The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists: Terrorism and Justice in the Gilded Age

245 Pages·2011·1.58 MB·English

by  Timothy Messer-Kruse

The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists
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The Trial of the Haymarket Anarchists
Terrorism and Justice in the Gilded Age
TimothyMesser-Kruse
thetrialofthehaymarketanarchists
Copyright©TimothyMesser-Kruse,2011.
Allrightsreserved.
Firstpublishedin2011by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN®
intheUnitedStates—adivisionofSt.Martin’sPressLLC,
175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010.
WherethisbookisdistributedintheUK,EuropeandtherestoftheWorld,
thisisbyPalgraveMacmillan,adivisionofMacmillanPublishersLimited,
registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,
Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS.
PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabove
companiesandhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughttheworld.
Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates,the
UnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries.
ISBN:978–0–230–12077–8(pbk)
ISBN:978–0–230–11660–3(hc)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Messer-Kruse,Timothy.
ThetrialoftheHaymarketAnarchists:terrorismandjusticeintheGilded
Age/TimothyMesser-Kruse.
p. cm.
ISBN978–0–230–11660–3(hardback)—ISBN978–0–230–12077–8()
1. Trials(Anarchy)—Illinois—Chicago—History—19thcentury.
2. HaymarketSquareRiot,Chicago,Ill.,1886. I. Title.
KF223.H3774M472011
345.73(cid:2)025230977311—dc22 2011011011
AcataloguerecordofthebookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
DesignbyIntegraSoftwareServices
Firstedition:August2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
1 TheInvestigation 9
2 PreparingforTrial 33
3 TheProsecution 55
4 TheDefense 77
5 TheElementsofaRiot 99
6 TheVerdict 123
7 RoadtotheSupremeCourt 139
8 ExecutionsandAmnesty 153
9 ThePardon 167
Conclusion 181
Notes 187
Index 229
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Acknowledgments
Itsometimescanbeconsideredabackhandedcomplimenttoberecognizedinabook
thatiscontentiousoriconoclastic.Therearemanypeoplewhoseassistanceandaid
Iwanttoappreciatebutwithoutassociatingtheminanywaywithmyconclusionsor
opinions.NoonewhohelpedmealongthewayknewwhatIwasuptoorwheremy
researchwasheading.Ialoneamresponsibleforanyerrors,omissions,ordistortions
presenthere.
Crucial steps in this project were possible only because of the cooperation of
Russell Lewis, Julie Katz, and Debbie Linn of the Chicago Historical Society, and
VincentGiroud,MorganSwan,andTimothyYoungoftheBeineckeRareBookand
ManuscriptLibraryatYaleUniversity.JoanneHartough,DirectoroftheInterlibrary
Loan Department of Carlson Library, found many essential items for me over the
years.BarbaraFloyd,DirectoroftheCanadayCenterforArchivalCollectionsatthe
UniversityofToledo,hasbeenanindefatigableandreliablecolleague.
ThechemicalanalysisfeaturedinChapter1wasperformedbyJeffreyDunnand
Pannee Burckel at the Instrumentation Center at the University of Toledo and by
JamesO.Eckert,Jr.,oftheDepartmentofGeologyandGeophysicsatYaleUniver-
sity.Iamindebtedtothemfortheircooperationandhardwork.Thisresearchwas
supportedbyagrantfromtheUniversityofToledoOfficeofResearch.Manythanks
toRichardFrancisoftheOfficeofResearchforhissupport.
Special thanks to Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County,
andPhilCostello,Archivist,CircuitCourtofCookCounty,fortheirgraciousassis-
tance and for making their well-maintained collection of nineteenth-century legal
recordsavailabletome.
I deeply appreciate Leon Fink’s interest in new approaches to the field of labor
history. Emily LaBarbera-Twarog helped in the preparation of an earlier article for
publicationinLABOR:StudiesinWorkingClassHistoryoftheAmericas.
Over the years I have benefited from the many conversations I have had with
my colleague Peter Linebaugh, whose informed skepticism and deep knowledge of
historyhasforcedmetoprobeeverdeeperintotheHaymarketsources.MarkLause’s
collegialityandhisencyclopedicknowledgeofnineteenth-centuryradicalmovements
distinguish him as a truly great scholar but I appreciate him also as a fine friend.
GregoryMillerhaspolitelylistenedasItriedoutallmymorefar-flungtheorieson
him.I’vebenefitedfromthecriticismsandcommentsofJamesGreen,BryanPalmer,
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
MelvynDubofsky,BeverlyGage,andAllenRuff,thoughIprobablydidn’ttakethem
astheywereintended.
AveryspecialthanksisreservedforHankBrowne,whonotonlyletmehavethe
runofhisChicagoapartmentduringresearchtrips(whichwasjustacrossthestreet
fromapoliceprecinctstationthatstoodatthetimeoftheHaymarketbombing),but
wasaconstantlyconstructivecriticofmywork.
Deborah MacDonald and Stephanie Rader may not realize that their day-to-
day efficiency in running their offices allowed me to steal more time than I should
haveforthisproject.Anumberofgraduateassistants,includingRachelConstance,
Michael Brooks, and Jerald MacMurray, slogged books back and forth from the
library,copiedarticles,andassistedincountlesssmallways.
This project would not have been possible without the keen understanding of
the nuances of the German language and the efficient translation skills of Jason
Doerre and Claudia Schneider. Geoffrey Howes graciously offered his expertise on
antiquated German constructions and consulted on the difficult and mysterious
“fugitiveletter toEbersold.” NoreenT.Hanlon expertly translatedsomeimportant
documentsfromFrench.MichaelBryantguidedmethroughthenuancesofmean-
ing in the reporting on the McCormick strike in the Illinois Staats-Zeitung. Much
of the research into previously untapped German language sources was supported
bytheOfficeofSponsoredProgramsandResearchandtheCollegeofArtsandSci-
ences of Bowling Green State University (BGSU). The staff of the Jerome Library
at BGSU, especially Mary Keil of the Interlibrary Loan Department, were able to
trackdownmanyobscuretitlesforme.ThankstoCynthiaPrice,DonaldNieman,
Simon Morgan-Russell, and Roger Thibault of BGSU for their consistent support.
ThanksalsotoGriffinMesser-Kruseforhishelpinconvertingastackofcentury-old
industrialtimesheetsintousabledata.
Manylibrariansandarchivistsassistedintrackingdownrareandephemeralmate-
rials. Thanks to William J. Shephard of the Catholic University of America, Bill
Gorman of the New York State Archives, Joanie Gearin of the National Archives
NortheastRegion,FrederickJ.Augustyn,Jr.,oftheManuscriptDivision,Libraryof
Congress,JohnReinhardtoftheIllinoisStateArchives,EllaMolenaaroftheInter-
national Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, and Julie Herrada of the Labadie
Collection,UniversityofMichiganLibrary.ThanksalsotoLewisClaytonandDiana
Sykes of the Clements Library, University of Michigan, for their help in reproduc-
ingthecoverartandtoKateAlexanderforhergraphicdesign.ChrisChappellhad
thepatiencetogivemetherareopportunitytoreviseandresubmitthismanuscript
severaltimes.Ihopetheresultsareworthyofthechance.
In the end, it is the love and unconditional support of my family that gives me
thecouragetoventureintosuchturbulentwatersandriskbeingmisunderstood.
Introduction
On May 4, 1886, a rally was called to protest the shooting of strikers at
theMcCormickReaperWorksbyChicagopolicethepreviousday.Themeetingwas
organizedbyself-proclaimedanarchists,membersofasmallbutgrowingmovement
that included both recent immigrants (primarily German) and a few native-born
radicalswhoviewedthelawashopelesslybiasedinfavorofemployers,therepublic
asasham,andcapitalismasanevilsogreatthatitsimmediateandviolentoverthrow
was a moral imperative. This protest meeting, which took place near a widening
ofRandolphstreetonChicago’swestsideknownasHaymarketSquare,waspoorly
attended by even the anarchists’ standards. At about half past ten at night, as the
skydarkened,chillwindspickedup,andthecrowddwindled,nearly200policemen
marchedshouldertoshoulder,sidewalktosidewalk,downDesplainesavenueupto
theparkedwagonthatservedasanimprovisedspeaker’splatform.AsPoliceCaptain
Ward commanded the gathering to disperse, someone on the east sidewalk threw
a bomb that landed in the center of the tightly packed ranks of police. The bomb
explodedatthefeetofpatrolmanMathiasDegan.Theforceoftheexplosionthrew
dozensofpolicementothegroundandsentthousandsofshardsofmetalwhizzing
faster than bullets in all directions. One of these jagged missiles, about the size of
a thumbnail, ripped through Degan’s thigh and severed his femoral artery, leaving
him helpless to staunch the blood that poured out over the wooden paving blocks
of Desplaines street. Thirty-five-year-old Degan was the first to die, orphaning his
youngson,ashiswifehaddiedfromillnesstwoyearsearlier.
Policemen closed ranks and scattered a heavy fire into the crowd. Though the
immediatesceneofthebombingwasclearedofprotestersinminutes,skirmisheswere
witnessedintheareaforsometimeaftertheinitialriot.AreporterfortheChicago
Times,waitingattheDesplainesstreetstationtospeakwiththechiefofpolice,who
arrivedatoneinthemorning,sawpolicechasingagroupofmenintheglowofthe
electriclightsfromtheLyceumtheater.AccordingtotheTimes,“Suddenlyashotwas
firedtowardtheofficers,andtheycommendedafusilladeaftertheflyingsocialists.”
Whiletheworstriotingoccurredonthenearwestside,therewassporadicviolencein
otherpartsofthecitythroughoutthenight.Inthelumberdistrictinthesouthwest
sectionofChicago,amachinistfortheMcCormickcompany,presumablyonewho
hadnotheadedthecalltostrike,wasbesetuponbyamobandbeatenunconscious.1
TheDesplainesstreetstationwasturnedintoafieldhospital.Woundedpolicemen
were helped and carried first to the 30 beds available in the quarters upstairs, but