From Forest Park Review May 7, 1986:
Marking the 100th anniversary of the Haymarket affair were several hundred people at Forest Home Cemetery in 1986. The monument marks the burial site of eight leaders who were promoting an eight-hour workday, which was a highly contentious issue in 1886.
At a peaceful public labor demonstration on May 4, 1886 at Haymarket Square (Randolph and Des Plaines in Chicago), a bomb was thrown that caused chaos and the death of one police officer and wounding others. Police opened fire on the crowd, which added to the chaos and injuries. Eight anarchist leaders (six of whom were not in attendance) were charged with the bombing, convicted of conspiracy, and seven were sentenced to death, one to 15 years in prison. Four of the men were hanged on Nov. 11, 1887; one died by suicide in jail before his execution. In 1893, Governor John Peter Altgeld pardoned the remaining defendants. The Haymarket affair is considered the origin of International Workers Day, which is observed on May 1.
The Pioneer Aid and Support Association raised the funds for the monument, sculpted by Albert Weinert. Justice, the bronze woman standing guard over a fallen worker holds a laurel wreath to crown the fallen. Inscribed beneath her is the quote, attributed to August Spies before his execution, “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.”
The Haymarket Martyrs Monument was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
Jill Wagner