The Chicago Martyrs by John P. Altgeld

Address of Adolph Fischer.
YOUR HONOR: 'lOll a~k me why sentence of death should not be passed
upon me. I will not talk much. I will only say that I protest against ~y'
being sentenced to death, because I have committed no crime. I was tried
here in this room for murder, and I was convicted of Anarchy. I p~otest
against being sentenced to death, because I hav~ not been f~und gUilty of
murder. However, if I am to die on account of belllg an Anarchist, on account
of my love for liberty, fraternity and equality, I will not remonstrate If
death is the penalty for our love of freedom of the human race, then I ~ay
openly I have forfeited my life; but a murderer I am not. Although belllg
one of the parties who arranged the Haymarket meeti~g, I ~ad.no mo~ to ~o
with the throwing of that bomb, I had no more connectIOn wIth It than 8tate s
Attorney Grinnell had. I do not deny that I was present at the Haymarket
meeting, but that meeting- ,
(At this point Mr. Salomon stepped up and spoke to Mr. Fischer in a low
tone, but the latter waved him off and said:) ,
Mr. Salomon, be so kind. I know what I aID talkmg about. Now, that
Haymarket meeting was not called for the purpose of committing vi~le~ce
and crime. No; but the meeting was called for the purpose of ~rotestlll!!:
against the outrages and crim~s committed by the police on the prevIOus ~ay,
out at McCormick's. The State's witness, Waller, and others have tes~lfied
here and I onlv need to repeat it, that we had a meeting on Monday mght,
and ~t this meeting-the affair at McCormick's taking place just a few ho~r8
previous-took action and called a mass-meeting for the p~rpose of pr?testlllg
against the brutal outrages of the police. Waller was chairman of thiS meeting,
and he himself ma~e the motion to hold the meeting at t~e H~ymarket.
It was also be wbo appointed me as a committe to have handbills prInted and
to provide for speakers; that I did, and nothing else. The. ne~t day ~ went
to Wehrer & Klein, and had 25,000 handbills printed, and I lllvited Spies to
speak at the Haymarket meeting. In the original of the ".copy" I had the
line" Workingmen, appear armed!" and my reason for puttlllg those wo:ds
in was because I didn't want the workingmen to be shot down in that meetmg
as on other occasions. But as those circulars were printed, or as a few of
them were printed and brought over to me at the .rh·beitel'-Zeitung office, my
Comrad" Spies saw onll of them, I had invited him to speak ~efore that. J:le
showed me the circular, and said: "Well, Fischer, if thuse CIrculars are ~IStribut