Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-19
ANARCHY AWAKENED
BY a Yankee Who Claims He's
Responsible for the Bomb
Throwing in Chicago.
HE FAMED UP THE FLAME
That Burst Forth With More Force
Than He Ever Dreamed.
1T WAS SOON BEYOND CONTROL,
and Now He Is Working to Secure the
Release of the Men
HE FAMED UP THE FLAME
1T WAS SOON BEYOND CONTROL,
and Now He Is Working to Secure the
Release of the Men
WHO ARE SUFFERING FOR HIS FAULTS

ISdLlN TtspOuSlple LOT Tue Sreat AudTCiiS
uprising in Chicago, in which bomb-throw
ing took such a prominent part, did no
suffer on the gallows or in prison for tn
results of that movement. He is living il
Boston to-day 1t was not generally know
what prominent part in the councils o
the Anarchists he took, but to-day there j
no secret about it. He has confessed it i,
his own words. His name is Crawford
Staples Griffin, he lives in a small room jus
back of an Office at S12 Washington street
and is engaged in advocating nationalism
socialism and kindred ideas. as much of tn,
time as he can spare. This is but three
months of the year, as he has to devote the
rest of the wear to the work of his trade
(carpentering) to earn his livelihood
He is Yankee, being born in the towr
of Stockton Springs, Me. In crowd O.
1000 men he would be the last man to bs
picked out for an Anarchist. He looks the
Yankee in every line of his rugged face
and is full of the colloquialisms of New
England.
An Interview With the Boss Anarchist
sat in his little room talking with him,
when he said that he had been slowly max.
ing up his mind for some time that he ough:
to tell the true history of the bomb throw
ing plot, if such it can be called after hear
ing his tale.
fsThe public believes" said he, s'that the
bomb was thrown as a part of gigantic
plot. As for the general supposition that
it was Matched by foreigners, have only to
say that the parties to it were August Spies,
Albert R. Parsons and myself"
As he sat there talking so coollv of the
thing which stirred the whole country I
made mental photograph of the MAJ. He
is built on the lines of draw horse worker
He has big, hairy fists, keen blue eyes and
a long hooked nose. His mouth is hidden
by tawny mustache. In his room are a
bed, desk and little oil stove. On the
wall are crayon portraits of Ling, Spies and
Parsons.
This statement is important" he con-
tinued, ''to show that the plot was not of
foreign origin. Parsons was born ir the
South, but all his ancestors, for 200 years,
were New Englanders. 1 was also of New
England origin, and Spies was the onlv one
of the trio that was born on foreign soil
Griffn's First Queer Experience.
''In the fall of 1888 / went to Chicago
with the intention of entering law office.
One Sunday afternoon l strolled down to
the Lake front, aud for the first time heard
an Anarchist, as they were called. The
meeting was closed with the announcement
that all were invited TO meet with them at
their hall, 81 West Lake street, West Side
To nv disgust 1 found that the papers next
morning spoke of the speakers as lot of
blatant hoodlums, and this injustice inter-
ested my sympathies in their behalf. Ac-
cordinglv / went to some of their meetings
in the hall and got acquainted with Parsons,
Fielding and Spies. At the second meet
ing / said that 1 did not see how few men
in that dingy hall, where no decent people
would dare to come, could hope to accom-
plish anything.
"Spies asked me if had any plan to sue-
Cest, and l answered that 1 thought the best
thing to do was to form ourselves into
committee to contriye plans for some more
definite action and address the public
through the newspapers Spies answered
that the papers would not print what we
had to say and tha: the people would not
read it if they would. He said they had to
be stirred up before they would read any,
thing but prize fights and murder cases.
Revolutionary Starting Point Found.
81 resolved then and there that they
should be stirred up if that was necessary.
Then L told them that we had at least found
a starting point. Knowing what the people
would read we had got to furnish the proper
reading matter. Before the Civil War Jeff
Davis said that it needed Just the spilling
of little blood to fire the Southern heart,
and it seemed to me that he had at least
advanced one idea that we had better keep
track Of
"Whea I made this little speech L had
formed no definite plan of action. After
that we had livelier meetings and the re-
porters began to visit U.S. Mr.. Spies told
me that he thought that one of our regular
visitors was a Pinkerton detective. He
suggested secret meetings. i opposed this
idea from the platform in the presence of
the reporters, aud said that we had the best
of the situation at any event. If false re-
ports were published the attention of the
public would be drawn to our apparent
and then we could explain our
real position. If the papers told the truth
then our arguments would be published
gratis, and if they said nothing at all then
we could go ahead and work out some of our
private plans under show of willing pub
licity.
Plans 10 Arouse the Public.
cat this time the paper called the Harm
had begun to be published weekly, and our
line OF action in astounding and arousing
the public became clear to ME. One day I
mentioned the tragic outline of it to Mr..
Spies
ale deemed it unwise, even among our-
selves, 20 talk it over plainly. I then
boldly broached the details of the plan to
and tod him Spies held such
views. Parsons was q different man from
Spies, and talked it over boldly. He was
eager to learn all the details. In fact, he
was so eager that j found it necessary TO
check myself little, as he believed i had
talked the whole matter over with Spies.
'eYou will see that it was not an easy
matter for the public to get at our actual
plot. The plot proposed by me and adopted
in brief was this: We claimed to be mart
of organized labor with due authority to set
its principle before the world. I'VE in
tended by strikes, boycotts and infamma-
tory editorials and speeches to force on the
struggle, and when the militia were called
out to meet them with dynamite and fire.
We taught the absolute overthrow of alY
civil governments, setting up midnight
assassination as our principal plan of
,ction. We quickly pushed this plan with
such vigor that the public began to fear the
at any moment. OF course we
we're in great danger of being lynched.
A Scheme That Worked Perfectly.
1.-The plan worked to perfection. EverT
abor leader of any consequence all over the
country was interviewed to know if we
-ealIy represented his views. In order for
he country to feel safe it had to know the
,lans and purposes of organized labor, and
hey could not rest till they found out what
he million of laboring men who were
organized meant to do. 1t was
hus that we forced the press to seek ont and
publish these purposes, and put the country
II q mood TO read IT.
''This was the sum and substance of the
Fhole plot, and the details were worked in