John Peter Altgeld - Part I
By Barbara Schock
During the campaign Altgeld
visited small towns as well as farmers across the
state. He was supported by labor unions in Chicago
and ran on the Democratic and the Labor Party
tickets. He was the first governor in Illinois
history to be elected from Chicago.
Six years earlier the
so-called Haymarket Riot had occurred on May 4th
in Chicago in Haymarket Square on Desplaines
Street near Randolph Street. A group of outspoken
labor leaders had been speaking to a crowd of
several thousand people. Chicago Mayor Carter
Harrison had spoken earlier in the evening. As it
was getting dark and a storm was approaching, the
crowd was breaking up. Police Inspector John
Bonfield, who was well-known to be virulently
anti-labor, had sent 186 policemen to the Square.
They arrived at the meeting’s end. Somewhat
unnecessarily, Police Captain William Ward
commanded the crowd “In the name of the people of
the State of Illinois to immediately and
peacefully to disperse.” Then, a bomb was thrown
by an unknown person and the police started
shooting. Seven policemen were fatally wounded and
67 were injured. More than 250 shots had been
fired within two minutes. Many people in the crowd
were injured. Some of them didn’t get medical
attention for fear the police would find out and
they would be arrested.
Hysteria, created by the
Chicago newspapers, claiming the speakers at the
Haymarket were anarchists and communists, swept
through the city and the state. Eight men were
arrested and put on trial. The jury was packed
with men who already believed the defendents were
guilty.
Sandburg, like thousands of
others, read the Chicago newspapers to learn
details about the trial. The decision of the jury
finally came: six were to be hanged. Subsequently,
Governor Richard Oglesby commuted the sentences of
two of the men to life imprisonment. One man was
sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
On November 11, 1887, four
men were hanged at the Cook County Jail. One had
committed suicide while in jail. Before being
hung, each man stated he was willing to give his
life for the eight-hour day and the rights of
workers. The other three went to the state
penitentiary in Joliet.
That day Carl Sandburg and
his pals were walking home from school in the
afternoon. They heard a railroad man call to
another man across the street: “Well, they hanged
‘em!” The railroader seemed to be glad the hanging
had been done. The boys talked among themselves
and declared they were happy it was over. There
was a sense of relief among the boys as they had
been reading and talking about Haymarket for the
past year and a half.
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| Date | Title |
| July 22, 2013 | John Peter Altgeld - Part I |
| July 15, 2013 | Tramps, Tramps, Tramps |
| July 8, 2013 | Lady Liberty |
| July 1, 2013 | Galesburg's Fourth |
| June 24, 2013 | John H. Finley |
| June 17, 2013 | The World's Columbian Exhibition |
| June 10, 2013 | Fruit Short-Cake |
| June 3, 2013 | Horatio Alger, Author |
| May 27, 2013 | Memorial Day, 1887 |
| May 20, 2013 | Professor Jon W. Grubb |
| May 13, 2013 | Beginnings of Lombard University |
| May 6, 2013 | Young Sandburg’s View of Lombard College |
| April 29, 2013 | Thinking |
| April 22, 2013 | Robert Colville, Master Mechanic |
| April 15, 2013 | The Galesburg Opera House |
| April 8, 2013 | Grocery Stores and Sample Rooms |
| April 1, 2013 | A Hearty Breakfast |
| March 25, 2013 | The Lost Wallpaper Legend |
| March 18, 2013 | Martin G. Sandburg |
| March 4, 2013 | The Edison Talking Machine |
| February 25, 2013 | Joe Elser, Civil War Veteran |
| February 18, 2013 | Remember the Maine... |
| February 11, 2013 | Lincoln's Birthday |
| February 4, 2013 | Curiosity |