Blood on the Square:
Part 2: The Haymarket Trial
The Press and the Red Scare
While the police were making arrests, the newspapers of Chicago incited public fears regarding anarchy and its threat to the order of society. The day after the riot, the Chicago Tribune described the “hellish deed,” and told the police’s version of the story, claiming the anarchists “poured in a shower of bullets,” on the police after the bomb. Further descriptions of the hospital where wounded officers were treated stirred citizens to demand revenge on the cowardly anarchists. A political cartoon by Thure de Thulstrup printed in Harper’s Weekly depicting the event further tainted the public’s mind towards the eight anarchist defendants.
The press coverage, which highlighted the anarchists’ foreign background, created a surge of xenophobia and started the nation’s first Red Scare against radical groups. Immigrants were viewed with suspicion and decried for espousing un-democratic ideas. Historian, Carl Smith, contends the anarchists came to symbolize “the precariousness of social stability,” and by denouncing them, the press was supporting the current social order. In such an atmosphere of hatred and fear, it was unlikely the men would receive a fair, unbiased trial. As English Socialist, Edward Aveling, remarked, “If these men are ultimately hanged, it will be the Chicago Tribune that has done it.”
The Trial
Antagonistic feelings against the defendants were evidenced from the beginning of the trial which has been described as “one of the most unjust in the annals of American jurisprudence.” Judge Gary revealed his opinion towards the defendants by convincing “a potential juror into saying he believed he could render a fair judgment in the case, even after the man insisted he felt handicapped,” and spent most of the trial drawing pictures. He often ruled in favor of the prosecution, led by Julius Grinnell, who blamed the anarchists for “the attempted subversion of legal authority in the urban polity that was Chicago,” through their speeches and writings, turning the trial into “a fateful struggle between order and disorder.” Testimony from anarchists like William Seliger and Gottfried Waller failed to prove there had been a conspiracy to attack the police. The testimonies of both M. M. Thompson, who claimed to have heard Schwab and Spies discussing weapons, and Henry L. Gilmer who named Spies as the bomb thrower, were discredited by other witnesses. Ultimately Grinnell and his team failed to prove the eight men were responsible for the deaths of the policemen.
The defense, led by Captain William Perkins Black, called Chicago Mayor Carter Harrison to state there was no call for the police to intervene and break up the peaceful assembly, shifting the blame for the riot. Eyewitness Dr. James D. Taylor stated Fielden had not called the police names or threatened them with a gun. Speaking in their own defense, the men denied the conspiracy charges, claiming they were “selfless social reformers whose ‘crime’ was not causing disorder but calling attention to it.” Despite Captain Black’s arguments claiming there had been no conspiracy and testimony proving none of the accused had thrown the bomb, the eight men were found guilty. Oscar Neebe was given a prison sentence, while the rest were to be executed. Rather than being grateful, Neebe wrote Governor Richard Oglesby requesting him to “hang me too; for I think it is more honorable to die suddenly than to be killed by inches.”
The Execution and Pardon
Captain Black was granted a stay of execution to prepare for an appeal, but although he “demonstrated that the state’s case had been built in large part on perjured evidence and on evidence obtained by unlawful means,” and argued the jury’s verdict was motivated by revenge, the appeal was denied. The public meanwhile had cooled in their antagonism towards the anarchists and some began a movement to grant the men clemency. Among the clemency supporters were Nina Van Zandt, who began a romance with August Spies, and Editor William Dean Howells. Although Governor Oglesby received letters requesting he stop the execution, leading businessmen continued to call for the men’s death. The imprisoned anarchists were urged to write letters to the governor on their own behalf, but most declined, feeling it would be an admission of guilt. Fielden, Schwab, and Spies wrote pleading for their lives, but Spies had a change of heart and wrote a second letter offering his own life stating “if a sacrifice of life must be, will not my life suffice?” As the day of the execution neared, Louis Lingg decided to end his own life by placing smuggled dynamite into his mouth. Although the governor granted Fielden and Schwab life in prison, Engel, Fischer, Parsons, and Spies were offered no reprieve and were hanged on November 11, 1887. The men were buried at Waldheim Cemetery in a public funeral where the “crowds exceeded even those that had gathered to march behind Lincoln’s coffin.”
The majority of the American public supported the hangings, but liberals and others who valued free speech proclaimed the men “had been hanged merely for holding and voicing opinions, for organizing and encouraging the workers, for championing the cause of the oppressed.” The election of John Peter Altgeld to the governor’s office offered hope to those who wanted the men released from prison. Although he was aware of the criticism he would receive, Altgeld pardoned Fielden, Neebe, and Schwab after receiving affidavits revealing men with known prejudices against the defendants served on the jury.
Legacy
The disaster shattered the sense of peace Americans felt and heightened fears about labor unions which gained a reputation of being dangerous and radical organizations. National legislation was passed prohibiting the immigration of socialists and anarchists to protect America from undemocratic ideas. The police became more determined to protect the streets at all costs and began resorting to violence in the name of protecting the social order. In honor of the policemen who were killed, a statue was erected in Haymarket Square in 1889.
Despite persecution, radical groups and labor unions continued to survive in America and to them, the deceased anarchists became martyr figures. A memorial was placed on their grave at Waldheim, and the men were exalted by labor groups such as the International Workers of the World. Whenever radical protesters were beset by police or discriminated against by law, the memory of the Haymarket Affair was recalled. Groups sometimes expressed their anger at the statue honoring the policemen killed in the riot. The statue was returned to the Haymarket Square in 1957 and became a target for protesters in the 1960s, such as the Weathermen, who covered it with black paint and blew it up twice before it was removed to Chicago’s Police Training Academy.
The Haymarket bombing highlighted late nineteenth century divisions in America and tested the boundaries of free speech and assembly. The case revealed how justice could be overlooked, and personal prejudices influenced by news media could cost men their lives in a nation where everyone, regardless of personal conviction, was supposed to be granted a fair trial. The Haymarket Trial challenged “the image of the United States as a classless society with liberty and justice for all,” and serves as a reminder of the injustice which could occur if prejudices were allowed to prevail over justice.
This reading was adapted from Blood On The Square: The Haymarket Riot and Trial (
1