May Day is celebrated throughout the world as International Workers’ Day. The date, May 1, was chosen to honor Chicago’s most famous labor activists, the Haymarket Martyrs, who are buried in Forest Park, where a magnificent monument has attracted visitors since it was erected in 1893.
The Martyrs (George Engel, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, Oscar Neebe, Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab, August Spies), were accused of conspiracy to commit murder when a bomb was thrown at a rally in Chicago during the movement for an eight-hour workday in 1886. All eight were found guilty even though the bomb thrower was never identified. The prosecutor during the trial even stated that he knew none of the accused had thrown the bomb.
Four of the men were hanged, one died in his cell the night before the hangings, two were sentenced to life in prison, and one was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor. Forest Home Cemetery, a progressive cemetery open to all races and creeds, was the only cemetery willing to accept their bodies. The events of the Haymarket Affair are still controversial, but what sometimes gets lost are the stories of the individuals buried here.
George Engel (1836-1887): Orphaned as a young child in Germany, Engel entered the workforce at a very young age. Like many, he dreamed of opportunities in the United States eventually settling in Chicago in 1874 where he opened a toy store. He said the extreme poverty he experienced inspired him to become an activist. “I came to the opinion that as long as workingmen are economically enslaved, they cannot be politically free.”
Engel was not at the Haymarket rally when the bomb as thrown, nor was there any evidence indicating he had any connection to it. At 50, he was the oldest of the defendants and left behind a wife and two children. His last words before being hanged were, “Hurrah for anarchy!”
Samuel Fielden (1846-1922): From an impoverished family in England, Fielden worked in a textile plant as a child where he experienced an “animal existence.” He became a Methodist preacher, but later became a “free-thinker,” leading an atheist group in Chicago in 1869. Fielden witnessed the cruelty inflicted on African-American sharecroppers which inspired him to become a socialist, saying “Socialism recognizes … that all the ills that are in society are the production of poverty …” He was a powerful speaker and was on the platform when the bomb was thrown. His sentence was commuted to life in prison after he wrote to Governor Oglesby. He was later pardoned by Governor Altgeld in 1893. He had a wife and two children. He is the only one of the eight defendants not buried in Forest Park and rests in Colorado.
Adolph Fischer (1858-1887): A teenager when he came to the U.S. from Germany, Fischer worked on newspapers including the Arbeiter-Zeitung (the Workers’ Newspaper). He was an “autonomist” believing in decentralization and spontaneity. He left the rally at the Haymarket before the bomb was thrown. At the trial, he said, “I was tried … for murder, but I was convicted of anarchy.” He believed that he was dying for a noble cause and left behind a wife and three children. His last words from the gallows were, “This is the happiest moment of my life.” He had signed autographs before his hanging reading: “Anarchy is liberty.”
Louis Lingg (1864-1877): A recent arrival from Germany – in the U.S. for about a year – Lingg was the youngest of the martyrs at the age of 23. When he was 13, his father was injured in a work-related accident and received no support from his employer. Lingg said, “… I received my first impressions of the prevailing unjust social institutions,” and it gave him “a bitter hatred of existing society.” He did, in fact, make dynamite bombs — possession of dynamite was legal at the time — but the prosecution was unable to prove that the bomb thrown at the Haymarket had been made by Lingg. It was a different size than the bombs found at Lingg’s home.
While still hoping for a pardon, Lingg was found in his cell the night before the hanging with half his face blown off from a blasting cap. It is uncertain whether this was a suicide or if the authorities had staged the scene. Lingg left behind a “sweetheart” whom he had met during the trial.
Oscar Neebe (1850-1916): While born in the U.S., Nebebe’s parents took him to Germany as a baby only to return to the U.S. when he was a teenager. He worked many jobs including tinsmithing, eventually opening his own business, Acme Yeast. He became interested in the labor movement after he was fired for standing up for the rights of workers during the 1877 railroad strike. Neebe was a talented organizer – which might explain how he came to be accused during the Haymarket Affair. The only “evidence” linking him to the bombing was that he picked up a flyer in a bar and had a legal pistol and a red flag in his home. When he was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor, he addressed the judge, “There is no evidence to show that I was connected with the bomb-throwing. … I think it is more honorable to die suddenly … I am sorry I am not to be hung with the rest of the men.” Soon after the sentencing, his wife, Meta, died. Some said it was from the stress of the trial and “a broken heart.” He was later pardoned by Gov. Altgeld. He lived to be 65 and his ashes are interred at the monument at Forest Home.
Albert Parsons (1848-1887): The only “American” of the martyrs, Parsons was the editor of The Alarm, an English language anarchist newspaper. He fought in the Civil War as a Confederate soldier but became an ardent advocate for African-American rights after witnessing the evils of slavery. He married Lucy Parsons, a militant fighter for human rights in Texas. They moved to Chicago and became involved in the labor movement after the 1877 Railroad Strike. Albert had been in the “crosshairs” of Chicago authorities for his organizing and political ambitions. He, Lucy, and their two children left the Haymarket meeting before the bomb was thrown. Parsons said the death sentence was “judicial murder.” At his execution, the hangman pulled the trap door before Parsons finished his last words, “Will I be allowed to speak … Let the voice of the people be heard …”
Michael Schwab (1854-1898): German born, Schwab came to America already a socialist. Orphaned, he learned the bookbinding trade and wrote articles advocating for social change. He was a co-editor at the Arbeiter-Zeitung. He left the meeting at the Haymarket after a few minutes to speak at a different rally about the eight-hour movement. He was married with three children. While no one knows who threw the bomb, his brother-in-law, Rudolph Schnaubelt has long been at the top of the list – some suspecting he was an “agent provocateur” hired by the authorities to cause trouble. Schwab said, “To term the proceedings during the trial justice, would be a sneer … I am condemned to die for writing newspaper articles and making speeches.” Schwab’s sentence was commuted to life in prison and he was later pardoned in 1893. Upon his release he opened a shoe store but died at the age of 44 from illnesses contracted during his incarceration.
August Spies (1855-1887): Coming to America from Germany as a teenager, Spies became an active socialist after the Railroad Strike of 1877. He was an upholsterer, and the co-editor of the Arbeiter-Zeitung. Accomplished in writing and speaking in English and German, he was known for his intellect and humor. It was Spies who witnessed police firing into the crowd of strikers on May 3, 1886 which led to the rally at the Haymarket on the 4th. During the trial, he met and married Nina Van Zandt “in absentia,” with his brother standing in at the ceremony. The authorities refused to allow the wedding in jail. His last words before being hanged are etched on the monument and have proved to be prophetic. “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.” Many prominent labor activists are also buried near the Haymarket Martyrs Monument.
This year, May Day in the United States is again gaining prominence as events are planned across the country “under the banner of workers over billionaires.” The Historical Society of Forest Park has placed informational signs on the graves at the monument and the surrounding “Radical Row,” so that visitors can familiarize themselves with the stories of these working class heroes.
References: The Day Will Come, Haymarket Scrapbook, Spartacus Educational, The Watertown News.
Amy Binns-Calvey is a volunteer with the Historical Society of Forest Park and the author of More Dead Than Alive: Stories of Forest Park’s Quietest Neighbors. `