Anarchy and Anarchists: A History of the Red Terror and the Social Revolution in America and Europe; Communism, Socialism, and Nihilism in Doctrine and in Deed; The Chicago Haymarket Conspiracy and the Detection and Trial of the ConspiratorsSchaack, Michael J.
History
Anarchy and Anarchists: A History of the Red Terror and the Social Revolution in America and Europe; Communism, Socialism, and Nihilism in Doctrine and in Deed; The Chicago Haymarket Conspiracy and the Detection and Trial of the Conspirators
But their greatest reliance was placed in the use of dynamite. This
highly explosive material was regarded as the chief arm of their cause.
For many weeks, the leaders had experimented with it. Some six weeks
before the disastrous Haymarket riot, Louis Lingg had brought a bomb
to the house of William Seliger, No. 442 Sedgwick Street, where he
boarded, and announced his intention of making other bombs like it.
Before this he had provided himself with dynamite, the money for its
purchase having been realized at a ball given some time previously and
turned over to him to use in experiments. Being out of employment at
the time, he devoted himself energetically to experiments with that
material, and produced large gas-pipe bombs. One of these he took out
to a grove north of the city, and, placing it in the crotch of a tree,
exploded it, splitting the tree to pieces. The result of the test
appears to have been satisfactory, and he next gave his attention to
the manufacture of globular shells. In the casting of these he used
the kitchen stove to melt his metal, and often received the assistance
of Seliger, Thielen and Hermann. All day Tuesday, May 4, he worked
most persistently and seemed in a great hurry to make as many bombs
as possible. He was helped on that day by the parties named and two
others, Hueber and Munzenberger. Before the close of the day they had
finished over a hundred bombs. While they were at work Lehman visited
them and carried home a satchel of dynamite, which he subsequently,
after the Haymarket riot, buried out on the prairie, and which was
afterwards disinterred by the police. Not alone did he and his friends
experiment with dynamite, but it appears that Spies, Parsons, Fischer,
Fielden and Schwab also tried their hands at it and handled the deadly
stuff at the office of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_. They had several bombs
there and made no secret of the purpose for which they intended them.
The office was afterwards discovered to be an arsenal of revolvers and
dynamite.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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