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[Illustration: Michael J. Schaack.]




                        ANARCHY AND ANARCHISTS.

                             A HISTORY OF
               THE RED TERROR AND THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION
                        IN AMERICA AND EUROPE.

                  COMMUNISM, SOCIALISM, AND NIHILISM
                       IN DOCTRINE AND IN DEED.

                   THE CHICAGO HAYMARKET CONSPIRACY,
           AND THE DETECTION AND TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS.

                                  BY
                          MICHAEL J. SCHAACK,
                          CAPTAIN OF POLICE.

        WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS FROM AUTHENTIC PHOTOGRAPHS,
                      AND FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS

        BY WM. A. MCCULLOUGH, WM. OTTMAN, LOUIS BRAUNHOLD, TRUE
         WILLIAMS, CHAS. FOERSTER, O. F. KRITZNER, AND OTHERS.

                            [Illustration]

                               CHICAGO:
                       F. J. SCHULTE & COMPANY.
              NEW YORK AND PHILADELPHIA: W. A. HOUGHTON.
   ST. LOUIS: S. F. JUNKIN & CO.      PITTSBURG: P. J. FLEMING & CO.
                             MDCCCLXXXIX.




                           COPYRIGHT, 1889,
                        BY MICHAEL J. SCHAACK.
                         ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

       _THE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS WORK ARE ALL ORIGINAL, AND ARE
                       PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT._




                                  TO
                          HON. JOSEPH E. GARY
                                AND TO
                        HON. JULIUS S. GRINNELL
               THIS VOLUME IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
                              THE AUTHOR.




PREFACE.

IT has seemed to me that there should be a history of the development,
the revolt, and the tragedy of Anarchy in Chicago. This history I have
written as impartially and as fairly as I knew how to write it. I have
kept steadily before my eyes the motto,—

  “Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.”

It will be found in the succeeding pages that neither animosity against
the revolutionists, nor partiality to the State, has influenced the
work. I have dealt with this episode in Chicago’s history as calmly
and as fairly as I am able. I have tried to put myself in the position
of the misguided men whose conspiracy led to the Haymarket explosion
and to the gallows; to understand their motives; to appreciate their
ideals—for so only could this volume be properly written.

And to present a broader view, I have added a history of all forms of
Socialism, Communism, Nihilism and Anarchy. In this, though necessarily
brief, it has been the purpose to give all the important facts, and to
set forth the theories of all those who, whether moderate or radical,
whether sincerely laboring in the interests of humanity or boisterously
striving for notoriety, have endeavored or pretended to improve upon
the existing order of society.

After the dynamite bomb exploded, carrying death into the ranks of men
with whom I had been for years closely associated—after an impudent
attack had been made upon our law and upon our system, which I was
sworn to defend—it came to me as a duty to the State, a duty to my
dead and wounded comrades, to bring the guilty men to justice; to
expose the conspiracy to the world, and thus to assist in vindicating
the law. How the duty was performed, this story tells.

It is a plain narrative whose interest lies in the momentous character
of the facts which it relates. Much of it is now for the first time
given to the public. I have drawn upon the records of the case, made
in court, but more especially upon the reports made to me, during the
progress of the investigation, by the many detectives who were working
under my direction.

I can say for my book no more than this: that from the first page to
the last there is no material statement which is not to my knowledge
true. The reader, then, may at least depend upon the accuracy of the
information presented here, even if I cannot make any other claim.

It would be unfair and ungrateful if I did not seize this opportunity
to put on lasting record my obligations to Judge Julius S. Grinnell,
who was State’s Attorney during the investigation. His support, steady
and full of tact, enabled me to go through with the work, in spite of
obstacles deliberately put in my way. My position was a delicate and
difficult one: had it not been for him, and for others, success would
have been almost impossible.

Nor can I forego this occasion to bear testimony to the magnificent
police work done in the case by Inspector Bonfield and his brother,
James Bonfield, and by the officers who acted directly with me. These
were Lieut. Charles A. Larsen and Officers Herman Schuettler, Michael
Whalen, Jacob Loewenstein, Michael Hoffman, Charles Rehm, John Stift
and B. P. Baer. Mr. Edmund Furthmann, at that time Assistant State’s
Attorney, as I have elsewhere recorded, worked upon the inquiry into
the conspiracy with an acumen, a perseverance and an industry which
were beyond all praise. I knew, when he was first associated with me
in the case, that the outcome must be a victory for outraged law, and
the result vindicated the prediction. To Mr. Thomas O. Thompson and to
Mr. John T. McEnnis much of the literary form of this volume is to be
credited, and to them also I am under lasting obligations.

  MICHAEL J. SCHAACK.

  _Chicago, February, 1889._




TABLE OF CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.

  The Beginning of Anarchy—The German School of Discontent—The
  Socialist Future—The Asylum in London—Birth of a Word—Work
  of the French Revolution—The Conspiracy of Babeuf—Etienne
  Cabet’s Experiment—The Colony in the United States—Settled
  at Nauvoo—Fourier and his System—The Familistère at
  Guise—Louis Blanc and the National Work-shops—Proudhon,
  the Founder of French Anarchy—German Socialism: Its Rise
  and Development—Rodbertus and his Followers—“Capital,”
  by Karl Marx—The “Bible of the Socialists”—The Red
  Internationale—Bakounine and his Expulsion from the
  Society—The New Conspiracy—Ferdinand Lassalle and the
  Social Democrats—The Birth of a Great Movement—Growth of
  Discontent—Leaders after Lassalle—The Central Idea of the
  Revolt—American Methods and the Police Position,                   17


  CHAPTER II.

  Dynamite in Politics-Historical Assassinations—Infernal
  Machines in France—The Inventor of Dynamite—M. Noble
  and his Ideas—The Nitro-Compounds—How Dynamite is
  Made—The New French Explosive—“Black Jelley” and the
  Nihilists—What the Nihilists Believe and What they
  Want—The Conditions in Russia—The White and the Red
  Terrors—Vera Sassoulitch—Tourgenieff and the Russian
  Girl—The Assassination of the Czar—“It is too Soon to Thank
  God”—The Dying Emperor—Two Bombs Thrown—Running Down the
  Conspirators—Sophia Perowskaja, the Nihilist Leader—The
  Handkerchief Signal—The Murder Roll—Tried and Convicted—A
  Brutal Execution—Five Nihilists Pay the Penalty—Last Words
  Spoken but Unheard—A Deafening Tattoo—The Book-bomb and
  the Present Czar—Strychnine-coated Bullets—St. Peter and
  Paul’s Fortress—Dynamite Outrages in England—The Record of
  Crime—Twenty-nine Convicts and their Offenses—Ingenious
  Bomb-making—The Failures of Dynamite,                              28


  CHAPTER III.

  The Exodus to Chicago—Waiting for an Opportunity—A
  Political Party Formed—A Question of $600,000—The First
  Socialist Platform—Details of the Organization—Work at
  the Ballot-Box—Statistics of Socialist Progress—The
  “International Workingmen’s Party” and The “Workingmen’s Party
  of the United States”—The Eleven Commandments of Labor—How
  the Work was to be Done—A Curious Constitution—Beginnings
  of the Labor Press—The Union Congress—Criticising the
  Ballot-Box—The Executive Committee and its Powers—Annals
  of 1876—A Period of Preparation—The Great Railroad
  Strikes of 1877—The First Attack on Society—A Decisive
  Defeat—Trying Politics Again—The “Socialistic Party”—Its
  Leaders and its Aims—August Spies as an Editor—Buying the
  _Arbeiter-Zeitung_—How the Money was Raised—Anarchist
  Campaign Songs—The Group Organization—Plan of the
  Propaganda—Dynamite First Taught—“The Bureau of
  Information”—An Attack on Arbitration—No Compromise with
  Capital—Unity of the Internationalists and the Socialists,         44


  CHAPTER IV.

  Socialism, Theoretic and Practical—Statements of the
  Leaders—Vengeance on the “Spitzels”—The Black Flag in the
  Streets—Resolutions in the _Alarm_—The Board of Trade
  Procession—Why it Failed—Experts on Anarchy—Parsons,
  Spies, Schwab and Fielden Outline their Belief—The
  International Platform—Why Communism Must Fail—A French
  Experiment and its Lesson—The Law of Averages—Extracts
  from the Anarchistic Press—Preaching Murder—Dynamite
  or the Ballot-Box?—“The Reaction in America”—Plans for
  Street Fighting—Riot Drill and Tactics—Bakounine and the
  Social Revolution—Twenty-one Statements of an Anarchist’s
  Duty—Herways’ Formula—Predicting the Haymarket—The Lehr
  und Wehr Verein and the Supreme Court—The White Terror and
  the Red—Reinsdorf, the Father of Anarchy—His Association
  with Hoedel and Nobiling—Attempt to Assassinate the German
  Emperor—Reinsdorf at Berlin—His Desperate Plan—“Old Lehmann”
  and the Socialist’s Dagger—The Germania Monument—An Attempt
  to Kill the Whole Court—A Culvert Full of Dynamite—A Wet
  Fuse and no Explosion—Reinsdorf Condemned to Death—His Last
  Letters—Chicago Students of his Teachings—De Tocqueville and
  Socialism,                                                          74


  CHAPTER V.

  The Socialistic Programme—Fighting a Compromise—Opposition
  to the Eight-hour Movement—The Memorial to Congress—Eight
  Hours’ Work Enough—The Anarchist Position—An _Alarm_
  Editorial—“Capitalists and Wage Slaves”—Parsons’
  Ideas—The Anarchists and the Knights of Labor—Powderly’s
  Warning—Working up a Riot—The Effect of Labor-saving
  Machinery—Views of Edison and Wells—The Socialistic
  Demonstration—The Procession of April 25, 1886—How the
  _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ Helped on the Crisis—The Secret Circular of
  1886,                                                              104


  CHAPTER VI.

  The Eight-hour Movement—Anarchist Activity—The Lock-out at
  McCormick’s—Distorting the Facts—A Socialist Lie—The True
  Facts about McCormick’s—Who Shall Run the Shops?—Abusing the
  “Scabs”—High Wages for Cheap Work—The Union Loses $3,000 a
  Day—Preparing for Trouble—Arming the Anarchists—Ammunition
  Depots—Pistols and Dynamite—Threatening the Police—The
  Conspirators Show the White Feather—Capt. O’Donnell’s
  Magnificent Police Work—The Revolution Blocked—A Foreign
  Reservation—An Attempt to Mob the Police—The History
  of the First Secret Meeting—Lingg’s First Appearance
  in the Conspiracy—The Captured Documents—Bloodshed at
  McCormick’s—“The Battle Was Lost”—Officer Casey’s Narrow
  Escape,                                                            112


  CHAPTER VII.

  The _Coup d’État_ a Miscarriage—Effect of the Anarchist
  Failure at McCormick’s—“Revenge”—Text of the Famous
  Circular—The German Version—An Incitement to Murder—Bringing
  on a Conflict—Engel’s Diabolical Plan—The Rôle of the Lehr
  und Wehr Verein—The Gathering of the Armed Groups—Fischer’s
  Sanguinary Talk—The Signal for Murder—“Ruhe” and its
  Meaning—Keeping Clear of the Mouse-Trap—The Haymarket
  Selected—Its Advantages for Revolutionary War—The Call for
  the Murder Meeting—“Workingmen, Arm Yourselves”—Preparing the
  Dynamite—The _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ Arsenal—The Assassins’ Roost
  at 58 Clybourn Avenue—The Projected Attack on the Police
  Stations—Bombs for All who Wished Them—Waiting for the Word
  of Command—Why it was not Given—The Leaders’ Courage Fails,      129


  CHAPTER VIII.

  The Air Full of Rumors—A Riot Feared—Police
  Preparations—Bonfield in Command—The Haymarket—Strategic
  Value of the Anarchists’ Position—Crane’s Alley—The Theory
  of Street Warfare—Inflaming the Mob—Schnaubelt and his
  Bomb—“Throttle the Law”—The Limit of Patience Reached—“In
  the Name of the People, Disperse”—The Signal Given—The Crash
  of Dynamite First Heard on an American Street—Murder in the
  Air—A Rally and a Charge—The Anarchists Swept Away—A Battle
  Worthy of Veterans,                                                139


  CHAPTER IX.

  The Dead and the Wounded—Moans of Anguish in the Police
  Station—Caring for Friend and Foe—Counting the Cost—A City’s
  Sympathy—The Death List—Sketches of the Men—The Doctors’
  Work—Dynamite Havoc—Veterans of the Haymarket—A Roll of
  Honor—The Anarchist Loss—Guesses at their Dead—Concealing
  Wounded Rioters—The Explosion a Failure—Disappointment of the
  Terrorists,                                                        149


  CHAPTER X.

  The Core of the Conspiracy—Search of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_
  Office—The Captured Manuscript—Jealousies in the Police
  Department—The Case Threatened with Failure—Stupidity at
  the Central Office—Fischer Brought in—Rotten Detective
  Work—The Arrest of Spies—His Egregious Vanity—An Anarchist
  “Ladies’ Man”—Wine Suppers with the Actresses—Nina Van
  Zandt’s Antecedents—Her Romantic Connection with the
  Case—Fashionable Toilets—Did Spies Really Love Her?—His
  Curious Conduct—The Proxy Marriage—The End of the
  Romance—The Other Conspirators—Mrs. Parsons’ Origin—The
  Bomb-Thrower in Custody—The Assassin Kicked Out of the Chief’s
  Office—Schnaubelt and the Detectives—Suspicious Conduct at
  Headquarters—Schnaubelt Ordered to Keep Away From the City
  Hall—An Amazing Incident—A Friendly Tip to a Murderer—My
  Impressions of the Schnaubelt Episode—Balthasar Rau and Mr.
  Furthmann—Phantom Shackles in a Pullman—Experiments with
  Dynamite—An Explosive Dangerous to Friend and Foe—Testing the
  Bombs—Fielden and the Chief,                                      156


  CHAPTER XI.

  My Connection with the Anarchist Cases—A Scene at the Central
  Office—Mr. Hanssen’s Discovery—Politics and Detective
  Work—Jealousy Against Inspector Bonfield—Dynamiters on
  Exhibition—Courtesies to the Prize-fighters—A Friendly
  Tip—My First Light on the Case—A Promise of Confidence—One
  Night’s Work—The Chief Agrees to my Taking up the
  Case—Laying Our Plans—“We Have Found the Bomb Factory!”—Is
  it a Trap?—A Patrol-wagon Full of Dynamite—No Help Hoped
  for from Headquarters—Conference with State’s Attorney
  Grinnell—Furthmann’s Work—Opening up the Plot—Trouble
  with the Newspaper Men—Unexpected Advantage of Hostile
  Criticism—Information from Unexpected Quarters—Queer Episodes
  of the Hunt—Clues Good, Bad and Indifferent—A Mysterious
  Lady with a Veil—A Conference in my Back Yard—The Anarchists
  Alarmed—A Breezy Conference with Ebersold—Threatening
  Letters—Menaces Sent to the Wives of the Men Working
  on the Case—How the Ladies Behaved—The Judge and Mrs.
  Gary—Detectives on Each Other’s Trail—The Humors of the
  Case—Amusing Incidents,                                           183


  CHAPTER XII.

  Tracking the Conspirators—Female Anarchists—A Bevy of
  Beauties—Petticoated Ugliness—The Breathless Messenger—A
  Detective’s Danger—Turning the Tables—“That Man is
  a Detective!”—A Close Call—Gaining Revolutionists’
  Confidence—Vouched for by the Conspirators—Speech-making
  Extraordinary—The Hiding-place in the Anarchists’
  Hall—Betrayed by a Woman—The Assassination of Detective Brown
  at Cedar Lake—Saloon-keepers and the Revolution—“Anarchists
  for Revenue Only”—Another Murder Plot—