Evening star., 1936-05-10
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

On the night of May 4, 1885. Chicago
was the scene of a tragedy which pro-
foundly sh rocked the
naymarAet country. A group Of
Anarchists. anarchists were holding
meeting at the Hay
market and when police arrived to dis
perse them a bomb was thrown and by
its explosion and the gunfire which fol-
lowed several policemen were killed and
many others. including bystanders. were
wounded. The Star of May 5, 1885, thus
comments on the happening:
Last evenings tragedy in Chicago
marks a turning point in the progress
of the labor troubles in that city. AS
long as the crowds in the streets were
recognized as American working men
striking for shorter hours for higher
pay, a good many rash and imprudent
acts of theirs could be treated with a
measure of patience and charged to the
account of excitement and too-quick
temper When. however, in response to
a command from the police to disperse,
a mob suddenly hurls from the midst of
1t a volley of dynamite bombs, the situa
ton takes on another aspect. Resist
ance to an officer of the law in discharge
Of his duty is not in the line Of conduct
of respectable working man. who has
been educated to know that the courts
are always open for the redress of his
grievances If he finds police power op-
pressive.
mo man in America will feel more
hearty regret for what has occurred in
Chicago than the honest, intelligent
wage worker, who, whether wisely or
unwisely has quilted his late employers
service in the hope of bettering his con-
dition The glory of American citizen
ship. to such man, resides in the fact
that he is free TO go and come, to COM
bine with other wage workers for pur-
poses of mutual protection. to hold meet
ings, public or Secret-to do anything, in
short, which does not abridge his neigh
bor's life, liberty or property. When.
therefore, the refugee from tyranny in
Old World takes advantage of his priv
ileges here to aim a blow at the Gov
ernment which offers him its succor;
when the bandit orator makes use of a
pretended labor demonstration to incite
his hearers to- bloodshed and thunder,
and when the most f1endish missile
known to science is employed to destroy
the official guardians Of the peace. every
foreign-born citizen and every working
man in this broad land suffers an ir-
reparable injury.
I'm Chicago the duty of the authori-
ties Is obvious. Every partaker in the
bomb-throwing exploit Of last night is
either the principal or the accessory to
murder. Every assassin who can be
convicted of his crime must be hanged
and as promtly as the necessary pre-
liminaries will permit. If it be true
that our free institutions are on trial
and that the present test will decide
whether they are success or failure,
let the test be made as thorough on one
side as on the other. We must show that
the American people are as ready to put
down lawlessness as to fight for liberty.
The city and State which have been
chosen by the ruffian element for their
battle ground must be made to see that
such triumph of order over chaos that
will strike terror to the heart of every
incendiary demagog in the United
States"
Eight men-Spies Parsons, Fischer,
Engel, Fielden, Schwab, Lingg and Neebe
were arrested and tried. The first
four were hanged November IL, 1887.
Lngg committed suicide in prison,
Fielden and Schwab we're sentenced to
prison for life and Neebe for IS years.
In 1888 Gov. Altgeld Of Illinois pardoned
FIelden. Neebe and Schwab.