Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1893-06-29
ALL OUT OF PRISON.
The Three Chicago Anarchists Pardonad by
Gov. Altgeld.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.,, June 26.-Goy. Ait
geld to-day issued an absolute pardon
to Samuel Fielden and Michael Schwab,
! sentenced to lite imprisonment in Joliet
| penitentiary, and to Oscar Neebe, SEN
fenced to fifteen years imprisonment
| there. The men were indicted with
| Spies, Albert K. Parsons, Louis Lingg,
| George Engel and Adolph Fischer, the
Anarchists who were hanged in Chicago
in November, 1887, for their participa
ton in the Haymarket riot on May +.
! 1886. Fielden and Schwab were SEN
fenced to hang but Gov. Oglesby com
muted their sentence to imprisonment
for life. When the pardon papers were
made out they were given to f. d.
| Dreyer, wealthy banker of Chicago
who has for a long time past interested
| himself in behalf of Schwab, Fielden and
| Neebe, and he left on the noon train for
Joliet where he delivered the papers to
Warden Allen and secured the release
of the men. The pardon message occu-
pies II 900 words and is labored effort
to show that the men did not have a fair
trial and that the court was preiudiced.
He scores Judge Gary and Chief of Po
lice Bonteld severely.
CHICAGO, H., June 26.-The news of
the pardon of the Anarchists created
great surprise here, although those most
interested in the men have long had
reason to expect it. While the par
don was not looked for to-day it
was expected from the governors
well-known opinion upon the mat
ter that pardons We're merely
a question of time and short time at
that. Ever since the men went to Joli-
ct there has been a strong movement
| on Tho
mass of Germans, the Turner societies
and the foreign element generally has
been strong in urging their freedom.
Few petitions SO large as those sent in
behalf of Schwab, Fielden and Neebe
were ever prepared in this country.
The petitions came from all parts Of
America and included as signers men of
every stamp of opinion and every grade
of position and wealth.
Schwab, Fielden and Neebe came
quietly to their homes here tonight.
In the gray twilight three men clad in
somber black with soft felt hats pulled
we'll over their faces stepped from the
Santa Fee train at Ninety-third Street
and Archer Avenue at s o'clock this
evening. An hour later joy abided
within three humble homes and the last
act in the most famous drama in modern
history had been acted. The news
that the sentences of the Anarchists
had been committed had not reached
their families authoritatively. With
the rumor that they had been set free
came the report that they would reach
Chicago some time tomorrow. The
three men, however, left the prison i'm
mediately after they had been handed
their pardons and came to Chicago as
quickly and quietly as possible. There
was no unusual scene about the great
stone prison at Joliet when the men
left.
Some of the Governors Reasons.
SPRINGFIELD, ILL.,, June 26.--Gov. Alt
geld's opinion accompanying the pardon is
very lengthy, containing some II 900 words.
! After briefly reviewing the history of the
Haymarket riot and the trial and the con-
viction OF the men, he says: ''The several
thousand merchants, bankers. judges, law
yers and other prominent citizens of Chi
cago who have by petition, by letter and in
other ways urged executive clemency, most
ly base their appeal on the ground that, as
Stunning the prisoners to be guilty, they have
been punished enough but a number OF
them who have examined the case more
carefully and are more familiar with the rec
ord and with the facts disclosed by the
papers on file, base their appeal on entirely
different grounds. They assert:
Upon the question of having been pun
ished enough, | will say that I the defend
ants had a fair trial and nothing has devel-
oped since to show that they are not guilty
of the crime chargedin the Indictment, then
there ought to be no executive interference,
for II punishment under our laws can then
be too much. Government must defend
itself. Life and property must be pro-
tected and law and order must be main
tanned, and so if the defendants are guilty of
murder, either committed with their own
hands or by someone else acting on their
advice, then if they have had fair trial
there should be in this case no executive in
reference. The soil Of America is not
adapted for the growth ofanarchy. While
our institutions are not free from injustice,
they are still the best that have yet been de-
vised and therefore must be maintained.'
o. That the jury which tried the case was
a packed jury selected to convict; (2) that
according to the law as laid down by the
supreme court both prior to and since the
trial Of the case, the jurors according to
their own answers were not competent
jurors and the trial was therefore not legal
trial; GU that the defendants We're not
proven to be guilty of the charges in the in
dictment; az that as to the defendant Neebe,
the states attorney has declared at the close
of the evidence that there was no case
against him, and yet he has been kept i'll
prison all these years; % that the trial
Judge was either prejudced against the de-
tendant' or else so determined to win the
applause of certain class in the community
that he could not and did not grant fair