Chapter XII

FIELDEN PENITENT. HIS LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR. SPIES' LAST
LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY. WILLING TO DIE FOR HIS COMRADES.

FIELDEN SUES FOR MERCY.

Fielden's letter is as follows:

CHICAGO, Ill., Nov. 5, 1887.--_The Hon. Richard J. Oglesby,
Governor State of Illinois_--SIR: I Samuel Fielden, a prisoner
under sentence of death, and charged with complicity in the
conspiracy to bring about the Haymarket massacre, pray your
excellency for relief from the death sentence and respectfully
beg your consideration of the following statement of facts:

"I was born in England in humble circumstances, and had little
early education. For some years I devoted my life to religious
work, being an authorized lay preacher in the Methodist
denomination. I came to this country and settled in Chicago.
At all times I was obedient to the law and conducted myself as
a good citizen. I was a teamster and worked hard for my daily
bread. My personal conduct and my domestic life were beyond
reproach.

"Some three years or more ago I was deeply stirred by the
condition of the working classes, and sought to do what I
could for their betterment. I did this honestly, and with no
sinister motive. I never sought any personal advantage out of
the agitation in which I was engaged. I was gifted, as I was
flattered and led to believe, with the faculty of stirring an
audience with my words, and it was said that I was eloquent.
I began delivering addresses to assemblages of the working
classes, and spoke of their wrongs as I saw them. None of my
speeches were prepared nor in any sense studied, and often
they were born in an hour of intense excitement. It is true
that I have said things in such heat that in calmer moments I
should not have said. I made violent speeches. I suggested the
use of force as a means for righting the wrongs which seemed
to me to be apparent.

"I cannot admit that I used all of the words imputed to me by
the State, nor can I pretend to remember the actual phrases I
did utter. I am conscious, however, as I have said, that I was
frequently aroused to a pitch of excitement which made me in a
sense irresponsible. I was intoxicated with the applause of my
hearers, and the more violent my language the more applause I
received. My audience and myself mutually excited each other.
I think, however, it is true that, for sensational or other
purposes, words were put into my mouth and charged to me which
I never uttered; but, whether this be true or not, I say now
that I no longer believe it proper that any class of society
should attempt to right its own wrongs by violence. I can
now see that much that I said under excitement was unwise,
and all this I regret. It is not true, however, that I ever
consciously attempted to incite any man to the commission of
crime. Although I do admit that I belonged to an organization
which was engaged at one time in preparing for a social
revolution, I was not engaged in any conspiracy to manufacture
or throw bombs. I never owned or carried a revolver in my life
and did not fire one at the Haymarket. I had not the slightest
idea that the meeting at the Haymarket would be other than a
peaceable and orderly one, such as I had often addressed in
this city, and was utterly astounded at its bloody outcome,
and have always felt keenly the loss of life and suffering
there occasioned.

"In view of these facts I respectfully submit that, while I
confess with regret the use of extravagant and unjustifiable
words, I am not a murderer. I never had any murderous intent,
and I humbly pray relief from the murderer's doom. That these
statements are true I do again solemnly affirm by every tie
that I hold sacred, and I hope that your excellency will give
a considerate hearing to the merits of my case, and also to
those of my imprisoned companions who have been sentenced with
me.

"I remain, very respectfully,
S. FIELDEN."

The above letter to the Governor by Samuel Fielden was endorsed by Judge Gary and States Attorney Grinnell.

SPIES' LAST LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR.

"CHICAGO, Ill., Nov. 6.--_Gov. Oglesby, Springfield,
Ill._--SIR: The fact that some of us have appealed to you for
justice--under the pardoning prerogative--while others have
not, should not enter into consideration in the decision of
our case. Some of my friends have asked you for an absolute
pardon. They feel the injustice done them so intensely that
they cannot conciliate the idea of a commutation of sentence
with the consciousness of innocence. The others (among them
myself), while possessed of the same feeling of indignation,
can perhaps more calmly and dispassionately look upon the
matter as it stands. They do not disregard the fact that
through a systematic course of lying, perverting, distorting,
inventing, slandering, the press has succeeded in creating
a sentiment of bitterness and hatred among a great portion
of the populace that one man, no matter how powerful, how
courageous, and just he be, cannot possibly overcome. They
hold that to overcome that sentiment or the influence
thereof would almost be a physiological impossibility. Not
wishing, therefore, to place your excellency in a still more
embarrassing position between the blind fanaticism or a
misinformed public on one hand and justice on the other they
concluded to submit their case to you unconditionally.

WILLING TO DIE FOR HIS COMRADES.

I implore you not to let this difference of action have any
weight with you in determining our fate. During our trial
the desire of the prosecutor to slaughter me, and to let my
co-defendants off with milder punishment was quite apparent
and manifest. It seemed to me then, and a great many of
others, that the persecutors would be satisfied with one
life--namely, mine. Grinnell, in his argument, intimated this
very plainly. I care not to protest my innocence of any crime,
and of the one I am accused of in particular. I have done that
and leave the rest to the judgment of history. But to you I
wish to address myself now as the alleged arch-conspirator
(leaving the fact that I never have belonged to any kind of
a conspiracy out of the question altogether). If a sacrifice
of life there must be, will not my life suffice? The State's
attorney of Cook county asked for no more. Take this, then!
Take my life! I offer it to you so that you may satisfy the
fury of a semi-barbaric mob, and save that of my comrades. I
know that every one of my comrades is as willing to die, and
perhaps more so than I am. It is not for their sake that I
make this offer, but in the name of humanity and progress,
in the interest of a peaceable--if possible--development of
the social forces that are destined to lift our race upon a
higher and better plane of civilization. In the name of the
traditions of our country I beg you to prevent a seven-fold
murder upon men whose only crime is that they are idealists,
that they long for a better future for all. If legal murder
there must be, let one, let mine, suffice.

"A. SPIES."