The Chicago Martyrs by John P. Altgeld

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ADDRESS OF ALBERT R. PARSONS.
ADDRESS OF. ALBERT R. PARSONS.
129
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down. I stayed there Sunday. I went to their grove Sunday night, and I
started back to Chicago Monday night, reached there Tuesday morning, Ml\Y
4, and went home abont 8 o'clock and saw my wife. I took a nap on till!
lounge. About 10 o'clock she woke me, then she says to me, "We had a very
interesting meeting last Sunday of the tailor girls, the sewing girls of Chi·
cago, a large mass meeting. I spoke to them, addressed the meeting; they
were anxious to organize, and I think we ought to do something to help thoso
sewing women to organize and join the eight hour movement, because they
work harder than anybody; these great tailor machines' are very hard to
work." So ended the conversation. She showed me the importance of having
a meeting called at once and doing something for the eight hour movement
for the girls. Well, I went on my way down town and I went to Greif's Hall.
All the halls were occupied; this was during the eight hour strike. All the
halls were occupied. A great many meetings were being held. I could get a
hall nowhere else and the meeting was to be a business meeting anyway. It
was not to be a general meeting, it was merely to appropriate money and take
action and appoint a committee to get up hand bills and get some hall
and 80 forth. That was all, so it did not require much; any ordinary room,
any little room, anywhere, would have done for that, and the offices of the
Arbeiter-Zeitumg, at 107 Fifth avenue, suited that purpose; so I announced it
in the New8 about 12 o'clock, I believe, and it was in the New8 in the afternoon
of that day, not stating what the meeting was for, onlv it was important
business. So at 8 o'clock or about half-past seven that night-my wife and Mrs.
Holmes left my home at No. 245 West Indiana street, accompanied by my
two little babes-you have seen them here; a little girl of five and a boy of
seven; you have seen them in the court room often. It was a nice evening
and we walked down town; we walked until we got to Randolph and Halsted
'streets-however, in the afternoon, late in the afternoon, at the office of the
Arbeiter-Zeitung, I learned that there was going to be a meeting at the Haymarket.
But the meeting; at No. 107 Fifth avenue had already been called,
and I could not attend it; I could not go over there. At half-past seven I left
home with my wife, Mrs. Holmes and the children. We got to Halsted street.
Two reporters, seeing me, thought there was a chance to get an item and
came over to me-the Time8 man and the Tribune man; I forget their names.
"Hello, Parsons, what is the news?" says o,ne.
"I don't know anything."
"Going to be a meeting here'tonight?"
., Yes, I guess so."
" Going to speak? "
uNo."
.. Where are you going?"
"I have got another meeting on hand tonight."
And some playful remark was made. I slapped one of them on the back.
I was quite well acquainted with the men and we made one or two brief
remarks, and, as they testified on the stand, I got on the car right then aad
there with my wife and two children, in com'pany with Mrs. Holm'es, and
they saw that. I went down to Fifth avenue. When I got down there I found
four or' five other ladies there and about-well, probably, twelve or fifteen
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It was about 8:30 o'clock when we opened-I guess it was. We stayed
there about half an hour. We settled the business. About the time we were
through with it a committee came from the Haymarket, saying: "Nobody is
over there but Spies. There is an awful big Qrowd, 3,000 or 4,000 people. For
God's sake send somebody-over. Come over, Parsons; come over, Fielden."
Well, we went there. The meeting was adjourned and we all went over there
~ogether-allof us; my wife, Mrs. Holmes,two other ladies, and my two little
children, went over to the Haymarket meeting. And these ladies sat ten feet
behind the wagon from which I spoke.
Your' honor, is it possible that a man would go into the dynamite-bomb
business under those conditions and those circumstances? It is incredible.
It is beyond human nature to believe such a thing possible, absolutely.
Well, the next daJ-I related on the witness stand all that I saw-the
next day I saw that they were dragging these men to prison, treating them in
a shameful manner. I left the city. I went to Geneva, Ill., for a couple of
days j stayed there with my friend Holmes. Then I went to Elgin, Ill. ; stayed
there a couple of days. Then I left there and went to Waukesha, Wis., where
I obtained employment as a carpenter and afterward as a painter, and remained
for over seven weeks in Waukesha. My health was debilitated, and
I went to the springs when I was thirsty. The house I was working on was
only a half a block from the springs, and I needed the recreation and the rest,
the pure air, and the water besides. When I saw the day fixed for the opening
of this trial, knowing I was an innocent man, and also feeling that it was
my duty to come forward and share whatever fate had in store for my comrades,
and also to stand, if need be, on the scaffold, and vindicate the rights
of labor, the cause of liberty, and the relief of th" oppressed, I returned. How
did i return? It is interesting, but it will take time to relate it, and I will not
',state it. I ran the gauntlet. I went from Waukesha to Milwaukee. I took
the St. Paul train in the morning at the Milwaukee depot and came to Chicago;
arrived here at 8 :30, I suppose, in the morning. Went to the house of
my friend, Mrs. Ames, on Morgan street. Sent for my wife and had a talk
with her. I sent word to Captain Black that I was here and prepared to surrender.
He sent word back to me that he was ready to receive me. I met
him at the threshold of this building and we came up here together. I stood
in the presence of this court. I have nothing, not eveI\ now, to regret.