Background Information

• This outbreak of violence occured in Chicago on May 4, 1886

• The cause was that workers demanded an 8 hour work day. They had been working 10-12 hours, six days a week, for very little pay.

• The protest lead by a small group of anarchists and there were1,500 people

• A bomb exploded and 7 policemen including  Policeman Mathias J. Degan, who died almost instantly and 4 other people were killed

• More then 100 people were wounded

 


Who Did It?

• 8 anarchist leaders were accused

• Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, Michael Schwab, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, George Engel, August Spies, Albert Parsons

 

The State Evidence

• They presented the defendants as murders, conspirators, and rioters

• August Spies was shown to have proposed the use of dynamite

• State alleged that the men had a meeting at Grief Hall in Chicago

• Expert witness testified that the bomb that had exploded was similar in composition to those made by Lingg.

Defense Evidence

• Evidence showed that Engel was at home at the time of the bombing

• Fielden and Parsons were unaware of the meeting

• Fisher was at Zepfs Hall when the Bomb went off

The Verdict

• Jury deliberated for only three hours

• They found them all guilty of murder

• 7 out of the 8 were given a death sentence

• Neebe got 15 years in prison

 

The Appeal

• Defendants took their case to the State Supreme Court of Illinois on November 25, 1886

• The court denied them a new trial on September 14, 1887

• Defendants took their case to the United State Supreme Court

• The court denied them a new trial on October 27, 1887

The Execution

• Friday November 11, 1887 Parsons, Spies, Fisher, Engel were hanged

• Lingg committed suicide the day before the execution

• Neebe, Schwab, Fielden, were pardon in 1893 after serving 7 years in Jail