August Spies et al, Plaintiffs in Error, vs The People of the State.

Trial; Haymarket Riot; Spies, August, et al.

Published by Publication Date: 1887

The State Justifies the Conviction of Eight Condemned Haymarket Rioters [Trial]. [Haymarket Riot]. [Spies, August Vincent Theodore (1855-1887), et al., Plaintiffs]. Hunt, George [1841-1901], Attorney General. Grinnell, Julius Sprague [1842-1898], States Attorney, et al. [In the Supreme Court of Illinois, Northern Grand Division. March Term, A.D. 1887. August Spies et al., Plaintiffs in Error, vs. The People of the State of Illinois, Defendants in Error. } Error to the Criminal Court of Cook County. Brief on the Facts for Defendants in Error. Chicago: Barnard & Gunthorp, Law Printers, 1887]. [iii]-vi, 342 pp. Title page lacking and supplied in fascimile. 12 ruled blanks bound before and after text block; pp. 169-172 bound after pp. 173-176. Illustration (plan of Haymarket Square). Octavo (9-3/4" x 6-1/4"; 24.8 x 16.2 cm). Near-contemporary buckram, lettering piece to spine, cloth hinges, small bookseller ticket to rear pastedown. Moderate soiling and shelfwear to exterior, lettering piece partially abraded, corners bumped. Light browning to interior, light soiling to a few pages, small tears, mended with paper or cellotape, to first and final few leaves. $250. * These legal proceedings followed the Chicago Haymarket Riot of 1886, a landmark event in the history of American labor activism. It began with a strike on May 1 in pursuit of an eight-hour workday by local labor unions, along with several non-union social radicals. While the police were breaking up a rally in Haymarket Square on May 4, a bomb explosion killed eight officers. Although the bomber was never identified, eight prominent union leaders and radicals were tried on dubious charges. Seven received the death penalty, one was given fifteen years in prison. The court held that the "inflammatory speeches and publications" of these eight incited the actions of the mob. The verdict was upheld by the Illinois and U.S. Supreme Courts. In 1887 four of these men were hanged, including Spies. Another escaped the noose through suicide. The sentences of two others were eventually commuted from death to imprisonment for life, and in 1893 Governor John P. Altgeld pardoned the three remaining prisoners. Worldwide appeals for clemency for the condemned Haymarket rioters led to the establishment of May 1st as an International Workers Day, or May Day. Though it is a h. Seller Inventory # 84761

Bibliographic Details

Title: August Spies et al, Plaintiffs in Error, vs ...
Publication Date: 1887
Binding: Hardcover