The Rise and Fall of Anarchy in America: From its Incipient Stage to the First Bomb Thrown in ChicagoMcLean, George N.
History
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
"How long had you been in Chicago at that time?"--"Two weeks. I am a
tourist." [Laughter.]
"Have you been in the habit of attending meetings in the street?"--"No;
but since I have been here seeing the sights I would stop at anything."
"Before the police came, did you see anything disorderly?"--"It was, as
I know, peaceable, like a Fourth of July."
"Do you remember the speech of the first speaker?"--"I know the run of
his talk; I kept it in my mind. He said, 'I didn't want to come here.
Then they called me a coward, and I didn't like to be called a coward,
and that is the reason I came.' A few words after that he said: 'They
are only 500 yards from here. Maybe by to-morrow morning I will have
to die.' I kept that on my mind. I left the meeting when the black
cloud came up, and when the bomb exploded I looked around the corner,
and I saw everything dark, and I thought the bomb must have blown out
the lights." [Laughter.]
"What else did you see?"--"I saw the policemen and they were all
around. They had the ground. I saw some of the workmen run--they were
about two blocks ahead of the police."
"Did you see the police come upon the working men?"--"They came pretty
strong in Lake street, and they had the men in the gutter, and when
they raised up they got another club."
Mr. Grinnell--"What is your business?"--"Doing nothing," replied Mr.
Schultz, with a grin at the crowd, and the crowd laughed in a guarded
way, because they did not wish to be fired out of the entertainment.
"How long have you been conducting that business?"--"About ten years.
Before that I was mining in Montana."
"Where is your house in Portage City?"--"The next house to the
courthouse," responded the witness with a cunning look at the Court,
and there was another wild outburst of mirth from the audience. Mr.
Schultz narrated a part of his early history, from which it appeared
that before he became a millionaire he played the fiddle at dances; and
in answer to a question as to when he began to be a musician, he said:
"From nine years old. My father was a musician--it runs in the family."
"Do you play the violin since you have been in Chicago?"--"No; my money
reaches so that I don't have to do anything." [Laughter.]
"The first speaker was Spies, wasn't it?"--"Oh, I can't promise
anything," said Mr. Schultz, with a contortion of countenance which
brought down the house. Judge Gary looked indignantly around and said:
"Oh! be quiet!" and the crowd immediately became as demure as a Quaker
meeting.
"What did Spies say about the police being so many feet away?"--"He
said they was only five hundred yards from here and he was likely to
die before morning. That was about all he said in that run of speech."
"Did you hear the first speaker say anything about 'To arms! to
arms!'?"--"That was the man--I heard him."
"Where did you go when you left the meeting?"--"I went to wash my feet!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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