The Chicago Martyrs by John P. Altgeld

46
ADDRESS OF SAMUEL FIELDEN.
,ADDRESS OF SAMUEL FIELDEN.
47
.It was claimed here that it was because of the violence of Fielden's speech
that the police ~ere called. I would humbly submit to those who make that
claim that they read up the testimony given at the coroner's inquest by the
detectives and policemen who testified there. There was hardly one of them
that knew a word that Fielden had .eaid; but something must be done to hold
Fielden. They knew that his statement before the coroner was true. The
'prosecution knew it. They undoubtedly, with their detectives, had inquired,
and they knew he had done nothing. Therefore, they must present this
speech to the jury and claim that it was that which brought out tbe police.
The statements before the coroner's jury did not claim anything of that kind,
and it was not brought out at the coroner's jury until I made Illy statement
there, and that was the last statement made there. Coroner Hertz said: "Did
you say this?" No man knew I had said it until I acknowledged it. Bonfield
did not know that Fielden had said anything of that kind, and he did not testify
to it. Captain Ward did not know.
There are many things about that coroner's inquest. It has been stated
by several policemen and two detectives thaJ; when I got down from the wagon
I called out" Here come the bloodhounds; you do your duty and. I'll do
mine." And a lieutenant of a very intellectual cast of countenance swore
here that when the police came up to the crossing, half a block away, he
heard Fielden say: c. Here come the bloodhounds; you do your duty and I
will do mine." He has sworn here-and I think the fact that a policeman
could be made to swear to such an apparent lie as this, muat, to any intelligent
person, be disgusting-that when they got to the wagon, and Captain
Ward told the meeting to disperse, I deliberately, on that wagon; pulled a
revolver and s~ot at Bonfield and Ward. Bonfield said he could have touched
me with his hands when I stepped from the wagon, and Ward said the same
thing, and they didn't see it. Lieutenant Steeie, in a.very significant manner,
when asked if he saw me shoot, or heard me say, "Here come the bloodhounds;
you do your duty, and I'll do mine," said: "I will tell nothing but
what I know." He was standing at the tail end of the wagon, where he could
touch me, and he says: "I heard no such language." Wessler stated that-he
ran up the sidewalk, and when he came back I was firing at the police. He
claims that he shot me, and he brings Foley, whom he claims to have run up
the sidewalk with him and come back with him, to substantiate.the fact that
Fielden was standing at the wagon and shooting at the policemen when they
came back, and that he shot me as I stood behind the wheel, on the sidewalk.
He says: 'c Fielden rolled under the wagon after he was shot." Foley says
the man that Wessler shot at the wagon was lying under the wagon between
the two fore wheels, one on each side. If it had been a fair Jury would it
have convicted any man on that testimony?
Krueger, who claims to have had a duel with me there, claims that as
soon as I jumped from the wagon I ran there and began firing at him, and
that he shot me as I ran into the alley. And yet I was shooting there as
these men came back from up the street, and was shot by Wessler, as they
say, after their return. This other man claims he shot me as I was running
up the alley. Then comes the truthful James Bonfield, who claims to have
sneaked around the corridor of the Central Station jail on the night of the 5th
of May. He sneaked up against the wall where Fielden could not see him
I,and he .listened to a conversation between Fielden and Knox and Graham:
'~porters. H~ is brought on to corroborate the statement of Krueger that
FIelden ran Into the alley. He claims he overheard Fielden admit to these
reporters that he ran through the alley. The State brings the reporter Knox
npon the stand. They did not bring Graham after they got through with
Knox. Knox was asked: "Did Fielden say to you that he went through the
alley?" "No; he said he went around the corner." Now, no man would
state that if he had gone into the alley, because the wagon was close to the
alley, and the corner meant the corner of Randolph··street. I did state that I
went ~round, the c?rner after I had passed the alley. That proves somebody
was lYlllg. They did not bring Graham on to substantiate James Bonfield.
I ask any reasonable man to consider ail this testimony; to consider whether
.there co~ld have been a jury that was fll;ir-minded that could have said beyond '
r all questIOn of douht, that Fielden did fire into that crowd of police.. That is
all I ~ave to sa~ on that question. But even the worst newspaper in the city
.of Chicago admitted before the conclusion of this case that it was l'xceeding}y
dou?tful whether Fielden had fired a shot there or not, or whether he had
'ever hallowed out, "You do your duty and I will do mine. Here come the
bloodhounds." Let us put a hypothetical question now: If I had said something
,which might have been construed into an incitement to riot, but' if,
when the policemen came there, I did everything a man could do to have the
meeting disperse peaceably, in obedience to the demand of Ward to have it
disperse-and there is no other claim than this, which is contradicted by the
State's attorney's claim against me, and that I did nothing but walk away
peaceably-could a fair-minded jury have convicted me? You will remember
that the reporter, Freeman-and Freeman is a State witness-who knelt down
on the side.w,alk within three feet of the wheel where it is said I was shooting,
swears POSitively that there was nobody at that wheel. It is acknowledged
by Foley and Wessler that there were two young men standing up against the •
'wall of Crane's factory nearly opposite the wagon. Those men came here
voluntarily and swore there was no shooting done from that place; and the
State's attorney in his closing argument practically admits that it is doubtful
whether this testimony is the truth. He said if Fielden did not shoot at the
police, then he is not made of as good clay as I thought him to be, which
means, if Fielden did not shoot, then he is no man. He ought to have done
so if he was any good. This. is not garbled, it is not colored.• Is it not as
strong as it could be against the possibility of my having done anything of
that kind there? Now, if I did not shoot there, if I did not call to the people
" Here come the bloodhounds; yon do your duty and I will do mine" and
if I, as testified by Bonfield, Steele and Ward, went away peaceably, gi~ing an
example to the meeting, if someone else goes and commits murder, am I
responsible for his al/t? Mr. Ward will corroborate me when I say that Ihad
no desire that that meeting should be anything else than peaceable, and that
there should be resistance to the officers. If it had not been intended that I
should be connected with some' act of that kind, and by that means, the
papers of this city would call Fielden a coward, who wonld run at the first
Ilabt of the police. But no. They elevate me to the very pinnacle of bravery
In order to bang me. .