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
Lingg and his associates proved quite a drawing card, and Anarchists
from all parts of the country called at the jail. But while his fellows
appeared pleased to hold receptions, so to speak, Lingg did not desire
the company of strangers. He gave his time only to the few ladies who
called on him and to his nearest friends. He disliked being gaped at by
curiosity-seekers, and when he had no good friend to keep him company
he traveled the corridors of the jail beyond the reach of public
gaze. He also whiled time away by cutting pretty little carvings
out of cigar-boxes with his jack-knife, and in this he displayed
considerable ingenuity. Tiring of this diversion, he would pick up a
book or a paper; but, however monotonous prison life at times became,
he never thrust himself before the visitors’ cage to pose before the
idle throng. Many callers came to sympathize with Lingg as well as to
admire his handsome physique, and, as he would not allow his hair to
be cut after his incarceration, his flowing, curly locks added to his
picturesque appearance.
[Illustration: LINGG’S SWEETHEART.
From a Photograph.]
But there was one visitor he always welcomed. It was his sweetheart,
whose acquaintance he had made before his arrest, and who became a
regular caller. She invariably wore a pleasant smile, breathed soft,
loving words into his ears through the wire screen that separated the
visitors’ cage from the jail corridor, and contributed much toward
keeping him cheerful. This girl had lived at one time with a family
on West Lake Street, in the heart of an Anarchist camp, but, for some
reason, while her lover was at the Chicago Avenue Station she never
paid him a visit. The second day after he had been locked up at the
County Jail she promptly made her appearance, however, and became a
regular visitor. She simply passed with the jail officials at first
as “Lingg’s girl,” but one day some one called her Ida Miller, and
thereafter she was recognized under that name. She was generally
accompanied by young Miss Engel, the daughter of Anarchist Engel, and
during the last four months of her lover’s incarceration she could be
seen every afternoon entering the jail. She was always readily admitted
until the day the bombs were found in Lingg’s cell. After that neither
she nor Mr. and Mrs. Klein were admitted. While it has never been
satisfactorily proven who it was that introduced the bombs into the
jail, it is likely that they were smuggled into Lingg’s hands by his
sweetheart. She enjoyed Lingg’s fullest confidence, and regarded his
every wish.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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