Chapter XXII (1)

“We are Peaceable”—Capt. Ward’s Memories of the Massacre—A Nest of Anarchists—Scenes in the Court—Seliger’s Revelations—Lingg, the Bomb-maker—How he cast his Shells—A Dynamite Romance—Inside History of the Conspiracy—The Shadow of the Gallows—Mrs. Seliger and the Anarchists—Tightening the Coils—An Explosive Arsenal—The Schnaubelt Blunder—Harry Wilkinson and Spies—A Threat in Toothpicks—The Bomb Factory—The Board of Trade Demonstration.

DURING the progress of the trial the court-room was thronged daily. The prisoners sat radiantly throughout the whole proceedings as if supremely certain of acquittal, and they manifested great pride in the boutonnieres which were handed in every morning by admiring friends. As the testimony of the State’s witnesses proceeded, the defense raised innumerable objections to the admission of parts particularly criminative, and at times hours were consumed in arguments on the points involved. The objections were almost invariably overruled, and exceptions taken. Having finished the evidence then at hand with reference to the McCormick riot, the State resumed the Haymarket massacre.

WILLIAM WARD, Captain of Police at the Desplaines Street Station, a member of the force since 1870, a resident of Chicago for thirty-six years and a veteran of the Rebellion, was subjected to a long and interesting examination. He first stated the facts with reference to marching to the Haymarket and his order to the meeting to disperse, corroborating the testimony of Inspector Bonfield in every particular, and then concluded as follows:

“As the speaker was getting from the wagon he said, ‘We are peaceable.’ That was this gentleman (indicating Fielden). I heard some utterances of the speaker before I addressed him, but could not understand them—quite a noise there. Our men had their clubs in their belts, pistols in their pockets. A few seconds after Fielden said, ‘We are peaceable,’ I heard the explosion in my rear. I turned to look and see, and pistol-firing began from the front and both sides of the street by the crowd. I did not recognize anybody firing. Then the police began firing, and we charged into the alley, Crane’s alley, and north on Desplaines Street. Seven policemen died from the effects of wounds; one was brought dead into the station—Mathias J. Degan. There were in all killed and wounded sixty-six or sixty-seven—about twenty-one or twenty-two out of Desplaines Street Station; forty-two in all out of my precinct. It was only several seconds from the time that Fielden said, ‘We are peaceable,’ and the time the police charged down the alley and up Desplaines Street.”

The cross-examination resulted as follows:

“I had a detail there that night from the Central Police Station under command of Lieut. Hubbard. At the time I gave the command to disperse I was right close to the rear part of the wagon, close to the outside wheel, southwest of the wheel. I could almost touch it; could have touched it with my club. Some of the men carried their pistols in the breast pocket of the coat, some the hip pocket. At the time I gave the command, Inspector Bonfield stood at my left; Lieut. Steele was in the rear of me, might have been a little to the right. There were four to six persons on the wagon. Fielden was standing on the south end of the truck, facing southwest, facing me, when I commenced to speak, until I was through. Then he got off the truck, on the southeast end of it, on the corner toward the sidewalk. All I could understand of what Mr. Fielden said was: ‘We are peaceable.’ I did not see Fielden after that. There was no pistol-firing of any kind by anybody before the explosion of the bomb. I was several feet in advance of the front rank of the police in marching down, sometimes eight or ten feet in advance; sometimes not so far. The only utterance from any source that I can recall that was heard by me, before the bomb exploded, was that of Fielden, ‘We are peaceable,’ that he spoke to me, or looking right at me when he spoke. It was a little louder than ordinary, than if he was addressing me. I think the accent was on the last word, ‘We are _peaceable_.’ I don’t remember whether I related this utterance of Fielden on the occasion of the Coroner’s inquest when I testified there. I think Steele’s line was about on a line with the center of the alley. Quinn’s line had swung a little further forward. A block and a half south of there, there were eight or ten electric lights on the front of the Lyceum Theater, and they lit up the street considerably. I don’t remember whether there was a torch-light or any other light on the truck.”

MICHAEL HAHN, a tailor working on Halsted Street, stated that he was at the Haymarket and received an injury in his back, one in his thigh, and one in the leg:

“I went to the hospital that same night. Dr. Newman removed something from my person that night; that is what he said; he showed it to me. It was some kind of a nut. (Witness is handed an ordinary iron-threaded nut.) I guess that was about the size. I left the hospital two weeks after. I think that is the same nut.”

REUBEN SLAYTON, a policeman on the force fourteen years, testified that he arrested Fischer:

“I searched him and found that gun (producing and exhibiting a revolver). It is a 44-caliber; was loaded when I found it; self-acting, I found this file ground sharp on three edges (producing it), and that belt and sheath (producing same). The belt and sheath were buckled on him; the file in the sheath, revolver stuck into the slit in the belt, and he had ten cartridges in his pocket. He also had this fulminating cap in his pocket. It was brighter when I found it. He said he carried that revolver because he carried money, and going home nights to protect himself. I took him to the Central Station. He said he had worked at the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ as a compositor for two years. When I arrested him he was coming down the stairs. I was going up into the building. I felt this revolver and took him back up, and searched him and took these things from him. The belt was under his coat. You could not see the pistol and this stuff. I also arrested Fielden at his house the same day, May 5th, in the morning, at No. 110 West Polk Street. When I locked him up at the Central Station, he took the bandage off his knee and put it on. I asked him where he got it dressed. He told me when he got shot he came down the alley and took a car and went to, I think he said, Twelfth and Canal Streets—had his knee dressed there that night.”

On cross-examination, Officer Slayton stated that he met with no resistance from Fischer or Fielden and that he found no munitions of war at the latter’s house. He had no warrant, he said, for their arrest.

THEODORE FRICKE, business superintendent of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, once its book-keeper, testified to Spies’ handwriting on the manuscript containing the word “Ruhe,” and identified several other documents as in Spies’ handwriting. He continued:

Engraved direct from the Original.]

“The _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ is the property of a corporation. Fischer was a stockholder, so was I, so is Spies and Schwab. I was employed by this corporation. Parsons is not a stockholder. Neebe belongs to this corporation. I have known Neebe about two years; I saw him at picnics and in our office. There was a library in the building belonging to the International Working People’s Association—a Socialistic association composed of groups, known by names. I belonged to the group ‘Karl Marx,’ which met at No. 63 Emma Street. Before that I belonged to the Northwest Side group, which met at Thalia Hall, No. 633 Milwaukee Avenue. Hirschberger was the librarian. I know Fischer; he belonged to the Northwest Side group. Engel belonged to the same. Spies formerly belonged to the Northwest Side group, later to the American group. Parsons belonged to the American group. Schwab, I guess, to the North Side group, I don’t know for sure. I don’t know about Lingg. I guess Neebe belonged to the North Side group. These groups, except the Northwest Side group, had a central committee, which met at No. 107 Fifth Avenue. The Northwest Side group was not represented. They had strong Anarchistic principles. Fielden, I guess, belonged to the American group. This book here (Johann Most’s book) I saw at the library in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ building. I have seen that book sold at picnics by Hirschberger, at Socialistic picnics and mass-meetings. At some of those meetings Spies, Parsons and Fielden were present; sometimes Neebe, sometimes Schwab, maybe Fischer.”

Counsel for defendants objected to this line of inquiry, because, as they said, it is not shown that any of the defendants knew or participated in the selling, or that they had anything to do with, or that they saw the selling. This led to some words between court and counsel:

_The Court_—“If men are teaching the public how to commit murder, it is admissible to prove it if it can be proved by items.”

_Mr. Black_—“Well, does your Honor know what this teaches?”

_The Court_—“I do not know what the contents of the book are. I asked what the book was and I was told that it was Herr Most’s ‘Science of Revolutionary Warfare,’ and taught the preparing of deadly weapons and missiles, and that was accepted by the other side.”

_Mr. Black_—“Does that justify your Honor in the construction that it teaches how to commit murder, or of stating that in the presence of the jury?”

Reduced _Fac-simile_, engraved direct from the Original Manuscript.]

_The Court_—“.... I inquired what sort of book it was, and it was stated by the other side what sort of book it was, and you said nothing about it, so that in ruling upon the question whether it may be shown where it was to be found, where it had been seen, I must take the character of the book into consideration in determining whether it is admissible; whether it is of that character or not we will see when it is translated, I suppose. I suppose the book is not in the English language.”

“Where were the picnics at which you have seen this book sold?” asked the State’s Attorney.

“I saw this book sold at a picnic at Ogden’s Grove, on Willow Street, on the North Side, in July of last year. There were present Spies, Neebe, Parsons and Fielden. Also at a picnic at Sheffield, Indiana, last September, where were present Spies, Neebe, Parsons and, I guess, Fischer.”

Fricke then identified copies of the _Alarm_, Parsons’ paper, the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, the _Fackel_, the Sunday edition of that paper, and the _Vorbote_, its weekly edition, of various dates from May 1st to May 5th.

On cross-examination, he testified that he had never seen any of the defendants sell Most’s books anywhere, not even at the Sheffield, Indiana, picnic, where there were 2,000 people, and that all communications to the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ went through the hands of the editor, Spies.

EDMUND FURTHMANN testified as follows:

“I am assistant in the State’s Attorney’s office. I was in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office between eleven and twelve o’clock on the 5th of May. All the matter shown to Mr. Fricke was obtained by me in the typesetting-room of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, and has been in my possession since then. The typesetting-room was full of desks and cases of type, and there were several tables covered with stone, and at every case there was a hook containing a lot of manuscript, which I took away. I found the doors locked. I found some twenty or twenty-five of the ‘Revenge’ circulars there.”

On cross-examination he said:

“A locksmith opened the door. We had no search warrant. We also carried away two mail-bags from there. We placed all this manuscript into them. Mr. Grinnell, the State’s Attorney, Officer Haas, Lieut. Kipley and myself were in the party.”

EUGENE SEEGER translated a paragraph in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ of March 15 and testified that it read as follows:

“‘Revolutionary Warfare has arrived, and is to be had through the librarian, 107 Fifth Avenue, at the price of 10 cents.’

“This appears among what I would call, as a newspaper man, editorial notices in the local column. These translations here (holding typewriter copy, purporting to be the translation of certain articles), are correct translations. There is an editorial here in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ of May 4 headed ‘Editorial.’ ‘Blood has flowed’ is the first phrase of it. There is another article on the fourth page of May 3, headed ‘A Hot Conflict.’ In the local column of May 4 a report headed, ‘Lead and Powder is a Cure for Dissatisfied Workingmen.’ All these articles were also translated by Professor Olson, of the Chicago University. We compared notes and found the translations correct.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Furthmann then read the translation of Most’s volume.

WILLIAM SELIGER testified:

“I am a carpenter. Have lived in Chicago three years and a half. Before that I lived at Charlottenburg, Germany. I was born at Eilau, near Reichenbach, in Silesia. On May 4th last I lived at 442 Sedgwick Street, in the rear of the lot. I occupied the second floor. Louis Lingg, the defendant, boarded with me. On Monday, May 3, I worked for Mr. Meyer. Quit work at half-past 4 P.M. In the evening of that day I was at Zepf’s Hall, at a meeting of the Carpenters’ Union. I was recording secretary of the union. I stayed there until half-past eleven. I was not at the meeting at 54 West Lake Street that night. I heard somebody call upon us, that all that knew should come to 54 West Lake Street. This here (holding paper), ‘Y—Komme Montag Abend,’ means that all the armed men should come to the meeting at 54 West Lake Street. The armed men were divers ones—all the Socialistic organizations. There were several organizations in existence which were drilled in the use of arms. After I left Zepf’s Hall I took a glass of beer in the saloon and then went to 71 West Lake Street and took another glass of beer. Then I went home with several other parties. I saw a copy of the ‘Revenge’ circular at Zepf’s Hall. Balthasar Rau brought it to the meeting about nine o’clock.

“On Tuesday I did not work at my trade. I got up at half-past seven, and after I got up Lingg came. I had previously told him that I wanted those things removed from my dwelling. He told me to work diligently at these bombs, and they would be taken away that day. I took some coffee, and after a time I worked at some shells, at some loaded shells. I drilled holes through which the bolt went. A shell like this (indicating shell introduced in evidence). I worked on the shells half an hour. Lingg went to the West Side to a meeting. Got back probably after one o’clock. He said: ‘I didn’t do much. I ought to have worked more diligently.’ I said I hadn’t any pleasure at the work.”

“What did Lingg reply?”

“Lingg said, ‘Well, we will have to work very diligently this afternoon.’ During the afternoon I did different work at the shells. In the morning I had a conversation about the bolts. He told me he had not enough of them. He gave me one and told me to go to Clybourn Avenue and get some that he had already spoken to the man about. I got about fifty. I worked at the bombs during the whole of the afternoon at different times. Hubner, Muntzenberg, Heuman, were helping. I worked in the front room, also in Lingg’s room and the rear room. Lingg first worked at gas or water pipes, such as these (indicating). There were probably thirty or forty or fifty bombs made that afternoon. The round bombs had been cast once before by Lingg, in the rear room, on my stove, probably six weeks previous to the 4th of May. The first bomb I ever saw was in Lingg’s room. That was still before that. At that time he told me he was going to make bombs. I saw dynamite for the first time in Lingg’s room, about five or six weeks previous to the 4th of May. Lingg said every workingman should get some dynamite; that there should be considerable agitation; that every workingman would learn to handle these things. During that Tuesday afternoon Lingg said those bombs were going to be good fodder for the capitalists and the police, when they came to protect the capitalists. Nothing was said about when they wanted the bombs completed or ready. I only told him that I wanted those things out of my room. There was only a remark that they were to be used that evening, but nothing positive as to time. I left the house at half-past eight that evening. Hubner was at the house probably from four to six o’clock. I did not see what he did. He worked in the front room with Lingg. I was in Lingg’s room. Muntzenberg was there as long as Hubner. Thielen was there half an hour—quite that. I did not see what he was doing.

“The Lehmans were at the house for a little while. I did not see what they were doing. They were in the front room. Heuman also worked at the bombs. I left the house in the evening with Lingg. We had a little trunk with bombs in. The trunk was probably two feet long, one foot high and one foot wide. It was covered with coarse linen. There were round and pipe bombs in it. They were loaded with dynamite and caps fixed to them. I don’t know how many there were. The trunk might have weighed from thirty to fifty pounds. We pulled a stick, which Lingg had broken, through the handle. That is the way we carried the trunk, which was taken to Neff’s Hall, 58 Clybourn Avenue. On the way to Neff’s Hall, Muntzenberg met us. He took the package into the building through the saloon on the side into the hallway that led to the rear. After the bombs were put down into that passageway, there were different ones there, three or four, who took bombs out for themselves. I took two pipe bombs myself; carried them in my pocket. We went away from Neff’s Hall and left the package in that passage. The back of Neff’s Hall is known under the name of the Communisten-Bude. Different Socialistic and Anarchistic organizations met there. The North Side group met there. I heard that the Saxon Bund met there. I don’t know any others that met there. When I left Neff’s Hall, Thielen and Gustav Lehman were with me. Later two large men of the L. u. W. V. came to us. I believe they all had bombs. We went on Clybourn Avenue north towards Lincoln Avenue, to the Larrabee Street Station, where we halted. Lingg and myself halted there. I don’t know what had become of the others. Some went ahead of us. Lingg and I had a conversation, that there should be made a disturbance everywhere on the North Side to keep the police from going over to the West Side. In front of the Larrabee Street Station Lingg said it might be a beautiful thing if we would walk over and throw one or two bombs into the station. There were two policemen sitting in front of the station, and Lingg said if the others came out these two couldn’t do much. We would shoot these two down. Then we went further north to Lincoln Avenue and Larrabee Street, where we took a glass of beer. Webster Avenue Station is near there. After we left the saloon we went a few blocks north, then turned about and came back to North Avenue and Larrabee Street. While we stood there a patrol wagon passed. We were standing south of North Avenue and Larrabee Street. Lingg said that he was going to throw a bomb—that was the best opportunity to throw the bomb—and I said it would not have any purpose. Then he became quite wild, excited; said I should give him a light. I was smoking a cigar, and I jumped into a front opening before a store and lighted a match, as if I intended to light a cigar, so I could not give him a light. When I had lighted my cigar the patrol wagon was just passing. Lingg said he was going to go after the wagon to see what had happened, saying that something had certainly happened on the West Side—some trouble. The patrol wagon was completely manned, going south on Larrabee Street. We were four or five houses distant from the station. Then I went into a boarding-house between Mohawk and Larrabee Streets and lighted a cigar; then we went towards home. First Lingg wanted to wait until the patrol wagon would come back, but I importuned him to go home with me. We got home probably shortly before eleven; I cannot tell exactly. On the way home Lingg asked me whether I had seen a notice that a meeting of the armed men should be held on the West Side. I said I had seen nothing. Lingg wanted to go out. I took the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_; tore it into two parts. He took one, and I one. Thereupon he said, ‘Here it is,’ and called my attention to the word ‘Ruhe.’ This here is the same that I saw in my house. I did not know the meaning of the word ‘Ruhe’ until the time I saw it. Lingg said there was to have been a meeting on the West Side that night, and he was going to go at once to it. ‘Ruhe’ meant that everything was to go topsy-turvy; that there was to be trouble. He said that a meeting had been held at which it was determined that the word ‘Ruhe’ should go into the paper, when all armed men should appear at 54 West Lake Street; that there should be trouble. After that talk we went away. Lingg wanted to go to the West Side, and I talked with him to go with me to 58 Clybourn Avenue. Lingg and I went there. There were several persons present at Neff’s Hall. I did not speak with Lingg at Neff’s Hall. A certain Hermann said to him, in an energetic tone of voice, ‘You are the fault of it all.’ I did not hear what Lingg said to that. They spoke in a subdued tone. Somebody said a bomb had fallen, which had killed many and wounded many. I did not hear what Lingg said to that. On the way home Lingg said that he was even now scolded, chided for the work he had done. He got home shortly after twelve. We laid the bombs off on our way on Sigel Street, between Sedgwick and Hurlbut, under an elevated sidewalk. I laid two pipe bombs there. I saw Lingg put some bombs there. I don’t know what kind. The next morning I got up about six o’clock. I don’t know when Lingg got up. On Wednesday evening, when Lingg got home, we spoke about the Haymarket meeting. He said if the workingmen only had had the advantage of it they would have gained the victory. Then we went together to a meeting on Fifth Avenue, at Seamen’s Hall.

‘On Friday, I believe, before that Tuesday, the 4th of May, Lingg brought some dynamite to the house in a wooden box about three feet in length, about sixteen to eighteen inches in height, and about the same width. Inside this box there was another box. The dynamite with which we filled the bombs on Tuesday was in that large wooden box. We handled the dynamite with our hands and with a flat piece of wood which Lingg had made for more convenience. This here (indicating) is the pan to cast those shells in. (Same offered in evidence.) Lingg used to cast shells in them. Lingg once told me he had made eighty to one hundred bombs in all. The bolts which I got on that Tuesday were something like this (referring to bolt about two and one-half inches long).

“I am a member of the North Side group of the International Workingmen’s Association. During the last year I was financial secretary. My number was, at last, 72. Two years ago the members began to be given numbers. I heard Engel make a speech to the North Side group last winter at Neff’s Hall. He said that every one could manufacture those bombs for themselves; that these pipes could be found everywhere without cost; that they were to be closed up with wooden plugs fore and aft, and that in one of the plugs was to be drilled a hole for the fuse and cap. He said they were the best means against the police and capitalists. I never heard him make any other speech.

“I saw two bombs at the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ last year at the time of the car-drivers’ strike. Rau showed them to some one. I don’t know precisely who were present. Spies was there. It was in the evening. There was one round bomb and one long one—not very long. I was at the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ as a delegate from the North Side group to the meeting of the general committee of all the groups of Chicago.

“I know Schwab and Neebe. They were members of the North Side group of the Internationale. I know Fischer. He is a member of some group, but I don’t know positively. Lingg belonged to the North Side group. Engel belonged to a group, I cannot tell to which one. The North Side group met every Monday evening. There were speeches made, or a review of what had happened during the week. On Sundays some members exercised with rifles. I don’t know how many members had rifles. Every one took his own rifle home with him. I had a rifle. I kept it at my dwelling. This book here (Herr Most’s book) I saw at public meetings of the North Side group. Hubner had charge of them latterly. The North Side group bought them and sold them. Hubner was the librarian. This here (indicating photograph) is Rudolph Schnaubelt.”

On cross-examination he gave the following testimony:

“I was arrested after the 4th of May. I was kept at the Chicago Avenue Station. The first time fully a week. Then I was on the West Side three weeks and one day; then I went back to the station of my own accord and stayed there voluntarily. Was locked up there ever since. When first arrested I made a statement, but not of all that I have testified to-day. I made a full statement of all that I testified to here, at the Chicago Avenue Station. Capt. Schaack, Mr. Furthmann and some detectives were present. That was after I had been in prison seven days. The day after and the second day after. I have made statements in writing, signed by me, three times. In the first statement I had not said much. I have done no work, earned no money, during the time I have been in jail. I received money from Capt. Schaack; once a dollar and a half, at another time five dollars. While I was at liberty I read in the paper that I was indicted for the murder of Degan. I did not know before this case was begun that I was not to be tried. I did not know whether I was going to be tried for the murder of Degan along with Mr. Spies and the other defendants. When the trial was commenced I did not inquire of any of the officers why I was not brought out for trial. I did not know I was to be used as a witness instead of being a defendant at this trial. Capt. Schaack did not tell me anything about my trial. If I would come in and tell the story which was in the written statement that I have signed—he only told me that it would be the best if I would tell the truth, and asked me whether I would tell the truth before the court, and I said yes.”

Seliger was then given a breathing-spell, and Mr. Buschick was recalled. Buschick testified with regard to a map of the rear building of No. 442 Sedgwick Street, and was excused.

Seliger, continuing on cross-examination, said:

“Lingg, I think, is twenty-one or twenty-two years old. He is not a man of family. He has boarded with me since Christmas last. My house where I lived on May 4th is about three-quarters of a mile distant from the Haymarket. When Lingg and I, on Tuesday night at eleven o’clock, after we had seen the word ‘Ruhe’ in the paper, spoke about going over to the West Side, we meant Zepf’s Hall, or Greif’s Hall, or Florus’ Hall. One of those halls was certainly meant, for there is no other place. It was not understood or agreed between me and any other men who had the bombs that night at Clybourn Avenue, that any one of us was to go to the Haymarket meeting. I know that Capt. Schaack paid my wife money at different times since my arrest. I don’t know how much. I think $20 or $25. Lingg had made the same remark about bombs being the best food for capitalists and police before that Tuesday afternoon. When he brought the first bomb into the house he said they were to be applied on occasions of strikes, and where there were meetings of workingmen and were disturbed by the police. On that Tuesday afternoon we agreed to go to Clybourn Avenue that night, before the bombs were done. It was said that the bombs were to be taken to Clybourn Avenue that evening. I don’t believe it was agreed that the bombs were to be taken anywhere else than Clybourn Avenue. When they were taken to Clybourn Avenue, I don’t know whether they were to remain there, or were to be taken to further places. There was no agreement as to where the bombs should be taken after they got to Clybourn Avenue. I did not hear anything about an agreement that any of the bombs manufactured on the afternoon of May 4th were to be taken by anybody to the Haymarket; we were not making bombs to take to the Haymarket and destroy the police. They were to be taken to Clybourn Avenue for use on that evening. I can not say that one single bomb was made for use at the Haymarket meeting. They were made everywhere to be used against capitalists and the police. I cannot say who had the bomb at the Haymarket on the night of May 4th. I don’t know anybody who was expected to be at the Haymarket. I became acquainted with Lingg in August of last year. I saw Engel once last year in the office of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, and again at the meeting of the North Side group. I did not see whether the bombs which I saw last summer at the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ building were loaded. The room where I saw them was the library-room that belonged to the International Workingmen’s Association. The bombs were below the counter. I never saw any bombs in the office of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, neither in the editorial room nor the printing-room, nor in the office of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_. The office is the front room. This library-room is in the rear. I saw those bombs in the rear room. I don’t know precisely whether that library-room is a part of the office, or whether it is rented as a library-room. I believe that it belonged to the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_. Those drills on Sunday, of which I spoke, were in the daytime. We kept our guns at home, in broad daylight, and in the presence of our neighbors, or any one who might be on the streets, walked to the hall on Sunday and drilled. We had a shooting society. We went to the Sharpshooters’ Park or to the prairie to exercise. We used to meet and march publicly on the streets with our guns exposed. We didn’t try to keep it away from the police force that we had arms and drilled and marched. I knew that I was indicted for conspiracy and for murder. I did not employ the services of any lawyer. The only lawyers that I talked with were Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Furthmann.”

On re-direct examination witness stated:

“During the time I was at liberty I went to the West Side to the house of Mr. Gloom, on Twenty-second Street. I stayed with him two weeks and one day. He is not a Socialist. I went there from fear of revenge by the Socialists.”

MRS. BERTHA SELIGER testified as follows:

“I have lived in this country two years. Am the wife of William Seliger. We lived at 442 Sedgwick Street from the 12th of October to the 19th of May. I have known Louis Lingg since two weeks before Christmas. He came to us to board with us. He boarded with us until May. He took his meals with us and slept in the house. We occupied the middle floor of that house. His room was next to the front room, and there was a door opening into a clothes closet. Shortly before May 1st I saw some bombs as Lingg was about to hide them—about half a dozen lying on the bed. They were round bombs and long ones. After Lingg had left the house I did not see any more of them; they were all gone. On the Tuesday on which the bomb was thrown at the Haymarket there were several men at our house. About six or eight. Perhaps more. Those I knew were Hubner, Heuman, Thielen, Lingg and my husband. I think they were there until past seven o’clock. They were going and coming during most of the afternoon. They were in the front room and in Lingg’s room, working at bombs. I saw Heuman working and filling at them. What the others were doing I don’t know. I was in the kitchen, and when supper was ready I went into the bed-room. I was so mad I could have thrown them all out. I frequently saw Lingg make bombs. I always saw him cast. I did not pay any particular attention. I simply saw him melt lead on the cooking-stove in my house—twice with Heuman, once with my husband and Thielen, and frequently he worked by himself. He said to us: ‘Don’t act so foolishly. You might do something too.’ On Monday, the day before the bomb was thrown, Lingg was away. In the morning some young fellows had come and had their names entered on the list of the union, and then he was writing pretty much all day.

“On Wednesday, the day after the bomb was thrown, Lingg was at home in the forenoon. That was the day on which he wanted to hide those bombs in the clothes closet, and Lehman was with him. I heard some knocking, and I went in, and I said to him: ‘Mr. Lingg, what are you doing there? I will not suffer that,’—and he was tearing everything loose below, and he sent that man Lehman after wall-paper, and he wanted to cover up everything afterwards—nail up everything afterwards. He had the wall-paper already there, and he said to me: ‘I suppose you are crazy. You ought to have said before you wouldn’t suffer that, that I would have looked for a place where I am allowed to do that.’ He was tearing up things all around about in the closet, and he had loosened the baseboards and taken out the mortar. He said if he needed something he couldn’t first go to the West Side to get it. On the Friday following, on the 7th of May, he left my house. Lingg had a trunk which he kept in his bed-room. This instrument (referring to ladle identified by William Seliger) Lingg was always casting with.”

On cross-examination Mrs. Seliger stated:

“I have been locked up on account of this bomb business—on account of Lingg—by Capt. Schaack. The first time I was there from Saturday to Tuesday. Of course it was Lingg’s fault that I got locked up. I talked with Capt. Schaack about this matter several times. I was locked up twice. Capt. Schaack paid my rent. I made no memoranda of the money I received from Capt. Schaack. He gave me money at different times, from the time I made my statement down to the present time. He paid my rent and gave me so much money with which to live. When I said to Lingg that I wouldn’t allow that wall-paper to be put into the closet, and ‘what would the landlord say when he comes,’ Lingg said, ‘Well, then, I will say to him that I will not dirty my clothes.’ Those boards were about a foot high from the floor. The closet did not reach up as far as the ceiling. He intended to put those things in the wall. There was nothing in at that time. I stopped him at that juncture. I don’t like Mr. Lingg very well, because he always had wrong things in his head. I blame him for me and my husband having been locked up. My husband and myself talked this thing over together. I said to my husband, ‘I will tell the truth, and you tell it also.’ Capt. Schaack told us we had better tell it. I am forty years old.

“I was locked up in the Larrabee Street Station, and my husband was in the Chicago Avenue Station. I never occupied the same cell with my husband while under arrest. I only heard after I came out again that my husband was arrested in another station. While I was arrested I didn’t see my husband. No one came to see me. I told that story, and then they turned me out. When arrested the second time they kept me from Monday until Friday. I made the same statement as at first and signed it, and then they turned me out again. The second time I was arrested they brought a statement, which they said my husband had made, and asked me to sign it, and I put my name below that of my husband’s, and then they turned me out. My husband was a Socialist before he got acquainted with Lingg.”

MARSHALL H. WILLIAMSON, reporter for the _Daily News_, witnessed the procession of the Socialists in 1885 at the time of the opening of the Board of Trade building, and was also present at No. 107 Fifth Avenue, from which place they started, and where they finally separated. He heard Parsons and Fielden speak from the windows of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office. Said the witness:

“Parsons spoke of the police interfering with them in marching on the Board of Trade that night. He called the police bloodhounds and called on the mob to follow him in an assault on Marshall Field’s dry goods house and various clothing-houses, and take from there what he called the necessities of life. They spoke from the second floor. There were about 1,000 people in front of the building. Fielden in his speech also called upon the mob to follow them, and he agreed to lead them to rob these places or go into them and take from them what they needed in the way of clothing and dry goods. They both said that the new Board of Trade was built out of money of which they had been robbed; that all the men who transacted business there were robbers and thieves, and that they ought to be killed. Nothing was said in the speeches as to the means or mode of killing. Later I went up-stairs. I saw Fielden and Parsons and some others whose names I didn’t know. I didn’t know Spies at that time, but remember of seeing him there. I asked Parsons why they didn’t march upon the Board of Trade and blow it up. He said because the police had interfered, and they had not expected that and were not prepared for them. I told him I had seen revolvers exhibited by some in the procession. He told me when they met the police they would be prepared with bombs and dynamite. Mr. Fielden was standing at his elbow at the time. He said the next time the police attempted to interfere with them, they would be prepared for them. That would be in the course of a year or so. Spies was in the room. It was the front room of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office. Spies was not standing immediately with the party. I was shown what they told me was a dynamite cartridge. The package was about six or seven inches long, and an inch and a half or two inches in diameter. It was wrapped in a piece of paper. The paper was broken. After I had conversed with Mr. Parsons a while, he took out of the broken place a small portion of the contents. It was of a slightly reddish color, and he again said it was dynamite, and that was what they would use when they went against the police; he also said he had enough of that where he could put his hands on it to blow up the business center of the city. I was shown a coil of fuse about fifteen or twenty feet; also a fulminating cap by which they said dynamite bombs were exploded. The cap was exploded in the room while I was there. It made quite a noise and filled the room with smoke. It was copper and about an inch long and perhaps one-eighth of an inch in diameter—about the size of a No. 22 cartridge cap. Mr. Parsons called for these articles. They were in a drawer in a desk, and Mr. Spies handed them to him to be shown to me. Parsons told me they were preparing for a fight for their rights; that they believed they were being robbed every day by capitalists and the thieving Board of Trade men. He said it must stop. He told me that they had bombs, dynamite and plenty of rifles and revolvers, and he said their manner of warfare would be to throw their bombs from the tops of houses and stores, and in that way they could annihilate any force of militia or police brought against them without any harm to themselves. After this conversation I went down-stairs, where I met Detectives Trehorn and Sullivan. I was acquainted with them. I took them up-stairs and renewed the conversation with Mr. Parsons, and left him talking with the police officers. The conversation I had had with Mr. Parsons was in effect repeated with the police officers in my presence. The officers were in citizens’ clothes. The red flags in that procession were carried by some women. I was at 54 West Lake Street, in some of the halls there, on several occasions, within a year before the opening of the Board of Trade. That is where I got acquainted with Parsons and Fielden. I heard them speak there. That was during the winter months of 1884 and 1885. Mr. Fielden, on one occasion, wanted them to follow him to those clothing stores and grocery stores and some other places and get what they needed to support their families. He told them to purchase dynamite. He said that five cents’ worth of dynamite carried around in the vest pocket would do more good than all the revolvers and pistols in the world. Mr. Parsons also told them they were being robbed, and offered to lead them to the grocery stores and other places to get what they wanted. That is all I remember of those speeches. I heard them some eight or ten times. There were never over between ten and twenty-five people present.”

On cross-examination witness stated:

“The first of these meetings I attended was about two years ago. I wrote reports of those meetings, which I think were published in the _Daily News_ in each instance the day following, in the morning edition. The circulation of the _Daily News_, about a year and a half and two years ago, was, I think, 121,000 per day, as claimed by the paper.

“When I went to the meetings at 54 West Lake Street I had no trouble to get in. The meetings were held in the front rooms on the top floor. There were no guards at the door. I simply went in and sat down and took my notes publicly. Fielden and Parsons learned very soon that I was a reporter on the _Daily News_. Those speeches of Parsons and Fielden which I related were made at the first meeting I attended. When Fielden suggested the five cents’ worth of dynamite carried in the vest pocket, he gave no instructions whatever on the subject of how to carry or use it. The proposal to go out to Marshall Field’s and some clothing store was a proposal for immediate action. He did not start, however. After he got through with his talk and proposal, he sat down until the meeting was over. The meeting quietly dispersed and went home. I did not see that army of less than twenty-five men start for Field’s that night, or upon any subsequent occasion. I heard that same proposal at every single meeting I attended at 54 West Lake Street and 700 and something West Indiana Street, and various other places. I do not think there was ever over twenty-five present at their meetings in halls. I have seen larger numbers of people at open-air meetings. Sometimes the attendance did not exceed about ten men. The same proposition was made when there were only ten persons present.

“In that procession on the night of the opening of the Board of Trade I marched at the head. After Mr. Parsons had finished his speech from the window of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office that night, in which he proposed to lead the multitude against those stores, he quietly went back into the room, and I entered into a conversation with him. Mr. Fielden, after he had got through proposing, joined in the conversation with Mr. Parsons and myself. He didn’t go down to the street and lead anybody anywhere, either. The proposals that night, both by Fielden and Parsons, were proposals for immediate action, but they simply proposed to, and then gracefully retired from the window. There were about twenty people in the room. Among them, I think, was Mr. Spies. There were two reporters besides myself there. I think both Fielden and Parsons knew me as a reporter at the time. I presume they knew I was connected with the _Daily News_. Parsons never manifested any reluctance in detailing to me what he did; but in one conversation he refused to reveal the remainder of their plans. I saw some three or four revolvers in that procession. I don’t know who had them. There were not to exceed five hundred people in the procession. I saw two revolvers in the right-hand side coat pocket, and two more in the hip pocket, carried by four persons. I have informed various police officers of what I have seen and heard regarding these people. I had frequent conversations with police officers of Chicago. I think there were about four women in that procession carrying banners. There were about half a dozen women in the room while they spoke from the windows. I think some women spoke from the same windows to the same mob. I think the meetings which I attended were regularly advertised in the _Daily News_.”

On re-direct examination, Williamson was asked by the State’s Attorney: “You were about to say something about some interview that you had with Parsons in regard to the plans, also in regard to leaders and privates in their army. Will you please state what that was?”

“Parsons told me there were some 3,000 armed Socialists in the city of Chicago, well armed with rifles and revolvers, and would have dynamite and bombs when they got ready to use them; that they were meeting and drilling at various halls in the city. He refused to give me a list of those halls. He refused to tell me where they bought rifles. He said the society was divided into groups, and that they knew each other by twos and threes. He showed me an article in the _Alarm_, I think, about street warfare. In that connection I think he told me it was their intention to occupy the Market Place and the Washington Street tunnel, and in that position they could successfully encounter any force that could be brought against them.”

On re-cross-examination witness related:

“There was nobody present when I had that conversation with Mr. Parsons. I think it was after New Year’s day of 1885, in the winter. I did not ask him how they managed to drill if they only knew each other by twos and threes. He said that in that organization of 3,000 no man knew more than two or three others.”

JOHN SHEA, Lieutenant of Police, and at the head of the detective force, testified about the search of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office and proceeded:

“I know a man that is called Rudolph Schnaubelt. He was in the station a couple of days after the arrest of those other gentlemen. This here (indicating photograph) I recognize as Schnaubelt’s picture. When I saw him he had a mustache. I had a conversation with Mr. Spies at police headquarters, in my office, after he was arrested. We had a conversation about that manuscript referred to by me. I asked Spies if he was at the meeting at the Haymarket. He said he was; that he opened the meeting; that Schwab was there, but that he understood he went to Deering. He said Parsons was there, and Fielden; that both spoke there—Fielden at the time the police came. He said he spoke at a meeting on May 3, near McCormick’s factory, and some of the parties there in the rear had commenced to halloa, and said, ‘Let’s go to McCormick’s,’ and they had started, and most of the crowd had started with them. Spies said he had heard later what had happened at McCormick’s; that he had got on a street car and come down town. I asked him if he knew anything about that circular that was circulated on the street. I don’t remember that I had present with me the circular which I referred to during that conversation. He said he did not know anything about the circular, but heard that it had been circulated. I asked him if he wrote this manuscript (indicating manuscript previously produced). Mr. Grinnell was sitting in the office at the time. Spies said, ‘I refuse to answer.’ Then Mr. Spies said he was the editor there. I said, ‘Now, would not anything of that kind be likely to go through your hands before it would go to print?’ He said, ‘I refuse to answer.’

“I had a conversation with Fischer the next day. He said that on the night of May 4 he and several others, Schwab, Fielden, were at a meeting in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office; that Rau brought word to the meeting that there was a large crowd at the Haymarket, that Spies was there and very few speakers; and they immediately started to the Haymarket. He said he didn’t hear Spies, but heard Fielden and Parsons. That pistol and dagger he had had to protect himself. He had not had it with him that night. It was in the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office. On Wednesday morning he had put it on because he didn’t intend to stay. He was going away. That fulminating cap he had got from a man in front of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ office some three months before that. He had never paid any attention to it. He had made the sharpened dagger himself for his own protection.

“In the conversation with Spies, my recollection is that he said he got on the wagon, and said something to Parsons or Fielden about its going to rain, and left the wagon. I don’t recollect where he said he went to. Fischer said he was at Zepf’s Hall at the time of the explosion.”

FRED. L. BUCK was called to testify with reference to some experiments he had made with dynamite which he had received from the detectives’ office. He had gone to the lake front with Officer McKeough and another officer and a newspaper reporter and there made several tests, all of which demonstrated the immense force of the dynamite.

Lieut. GEORGE W. HUBBARD, now Superintendent of the force, had charge of the company that composed the third division at the Haymarket. Being a large company, it was divided into two, he himself commanding one wing and Sergt. (now Capt.) Fitzpatrick, who was drill master, being in command of the other.