orders for the
guidance of the groups. Its expenses were met by monthly contributions
from all the Socialistic societies. It was under the inspiration of
this committee that the Monday night meeting was held. Why the signal
for a concerted raid on the police stations, the burning of buildings
and the slaughter of capitalists was not given on the fateful night
of the Haymarket riot,—or, if given, as seems to be believed in many
quarters, in Fielden’s declaration, “We are peaceable,” why it was not
carried out completely,—is not explicable upon any other hypothesis
than that the courage of the trusted leaders failed them at the
critical moment.