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
As soon as Mr. Grinnell had concluded the man jumped up, drew near
to Belz and spoke to him. Then he turned to a woman and handed her a
paper. Meanwhile I had already called a detective to watch him, and
as soon as the stranger reached the corridor he was searched. Nothing
dangerous was found about his person, but it was impossible to learn
where he lived or what was his name. He would give no account of
himself, and he was taken down stairs and kept there until all the
detectives had taken a good look at him. He was then told to go and
never show himself around the building again.
On the next morning a revolver was found in the building, and the
opinion among those posted on the affair was that it must have belonged
to the mysterious visitor. He had evidently come with a desperate
determination to shoot some one, even at the sacrifice of his own life,
but, seeing how slim were his chances for getting near his victim after
the close watch kept upon him, he abandoned his intention and dropped
his revolver to destroy any evidence against himself.
Possibly he may have been simply engaged in playing a “bluff” on his
Anarchist friends, his intention being to make them believe that he had
nerve enough to go right into a court-room and shoot down an official,
and afterwards to excuse his failure by referring to his friends for
proof that he was so closely watched that he had no opportunity to get
near his victim.
Mr. Grinnell was shortly afterwards informed of the incident, and
he remarked that possibly a “crank” might have been found by the
Anarchists to make an assault that they themselves had not the courage
to undertake.
As I have already indicated, a great many documents and letters, public
and private, fell into the hands of the police during the searches
made, and from the collection I give a few for the purpose of showing
what kind of a dynamite office was being run by Parsons and Spies.
The following was found by Detective James Bonfield on Parsons’ desk in
the _Alarm_ office, May 5, 1886:
Dealers in Marble and Granite Cemetery Work.—No. 193 Woodland Avenue,
CLEVELAND, OHIO, April 29, 1886.
_Comrade Parsons_:—Providing we send you the following dispatch:
“Another bouncing boy, weight 11 pounds, all are well—signal Fred
Smith,”—can you send us No. 1 for the amount we sent you by telegram.
Please give us your lowest estimate. Also state by what express
company you will send it to us.
Parsons had nothing to do with either handling or selling dynamite, if
his own statements are to be accepted. Still he and Spies and their
crowd seem to have had a great many inquiries for the “good stuff”
Parsons used to refer to in his speeches, and which he urged his
followers to carry in their vest pockets during the day and keep under
their pillows at night. Another evidence of their guilt was found on
the same day by Detective Bonfield in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office, on
Spies’ desk:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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