The Rise and Fall of Anarchy in America: From its Incipient Stage to the First Bomb Thrown in ChicagoMcLean, George N.
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The Rise and Fall of Anarchy in America: From its Incipient Stage to the First Bomb Thrown in Chicago
McLean, George N.
Anarchists -- United States; Haymarket Square Riot, Chicago, Ill., 1886
"In the decision affirming the sentence of death upon me the
Supreme Court of the State of Illinois says: 'It is undisputed
that the bomb was thrown that caused the death of Degan. It
is conceded that no one of the defendants threw the bomb with
his own hands. Plaintiffs in error are charged with being
accessories before the fact.' If I did not throw the bomb
myself it becomes necessary to prove that I aided, encouraged,
and advised the person who did throw it. Is that fact proved?
The Supreme Court says it is. The record says it is not. I
appeal to the American people to judge between them.
"The Supreme Court quotes articles from the _Alarm_, the
paper edited by me, and from my speeches running back three
years before the Haymarket tragedy of May 4, 1886. Upon said
articles and speeches the court affirms my sentence of death
as an accessory. The court says, 'The articles in the _Alarm_
were most of them written by the defendant Parsons, and some
of them by the defendant Spies,' and then proceeds to quote
these articles. I refer to the record to prove that of all the
articles quoted only one was shown to have been written by me.
I wrote, of course, a great many articles for my paper, the
_Alarm_, but the record will show that only one of these many
quoted by the Supreme Court to prove my guilt as an accessory
was written by me. This article appeared in the _Alarm_
December 6, 1884, one year and a half before the Haymarket
meeting. As to Mr. Spies, the record will show that during the
three years I was editor of the _Alarm_ he did not write for
the paper half a dozen articles. For proof as to this I appeal
to the record.
"The _Alarm_ was a labor paper, and, as is well known, a labor
paper is conducted as a medium through which working people
can make known their grievances. The _Alarm_ was no exception
to this rule. I not only did not write 'most of the articles,'
but wrote comparatively few of them. This the record will also
show.
"In referring to my Haymarket speech the court says: 'To the
men then listening to him he had addressed the incendiary
appeals that had been appearing in the _Alarm_ for two years.
The court then quotes the incendiary article which I did
write, and which is as follows: 'One dynamite bomb properly
placed will destroy a regiment of soldiers, a weapon easily
made, and carried with perfect safety in the pockets of one's
clothing.'"
SIMPLY A QUOTATION FROM GENERAL SHERIDAN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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