[May 11, 1886]
The Chicago
Anarchists
STRONG EVIDENCE OBTAINED AGAINST THE LEADERS
The Man Who Threw The
Bomb Known –
Rumors That the
Prisoners Will Be Protected by the Mayor.
Chicago
May 10. – It is stated by a man who has had access to all the
evidence which
the police have collected against the men who were responsible for the
riots of
last week that it is known that the bomb thrown into the body of police
in Desplaines street. Tuesday night was only one of more than 20
which had been brought there to spread destruction when the proper time
arrived. The man who threw the single
bomb, who is, The Time’s informant says, known to the police beyond a
shadow of
reasonable doubt, was premature in his work.
It was intended that the bombs should all be thrown at a given
signal,
the body of police being of course the objective point.
That they were not was no fault of the men
carrying them. It is assumed that the
premature discharge, being entirely unexpected, disconcerted and
frightened the
other Anarchistic agents, who turned and fled with the mob. The idea appears to be that the Spies
brothers, Fielden, Schwab, and Parsons, should he be arrested, can
readily be
convicted of being accessories before the fact.
An interesting and vital statement from a
party who was present at the time of the explosion, but whose name has
been
withheld, indicates that Fischer, Stange, and Hierschberg were some of
the
secondary actors who undertook to do the work after it was planned and
urged by
the leaders. Of these three Fischer and
Hierschberg were the most directly connected with the Arbeiter
Zeitung faction and the former; the police claim can
clearly be proved to have known all about the bomb throwing and either
threw it
or stood within reaching and either threw it or stood within reaching
distance
of the man who did.
Anton Hierschberg was brought before
Justice Meech this
morning charged with having participated in the Haymarket riot and
being one of
an unlawful assemblage. Inspector
Bonfield said that the police connected the prisoner with the printing
of the
circulars which called the assembly at the Haymarket last Tuesday night. He was there at the time of the riot and
received a shot through his coat.
Hierschberg was therefore held in $6,000 bail, which he was
unable to
give.
The two Spieses, Schwab, and Fielden are showing
the effect
of their confinement and are wearing out.
It is among the possibilities that one of them will be willing
to turn
State’s evidence should it be necessary to strengthen the facts already
in the
possession of the authorities. What
these facts are nobody except those who hold them knows accurately
believes
that he can secure the indictment and conviction of the Anarchist
leaders.
In addition to the four arrested Wednesday morning
at least
a dozen other persons have been taken into custody, and held either
without
bail or in such heavy sums that they are in no danger of getting out of
jail. Bombs, dynamite, and incendiary
literature have been found in many parts of the city, and though
everything is
as quiet now as though no trouble had ever occurred the police are
constantly
making forages and gathering up dangerous stuff. The
Grand Jury will meet next Monday and the
cases of the Anarchists will be taken up at once. There
were no more deaths at the hospital
today, and it is believed now no more policemen will die.
Chicago,
May 10. – Despite the vigorous steps taken by the police to
suppress the
Anarchists there is a growing feeling that the leaders of the gang are
not
going to be punished as they deserve or according to the clear
construction of
the law quoted in these dispatches against them. Most
of this impression arises from lack of
confidence in the honesty and good faith of Mayor Carter Harrison, and
it is
finding expression in no uncertain way.
To begin with, as was pointed out in the Times of Wednesday
morning last
the speeches which preceded the throwing of the bomb into the ranks of
the
police marching up Desplaines street Tuesday evening were even less
incendiary
that those uttered by the same speakers in their public meetings for
months
past. The fierce attacks of Spies in the
Arbeiter Zeitung upon law and order
just prior to the outbreak were no more fierce than have been printed
in the
columns of that sheer and the Alarm,
Parson’s paper, again and again. One Joe
Greenhut, a confidential agent of Mayor Harrison, as long ago as
January, last
said in an interview that the Anarchists were well armed, were drilling
constantly, were engaged in the infernal instruments of warfare, and
even
predicted that there would be an outbreak of this gang about May 1. Yet in the face of these which the Mayor had
of the character and purposes of Spies and his associated, not a finger
was
lifted to save the citizens of Chicago
from the schemes of these plotters. They
were as free as the air to go where they would and say what they wanted
to and
though the voice of the most influential and conservative newspapers in
the
city was lige and property, the Mayor permitted the conspirators to
pursue the
uneven tenor of their emitted only be their destructive powers.
Since the explosion of Tuesday night the Mayor’s
own organ
has read him lectures such as he has seldom received and accused him of
permitting unlawful and dangerous assemblages and treasonable
utterances when
permission was but little better than encouragement.
These things are not forgotten by the public,
which demands that speedy and severe justice be meted on to which they
control
is lost to Mayor Harrison or not, and thus arises the growing fear that
Spies
and his comrades are in less danger of just punishment than men charged
with
much less serious offense. In discussing
the origin of the recent outbreak before the Congregational ministers
today, the
Rev. Dr. Goodwin alluded to this fear, and said in so many words that
the
voters who elected Harrison when he last ran were responsible even
beyond the
civil authorities for a condition of affairs which make such an
outbreak
possible.
Commending
the
Police.
Chicago,
May 10. – Reminders of the Haymarket bomb and the labor riots poured in
on the
City Council this evening, and occupied nearly all its time. Three Aldermen introduced resolutions
commending the courage and heroism of the police and expressing
sympathy for
the families of the killed and wounded men.
Resolutions extending the thanks of the Council to Mayor
Harrison and
Chief of Police Ebersold for their energy in suppressing the riots and
to the
men at the scene of the bomb explosion for their undaunted courage and
determination to maintain the public peace were unanimously adopted. The conduct of Capt. Ward and Inspector
Bonfield were especially commended. The
resolutions proposed that provision be made for pensioning the disabled
policemen and the families of the dead ones in the next appropriation
bill when
it was explained by the Mayor and several Aldermen that under the
charter the
city could not pension any one. To reach
a similar end however, the following was finally framed and agreed to:
Resolved,
that the City Council of the city of Chicago hereby requests the Mayor,
and
advises all future Mayors, to employ all officers of the Police
Department who
were on May 4, 1886, so maimed as to render them incapable of
performing police
duty, in such positions as they can fill, and we pledge ourselves and
all
future Councils, as far as we can to appropriate for the pay of those
so
employed a sufficient sum to make the annual pay equal to that of
able-bodied
policemen.
Haymarket Trial
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