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
“Now,” he resumed, addressing the man to whom he had pointed, who was
none other than a detective in my service, “you will have to give a
good account of yourself.”
This placed my man in a rather embarrassing position, but he was equal
to the emergency.
“I am an Anarchist,” he spoke up promptly, in a loud, clear and firm
tone of voice, “and I have been one for years, and you are simply
one of those Pinkerton bummers. What business have you here in our
meetings, I would like to know. The other day I passed Pinkerton’s
office. I was sitting in a car, and I saw you coming down stairs. I
suppose you met some fool that gave you a little information so as to
get in here. All you want to know evidently is how many are present
here, and, if possible, learn what we are doing. You get out of here
in five seconds, or I will shoot you down like a rat.”
The officer then pulled out of his pocket a large revolver, and,
brandishing it in the air, asked:
“Shall I kill that bloodhound?”
[Illustration: TURNING THE TABLES.]
The women cried out in a chorus: “Yes, yes; kill him!” The men,
however, did not like the proposition. One of them said: “Don’t kill
him here; take him out somewhere else and shoot him.” This seemed to
meet with general approval.
The turn of affairs completely surprised the stranger, and he became
so frightened that he could not speak. No one in the meeting knew him,
and he was powerless to speak in his own defense. The officer held his
revolver directed at the man’s face and kept toying with it in the
vicinity of his nose. Finally the fellow stammered out:
“I am all right, and you will find me out so.”
At last the women again broke in, with a demand that the intruder be
immediately ejected, and the men responded promptly by kicking him out
of the door. He had no sooner reached the outside than he started on a
keen run, in momentary dread of his life, and he kept up his rapid gait
until he thought he was at a safe distance.
The officer was then the hero of the moment, but he recognized the fact
that he himself was not absolutely safe after this episode. It occurred
to him that possibly the stranger might hunt up some one on Milwaukee
Avenue who could identify him and assure the meeting that he was a true
and reliable Anarchist, and thus turn the tables against the officer.
The moment, therefore, he had regained his seat, he decided to resort
to strategy, and said:
“We will have to adjourn at once. This fellow will run to the
station-house and bring the patrol wagon with a lot of officers, and we
will all be arrested.”
In less than three minutes the meeting adjourned, and then the officer
advised them all to go home immediately and not to remain a second if
they did not desire to be arrested. The Anarchists did as he suggested,
and scattered for home in a hurry.
This detective did not attend any more of the meetings, but was content
in congratulating himself on having come out of that assembly without a
bruise or a scratch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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