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.
THE preceding pages will have given to the reader facts enough to
show the difficulty of the task assumed, as well as the manner in
which we went about the work. One of the greatest of the obstacles
to be overcome arose from the character and habits of thought of the
Anarchists themselves. They heartily hated all law, and despised its
constituted representatives. The conspiracy was well disciplined in
itself, and it had been specially organized with a view to guarding
its secrets from the outside world and protecting its members from the
consequences of their crimes. Thus I soon found that it would require
peculiar address, patience, secretiveness and diligent work to lay bare
the great plot to the world.
I can find no better place than this to testify to the help given me
throughout the case by Assistant State’s Attorney Furthmann, whose work
was a most important feature of the result finally brought before the
Criminal Court.
The protection of society is an interest so momentous that it would
be a false modesty in me to refuse, for fear that I should be charged
with egotism, to analyze the processes by which the conviction of the
confederates in the Haymarket murder conspiracy was bought about, and
accordingly I will now say, once for all, that I believe that careful,
systematic detective inquiry, conducted with some brains and a good
deal of grit, can unravel any plot which the enemies of law and order
and our American institutions are apt to hatch. It will require tact.
It will require intelligence. It may require the hardest and most
persistent work that men may do—but about the result there can be
no doubt. Our government and our methods are strong enough for the
protection of the people and the maintenance of law and order, no
matter how dangerous may seem the forces arrayed against it.
The various steps taken may be gathered best from the memoranda made
upon the arrest of each Anarchist who had been conspicuous in his
order and who was supposed to know the secret workings of the “armed
sections;” and, in reading the particulars, the general conclusion will
become irresistible that the men who posed as the bloodthirsty bandits
of Chicago became arrant, cringing cowards when they found themselves
within the clutches of the law. In the galaxy of trembling “cranks”
there were a few exceptions, notably George Engel and Louis Lingg, but
the demeanor of the common herd under arrest proved that their vaunted
bravery had been simply so much talk “full of sound and fury.”
[Illustration: JULIUS OPPENHEIMER’S “DOUBLE.”
From a Photograph.]
One of the first arrests which I made was that of Julius Oppenheimer,
_alias_ Julius Frey. This man was a peculiar genius and was possessed
by an unbounded admiration for Anarchists and all their methods. He had
come to America five years before and had been brought up an Anarchist.
He was a Hebrew of a very pronounced type, twenty-five years of age, a
butcher by occupation, but an Anarchist in and out of season. Whenever
he succeeded in securing employment he was sure speedily to lose it
by his persistent teaching of Anarchy, and in some places people
even went so far as to drive him out of town. If fortunate enough to
get work in an adjoining town, he would tell his fellow workmen of
his prior experience and curse what he termed his persecution for
conscience’s sake. Whenever his Anarchist beliefs had been expounded,
he was promptly dismissed, and in one town he was politely informed
that unless he got out in short order he was liable to find himself
hanging to a tree. This sort of thing embittered him still more against
society, and finally he abandoned all attempts to find work. He
resolved himself into a tramp, and, in traveling from place to place,
he sought to convert every other tramp he met to his revolutionary
ideas.
He soon learned that Chicago was regarded all over the country as the
home of Socialism, its stronghold and citadel, and he made haste to
reach it so that he too could become an agitator, with nothing to do
and plenty to eat and drink. He had been in the city only a few days
when he learned of the Socialistic haunt at No. 58 Clybourn Avenue, and
there he soon made the acquaintance of Lingg and other, lesser lights,
whose principal aim seemed to be to loaf around the saloons, guzzle
beer and talk dynamite. This pleased Oppenheimer. He had traveled many
weary days, but at last he had found what he had so long sought. He was
received cautiously at first, but finally with open arms. One night
he attended a meeting at the number given above and heard Engel speak
about killing all the police in Chicago. Oppenheimer was delighted,
and on the adjournment of the meeting he grew very enthusiastic,
threatening to visit dire punishment on both the police and the
rich. He stepped out on the sidewalk, and, just then encountering a
policeman, he ejaculated:
“You old loafer, you won’t live much longer!”
The words had hardly been uttered when Oppenheimer found himself
prostrate in the gutter. The policeman passed on, and not one of
Oppenheimer’s comrades dared to come to the Anarchist’s assistance or
proffer sympathy. This was a treatment he had not expected, but he
smothered his wrath and continued to attend all the meetings of the
“revolutionary groups.” He grew stronger every day in the good graces
of his comrades, and at one of their meetings he was asked, along with
others, to secure some of the “good stuff” and bombs. He responded and
secured a substantial outfit. When the 4th of May came he happened for
some reason to be some eighteen miles out of the city, but the moment
he heard of the explosion he hastened back at once and hunted up his
old friends to help them destroy the town.
On the evening of May 7 he was encountered by Officer Loewenstein at
58 Clybourn Avenue, in Neff’s Hall, and taken to the Larrabee Street
Station. He was put into a cell and kept locked up for about a week.
Gradually it began to dawn upon his mind that he was in trouble, that
possibly the police had secured evidence against him, and so at last he
sent for me.
“I see,” he said, “that it is foolish to fight against law and order,
but you must excuse me for my actions. I read so much of that Most
trash and other books that I was really crazy. I lost my reason and did
not know what I was doing. Now I will tell all I know, but I will not
testify against any of these people.”
He was given no special assurances, but he unbosomed himself fully and
became extremely useful in giving needed information. One day he said
that if I would take him out in a carriage he would show where he had a
lot of dynamite bombs planted, and added:
“Before going after the stuff, I will show you some of the worst
Anarchists in the city, but in doing so I will tell you candidly my
life is in danger. If these men see me they will shoot me on the spot.”
He was assured that he would be fixed in such a disguise that no one
would recognize him, and, consenting to go under such conditions,
Oppenheimer was rigged out like a veritable darkey. Officers Schuettler
and Loewenstein were detailed to accompany him, and together they
visited Sullivan, Connor, Hoyne, Mohawk and Hurlbut Streets, where many
Anarchists then lived, and where Oppenheimer pointed out the houses of
many notable conspirators.
Unfortunately, in one of the localities visited, colored people were
very scarce, and it did not take the boys long to discover the sham,
when they at once began shouting, “Here is a lost, crazy nigger,” and
they followed him, throwing bricks and stones. At other times the
officers were obliged to hustle away with their “Hebrew negro,” as they
called him, as soon as possible. They got back to the station about
eleven o’clock that evening, and, entering my office, Oppenheimer was
permitted to view his ebony countenance in a mirror. He was startled by
his make-up and declared that it was most artistically done.
“Mein Gott, if I was asleep,” he exclaimed, “and wake up, and looked in
the glass, I’d think I was a real nigger.”
On the next day he was taken by the officers, in a carriage, to Lake
View, about three miles from the city limits, to locate the bombs. It
was a rainy day, and it was no easy matter for Oppenheimer to determine
the right spot, although he kept a sharp look-out. He had planted them
during the night, and that added to the difficulty. Finally he directed
the driver to a grove used as picnic grounds, and they soon reached
the spot. It now rained hard, and lightning and thunder filled the air
with light and noise. Oppenheimer hesitated about alighting from the
carriage.
“It is dangerous,” he said, “to go near the place. The bombs I have
planted here are all loaded with dynamite, and charged with poisoned
iron, and this heavy thunder may explode them and kill us all.”
Officer Schuettler said that he himself was familiar with the
properties of dynamite, and assured him that there would not be the
slightest danger. Oppenheimer then became somewhat braver. He jumped
out and beckoned to his companions to follow. They proceeded to the
dancing-platform, in the middle of the grove, and Oppenheimer, having
removed some short boards, making an opening large enough for the
admission of a man’s body, asked Loewenstein to take hold of his legs,
and, when he shouted, to pull him out, adding that when he had been
there before he had had a hard time getting out. Oppenheimer then went
in. On giving the signal, he was pulled out, with one bomb in each
hand. He was thus lowered and pulled out until he had produced thirteen
bombs. They were of the heavy gas-pipe make, loaded with dynamite and
rusty nails, with cap attachments, and ready for use in four seconds.
To show that he had exercised great care to preserve the “stuff”
properly, he asked to be lowered again, and this time he brought to the
surface an oil-cloth table-cover, which, he explained, he had used for
wrapping up the bombs so that “they would not spoil on him.” He also
fished out of the place two large navy revolvers fully loaded. Having
finished, Oppenheimer gave a sigh of relief and remarked:
“Now I feel relieved. As long as I had these things I always felt that
I must do some damage with them. I had them once in the city (May 5),
and my mind was made up to throw some in the North Side Post-office. I
also had determined to go to the _Freie Presse_ office and blow up that
d——d Michaelis, the editor of the paper. And then I was going to kill
myself.”
At about this time Oppenheimer possessed two large 44-caliber navy
revolvers and seemed withal a desperate fellow. When the parties
returned to the station he asked me to keep him there until all trouble
was over, and for three months he became quite a character about the
establishment. The defense in the Anarchist trial made several attempts
to secure his release, but Oppenheimer declined to go. He was taken out
frequently for regular exercise by one of the officers, but he always
went in disguise.
He proved such a valuable aid to the State that State’s Attorney
Grinnell ordered his release, but as he was nervous lest some one
should shoot him on regaining his full liberty, he begged me to
send him to New York City. He was accordingly furnished with money
and clothing and sent away. While he was at the station he gained
twenty-seven pounds and declared he had never been so well taken care
of in all his life. He bade all the officers who were working up
the Anarchist cases good-by and was given safe escort to the depot
by Officer Stift. Some time after his arrival in New York he was
discovered by an Anarchist, who telegraphed to Capt. Black that he was
there if wanted, but the Captain did not seem to specially care for him.
The information he furnished the State was substantially as follows:
“I came to Chicago May 5, 1886, in the morning. I went to Seliger’s
house, 442 Sedgwick Street. I know Seliger and his wife and Louis
Lingg. I am an Anarchist. I think the workingmen are not treated right
in this country. I have always attended Socialistic meetings here.
I have attended several meetings where the speakers would call us
to arms and to all kinds of weapons, so that when the time came we
could secure our rights. It was urged that we should be prepared to
fight any one who would obstruct us or oppose our ideas. A meeting
was held at Neff’s Hall on or about last February. A man who lives on
the West Side, on Milwaukee Avenue, and who keeps a toy store—I do
not know his name—was there. He was accompanied by a young lady. Now
that you show me this picture [Engel’s] I will say he is the man, and
he made a speech at that meeting. He told us to prepare ourselves,
and if we were too poor and could not afford to buy arms, he could
tell us about a weapon that was cheaper and better in its effect than
arms. He then spoke of dynamite, but in his speech he always called
it ‘stuff.’ He explained how to make dynamite bombs. He said: ‘Take
a gas-pipe, cut it in the length of six inches, put a wooden plug in
one end, fill it with dynamite, then plug the other end, and drill
a small hole through one of the plugs. In this hole put a cap and
fuse.’ Then the bomb was complete. He also told us of a place on the
West Side, near a bridge, where we could go and steal all the pipe we
wanted. We could then buy the ‘stuff’ and make the bombs ourselves.
I bought seven or eight bombs some time ago from a man named Nusser
or Nuffer, at 54 West Lake Street. The man used to work for Greif.
I paid him twenty-five cents apiece for them. They were dynamite
bombs, and I purchased them at night. I had a little book that told
all about making and using dynamite bombs. I know something about the
armed group. They are not known by their names. They are known by
numbers, so that the police cannot find them out in case they have
done anything wrong. There never would be any more than three in a
job—that is, if there were any persons to be killed. Number one
would find the second man, and this second man would find the third.
No questions would be asked. The first man and the third man are
not supposed to know each other. The first and third would know the
middle man, but in case of trouble, and should there be a ‘squeal,’
only two parties could be given away, leaving one to get away and
save himself. I have tried some of the dynamite bombs I had, and
they worked splendidly. I also have a big navy revolver. Everything
attempted hereafter will be done according to the instructions given
in a book printed by Herr Most, of New York. Those long gas-pipe
shells I see before me are like one that was shown me at Neff’s
Hall last winter. A man named Rau had it there and showed it to the
boys. I am five years in America, and have always been a Socialist.
On Wednesday morning, May 5, when I heard that there had been a bad
blunder committed by our boys at the Haymarket, and read an article
in the _Freie Presse_ condemning us, I got very mad. I took my five
dynamite bombs and started out to get revenge. My first intention was
to blow up the North Side Post-office. The next place I decided to go
to was the _Freie Presse_ office to blow them up. If I found I was in
danger of being captured, I made up my mind to kill myself right there
and then. Lingg wanted me to cut a hole in the wall in his room to
put away a lot of dynamite bombs and dynamite, but Mrs. Seliger would
not let me do so. A man named Bodendick, a good Anarchist, was well
known by August Spies, and considered a rank conspirator. This is the
man that went to Justice White’s house and demanded $25, threatening
that if he did not get it he would blow up his house. White had him
arrested and locked up in jail, and for this reason Spies did not
want the man known as an Anarchist, but simply as a crazy man. The
Socialists or Anarchists do not care much for Spies or Schwab, but
we have kept them and looked upon them as a necessary evil. I know
a man named Pollinger, a saloon-keeper. He was an agent here at one
time to sell arms, but he did not run things right. He was crooked.
The understanding we had was that, in case of a riot or revolution,
every man should use his own judgment and do as he pleased, that is
to say, commit murder, shoot people, burn buildings or do that for
which he was best fitted, so long as it was in the interest of the
Anarchistic society. The main idea inculcated in the little paper
called the _Freiheit_, which I have read, is that no rights could be
secured until capitalists were killed and houses were laid in ashes.
If we would not take a chance on our lives, we would be slaves always.
I know positively of fifty men, radical Anarchists, who stand ready to
commit murder and to destroy the city by fire whenever they are called
on. I know Lingg well. He is a Socialist and an Anarchist and a very
radical revolutionist. I heard him speak at 58 Clybourn Avenue, and
formed my opinion of him. He told me that Seliger was a coward.”
[Illustration: WILLIAM SELIGER.
From a Photograph.]
[Illustration: MRS. WILLIAM SELIGER.
From a Photograph.]
”“He called me a coward the morning I helped Mrs. Seliger to get the
guns out of the house. That morning I was in Lingg’s room when Mrs.
Seliger brought in a lot of lead and said to Lingg: ‘Here is your
lead.’ Lingg then got mad at her and said: ‘You are crazy.’ He became
very much excited, wrapped up his gun, got ready to move, and wanted
me to conceal his dynamite bombs in the hall. Mrs. Seliger would not
let him do so. Then Lingg was going to carry his bombs out of the
house. He finally got into quite a quarrel with her and started out
to get a wagon to carry away all his things. I told him to hurry up
and get all his dynamite stuff away, also the printed literature he
had, as there was danger that the police would be around to search
the house. He looked at me and called me ‘a d——d fool and coward.’
Then Lingg asked me to go to the West Side with him, as there was to
be a meeting at 71 West Lake Street. Lingg saw my dynamite bombs. I
had told him of them. I saw two round lead bombs in his room. I had
them in my hands. Lingg told me to be careful and not let them drop,
as they were loaded and might go off. They were dangerous, he said.
I also saw four gas-pipe bombs in his room. Some of them were not
finished. I remember now that Seliger, the Hermanns and Hubner were at
the meeting in Neff’s Hall last winter when Engel urged all men who
had revolutionary ideas to pay attention and he would explain how to
make dynamite bombs. I am glad I am arrested. I now can realize how
near I was to ruin through those d——d fellows making revolutionary
speeches and exciting the people to commit murder. The books given out
by Herr Most are doing more harm among those men than any one can
imagine. I have given you facts, and they are true, every one of them.
I will swear to them.”
The next arrest was that of William Seliger. When the police had
learned that Seliger’s residence had been used as a bomb factory, we
wanted him. He was a man about forty-five years of age, a carpenter by
occupation, a good mechanic, very quiet and sober, but one of the most
rabid of Anarchists. He had filled various positions in the “groups,”
and always manifested a deep interest in their meetings. He was popular
with his comrades and trusted with all their secrets. He lived at No.
442 Sedgwick Street, in a rear building up-stairs. This was a two-story
frame dwelling, and a great resort for Socialists and Anarchists.
Officer Whalen had searched the house, finding it a regular dynamite
magazine, and, locating his man, telephoned to me that Seliger was
working at Meyer’s mill on the North Pier. Officer Stift and Lieut.
Larsen were at once detailed, in charge of a patrol wagon, to effect
the arrest, and soon the man was produced at the station—May 7. When I
confronted him he stubbornly refused, according to the instructions in
Most’s book, to answer questions, but when he discovered the evidence I
had against him, he broke down and said:
“Captain, I will tell you all, but for Heaven’s sake do not arrest my
poor wife. I am to blame for all you found in my house, because I kept
that man Lingg in my house against her will—the poor woman! Hang me,
but do not trouble her, for she is innocent, and God is her witness.”
Seliger then unbosomed himself, telling of all his connection with
the Anarchists since his location in Chicago, and giving valuable
information on all the “groups,” their leaders, their places of
meeting, their purposes, their mode of operations, the character of the
speeches made at meetings, and the manufacture of bombs at his house,
giving the names of all calling or taking part in their manufacture.
He gave the most important points the State had to work on, and
every detail he furnished was fully corroborated by other parties
subsequently arrested. He was in the confidence of Lingg, and was also
a _particeps criminis_ in the manufacture of the bombs, and gave,
therefore, no hearsay statements. What was found in his house and the
character of his information are fully shown in his testimony, given in
a later chapter, as well as that of the officers during the memorable
trial.
After telling what he knew, Seliger was released, on the 28th of May,
with instructions to report every day at the Chicago Avenue Station.
Mrs. Seliger was also arrested. She was a small woman about 38 years
of age. She was found at No. 32 Sigel Street on the morning of May 10.
She readily consented to accompany Officer Schuettler to the station.
Mrs. Seliger showed plainly that she had not been in sympathy with her
husband in his revolutionary ideas, and proved a prompt and willing
witness, demonstrating before she got through that she had done
incalculable service to the people of the city.
It was in her house that Lingg made his bombs, and when I questioned
her she gave me a great deal of information concerning the man and
his methods. All the statements she made and her testimony in court
did not vary in the slightest details, even under the most rigid
cross-examination. She was found to be a very industrious woman, a
neat housekeeper, and she was highly esteemed by all her neighbors.
She related how she had lived in misery ever since her husband began
to take an active part in the Anarchist meetings, and she stated that
after Lingg came to live in the house she had not seen a pleasant hour.
She had often remonstrated with her husband and pleaded with him not to
attend the meetings, or read any of the Anarchist papers, but to remain
at home with her.
Seliger was so completely carried away by the doctrines of Johann Most,
Spies and the others that he refused to listen to his wife. The moment
he got into trouble, however, he became very penitent and readily
accepted her advice in everything.
Mrs. Seliger’s experience on the 4th day of May, when she witnessed
the preparation of the bombs, she described as terrible. There she was
forced to remain all day, she said, seeing eight men working on the
murderous weapons, some making one kind of bombs, some another, others
fitting them and loading them with dynamite, and others again putting
on the caps and fuse. Throughout the whole operation she was obliged
to listen to their bloodthirsty conversation, how they would blow up
the police stations, patrol wagons and fire-engine houses, kill all the
militia, hurl bombs into private residences, and murder every one who
opposed them.
Mrs. Seliger viewed affairs differently and told the conspirators that
there were more chains than mad dogs. Another thing they overlooked,
she said, was their own families, and should they carry all their
threats into execution their families would be made to suffer to the
end of their days in misery and want. Remonstrances, however, were
useless.
They worked until dark, and then they separated to meet in the evening
at No. 58 Clybourn Avenue. Her husband and Lingg ate supper, and
then the two put a lot of the bombs into a satchel and started for
the designated place. Lingg carried the satchel down stairs and was
followed by Seliger.
This was a trying moment, but Mrs. Seliger proved equal to the
emergency. Just as Seliger reached the third step, she grasped his arm,
threw her arms about his neck, and, like a loving, devoted wife, asked
him for God’s sake not to become a murderer.
“If you ever loved me and ever listened to me when I spoke,” she
whispered fervently into his ear, “I want you to listen to me now. I
don’t ask you to stay at home, but I want you to go with that villain
and see that he does not hurt any one. Restrain him from carrying out
his murderous ideas. If you do this, I will creep on my knees after you
and will be your slave all my life.”
[Illustration: A NOBLE WOMAN’S INFLUENCE. A KISS THAT PREVENTED
BLOODSHED.]
These tender words touched a sympathetic chord in the heart of Seliger,
and he promised to do as she had requested, while she sealed the
promise with a loving kiss. As subsequent events and his testimony
in court proved, he faithfully carried out that promise, and by that
injunction of his wife and that fervid kiss of a true woman, hundreds
of lives and millions of property were saved.
From the time they left the house until their return, Seliger never
left for a moment the side of Lingg. During the evening Lingg was
continually prompted by his own treacherous heart to throw bombs, now
at a passing patrol wagon, then at some residence or into a police
station, and invariably Seliger had some handy reason to proffer why
such an attempt would be inopportune at the moment. Lingg finally
became suspicious and upbraided Seliger for being a coward. The night
passed, and the only harm Lingg did was indirectly in the explosion
of one of his bombs at the Haymarket, to the prospective happening of
which he frequently alluded during the evening.
It is my deliberate opinion that, had it not been for this intervention
of Mrs. Seliger, hundreds of people would have been killed, and
probably one-half of the North Side destroyed, that eventful night.
After giving considerable information to the police Mrs. Seliger was
released, but kept under strict surveillance.
Seliger faithfully carried out his instructions to report at the
station daily for two weeks, and then he suddenly disappeared. Officer
Schuettler was detailed to visit his home to ascertain the cause, and
was there informed that Seliger had mysteriously left.
“Why,” inquired Mrs. Seliger, “don’t you know where he is; did you not
arrest him again?”
On being answered in the negative, she stated that it had been her
intention to call on me that afternoon with a view to finding out
something about her husband.
It looked like a case of concealment, and Mrs. Seliger was therefore
taken to the Larrabee Street Station. She immediately desired to see
me, and, when I called, she informed me that three days before her
husband had said: “I am going away. Don’t ask me any questions. You
will hear from me later,” and then bade her good-by.
She was under the impression that since leaving her he had been at the
Chicago Avenue Station. I thought it a ruse and subjected her to a
severe examination. I asked her who had been to see them and whether
they had not received money from certain lawyers or others. But Mrs.
Seliger could tell no different story from that she had already given,
and she finally volunteered the guess that possibly her husband had
been frightened away.
“If you will only allow me to go,” she earnestly pleaded, “I will
neither eat, drink nor sleep until I find him.”
I was now satisfied that she was in earnest, and, having confidence
in her, I ordered her release. But from that moment she was watched
night and day, more closely than ever. It was found that she visited
many houses in various parts of the city, and when these places were
immediately afterwards called upon by the detectives it was ascertained
that she had invariably inquired for her husband and urged those who
knew him to tell him to come home if they should happen to meet him;
that she was weary of life, and if he remained away much longer she
would not be responsible for any act of hers on her own life.
After several days’ ineffective search, Mrs. Seliger received a letter
from her husband asking her to call and see him. She hastened at once,
with a throbbing heart and a light tread, to my office. I asked her
if she would work under my instructions, and she promptly consented
to do everything in her power to help the police. I had come to the
conclusion that it would be no easy matter to find the slippery
Seliger, but that, if he was not discovered that day, we might at least
get on his track.
Mrs. Seliger was accordingly told to wait in the office a few minutes.
Two men were sent for, men whom the woman would not know. I instructed
them to slip through a side door and get a good view of her while
unobserved. A carriage was then ordered, and the driver directed to
take the woman to whatever place she might desire, and remain with her
even all day and all night, if required. Mrs. Seliger stepped into the
carriage, and the horses were soon in a sharp trot. But the conveyance
was not alone. No sooner had it started than the two men I have spoken
of jumped into a buggy and followed the carriage south, keeping it in
good view all the time.
The first stop made was at a place on West Thirteenth Street. There
Mrs. Seliger had to identify herself first, and thence she was directed
to a place some four blocks away. Arriving there, she was sent on to
Sixteenth Street, and again sent to Twelfth Street, near the limits.
She was here subjected to a great many questions, and after she had
fully proven her identity she was taken to the next house and led into
a dark bed-room, where she found her husband. She remained there about
three hours, and then, under direction of her husband’s friends, was
told to drive to several other places in order to throw any detectives
that might be watching off the scent. She did so, but the two men had
kept a close watch and were not to be baffled.
When the carriage had started for home, one of the officers returned
to the place where she had tarried so long. He represented to the
occupants that he was working for Salomon & Zeisler, attorneys for the
imprisoned conspirators, to whom Seliger had written a letter, and that
in accordance with the request they had decided to protect him and his
friends.
“Seliger,” said the officer, “is here, and I want to talk with him.”
The occupants admitted that he had been there and had had a talk with
his wife, but that he was at the time on his way home with her.
Mr. and Mrs. Seliger called at the station the next afternoon (June 8).
Both entered smiling, but it was quite apparent that Seliger was very
nervous.
“Captain,” said Mrs. Seliger, “we are both here.”
“Yes, madam,” I replied; “I am glad you are both here—on your own
account.”
“Captain,” again spoke Mrs. Seliger, “I want my husband to testify in
court against that villain Lingg. He ruined my home. He is the cause of
the slaughter of all these people. He is the cause of the sufferings
of the women and children whose husbands and fathers attended the
Anarchist meetings. Now, Captain, you see I have been faithful to my
promises. I have done as I agreed. You have my husband; he is in your
power. You can do with him as you please, but for God’s sake spare his
life.”
Mrs. Seliger had scarcely finished her appeal when she swooned away.
She had for days been wrought up with intense excitement and haunted
with terrible forebodings. The climax was reached when she had executed
her commission, and, trying as had been the situation for nights and
days, she had courageously borne up in order that she might atone the
wrongs her husband had committed despite her most earnest entreaties,
and to help in some way to extricate him, who had so cruelly wronged
her, from the meshes into which he had madly and ignorantly rushed.
Her keen judgment and innate sense of right had swept aside every
consideration of the apparent security his concealment might have given
him, and her whole soul was centered in his delivery to the authorities
that he might not eventually be found and sent to an ignominious death
on the gallows. That was her hope, and, much as she longed for his
safety, she had bent her whole energies to seeing him brought out of
concealment and placed where there might at least be a chance for
his life. The struggle had been intense, and it culminated when she
so pathetically asked that her husband’s life might be spared. Her
emotions then were at their highest tension, and as she recognized the
fact that he was now at the complete mercy of the law, from which he
had sought to escape, she could bear up no longer.
A physician was immediately sent for, and after applying restoratives
it was found she was quite a sick woman. A carriage was summoned, and
she was sent home.
Seliger was detained at the station until after the trial of the
conspirators. Mrs. Seliger was a frequent caller after that trying
day, and remained with him much of the time, cheering him and seeking
in every way to lighten his burden, like a true, devoted and loving
wife. In a subsequent conversation the circumstances in connection with
her visit to her husband at his place of concealment were learned.
It appears that at first he emphatically declined to accompany her,
and then gave his reasons. One day, while on his way to report at the
station, he was met, he said, by a stranger, and threatened that if he
ever went near the station again, or sent word verbally or by note or
letter to me, both he and his wife would be murdered in cold blood.
The threat made a marked impression on his mind. He returned home,
but made no mention of it to Mrs. Seliger. He knew, he said, that the
threat was meant, and, thinking to save his wife, he concluded to act
on the warning and place himself in concealment without her knowledge.
He left, as already stated, and decided to keep under cover to await
results.
He called first at the house of a widow named Bertha Neubarth, No. 1109
Nelson Street, Lake View. This was a small cottage, with a basement
used as a tailor-shop, and, thinking it a secure place, he remained
there a few days. Then he went to the house of a friend, named Gustav
Belz, who lived near McCormick’s factory, and remained there several
days. His next move was to a house on West Twelfth Street, near the
city limits, and there he remained until discovered by his wife.
The letter he had sent to her was mailed by a trusted friend named
Malinwitz, and the purpose he had in sending it was to ascertain if
matters had changed any and if I was angry over his sudden departure.
On meeting his wife, the first question he asked was as to whether the
police had been watching their house, and, on being answered in the
affirmative, and informed that she had even been locked up again, he
asked for particulars and the cause for her release.
“Capt. Schaack,” she said, “let me out in order to bring you back.”
“I often felt sorry,” answered the husband, “for going away, but I will
never go back.”
His wife insisted that he must go back, and said:
“I told the Captain that I would come and see you. The Captain said
that he would give you six hours to return, and that if you did not
report to his office within that time, he would surely find you and
prosecute you for murder. Your chances for hanging, he said, were very
good, and you need look for no mercy at his hands. He also said that
he had your picture ready, to send out for your arrest on sight, and
that it would be useless for you to hide or run away. I saw the picture
myself, and the Captain intends to publish a large reward for your
arrest.”
“I believe all you say,” said Seliger, struggling with his feelings,
“but what would you prefer, seeing me shot or killed by assassins, or
hung by law?”
“All these cowards making threats,” replied the wife, “will be
arrested. The station-houses on the North Side are now full of the
murderers. I know the Captain will take care of us, and, if you are
arrested, you will have no one to help you or do anything for you;
then you are sure to hang. You had better come with me to Captain
Schaack.”
He consented, and she sent word that they would be at the station
the next day. Seliger gave himself up, and Mrs. Seliger redeemed her
promise. The sacrifice, in view of the uncertainties of the time,
seemed great, but had it not been for the honesty and persistency of
that true woman, Seliger to-day would lie in an unhonored grave. Both
proved strong witnesses at the trial, and shortly after his release
they left the city. Reports from them show that he has been cured of
Johann Most’s crazy notions. He now denounces Anarchy both in America
and Germany, in which latter country he and his wife were born. He has
applied himself to legitimate pursuits as a law-abiding citizen, and is
prospering.
Seliger, during his interview with me, recounted his connection with
the Anarchists as follows:
“About three years ago I noticed an article in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_
that the North Side group would give lessons to all who desired, in
the English language. I went to Neff’s Hall and I was there told
that the school was only for members, and that, if I wanted to join,
I could do so. I did, and a year afterwards I was elected financial
secretary. In looking over the books, I found that the group had 206
members, the most of them being in arrears, but no one ceased to be
a member on account of it. I found also that there was a great deal
of wrangling and trouble among the members. One faction claimed to
be revolutionary, as they were at war with capital. This contention
drew the lines pretty sharply, and the Socialistic movement commenced
to take a sharp character. Stellmacher, I believe, was executed in
Vienna. It was on Monday, if I am not mistaken, in the month of
August, 1884. My group decided to commemorate the event and glorify
the man. They had posters printed, and about twenty men went to
work to post them, especially in the vicinity of the churches. From
that day they began talking force and dynamite. At every meeting,
Stellmacher’s name was mentioned and his deeds glorified. Some held
that Stellmacher was simply a burglar and murderer, having burglarized
the premises of Banker Eifert at Vienna and killed one of his
children. Rau and Lange were always quarreling over this question.
Lange maintained that it was a shame that any Socialist, Communist
or Anarchist should burglarize and murder under a pretext of getting
money for the cause. Every member, he said, could get enough money
in an honest way to swell the fund for agitation and the destruction
of capital. Lange said that he was not opposed to the killing of
capitalists in the right way, but he did not want to see children
killed. Rau would uphold a contrary view. He held that it was all the
same, capitalist or child, and said that the children of the rich
would grow up only to learn how to enrich themselves at the expense
of the working people. Schnaubelt favored murder and thought that it
would be best for the Anarchists to form into groups of four or five
with a view to killing any one who would work against the laboring
people’s agitation. One or two suddenly removed would not arouse
suspicion.
“A cigar-maker named Hoffman became a member of the North Side
group, and he was never satisfied with the rules, as he regarded
them too lenient. He wanted the whole International Working People’s
Association made an armed body, but Schwab and Hermann opposed it,
as they said that the Lehr und Wehr Verein filled that part of the
bill. Hoffman subsequently withdrew from the group and the military
organization. He as well as Polling and Hermann wanted the Anarchists
to give a commemorative entertainment on the anniversary of the Paris
Commune, in March, 1885, and of the clubbing of the working people
of Philadelphia by the police. His idea was that rifles should be
discharged, and then a woman personating the goddess of liberty
should throw a chain away from her body. In this way the three men
believed that the agitation for securing arms could be greatly helped.
The committee for the celebration of the Commune opposed this plan,
especially Neebe and Rau. Neebe held that the celebration of the
Commune as generally planned by the committee was for the express
purpose of making money to help agitation, and the other features were
not necessary. Hoffman endeavored to carry through his plan, but he
was knocked out. After some further wrangling he left the group and
permanently kept away. At another meeting Rau said that he desired to
bring dynamite into the meetings and show how it was manufactured, but
no definite action was taken.
“At the beginning of last year [1885], a man named Deters declared
that he was an Anarchist and was very loud in his declarations, but
he was afterwards expelled for stealing tickets from the Central
Labor Union. Poch always claimed to be a Communist, and he became
unpopular on account of a dereliction. Haker was also a Communist, but
he was expelled on account of being in arrears $3 as a member of the
Southwest group. Then Lingg became a member, and from that time served
as president of that group. He was always in hot words with a man
named Hartwig. During the beginning of April we got quite a number of
new members, and they all became strong agitators in the cause. I knew
as members of the armed sections Schlomeker, a carpenter; Stahlbaum,
a carpenter, lieutenant of the first company; Petschke, secretary of
the same company; Kitgus; the Riemer brothers, one a carpenter and
the other a painter; Ted, a carpenter; Rau, Bak, Hirschberger, the
Hermann brothers, all members of the Lehr und Wehr Verein; the Hageman
brothers; the Lehman brothers; Messenbrink, a carpenter; Stak, a
tinsmith; Lauke, Feltes and Kraemer, all carpenters, and Siebach and
Niendorf, carpenters, living in Lake View. With these two exceptions
and those of Lenhard and Krueger, who belonged to the Northwest group,
all I have mentioned lived on the North Side. There were also Classner
and Sisterer, who belonged to the Southwest group. I know a great many
others who belonged to the armed forces, but I don’t recall their
names. They all carried revolvers. All I knew about bombs at that time
was what I heard Lingg say, that the Northwest group and the Southwest
groups and the Bohemians were well supplied with them. Among the
Bohemian Socialists I only know Mikolanda and Hrusha and three more
whose names I can’t remember.
“At a meeting last winter [1885] of the North Side group, Neebe stated
that it was time that every comrade should supply himself with arms
and should lay bombs under his pillow at night and sleep over them.
Every one should practice so as to know how to handle them when
necessary. Every workingman, he said, who is down on capitalists,
should kill every one of them, and they should not neglect the
police and the militia, because they were hired and supported by the
capitalists. He said that he himself would kill one of these loafers
and would not turn an eye on him. One in the audience, a barber,
whose name I don’t know, said that there were some among the militia
and the police who would join them in case of an uprising and cited
as an instance that during the riots of 1877 he had spoken to some of
them and they had told him that they would not shoot at the strikers.
Neebe declared that it was all the same. ‘A man employed by the
capitalists,’ he said, ‘is my enemy, even though he is my brother.’ In
case of an uprising, he said, every revolutionist should use force on
every corner and on the sidewalks, and should throw dynamite wherever
these loafers stood or walked.
“The casting of one bomb Lingg had was made of sheet-iron, and
the man who manufactured it was shown to me at the office of the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_. Then Lingg had another casting made out of iron,
which he had made at some iron foundry. I saw him have dynamite twice
in a cigar-box. Before this he said to me that he had seen Spies at
the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office, and that Spies had told him that he
would give him dynamite. This was about two months before the 4th of
May. Friday preceding that day Lingg received a box, 1 × 2½ feet in
dimensions, from the West Side, at the hands of a man whom I took
to be a Bohemian. Lingg always liked the Bohemians. With a view to
learning this man’s address I walked over to the West Side, and I
found that he had moved to No. 661 Blue Island Avenue. One evening
two others came to see Haker, and Haker told them, as I entered,
that I was Seliger. One of them I knew, his name being Kaiser, a
carpenter, and the other was a strongly built man of medium height
and bow-legged. They were a little embarrassed and said that they did
not know what to say under the circumstances. I asked them if they
had bombs, and Haker spoke up and said that he would not say anything
about it, even to his brother, as he expected a search would be made
of his house. But he said they would find nothing, and the other
two confirmed his story. It was stated that every one should buy a
book, which could be had at cost price, giving directions about the
manufacture of dynamite, which could also be purchased very cheap.
The North Side group bought one of these books. I was so informed by
Thielen, who had seen it.
“A short time after this I was elected a member of the central
committee, with four other delegates from the North Side group, who
were Neebe, Rau, Hermann and Hubner, and as long as I was a member
Neebe and Rau were continued as delegates to that committee. Spies was
at the head of it. I attended seven of its meetings, and at one of
our sessions, during the West Side street-car drivers’ strike, Spies
said that we should take part in that strike. In case the strikers
should resort to force against the company and the policemen who
protected it, Spies said that he had a few bombs on hand, and he would
distribute some of them to people whom he knew. At the same meeting
it was proposed that a meeting should be held on the lake front the
following Sunday, but there was some opposition to it. Spies, however,
declared that the meeting should be held and that every one should
be present, well armed. Then, in case the police should interfere
to disperse the gathering, they should send them home with bloody
heads. The meeting was held, but there was no interference. Spies
also proposed that meetings of the committee should be held every
evening at the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office during the strike, to hear
grievances, and that, whenever necessary, special meetings should be
held of the various groups. The leaders in the committee were Spies,
Rau, Neebe, Hermann, a man named Walter, of the American group, and
a small man from the Northwest group with an illuminated nose, who
was a very intimate friend of Spies. This man was the founder of the
Freiheit group.
“Just preceding this car strike, Haker, who belonged to Carpenters’
Union No. 1, was a strong advocate of the use of dynamite. At one
meeting he told some of the members to wait till after adjournment, as
he explained that he desired to show them something very interesting.
They remained, and he produced a ball of clay, having two parts joined
together and a cavity in the center. He told them that he manufactured
them, and if any one desired any they could get them from him at a
dollar each. I then left.
“Subsequently I called upon Secretary Lotz and asked for the book of
membership of the North Side group. I found that Charles Bock was
its financial secretary; Hubner, librarian; and Rau, delegate to
the central committee, which position he held almost continuously.
Abraham Hermann was also a delegate and agent for the sale of arms
to the whole organization. The principal speakers at our meetings
were Schwab, Feltes or Veltes, Neebe, Grottkau and (while living
in the city) Kraemer. During 1885 an Austrian, whose name I don’t
remember, spoke very often, but he is now at the Jefferson Insane
Asylum. Fischer is one of the founders of the North Side group and
always spoke most strongly in favor of Anarchy. Rau, an employé of
the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, Lingg, Schnaubelt and Emil Hoffman, the
cigar-maker, also spoke frequently. Hoffman claimed that he was a
great friend of Most and one of the founders of _Freiheit_ of London.
He had lived in London several years and was an active member until
he left our organization, as I have already stated. Hermann would
sometimes take the places of speakers who might happen to be absent
from some of the meetings. Hirschberger, of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_,
and Menz, a carpenter, born in America, generally participated in some
of the discussions.
“A man named Kiesling was a member, and after my liberation from the
station I was informed by Haker, Kaiser and another man that he had
helped a member to escape arrest. Commes, or Commens, had shot and
wounded two Jews, and Kiesling was delegated to take him in an express
wagon to Lake View, where he turned him over to some members of the
Southwest Side group, who then assisted him in effecting his escape.”
Seliger then gave a number of names of members who belonged to the
groups he was most familiar with, as follows:
“_North Side Group._—Asher, a mason; Turban, carpenter; Huber,
carpenter; Heuman, railroad laborer; Stak, cornice-maker; Reuter;
Habitzreiter, of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_; Kasbe, shoemaker; Menge,
carrier of _Arbeiter-Zeitung_; Hoelscher, carrier of same paper;
Jebolinski, carpenter; Behrens, shoemaker. Members no longer with
group: Wichman, a saloon-keeper, expelled from Berlin, Germany; Ammer,
book-binder; the Thiesen brothers, one a shoemaker and the other a
carpenter, and Polling.
“_Northwest Side Group._—Blume, carpenter; Elias, carpenter; Fischer,
Engel, Lehnhard, Breitenfeld. Blume and Elias left because they were
quarreling all the time with Fischer, and they founded the Karl Marx
group.
“_Southwest Side Group._—Scholz; Fehling, cigar-maker; Kaiser,
carpenter; Haker, carpenter; Schoening.”
The next arrest was that of JOHN THIELEN. Thielen was a man about 37
year of age, born near the city of Coblentz, Germany, a carpenter by
occupation, and a rabid “red,” living in Chicago at No. 509 North
Halsted Street. He had been an Anarchist in the old country, and there
had divided his time between talking up the social revolution and
running a small grocery store, until business had got so dull that he
was obliged to sell out. He then fell back upon his trade for a living.
Much as it went against his grain to labor, he had no alternative
except to starve. It occurred to him that the stronger a Socialist
he became the less hard work he would have to do, and he accordingly
availed himself of every opportunity to talk on his pet hobby. At last
the officials of Emperor William got after him, and, packing up a few
things, he emigrated to America, reaching Chicago about five years
before his arrest. He had been here only a short time when he learned
that there were a number of men in the city who talked to workingmen
about the shortest way to get rich without work, how to have a good
time playing cards, drinking beer, attending picnics and balls, wearing
good clothes, and smoking good cigars. This struck Thielen’s fancy,
and he concluded that at last he had found the place he had longed
for during many years. He decided to identify himself with these men,
and accordingly made haste to attend all their meetings. It was not
long before he proved himself as good an Anarchist as the rest of the
leaders. His wife also had become imbued with his doctrines, and had
grown indeed more positive than her husband.
[Illustration: JOHN THIELEN.
From a Photograph.]
They had a son, 15 years of age, a tall, slim fellow. Nothing would
satisfy the mother except his induction into the order. After the
stripling had become a member, she was still unsatisfied; he must join
the Sharpshooters. This the boy did, and thus he fell in with the most
rabid of the Anarchists—into the very crowd that gathered in secret
session at 63 Emma Street on Sunday, May 2, at ten o’clock in the
morning, to hear Engel unfold his murderous plan.
The youth was a close listener and an ardent admirer of the leaders.
He also attended the Haymarket meeting, and went there for a purpose.
It appears that the order had established, in furtherance of this
conspiracy, a line of runners, composed of all the young men who were
swift and light of foot, the object being to furnish means of rapid
communication between a “commander” and his men. For instance, in
the execution of Engel’s plan, a number of Anarchists had gone to
Wicker Park, some to Humboldt Park, and others to Garfield Park, on
the evening of May 4. Their instructions were to stand ready to obey
orders, and, on receipt of a signal, to advance into the city and shoot
down all who opposed them. The “commander” attended the Haymarket
meeting, accompanied by young Thielen, and it was his intention, the
moment the proper signal was given, to despatch the boy on his mission.
The boy was then to start on a keen run to a certain place, where he
was to meet another runner; the second was to take the message to a
third, and so on until the men posted at the parks were reached.
Fortunately, however, young Thielen missed his “commander” when the
bomb fell and the shooting commenced at the Haymarket. The boy then
lost his courage, like his superior, and applied his speed to getting
home as fast as possible.
Young Thielen had been selected because of his supposed coolness. He
had been a great favorite of Lingg’s, and had been in that worthy’s
room on that very afternoon up to 7:30 in the evening. He had even
helped to load dynamite bombs there. When the work had been completed,
Lingg had distributed a lot of the dynamite left over to his friends
present. Three boxes had been given to Thielen and the boy, and the
“stuff” was subsequently found buried under their house, together with
fire-arms and ammunition.
When trouble finally surrounded the Thielen household, the wife
and mother showed true grit. On being shown the evidence of their
complicity in a conspiracy, she neither flinched nor quivered.
“Our whole family are Anarchists,” she defiantly remarked, “and what of
it? Try your best, you can’t scare me!”
The son was ordered by the officers to come with them to the station,
and as they left the house Mrs. Thielen said to him:
“I want you to brace up and be firm, as you have been taught by your
comrades. This is for a good cause. Bear it all like a man.”
The boy was taken to the Larrabee Street Station and put under
cross-fire. He was decidedly firm at first, but after he had become
involved in a number of false statements and shown that the police knew
a good deal about him, he looked at every officer in the station and
asked:
“If I tell all I know and tell the truth, what will you do with me?”
He was informed that such a course would be the best for him and that
it might afford him a chance to get out of his troubles. This satisfied
the youth, and he gave a long and strong statement, which others
subsequently corroborated. He then explained that he had been misled
into reading all sorts of nonsense on Anarchy. He had eagerly studied
all books on the question, and, being encouraged by his parents, had
taken a deep interest in all the meetings. He worked whenever he could
find employment, but at all times his mind was centered in the success
of the cause.
He was detained at the station only a few days, and then released on a
promise to hold himself subject to the orders of the State and testify
when called on. But the State did not need his evidence, and soon
thereafter I secured him employment in a factory. He is still at work
and is now proving himself an exemplary youth.
The father proved a rather elusive individual after the police began
searching for him. But at the time of Mrs. Seliger’s arrest he ventured
too near the Chicago Avenue Station. It was on the morning of May 12
that a man was noticed in the company of two women. The man remained on
the outside at a good distance, but the women entered the court-room of
the station and sat there for some time, watching the prisoners brought
before the magistrate. The women asked no questions of any one in the
room, and it was soon discovered that they had no business there.
Officer Loewenstein approached them and asked if they had come to see
Mrs. Seliger. One replied that they did not know her.
“But,” interposed the other, with some hesitancy, “is she here?”
“I can’t tell,” remarked the officer. “I was going to make some
inquiries, but as you do not know her, it will save me the trouble.”
“Say, young man,” said one of the women, who was getting interested as
well as curious, “what is your business here?”
“Well, madam, I am known here as a ‘straw-bailer.’ I go bail for all
people who pay me well, and I am all O. K. with the police. If you want
anything done for Mrs. Seliger, you must be very careful here. Don’t
let the police know your object. As you are Germans, I will not charge
you anything for my trouble, if I can do anything for you.”
“Well, we will talk to you later,” they said. “Can we remain here for
awhile?”
“Oh, yes; I will take care of you so that no one will disturb you,”
replied the officer, in a patronizing tone of voice. “By the way, when
I came to the station this morning, I saw you standing at the corner
talking to a gentleman with black whiskers, and he is now standing
across the street. If he is a friend of yours, I will call him in here.”
“Oh, yes,” responded the women, “he is our friend and a friend of Mr.
and Mrs. Seliger. He is a good man.”
“What is his name? I will call him in at once.”
“His name is John Thielen. He lives at No. 509 North Halsted Street and
is all right.”
Officer Stift meantime had kept his eye on the individual across the
street, with instructions not to arrest him so long as he hovered
about the station, but, in the event of his going away any distance,
to take him in charge. The man at no time went far from his post; he
was too anxious to hear from the women. The moment Officer Loewenstein
had secured the information about his identity, he posted across the
street, and, hailing the man, said:
“John, I think you have been ‘ransacking’ around here long enough. Come
with me; the boys want to see you.”
“Who are the boys?” inquired Thielen.
“Capt. Schaack,” answered the officer.
“I don’t want to see him or have anything to do with him.” Thielen was
surprised as well as indignant.
“Well,” said the officer, “he would like to make your acquaintance.”
“You tell him that he don’t know me and I don’t know him; so what the
d——d does he want? Good-day, I am going home.”
“You must come in first and give an account of yourself.”
“I am a good man; I am not afraid.”
He went to the station rather reluctantly, still with an air of
innocence and bravery. The moment he stepped inside the office, I said
to him:
“John, you are an Anarchist. You are one of the rioters. You were at
the Haymarket meeting. You knew about the bombs. You are under arrest.”
“I am no Anarchist,” responded John, rather warmly. “I am a carpenter.”
“Yes,” said I, “you are both, and you live at 509 North Halsted Street.
I have no time now to talk to you. Whenever you want to see me send
word by the turnkey.”
On the second day, John sent word that he wanted to see me. He was
taken up into the office, and there he asked what benefit it would
be to him if he told all he knew. He was informed that we would
expect him to tell only the truth and not lie about any one or shield
any one who was guilty of wrong-doing. If he did all this honestly
and conscientiously the State would, no doubt, reward him for his
information. Thielen assented to the proposition, but he told very
little at this interview. He was brought up again the next day, and
from the questions put he soon discovered that some one had been
telling the truth about him.
“Now I will tell you all I know,” he said, “and let it fall where it
belongs. What I say I will swear to. I see every one is trying to get
out. First I will tell you what I did myself, and then what the others
did.”
He accordingly made a long statement, but as substantially the same
facts were brought out in the trial by other witnesses, he was never
called on to testify. Since then Thielen has abandoned Anarchy and is a
better man.
The statement Thielen made runs as follows, and it will be noticed by
reference to the trial proceedings that, had he been a witness, he
would have fully corroborated the testimony given by Seliger and his
wife. On being shown, at the station, some round lead bombs, he said:
“I saw Louis Lingg have twenty-two pieces like these in his room. They
were not all finished. I saw them when they were being cast. They
were in halves and placed in Louis Lingg’s trunk. If that trouble
had not occurred at McCormick’s factory that Monday, they would not
have been finished yet, but after that trouble with the officers he
completed them. That is, he loaded them with dynamite, ready to be
used. I never knew of any one or heard of anybody who could make
these bombs except Lingg. I had two of these gas-pipe bombs, loaded
with dynamite. I got them from Lingg, and I threw them away as soon
as I got them. There were only a few left of these long ones. There
were seventeen pieces loaded at Seliger’s house. Bonfield had better
look out for himself, as these bombs are for the most part made for
him, and he will get one yet. He was shooting the people during the
West Side car strike and at McCormick’s. I promised to give you the
round bombs that I had, but, as I said, I threw them away and out of
danger. I will tell you, before all these men, that these two iron
shells now lying before me at this table I got from Lingg at his
house, No. 442 Sedgwick Street, on May 4, 1886. He gave them to me,
and I took them along home. They were loaded, and there was a fuse
in each of them. This was Tuesday night, May 4, 8 o’clock. The very
same night he also gave me those two cigar-boxes here now before me,
filled with dynamite. He wanted me to take them and throw them in the
alley. He said they were empty, but I saw that they were filled. They
were too heavy to be empty. I took them home myself, together with my
boy. We buried them under our house. The last time I saw any bombs
was at Florus’ place, where a search was made by the police. I would
have given up those bombs to you to-night if you had not found them.
In these boxes is finished dynamite ready to be used. I know Seliger
had charge of selling arms. We paid $7.00 for a revolver and $10.00
for a gun. I saw Lingg and Seliger at Seliger’s house, Tuesday, May
4, at about 8 P.M., and 9:30 P.M. I saw them together at Larrabee
Street. There were twenty-two lead bombs that I saw in Lingg’s room.
They were made on a Sunday afternoon. Lingg, Seliger and myself made
them. They had been cast about two weeks before Tuesday, May 4. I saw
in a satchel in Lingg’s room about fifteen pieces of these long iron
shells, on Tuesday, May 4. There were also some round lead bombs, and
they were all loaded. The time I was in Lingg’s room, May 4, I saw
one man take along with him, when he left, three round lead bombs
loaded with dynamite, and Lingg gave those bombs to the man himself.
I know the man, and I, John Thielen, will get them from that man and
give them to you this evening. After what happened at the Haymarket
on that Tuesday evening, May 4, you could not hear of any one having
bombs in their possession. I should judge that two men more received
from Lingg six round bombs loaded with dynamite. In Greif’s Hall,
54 West Lake Street, on the evening of May 3, at the meeting there,
Lingg said to the people present that he would furnish the dynamite
bombs if any one would throw them. I told him to throw the bombs
himself. Then I said to Lingg that it would cost a man his life to
throw them. Lingg replied that no man could see any one throw one of
them. He said if necessary he would throw some. He also stated that
if any one would come to him he would show him how to make bombs with
dynamite. I saw Lingg and Seliger together at Thüringer Hall—Neff’s
place—58 Clybourn Avenue, on the evening of May 4. Lingg had a
satchel. The satchel was placed near a little passageway leading to
the ‘gents’ closet.’ It was a gray canvas-covered satchel about two
feet long, one foot wide and one and a half feet high. Seliger, Lingg
and myself went away together to Clybourn Avenue. We then went up on
Larrabee Street, at 9:30 P.M. I left Lingg and Seliger at the corner
of Clybourn Avenue and Larrabee Street. The satchel was brought by
Lingg to Neff’s Hall that night, and any one there could help himself
to bombs. Lingg said to some people: ‘There are bombs in that satchel,
and now help yourselves.’ These words were spoken in the saloon of
Neff’s place to a crowd of armed men.”
The above confession was given on the 14th of May. On the next day
Thielen was brought face to face with Lingg—with what results the next
chapter will show. On the 16th of May Thielen supplemented his first
statement with additional particulars. He said:
“On Tuesday, May 4, 1886, about 9:30 P.M., myself and old man Lehman
were together on the corner of North Avenue and Larrabee Street, near
the police station, and afterwards we went back to Neff’s Hall. Three
men came into the saloon and said that there had been a terrible
explosion on the West Side at the Haymarket meeting and that a great
many were killed and wounded; that Fielden had made a speech, and a
radical one. The police came, and a shot was fired. Some one in the
crowd said: ‘Now, do not spare powder or lead.’ A friend of mine got
shot through the cheek. The man works for Mr. Christal, corner of Lake
and State Streets, in a basement—a carpenter-shop. That man stated
that he was there at the meeting, standing near the speaker, and about
fifteen feet away from where the bomb was thrown. The understanding
with us when we left Neff’s Hall on that Tuesday night, May 4, was
to make a racket that would call out the police. It was a failure
because the West Side police did not come out any sooner to interfere
with the meeting or the mob. The grudge we had was the score of the
police shooting our men at McCormick’s factory. We wanted revenge.
The order came from the International armed men or the group. I was
at Greif’s Hall, 54 West Lake Street, May 3. I there saw a circular
calling for revenge. I was at the meeting Monday night at Zepf’s Hall,
and there an order was given for the armed men to go to 54 West Lake
Street, in the basement. The pass-word to get into that meeting was ‘Y
komme.’ I went there to the meeting. I found George Engel there, and
he made a speech. The whole plan was then unfolded by Engel. He said
that there would be a meeting held on Tuesday night, May 4, at the
Haymarket, and that the North Siders should stay on the North Side,
and there they should wait until it had started—meaning the riot
on the West Side. Engel said that some of those who had arms should
come to the meeting, and those who had no arms should stay away from
the meeting at the Haymarket. At the meeting in the basement a man
by the name of Waller was chairman. George Engel did the speaking.
There were about fifty men present belonging to the armed sections.
Engel explained that the plan would have to be worked in this way:
As soon as they had commenced on the West Side, then they should
commence on the South Side and the North Side. Engel stated that
the signal would be a fire which would be set, and seen at Wicker
Park, and by the noise of the shooting. That would be the signal for
commencing, and they should all attack the police stations; should
throw dynamite bombs into the stations, to either kill or keep the
officers in the stations, and should shoot the horses on the patrol
wagons to prevent the police from helping one another. Engel is the
man who proposed this plan. Engel is the only man that gave us any
orders. And under the orders Engel gave us that night, May 3, in that
basement, 54 West Lake Street, we started out May 4 on the North Side
to do harm—that is, to shoot and kill anything that opposed us. The
word ‘Ruhe’ in the ‘Briefkasten’ was adopted at our meeting May 3. It
was to be used as a signal word. If it should appear the next day in
the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, then every man was to be ready with his arms
or guns; that then the riot would commence, and they should watch for
the signal. ‘Right and fest’ were passwords for the armed men should
there be any fighting at McCormick’s. With the signal they should all
come out with their bombs and arms, no matter whether it happened in
the day or in the night. They should attack the armed officers of the
law and the State militia. All of us armed men thought at one time
that the police would not fight us, because they were all married
men, and if they should fight us they would not do it so very hard.
The plan was to call out a meeting first and have no speakers there.
The police would then come and drive us away. They then should fire
on the police. There were a lot of armed people at the meeting, I
know. But the police did not interfere, so they got speakers at the
meeting. Finally the police came out, and the mob did what they had
agreed to do. Afterwards fault was found, and they said the North
Siders were cowards. When Spies and others were arrested, the armed
men all said that, should anything happen to those men, there would be
a riot. In reference to the report about the shooting of six of our
men at McCormick’s factory, I will say that what I saw and read in
that circular calling for revenge made me mad at the officers. At that
meeting Engel called on us to take revenge on the police officers,
because they had killed six of our men. There were about seventy-five
of us, so far as I know, on the North Side, to do the work on Tuesday
night, May 4, and Lingg was mad because there were no more men coming
after bombs. At Neff’s Hall Tuesday night, May 4, we all looked to
Lingg as a leader of the North Siders. I know of no one else who could
make bombs. Some one found fault with Lingg at Neff’s Hall on Tuesday
night because he came so late with his bombs. Then Lingg asked why
they had not come after the bombs. They all knew, he said, where he
lived. Lingg was very angry. Schablinsky lives near me, and he got
bombs from him. There were about nineteen men in the vicinity of the
Chicago Avenue Station on the night of May 4, to attack the station
when the police should come out on the wagons to answer a call from
the West Side Haymarket. The men, seeing all this, lost their courage
because the police, they said, passed them so quick, and then they
said to one another, ‘Why should we attack and lose our own lives
for the sake of others?’ When the wagon was gone, they saw lots of
officers coming on foot to the station. Then the men went away. The
North Siders, the armed men, were to meet in Neff’s Hall May 4, in the
afternoon. I was at Thalia Hall, Northwest Side, where the Lehr und
Wehr Verein met, on Wednesday, May 5, in the forenoon. I saw Fischer,
and he said Spies and others had been arrested. I always knew that
Fischer was one of the leaders in this affair—the riot. Fischer said
the riot was a failure. It was botched, and nothing could be done any
more. On Tuesday afternoon there was a tall young fellow at Lingg’s
room about six o’clock. He had a smooth face and was about six feet
tall. The tall man and Lingg were working at the bombs and dynamite.
The tall man, I think, worked at Brunswick & Balke’s factory.”
The foregoing was read to Thielen and its correctness acknowledged
before Mr. Furthmann, the officers and myself, and his signature
is affixed to the margin of each sheet of the paper on which it is
written. Thielen’s stepson, William Schubert, confirmed the statement
of his father with reference to the dynamite bombs and the cigar-boxes
filled with dynamite, and added:
“I went under the house and dug a hole in the ground, and father and
myself put those things in the hole and then covered them up.”
ABOUT the time of Thielen’s arrest Officers Hoffman and Schuettler ran
across FRANZ LORENZ on North Avenue near Sedgwick Street, in the very
stronghold of Anarchy, and as the man seemed to be suffering from an
over-dose of Anarchy and liquor, they took him to the station. This
was on the 10th of May. He was a German, 48 years of age, and lived
with a man named Jaeger, at No. 31 Burling Street. He did not seem
to be known much in Socialist circles, and no one seemed specially
interested in him. He was locked up at the Larrabee Street Station, and
for four days he was as stupid as an owl. He would eat and drink very
little, but managed to sleep every day. On the sixth day he was taken
to the Chicago Avenue Station and remained there two days longer before
he recovered his normal condition. When brought into the office, he
told me that he had been drinking very hard, and, being asked for the
reason, he said that he had attended many Anarchist meetings, had heard
all the speeches and had learned that soon they would all have plenty
of money. Whenever such assurances were given, it always, he said,
made him feel so good that he would go and get one more drink. Between
speeches and drinks, he said, he had come near dying. He assured me
that if he was released he would go right to work and give Anarchy and
all meetings a wide berth. On being questioned as to his acquaintances,
he said he knew “all the boys”—the leading Anarchists—and had admired
them warmly.
“I heard Lingg speak,” said he, “and he is a good one. I tell you he is
a radical.”
“I suppose,” said I, “you took two drinks on his speech?”
“Yes, I took more than that,” replied Lorenz. “The last time I heard
Lingg speak in Zepf’s Hall, I went and got drunk. On May 4, I heard all
the boys speak on the wagon at the Haymarket, but I did not stay there
until it was over. I went into a saloon a block away from there and got
drunk in no time, and when I woke up the next morning I was in bed in
one of the cheap lodging-houses.”
Not knowing anything definite, he was released by the State’s Attorney,
and he has not since been heard from. He has probably retired to some
other city to renew his drunks at Anarchist headquarters on the free
beer usually provided.