The Haymarket Bombing- Stephanie Amaro

On the evening of May 4, 1886, thousands of workers congregated at the Haymarket Square in Chicago as they were addressed by several well known labor leaders and anarchists, among them being August Spies, Albert Parsons, and Samuel Fielden. As Fielden was making his address, it began to rain and the crowd soon dwindled down to only a few hundred workers. Fielden and the remaining crowds of workers were then approached by Inspector Bonfield and more than 150 armed police as they flooded into the area to order the remaining strikers to disperse. Following this short order, an unknown assailant threw a bomb at the group of policemen and immediately, police opened fire on the crowd inciting complete chaos. One officer, Matthias J. Degnan was killed instantly by the bomb and about 60 were injured by the bomb or by friendly fire. An unknown number of civilians either died or were injured in the confrontation. Following the bombing, a wave of popular sentiment against anarchists and labor organizers swept through the country. Eight men were arrested and charged with the murder of Degan. The eight men were: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, and Oscar Neebe. Two other individuals, William Seliger and Rudolph Schnaubelt, were indicted but were never brought the trial. The trial began on June 21 and was the case of Judge Joseph Gray. The jury returned guilty verdicts to all eight men, though only seven received the death sentence, Neebe was the only one who received a sentence of 15 years. The case was appealed in 1887 to the Supreme Court of Illinois then to the United Supreme Court, however, the petition was denied. Following the appeals, the sitting govenore of Illinoi, Richard James Oglesby, commuted Fielden’s and Schwarb’s sentences to life in prison on November 10, 1887, by refused to commute the death sentences of the others. On the eve of the scheduled execution, Lingg committed suicide by exploding s smuggled detonator cap in his mouth. On November 11, 1887, the remaining four anarchists, Spies, Parsons, Fischer, and Engel were hanged in front of a selected audience of more than 170 people, though a crowd of more than 200,000 silent observers gathered behind a line of policemen as the funerat cortege made its way to the Waldheim cemetery. In June of 1893, Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the two remaining living defendants, Fielden and Schwab, and concluded that all eight defendants were innocent.

      

 "Homicide in Chicago :: The Haymarket Affair (cont)." Homicide in Chicago :: Homicide In Chicago 1870-1930. Web. 04 Jan. 2012. 

"American Experience | Chicago: City of the Century | Special Features." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 04 Jan. 2012. 

Schneirov, Richard. "The Haymarket Bomb in Historical Context: The Events of 1866: Chicago: Albert Parsons and the Rise of Anarchism." Illinois Historical Digitization Projects: Northern Illinois University Libraries. Web. 04 Jan. 2012.