Background

Chicago in the late nineteenth century exemplified the Gilded Age. While the wealthy lived in excess, the working class struggled to survive on low wages and long working hours. To the distress of the upper classes, labor groups began to organize and threatened the established way of life.

Of all the labor groups, the anarachists, who advocated using dynamite, were feared the most. Chicago anarchists combined with local labor groups to support the eight-hour day movement in May 1886. A series of strikes, known as the Great Upheaval, began and were peaceful until an incident at McCormick's Reaper Works erupted in violence.

As newspaper editor and anarchist August Spies was addressing a rally, striking workers broke from the crowd to attack the strikebreakers, or scabs, hired by the company. When the police arrived, the crowd threw stones, causing gunfire to break out. Infuriated by what he had witnessed, Spies left the scene and wrote the "Revenge Circular" calling workingmen to retalliate.

Picture 1: Dave Roediger and Franklin Rosemont, Haymarket Scrapbook, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1986),13.
Picture 2: Chicago Historic Society, Haymarket Affair Digital Collection. The Dramas of Haymarket. http://www.chicagohistory.org/dramas/overview/over.htm

The Rally

Following the incident at McCormick's, plans were made for a meeting to protest police brutality on May 4, 1886 in Haymarket Square. To prepare for the event, anarchist Adolph Fischer printed handbills urging men to come armed, but August Spies refused to speak at the rally unless the passage was removed. Although the handbills were changed, a few of the original ones were put into circulation.[1]

[2]

The police were aware of the meeting and feared another outbreak of violence. Chicago mayor Carter Harrison planned to attend the meeting himself and warned police not to interfere unless necessary. At the demonstration, the mayor reported to Police Captain John Bonfield “that nothing had occurred yet, or looked likely to occur to require interference,” a conclusion the captain shared, although he wished to retain a few men in case the situation changed.[3] When Bonfield's detectives reported the speakers were threatening the government, the police marched to the square.

[1] Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), 191-3.
[2]Douglas O. Linder Famous Trials Courtesy of Chicago Historical Societyhttp://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/haymarket/attention.html
[3] Illinois vs. August Spies et al., Vol L, 32-33 (Ill 1886). Haymarket Affair Digital Collection, http://www.chicagohistory.org/hadc/transcript/volumel/000-050/L026-052.htm

The Bombing

As the police made their way to the square, many crowdmembers left as the weather grew colder. Only 500 remained to hear Samuel Fielden finish his speech when the police marched to the wagon where the speakers stood.

There are two versions of what happened in Haymarket square after the police arrived and Captain William Ward ordered the crowd to disperse. Bystanders and some police claimed speaker Samuel Fielden protested the group was peaceable, while others claimed he called them bloodhounds and began firing a gun.[1] Whatever Fielden said was soon drowned out by the exploding of a bomb thrown in the middle of the police companies. Again, stories diverge; Police Lietutenant Edward J. Steele testified the crowd immediately fired on the police after the bombing, while the anarchists and other bystanders said it was the police who began firing.[2]

All agree the once peaceful protest descended into chaos as shots rang out in the Square and people fled for safety. In the confusion, “most if not all of the officers had been wounded by their own comrades, who fired indiscriminately in the panic that followed the explosion.”[3] Seven policemen were dead and more were wounded. Papers described the scenes of the hospitals.

[1] James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the first Labor Movement and the Bombing that divided Gilded Age America, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2006), 188.
[2] Illinois vs. August Spies et al., Vol. I, 170, Courtesy of the Haymarket Affair Digital collection
[3] Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 208.

Top Picture from: Lucy Parson, Life of Albert R. Parsons (Chicago, 1889) taken from Dave Roediger and Franklin Rosemont, Haymarket Scrapbook, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1986), 15.

Bottom Left Picture: Roediger and Rosemont, 71.

Bottom Right Picture: The Chicago Historical Society and nOrthwestern University, The Dramas of the Haymarket http://www.chicagohs.org/dramas/act2/fromTheArchive/fromTheArchive2_f.htm

The Defendants

The police began rounding up suspects the following day beginning with the staff of the Arbeiter-Zeitung, an anarchist newspaper. News of the arrests spread throughout the anarchist community as more radials were taken into custody including people who had not even been present in the Square when the bomb was thrown. Police raided all radical groups without warrants and arrested 200 people and held them without counsel. Of all the people taken into custody, ten were indicted by the Grand Jury on May 27, 1886, and charged with the murder of Officer Matthias Degan who had been killed when the bomb exploded. The men were also charged with conspiracy, riot, and unlawful assembly. William Seliger decided to turn state's evidence and was not tried, and Rudolph Schnaubelt, the man many believed to have thrown the bomb, disappeared before the trial.

The eight defendants were:

Albert Parsons- the only American born anarchist, he had spoken at the rally but had left before the bomb exploded along with his family and went to Zepf’s hall, a saloon. At the urging of his wife Lucy he had fled Chicago, but returned to stand trial with his comrades.

August Spies -the editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung, Spies had been present at the McCormick Riot and spoke at the Haymarket Square. He was on the speaker wagon when the bomb exploded.

Michael Schwab- assistant editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung, had left Haymarket Square before the meeting took place and was speaking at another meeting when the rally and bombing took place.[1]

Samuel Fielden- It was his speech urging workers to “throttle the law” which caused the police to intervene in the Haymarket.

George Engel- He had not attended the rally, but was a member of the Norhwest Side anarchists who planned it, and were accused of forming a conspiracy.

Adolph Fischer- Also a member of the Northwest Side group, it was Fischer who added the phrase “Working men, arm yourselves” on the original Revenge Circular which were removed at Spies request. He left the rally before the bomb was thrown and went to Zepf’s Hall, a saloon.[2]

Oscar Neebe- assistant manager of the Arbeiter-Zeitung, he had not attended the rally but was arrested for possessing fliers advertising the rally.

Louis Lingg- had not attended the rally, but was manufacturing bombs with William Seliger. The bombs were picked up, and the two men went to a saloon.

[1] Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), 224.
[2] James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2006), 185.

Picture: Dave Roediger and James Rosemont, Haymarket Scrapbook, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1986), 2.

The Press and the Red Scare

While the police were making arrests, the newspapers of Chicago incited public fears regarding anarchy and its threat to the order of society. The day after the riot, the Chicago Tribune described the “hellish deed,” and told the police’s version of the story, claiming the anarchists had “poured in a shower of bullets,” on the police after the bomb. Further descriptions of the hospital where wounded officers were treated stirred citizens to demand revenge on the cowardly anarchists.[1] A political cartoon by Thure de Thulstrup printed in Harper’s Weekly depicting the event further tainted the public’s mind towards the eight defendants.

The press coverage, which highlighted the anarchists’ foreign background, created a surge of xenophobia and started the nation’s first Red Scare against radical groups. Immigrants were viewed with suspicion and decried for espousing un-democratic ideas. Historian Carl Smith contends the anarchists came to symbolize “the precariousness of social stability,” and by denouncing them, the press was supporting the current social order.[2] In such an atmosphere of hatred and fear, it was unlikely the men would receive a fair unbiased trial. As English socialist Edward Aveling remarked, “If these men are ultimately hanged, it will be the Chicago Tribune that has done it.”[3]

[1] Chicago Tribune 5 May 1886, Douglas O. Linder, Famous Trials: The Haymarket Riot Trial.http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/haymarket/news5-5.html.
[2]Carl Smith, Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 126.
[3]Edward Aveling as quoted in Smith, 131.

Picture from: Douglas Linder, Famous Trials. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/haymarket/haymarket.html

The Trial

Antagonistic feelings against the defendants were evidenced from the beginning of the trial which has been described as “one of the most unjust in the annals of American jurisprudence.”[1] Judge Gary revealed his opinion towards the defendants by convincing “a potential juror into saying he believed he could render a fair judgment in the case, even after the man insisted he felt handicapped,” and spent most of the trial drawing pictures.[2] He often ruled in favor of the prosecution, led by Julius Grinnell who blamed the anarchists for “the attempted subversion of legal authority in the urban polity that was Chicago,” through their insurrectionary speeches and writings, turning the trial into “a fateful struggle between order and disorder.”[3] Testimony from anarchists like William Seliger and Gottfried Waller failed to prove there had been a conspiracy to attack the police.[4] The testimony of both M. M. Thompson, who claimed to have heard Schwab and Spies discussing weapons, and Henry L. Gilmer who named Spies as the bombthrower were discredited by other witnesses. Ultimately Grinnel and his team failed to prove the eight men were responsible for the deaths of the policemen.

The defense, led by Captain William Perkins Black, called Chicago mayor Carter Harrison to state there was no call for the police to intervene and break up the peaceful assembly, shifting the blame for the riot.[5] Eyewitness Dr. James D. Taylor stated Fielden had not called the police names or threatened them with a gun.[6] Speaking in their own defense, the men denied the conspiracy charges, claiming they were “selfless social reformers whose ‘crime’ was not causing disorder but calling attention to it.”[7] Despite Captain Black’s arguments claiming there had been no conspiracy and testimony proving none of the accused had thrown the bomb, the eight men were found guilty. Oscar Neebe was given a prison sentence, while the rest were to be executed. Rather than being grateful, Neebe wrote Governor Richard Oglesby requesting him to “hang me too; for I think it is more honorable to die suddenly than to be killed by inches.”[8]

For complete transcripts of the Haymarket Trial, click here.

[1]Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984), xi.
[2]James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2006), 212.; Avrich, 263.
[3]Ibid., 132.
[4]Illinois vs. August Spies et al., Vol I, 112 (Ill 1886); Vol. K, 315, 317. Haymarket Affair Digital Collection, ICHi-09534. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum found at http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ichihtml/haycopyres.html.
[5] Illinois vs. August Spies et al., Vol L, 32-33 (Ill 1886). Chicago Historical Society “Haymarket Affair Digital Collection” http://www.chicagohs.org/hadc/index.html.
[6]Illinois vs. August Spies et al., Vol. L, 224, 228, 229 (Ill, 1886) Haymarket Affair Digital Collection, ICHi-09534. Courtesy of the Chicago History Museum.
[7]Carl Smith,Urban Disorder and the Shape of Belief: The Great Chicago Fire, the Haymarket Bomb, and the Model Town of Pullman, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995), 142.
[8]Oscar Neebe, as quoted in Dave Roediger and Franklin Rosemont, Haymarket Scrapbook, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1986), 61.

Picture: Douglas O. Linder, Famous Trials. http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/haymarket/haymarketcartoons.html

The Execution and Pardon

Captain Black was granted a stay of execution to prepare for an appeal, but although he “demonstrated that the state’s case had been built in large part on perjured evidence and on evidence obtained by unlawful means,” and argued the jury’s verdict was motivated by revenge, the appeal was denied.[1] The public meanwhile had cooled in their antagonism towards the anarchists and some began a movement to grant the men clemency. Among the clemency supporters were Nina Van Zandt, who began a romance with August Spies and married him by proxy, and Editor William Dean Howells. Although Governor Oglesby received letters requesting he stop the execution, leading businessmen continued to call for the men’s death. The imprisoned anarchists were urged to write letters to the governor on their own behalf, but most declined, feeling it would be an admission of guilt. Fielden, Schwab, and Spies wrote pleading for their lives, but Spies had a change of heart and wrote a second letter offering his own life stating “if a sacrifice of life must be, will not my life suffice?”[2] As the day of the execution neared, Louis Lingg decided to end his own life by placing smuggled dynamite into his mouth. Although the governor granted Fielden and Schwab life in prison, Engel, Fischer, Parsons and Spies were granted no reprieve and were hanged on November 11, 1887. The men were buried at Waldheim Cemetery in a public funeral where the “crowds exceeded even those that had gathered to march behind Lincoln’s coffin.”[3]

The majority of the American public supported the hangings, but liberals and others who valued free speech proclaimed the men “had been hanged merely for holding and voicing opinions, for organizing and encouraging the workers, for championing the cause of the oppressed.”[4] The election of John Peter Altgeld to the governor’s office offered hope to those who wanted the men released from prison. Although he was aware of the criticism he would receive, Altgeld pardoned Fielden, Neebe, and Schwab after receiving affidavits revealing men with known prejudices against the defendants served on the jury.

[1]Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984), 300, 334.
[2]August Spies as quoted in Dave Roediger and Franklin Rosemont, Haymarket Scrapbook, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1986), 24.
[3]James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2006), 275.
[4]Avrich, 409.

Top Picture from: Roediger and Rosemont, 22.
Bottom Picture from: Bryna J. Fireside, The Haymarket SquareRiot Trial: a Headline Court Case. (Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers Inc., 2002), 166.

Legacy

The disaster shattered the sense of peace Americans felt and heightened fears about labor unions which gained a reputation of being dangerous radicals. National legislation was passed prohibiting the immigration of socialists and anarchists to the country to protect America from undemocratic ideas. The police became more determined to protect the streets at all costs and began resorting to violence in the name of protecting the social order. In honor of the policemen who were killed, a statue was erected in Haymarket Square in1889.

Despite persecution, radical groups and labor unions continued to survive in America and to them, the deceased anarchists became martyr figures. A memorial was placed on their grave at Waldheim, and the men were exalted by labor groups such as the International Workers of the World. Whenever radical protestors were beset by police or discriminated against by law, the memory of the Haymarket Affair was recalled. Groups sometimes expressed their anger at the statue honoring the policemen killed in the riot. The statue was returned to the Haymarket Square in 1957 and became a target for protestors in the 1960s, such as the Weathermen, who covered it with black paint and blew it up twice before it was removed to Chicago’s Police Training Academy.

The Haymarket bombing highlighted late nineteenth century divisions in America and tested the boundary of free speech and assembly. The case revealed how justice could be overlooked, and personal prejudices influenced by news media could cost men their lives in a nation where everyone, regardless of personal conviction, was supposed to be granted a fair trial. The Haymarket Trial challenged “the image of the United States as a classless society with liberty and justice for all,” and serves as a reminder of the injustice which could occur if prejudices are allowed to prevail over justice.[1]

[1]James Green, Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2006), 12.

Top Picture: Dave Roediger and James Rosemont, Haymarket Scrapbook, (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1986), 20.
Bottom Picture: Ibid., 166.