l addressed
directly to Parsons and Spies. It called them every vile name that the
censorship would pass and stated that any disorder which might occur
should be laid at their door.

In many industries the workers decided to stay out on strike after May 1.
One of these was the McCormick Reaper Plant in Chicago. On May 3, August
Spies was invited by the strike committee to address the pickets at the
factory gate. Just as he finished speaking, the police charged down upon
the assembled workmen with clubs and guns. First reports had it that six
were killed outright and scores wounded. Chicago papers were quick to
point out that _only_ two had lost their lives!

Spies rushed back to the office of the German radical paper, the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_, of which he was the editor. Hastily he wrote up a
leaflet denouncing the police attack, calling for revenge "_if you are the
sons of your grandsires who have shed their blood to free you_." It ended
with a dramatic call to arms, which Spies upon re-reading ordered stricken
out. The typesetter left it in and at the Haymarket trial which followed
it provided the prosecution with some of its most valuable ammunition in
firing the hatred of the jury.

That same evening a committee of trade unionists decided to hold a protest
meeting in the Haymarket Square in Chicago, on the night of May 4. Several
thousands people attended. Spies opened the meeting and stated its
purpose: to discuss the question of the eight-hour day and to protest the
police shootings at the McCormick plant. Parsons, who had just returned to
the city from a speaking tour was hurriedly sent for and rushed over with
his wife, Lucy Parsons, and their two children, to lend a hand.

The speakers stood on an empty wagon for a platform and addressed the
crowd for about two hours. Reporters covering the meeting, instructed to
take down only the "most inflammatory" remarks made, testified from the
witness stand at the subsequent trial as to the mildness of the speeches.

In the audience was the mayor of Chicago, Carter Harrison, who was quickly
satisfied by its peaceful nature and went in person to Police Captain
Bonfield with instructions to call off police reserves and send his men
home. They would not be needed.

Just as the last speaker, Samuel Fielden, was saying, "_In
conclusion----_," a good part of the crowd had been driven home by rain
which began falling when he started his speech--a squad of armed police
desce