Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-08-27
LEGAL ORATORY.
lawyers Arguments and Pleas in
the Case Of the Chicago
Anarchists.
Able Speeches Of Messrs. Ingham and
Foster for the Prosecution and
the Defense.

Able Speeches Of Messrs Ingham and
Foster for the Prosecution and
the Defense.
[CHIcAGo CoRREsPoNDENcE1
The celebra, cd anarchists trinl continues to
draw its slow length along The taking of test-
gates OF legal oratory We're Immediately opened,
and ever since have continued to pour 1orth in q
ceaseless stream into tho ears OF the patient
twelve men, good and true" Mr.. Frank Walker
Assistant States Attorney, made the opening
speech for the prosecution He had abundant
material to build his argument upon and he
hensive statement us to the law in the case, and
having quoted freely to sustain the claim that
when number OF persons agree to commit muir
not being definitely determined on, the advisers
or conspir !; tors are guilty of the offense when
committed commit equally with the principal, Mr..
and speeches OF the principal defendants
that they had organized q conspiracy of muir
der in this city, and that they counseled and
system by force He pointed out with great
effect that the defense had made no effort to
dlsprove this charge OF general conspiracy as i.
Attorney. On tho contrary, Mr.. salomons
opering speech for the defense was a virtual
plea OF guilty on this general charge. Coming
Walker held that there was abundance OF un-
contradicted testimony, some Of which wns
supplied by the defendants witnesses, to prove
police the night Of the 4th of May.
The evidence of the State was not only
not contradicted by the DEFENSE but was,
witnesses examined in behalf OF the prisoners.
and by the arch-conspirator himself Spies
explanation Of the publication of the warning
OF "Ruhe" Mr.. Walker showed to be OF the
himsiest character. The ettempt Of Spies to
shift the blame on Fischer and Rau was de-
nounced as traitorous and cowarlly.
Parsons, Fielden, and Lingg were not for
gotten, The appeals of Parsons to the work.
1ngmen to arm themselves and Fielden's ex-
clamation that the skirmish lines have met"
and his exhortation to stab the law, to throttle
the law, to kill it, were skillfully utilized in
support of Mr.. Walkers position. In conclusion
Mr. Walker said:
violent and un,ustifab1e attack made on the
police by the defense. They attempted to ,rove
that Capt. Bonfield and his officers were guilty
OF q most horrible design upon the lives Of in
nocent men. I Should have thought that the
blood OF those seven dead would have cried out
against the accusation. The men who stood on
that fatal night as firm as rock, who never
trembled, and who exhibited as much sublime
courage as the pnges of history ever showed, are
traduced by socialists and anarchists. It is
even charged that they fired first. Did they?
Ask Barrett and Shehan aud Mueller and Han.
sen. Ask all those wounded heroes. Gentle.
men, it is for you to decide. You stand now for
the first time between anarchy and law. The
foundation stone of the Republic has been at
tackled, ard it is for you to say whether that
r. I shall stand The police did their duty
the law, and in their martyrdom anarchy was
buried forever"
Mr.. Walker spoke for q day and q half and
was followed by Mr.. Zeisler for the defense,
who consumed about IN equal amount of time.
He commended that the Haylnarket meeting was
peaceable assemblase with which the police
had no legal right to interfere, and denounced
the police as @ set Of cowardly knaves and liars.
He then pleaded for the more energetic utter
ances" of Spies. Parsons, and Fielden. that Their
hearers were often of that class Of laboring men
who were ignorant because the amount of time
| required to earn bread for themselves and Their
families left them none in which to gain
knowledge. In order to have the desired
| effect upon such an audience ordinary Ian
guage would not suffice, and it was necessary to
use emphatic figures OF speech. Mr.. Zeisler
had been purchased, that the witnesses COM
lnitted rank perjury, and We're not to be be-
| ieved.
Mr. mgham, for the prosecution. followed Mr..
| Zeisler, His speech was O masterpiece Of ora
tory. Point by point he set forth the damaging
evidence against the prisoners, raising up the
sophistry In which Mr.. Zeisler had striven to
| envelop them, and exhibiting them in their
| black and rugged nakedness outlined against
| the light of truth and reason, and order, and
| civilization, and common sense as the peaks of
mighty mountain are outlined against clear
sky. Dwelling first on the evidence as q whole,
he showed that each proven fact was not as a
| link in chain of guilt, but Us the strand
of a cable which spnnned the whole tide Of
| criminality. The defendants had sought
the destruction of the law, but that law
| was strong enough to secure the punishment
| OF those who sought to throttle it. MIR. Ingham
| then proceeded with an analysis of the general
conspiracy, tracing its history, and ingeniously
| weaving into his narrative every important fact
| Of the testimony. He dwelt on the fact that in
| the so-called American group" there were not
| half of these were women and cranks while the
only dangerous members were Parsons and
the offscourings Of Continental Europe, who,
though not yet citizens of this country-many
of them, as in the case OF Lingg, not being
residents here for more than twelvemonth
the rule of miserable handful of foreign
anarchists by means Of dynamite instead Of
the development Of the Haymnrket conspir ICY,
it's careful planning, the utilization of the labor
| difficulties by Spies, the summoning Of the
careful selection Of the place for slaughter, the
Indictments to violence by Spies and his con-
| federates Parsons and Fielden, and the subordi-
Fischer ana schwnb played in arranging the
plan of atttck and in providing tho materials
| therefor. The arrangement and grouping of
| facts were admirable
| Mr. Foster of counsel for the defense, followed
Mr. Ingham, and made TN able eloquent, and in
| genious plea for his clients He not only ignored
| the defense sought to be set up by Messrs Salo-
mon and Zeisler in their speeches, but repudi-
| ated their methods and their theories. He did
not do it abruptly, but he did it effectively. He
| did not make any effort to defend socialism.
| communism or anarchy. On the contrary, no
| declared that socialism was dangerous, COM
| munism pernicious, and anarchy damnnble.
| As I'm American citizen he deplored tho vicious
| teachings of Spies, Parsons. Fielden, and
Schwab He deplored that they did not value
their privileges as citizens, and that they did
| not put their talents to better use. The pas
| sages of his able speech in which he referred
| to these matters were the most eloquent and
| impressive OF his whole DISCOURSE Mr.. Foster
| showed by his arguments that his policy was
to limit the investigation Of the jury to the evil
| dence bearing directly on the charge made in
| the Indictment. With a keen appreciation of the
| feelings of the American people not shown by
| any OF his associates he knew that it would be
| worse than useless to try to excuse the incen-
| diary harangues and editorials of his clients He
aimed to convince the jury that though Spies
and his fellow defendants had advocated the use
| of dynamite bombs, had given instruc
lions as to their manufacture, had
| advocated the overthrow of the existing
social system by force, ell of which was out.
! rageous and inexcusable, they wore not on trial
for those teachings and those plottings, but for
/! specific crime-the murder Of Matthias ]. De-
gan. 1t should be shown, Mr. Foster argued
with great ingenuity, that the. prisoners had
conspired to throw the bomb which killed De.
| gan, and that it was thrown in pursuance of
their conspiracy by q confederate. Hav-
| ing thus narrowed the issue to the
| specific crime, Mr.. Foster maintained
| that oil the evidence about inflamlnatory
| speeches and bomb manutacture was beside
/