The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-04-02
M0ST'S SUCCESSOR.
man OF CALM
DEMEAN0R
Little to Suggest Deeds of VOL
ence in Berkman the
Anarchist.

AsnOclated Press TO The Evening Times.
Pittsburg, Pa, April 2.-There is
nothing in the appearance of Alex
ander Berkmann to suggest the high
priest of anarchy. The late Johann
Most, with his unkempt beard and
hair and his uninviting countenance,
was so far as appearance went the
typical bomb-throwing anarchist as
) pictured in the public press. But Berk-
mann is of an entirely different ap-
pearance. He impresses the casual
observer as a quiet inoffensive man
and about the last person in the world
to be given to deeds of violence.
But those who have had an oppor-
tunity of studying Berkmann during
his confinement in prison declare that
he is a fitting successor to Herr Most
as the fountain-head Of anarchistic
propaganda in America. He is not
of the same noisy, clustering type as
Most, but beneath his quiet exterior
he is believed to conceal more per-
red of the existing social fabric. He
ing the fourteen years he has been
behind prison walls, and has studied
increasingly. He has perfected HIM
self in several languages. French Ital-
ian and the Slavonic, and Is prepared
to make an active campaign in favor
of the red flag. 1t has been said that
he is now an advocate of education
instead of an apostle of force. But
those who have closely studied the
man declare that he will leave prison
as much of an anarchist as he was Oh
the day he shot Henry c. Prick, and
an anarchist of the same type he was
then. Mr.. Prick evidently shares this
opinion. When the man is released
one of the best detective agencies in
the world will take up his trail, and
until he or Mr.. Prick dies, Berkmann
never will be left unmatched. 1t will
cost Mr.. Prick $4,000 year.
1t was during the excitement Incl
dent to the Homestead strike that
Berkmann attempted the life of Mr..
Prick in the latter's offices in this
city. The wouldbe assassin shot him
twice, once in the neck and in the
back, and. then endeavored to complete
his work with dagger. The men
who came to his rescue would doubt
less have killed the anarchist, had not
Mr.. Frick with admirable self-posses-
sion directed them not to hurt him.
The crime was committed July %,
1892. Berkmann was sent to the
Riverside penitentiary and his term
expired last year. He was then trans
ferred to the workhouset to serve a
year on charge of carrying concealed
weapons.
Though the public at large had
never heard of Berkmann prior to his
assault upon Mr.. Prick he had been
for some time previously a conspic-
uous figure among the anarchistic
groups in this country. He is Rus
sian Jew. After coming to this coun-
try he worked for a time for Herr
Most, then editor of the Freihelt in
New York, and later came to Pitts
burg and attempted to organize a
group of anarchists here. 1t is also
understood that he helped spread the
doctrine of anarchy in Paterson, where
the plot for the murder of the King
of Italy was Matched. Afterward he
devoted his time to going about the
country organizing groups" whose
object was to exterminate anarchists.
While working in Elizabeth, N. j.,
Berkmann formed the acquaintance of
Pinkert, the Australian anarchist, and
Joined the deadly band, known as
"Pinkerts Group" 1t was this band
which sent Berkman to Pittsburg with
the especial mission of killing Mr..
Prick, who was much hated at that
time as result of his connection with
the Homestead strike.
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