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Decisive Tles of the Law DECISIVE TLES OF THE LAW """-'~....., .. ~.,. ~ _TCDIES OF EIGHT LEGAL CONTESTS _~: _CT:);G THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED "'~.-\~ BETWEEN THE YEARS 1800 AND 1886 BY • EDERICK TREVOR HILL AUTHOR OF :....::::~CO:...::-.. THE LA WYEH. IJ II THE ACCOMPLICE" .4"7R.E CASE AKD EXCEPTIONS" ETC. ~;::... YORK A='ID LONDON BROTHERS PUBLISHERS ~C~VII PEOPLE vs. SPIES et al. ot find seats must instantly leave the room," h otnmanded, sharply. "The bailiffs will im­ ediately enforce this rule." There was no mistaking the determination of VIn he speaker. Slowly, but without resistance, he unseated spectators were herded from the PEOPLE VS. SPIES et at.: ourt and the doors closed behind them. Then THE CHICAGO ANARCHISTS' CASE he judge turned to the prosecutor's table at the 'ght of the low platform supporting the bench HE atmosphere of the Criminal Coul' III nd nodded to an intellectual-looking man, who TCook County was ominously business - IiI eemed to be awaiting the signal, for he imme­ on the morning of June 21, 1886. Save f r til I .ately rose and broke the intense silence by group of women gathered about the judg It bserving that the State was ready in No. 1195. hind the judicial desk, no one in the huge., b I' II This conventional announcement, uttered in like court-room seemed to be in attendance f"PIII quiet, conversational tone, marked the opening mere idle'curiosity, and every one, from I.It f a cause wholly unprecedented in the United judge upon the bench to the bailiffs guardin t 1.11 tates, and in many respects unparalleled in the doors, looked unmistakably grave. Far 10. II istory of the world, but those who anticipated audiences had frequently assembled in that \111 omething more dramatic were to have their ex­ pretentious chamber, for the long galleri II ectations realized in a most surprising manner either end were closed to the public, and '0111 efore many minutes had elapsed. paratively few of the spectators on th (111111 For nearly seven weeks Chicago had been were standing; but unusual as this condit, till everishly awaiting judicial action on an out­ of affairs was for the opening of an imp 1'1,/1111 age which had at first horrified, then frightened, murder trial, it did not apparently satisfy III nd finally exasperated the community to a presiding official, whose severe glance sw pl. I int which threatened the due administration approvingly over the scene. "Persons wh 'III f justice. On the night of MaY-4 1886 a~­ 24° 241 DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE LAW PEOPLE vs. SPIES et at. meeting had been held near Ha:arket SqUill itizens.J All sorts and conditions of m n­ - uncleI the ausptce'Sof certain an ~st o..rgan i~ I age-earners and capitalists alike through ut hons 0 ro es agams!....!.££..§tctioEt...E0he p Ii (II he country-vied with each other in demanding ifnepressmg sor ~gJ!.1Yid~-spre~9-sLri I he prompt suppression of anarchy, and al­ to eriI9!c~~J~!gJit-1?Pl:lT_!~~rd.<:I' . Whil Lli hough the first burst of popular rage,had un­ meeting was in progress a company of polic III III oubtedly spent itself before the accused men had appeared under the command of Insl 'I II ere arraigned at the bar, the feeling that follow- Bonfield, and Captain Ward, one of the su 1)( II d was perhaps even more dangerous to their dinate officers, ordered the crowd to dis] ", afety. The wild denunciations of existing so- The words had scarcely left his lips when IIII ial conditions which had been openly uttered one hurled a dynamite bomb among th III II n the city for years, only to he disregarded or behind him, killing seven of them and inj III i I aughed at, had suddenly become infamous, and sixty others, and in the excitement and '!III here was no mistaking the popular temper in fusion that followed the assassin had. tL I, egard to them. If fr:~~?p_e.echhaq ~een abused, \"'" made his escape. nd its abuse encomaged by the indifferEmceof a \" It did not take long for the citizens of Chi, I II God-natured people~ it was high time that those to realize the menacing nature of this aLL/II ho had overstepped their privileges learned upon law and order, but before they fair! I hat they had done so at their peril, and public covered from the shock the authorities b gill I II pinion demanded that the lesson be so taught Ii investigation which for thoroughness 1 I" hat it would never be forgotten. telligence has never been surpassed in th 1111 II This was the spirit animating the crowd which of the American police. Withi~ a week {l11I1" ung upon the prosecutor's opening words on every prominent anarchist in the city wa: \llld he longest day in the year, 1886, and a more arrest, an e newspapers, teemmg-witl ,1.1" h9roug~l~ informed audience never assembled Y OItheir plots for wholesale murder, r u II I II n a court of law. Not only was every detail of public to the point of fury. Execration () II' he police investigations familiar to all news­ outrages was confined to no particular 'J I aper readers, but, through the publication of 242 17 243 DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE LAW PEOPLE vs. SPIES et al. ~ photograJ2~~d-recofcds,_altthe prin ·Iplll f prepared his case in almost record time, and had a.cJorSJ!2._:~li"e "impending ,dreu.na_h~<! long 1)( 'I II selected as his subordinates men well fitted for p~bli~ _c~,¥acters. Probably every man II III he work at hand. woman in the court-room recognized the s V( I" Their opponents were not so well known, for distinguished-looking judge as the Hon. J .'(11,11 the press had devoted little space to them, and E. Gary, who had fought his way from th (' II the state of public opinion in regard to the case penter's to the judicial bench, and whose (II made the task of its defence particularly un­ utation as jurist and martinet insured di II I, gra~eful. Of the four lawyers representing and effectiveness at all legal proceedings 'I ~he accused, two had had very little experience which he presided. Similar details concernill 111 the courts, for _SigmU!ld_Z~isler, though an other officials and parties in interest were n1 II able_rpap, was a foreigner only recently admitted ters of common knowledge. State's Atton 'v to the Illinois b~r, and his partner, .Moses Juli1.J.s.. S:,.Qrinnell, the intellectual-lnoking mill SaloE1Qn~ was a.beardless -youth-of no recognized with eye-glass~whohad answered the jud ' standing:. William P. Black and William A. initial nod, was almost a national character, III Foster, the senior counsel, were, however ex- his duties as public prosecutor had made hilll . ' penenced advocates, the former being a familiar one of the most conspicuous officials in 11 figure in the local courts, where he had acquired United States, and the young men gath ,'III a reputation for pugnacity which boded ill for about him in' close consultation-Francis I that swift and unobstructed administration of Walker and Edmund Furthman, of his offi 'Itd staff, and George C. Ingham, specially retail ('( 1 the law then generally regarded as essential to the public safety. Indeed, it was with no little to supplement their efforts-had already n relief that the over-anxious champions of law quired considerablelocal celebrity. Perfect (II and order noted his absence when the prisoners fidence was reposed in this legal quartet, f()I were brought into court, at:ld the f!:1mor swiftly Mr. Grinnell, fully realizing that Chicago's r II ,spread that he had abandoned the case.---Black utation for law and order was at stake, and thill, however, was pia-nning a-very different ~n(rfaf the opportunity of his life lay before him, I Il\ more startling move. 244 245 DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE LAW PEOPLE vs. SPIES et al. Bitter as was the public feeling against LIlI t~on, as far as it was directed against any par­ closel uarded risoners who sat atthe IcC (" ~lcu1ar individual, centred upon the only Amer­ their counsels' table, it was generally unci 't Ican accused of the crime, and the fact that he was not in court was a bitter disappointment to st..?..?.9 thfl:! ~p~_ of th~B1Jla -;-'~Ql!~)Y co III ·mi1Je_<Lthe..c· e wit w1.lLch they stogd charg II I, the police, for of all the anarQ.hist leaders he and with the exception of the wild-eyed YOttll) was the only one who had even attemptedto degenerate Louis Lingg, there was nothing VI'li escape. It was not because the authorities had not suggesting a criminal in their appearan '( I August Spies, the editor of the anarchist p'ljWI sought him diligently that Albert R. Parsons was Die Arbeiter Zeitung, looked like a Germtlll still at large. Never had a fugitive from justice student, his little mustache with waxed Ill! bee? more systematically hunted, but though the giving him quite a military air. His associaLl, P?hce force of the entire world had been upon Michael Schwab, with his long beard and sp \' hIS track, they had not run him down. For a tacles and intellectual face, might easily het \ time his disappearance was interpreted as a con­ fessi~n passed for a German professor. Samuel Field '11, of guilt, and it would have surprised no the English agitator and anarchist, likewise "Ul: one If he had been indicted as a principal, but gested the student and scholar, and his str 1% the Grand Jury merely named him as an ac­ intelligent face bespoke a man of unusual abilil .
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