CHAPTER XXIV.
Pistols and Clubs.
It Comes at Last—Riotous Roughs—Socialists Serving Satan—A Well Organized Police Force—The Military all Ready—Hot Heads at Halstead Street—Resisting Arrest—The Police Persist, are Resisted and resort to Pistols and Clubs—Intense Excitement—A Scene of Bloodshed and Death—At the Viaduct—Triumphant Law—Roughs Retire—Dead in the Streets—Then Peace.
The violent demonstrations of the mob on Wednesday, leading to a fusilade on Halstead street in the evening, it had been hoped, would terminate the disturbances in Chicago. And this hope was based on the reasonable ground that several railroad companies, employing a large number of men, had at once acceded to the demands of their employes, thereby removing all cause of complaint on the part of their employes, and consequently withdrawing therefrom any active sympathy with the riotous conduct of workingmen throughout the country. But well founded as were such hopes, they were doomed to be disappointed. It was not the railroadmen, not even the sober, industrious workingmen of other trades in Chicago, who had seized upon and were directing the riotous movements in that city. The same dreadful elements that had come to the front in Baltimore, in Pittsburgh, New York, Newark, Buffalo and, indeed, in all the cities where riotous demonstrations had been made, were present in Chicago. Behind the discontent of the poor-paid workingmen, appeared the horrid front of the Commune. It was “The Workingmen’s Party of the United States,” known in Europe as the “Workingmen’s International Association,” that had assumed the reins, and were endeavoring to drive the car of civilization over the precipice of destruction. It mattered not to such men as Van Patten, Schilling, Parsons, Clynch, and other leaders of the malcontents, whether the railroadmen had succeeded in carrying their point. It was sufficient for their purposes that the public mind was excited, that the whole country was in an uproar, that a vast number of men were idle, poverty stricken, hopeless, and these were fit materials out of which to manufacture mobs. And they proceeded to organize the idle, and the vicious into formidable, and dangerous bands of rioters.
The measures adopted by the Mayor, and municipal authorities, were not amiss, as events proved. Ample as were the preparations, thorough as were the organization of the law-abiding citizens, the preparations were not too extensive, nor the organizations uncalled for, in the emergency which had arrived.
The morning of the 26th was damp, murky and hot. A rain had fallen the night before, which had not served to cool the temperature, or cause a breeze to break the sultriness of the steamy atmosphere. And the passions of men had not cooled during the still hours of the last half of the preceding night. The people of Chicago, not unused to exciting events, rose that morning, hopeful, but ready for whatever emergency they might be called upon to meet. Bands of armed men were stationed at many convenient points in the city, the police were thoroughly organized and carefully instructed in regard to the nature of the service they were expected to perform. Several companies of United States regulars, which had been placed at the disposal of the Governor, by the President, and by him ordered to act under the orders of Mayor Heath, were quartered in the Tabernacle, a building convenient to any point likely to be threatened. By order of the Mayor, all saloons had been closed, and peaceable citizens, women and children, had been warned to avoid going into the streets. The committee of safety organized as a civil posse, acting under the orders of the Mayor, and Sheriff of Cook County, were divided into companies, and patrolled the streets in nearly every section of the city. All business of every character had been completely suspended. There were no busy hands nor toiling brains in the great commercial marts of the metropolis of the lakes. There was a mingled feeling of apprehension and hopefulness agitating every breast throughout the mighty hive of humanity.
There are reasons for the belief that the lawless elements had not been idle during the night. Quiet consultations had been held, and a sort of understanding between various hands and cliques of the turbulent elements, as to what their course should be, had been arrived at. Such was the situation in Chicago, on the morning of the 26th of July, 1877. The city was resting above a volcano, that gave token of a coming eruption. That it was not involved in sudden and certain destruction, is believed to be due to the careful and extensive preparations which had been made. The action of Mayor Heath, throughout, showed him to be a man of calm disposition, cool judgment, and possessed of great practical wisdom. In every movement made during those anxious days, he displayed a calmness that fitted him to judge correctly, a judgment that enabled him to decide justly, on every issue presented. Knowing that numbers of honest, but illiterate and unreflecting men, would naturally be drawn into the maelstrom of passion engendered by the mob, he directed that life should not be lightly regarded, and ordered his forces to be as sparing as possible in the destruction of life. Sternly resolved upon enforcing the law, he yet retained the feelings of a man, and to his humanity and justice, in ordering the municipal forces to fire high, and spare life whenever it was possible, many a poor, misguided man in Chicago was spared to his family, to his friends, perhaps to a career of honor and usefulness. In this respect, the conduct of Mayor Heath, contrasted with that of some other official characters, is like a ray of light in a cave of darkness. He might have decreed the death of hundreds—many innocent ones among them—but he did not. Nevertheless, it is contended by some, that like many others during those days, Mayor Heath placed himself in a position amenable to censure, by violating the supreme law of the land in a manner that requires the severest reprobation. He assumed to interdict the meeting of societies in their own halls, in palpable violation of the first article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” What right had Mayor Heath, Chief of Police Hickey, Governor Cullom, aye, or the President of the United States to interdict the meeting of the coopers or the moulders, or any other assemblage of citizens? What right had they to interfere with any one on account of words spoken? The “freedom of speech shall not be abridged.” But, his mistake may be excused.
These things are mentioned here, because it is important to remember that lawlessness should meet with prompt and stern reprobation from every patriotic citizen, whether it is developed among illiterate laborers or among the cultivated leaders of social and political opinions. There is some excuse for the ignorant, who, misguided by evil counselors, may be betrayed into the commissions of unlawful acts. There can be no extenuating plea in favor of the cultivated, and certainly no possible plea, can be entered in behalf of those who are the administrators of the law.
The citizens of Chicago were not long kept in doubt as to the purposes of the mob on Thursday morning. At a very early hour men began to assemble in various localities, little knots at first, they were the nuclei of great multitudes. At seven o’clock in the morning, the city was already in a feverish condition, and the streets were thronged by an excited populace. The hopes which had been entertained by some, that there would be no demonstration of the mob on Thursday, was dissipated.
As early as seven o’clock, intelligence reached police headquarters, that lawless mobs were beginning to concentrate at the Halstead street viaduct, where a fight had occurred the preceding night. Rioters came from all parts of the city, and before nine o’clock not less than ten thousand persons were present. It was evident that the mob was bent on violence, and hesitated in their maddened frenzy at nothing. The north approach to the viaduct, and the structure itself, was thronged by an immense mass of rioters. When the crowd seemed in the highest state of excitement, sixty men under officer Frainer arrived, and the moment the rioters beheld the approach of the police officers, they broke into small gangs and fled howling like fiends. The police followed on a run in pursuit of them, firing as they ran. A counter charge was made by the rioters in an attempt to pass the police on the viaduct, in order that there might be a force of desperadoes on each side of the beleaguered officers of the law. The scheme was frustrated by the free use of billies, and display of pistols, from which blank cartridges were fired.
The mob then proceeded to Sixteenth street where a halt was made. A large body turned into Sixteenth street and a similar crowd went east in the direction of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad freight houses. There was a brief moment of inaction, during which the police formed in line and prepared for a charge.
This was a signal for a perfect shower of stones, pistol shots, and other missiles. For a little time the wildest disorder prevailed. It was evident that the police could not resist the overwhelming forces arrayed against them half an hour. A discharge of weapons was kept up at short intervals in reply to the stones that were being continually hurled at them from all sides. With every moment of delay, during which the rioters were unharmed, the belief grew in their minds that the police were not firing bullets, and they began surging nearer a central rallying point. Several times did a few of the more daring attempt to break in upon the sturdy band of police, and each time they were successfully repulsed. At last the police received intimation that reenforcements were coming up Halstead street. They justly concluded that their situation became more precarious each moment.
The police, seeing the impossibility of resisting the mighty tide of humanity which was surging down upon them, hastily formed in line, and, raising a great shout, started to retreat across the viaduct. The roughs rushed forward in pursuit, with shouts and yells that startled every listener. It seemed as if all the infernal imps had come from their gloomy retreat to curse the earth by their presence. Flight after flight of stones, hurled by strong arms, assailed the police officers as they moved away on Halstead street. The police attempted to guard their retreat at first, but soon found it absolutely impossible, and turned and fled. The race for life was then one of the wildest and most exciting that could be imagined. The vast throng hung close upon the heels of the police, and did not cease until the latter arrived at Fifteenth street, where a relief force had just arrived. This consisted of a squad of fifty mounted police—armed with repeating rifles. When the rioters saw these they turned to retreat. Then began the battle, the police keeping up constant firing, and using clubs to good advantage. In this affair only two persons were killed, one of whom was a bright-eyed boy, who received a death-blow from a stone.
The numbers comprising the mob began to increase, and the police felt incompetent to master the situation. About eleven o’clock, the second regiment appeared with two pieces of artillery, which produced something like a panic in the ranks of the infuriated mob, the rioters scattered in various directions, but continued to hurl stones and fire their pistols. As they began to disperse a mounted troop of members of the Grand Army of the Republic were fired into by occupants living in a private house. The parties who did the shooting were arrested by the police and locked up.
The second battle of the day occurred in the forenoon, on Twelfth street, where a large crowd of rioters greeted the officers with yells and threats. The usual weapons, stones and other missiles, filled the air. A number of officers were seriously hurt. The crowd surged into Turner Hall on Twelfth street, and picked up chairs and used them for weapons. Revolvers were fired from all directions. Five of the rioters were killed and over thirteen badly wounded. After twelve o’clock three companies of regular troops arrived in the locality of the riot, and their presence had the desired effect, and by three o’clock P. M. the mob was pretty well dispersed. In that part of the city, during the afternoon, every precaution was made to prevent a further spread of the riot. At five o’clock four more companies of regulars arrived in the city, and citizens organized in every form and manner for the protection of life and property. Saloons were closed and business was suspended. The Board of Trade had adjourned. Business men entered into various organizations which were stationed at the threatened points throughout the city.
During the hours between, say nine o’clock in the morning and two o’clock in the evening, Chicago was suffering in the throes of an excitement which is indescribable. The newspaper offices were besieged by vast crowds, eager to get the least bit of intelligence from the so-called battle that was in progress in the neighborhood of the Halstead street viaduct, and on Sixteenth street. Mounted couriers rode in wild haste from point to point, and reports of the most terrible massacres and slaughters were repeated from lip to lip, and believed by thousands. Men turned pale at the blood-curdling recital of horrors at the viaduct, and women swooned when the horrifying reports fell upon their ears. The most exaggerated stories prevailed concerning the character of the collision at the Halstead street viaduct. Ten blocks away from the spot where the mob and police were engaged in something of a fight, such stories as were circulated were perfectly astounding. At one time a report flew, and grew in magnitude and horror as it flew through the city, to the effect that the mob had vanquished the police force of nearly a hundred men, had captured more than thirty of them, and had deliberately massacred the whole number, before the eyes of the citizens, who were powerless to assist them. At another time it was reported that the regular United States troops had gone out Halstead street, with a four-gun battery charged with grape shot and canister, and two Gatling guns, and had opened fire on the mob with the most horribly destructive effects—that hundreds—nay thousands of the rioters had been killed, and that Halstead and Sixteenth streets were literally flowing with blood.
The effect of such reports, when there were no means of ascertaining the truth, was to excite the people beyond all precedent. To ladies pent up in their houses during these exciting scenes, hearing nothing but the exaggerated reports that flew through the streets, with brothers, husbands, fathers, and lovers, engaged in the strife, the day was one of unmitigated misery. The anguish of doubt, the deceitfulness of appearances, the alternations of fear and of hope, of courage and despair, were some of the mental distresses that tormented them during that memorable day.
During the afternoon, and the early part of the evening, there were few exciting incidents, and the city was comparatively quiet. The hopes of the people were once more raised, the belief had become general, that the mob had dispersed, and would not gather again.
At half-past eleven at night a large mob gathered at the corner of Sixteenth and Halstead streets, augmented by the presence of a great number of Bridgeport roughs. Indications at first pointed to as serious an affair as the fights occuring in the morning, at the same locality. The mob were evidently just as wild with excitement as at any time during the day, but upon the approach of the Second Regiment of militia, all indications toward actual violence passed away, after stones had been hurled in the air with the desired effect, and after three soldiers and two policemen had been badly wounded. Some of the rioters were dangerously wounded.
At a late hour in the evening of the 26th, the quiet suburban village of Lawndale, was the scene of one of the most brutal murders which disgraced the city during the continuance of the riots. The circumstances under which it was committed, were these: Mr. James White, a respected member of the Chicago Board of Trade, acting in the capacity of a special police officer, was patrolling his beat in that village, when he saw a person whose actions appeared to be suspicious. Mr. White proceeded to arrest him, and was conducting him to the station, or headquarters in the village. The person under arrest went quietly enough for some distance, but finally concluded not to submit to the arrest, and began to resist. While engaged in the struggle with his captor, the prisoner, suddenly drew a revolver, presented it at the head of Mr. White, and fired. The ball penetrated the brain and the unfortunate gentleman fell and expired in a few minutes. The fellow who had committed the horrible deed then fled, and was not arrested. The next day the merchants of the Board of Trade raised the sum of three thousand five hundred dollars, which was appropriated for the benefit of the family of the deceased merchant.
The field of operation during the day was confined to the district of the city between Canal and Green streets, and between Twelfth and Twenty-second streets. It was within these limits that the rioting was confined. In other parts of the city there were occasionally threatening demonstrations, but nothing came of them, save alarm to a few timid souls.
All the afternoon and during the early part of the evening the police were busied in making arrests. Numerous persons were taken to the lockups. Among them some who had been particularly conspicuous in inciting the rioters. One of the notable facts connected with the events of this somewhat eventful day, was the presence and active participation of women in the riots. In the neighborhood of the viaduct on Halstead street, they were very demonstrative. Taking up positions in their houses, they encouraged the male members of the mob to attack the police, and were excessively abusive to every one who wore a white shirt, or a uniform. Nor did they stop with abusive words, and insulting epithets. Many of them provided themselves with heaps of stones, pans of mud, and other dangerous and unpleasant munitions of war, and vigorously hurled them from the windows of houses upon the officers contending in the streets below. Not a few of these viragoes had pistols which they fired, sometimes with evil effect, at the policemen.
During the day the mob captured one of the Metropolitan Telegraph Stations, and prevented any despatches from being sent during the time they were in possession.
The Second Regiment of state troops were held as a reserve to the police force, during the conflict between the mob and the officers of the law. There was also a large force of special officers and independent companies, acting under the orders of the Mayor, in readiness to co-operate with the regular police force.
The newspapers of Chicago gave a somewhat exaggerated, but a very minute and complete history of all the incidents in connection with the conflicts between the police and the rioters. After the smoke had cleared away, after the fight was over and the mob dispersed, the before countless number of the slain of those fierce engagements was counted, and the number of those who sought and found gory graves were just seven. If Mr. White be regarded as one of the victims of the riot, then eight human beings had met death by violence since the riots began. This is the net result of various conflicts, which were heralded to the world as sanguinary battles, and the eight persons who lost their lives were all the dead of that “fearful carnage.”
If the day had been one of the most intense excitement, the evening was one of deepest anxiety to the people of Chicago. But except the gathering about Sixteenth and Halstead streets, which dispersed on the approach of the police and the military about eleven o’clock in the evening, the night wore away without further alarms.
There is one thing which particularly requires to be noticed at this point. Among the killed and the wounded, among all the prisoners captured, there was not a single railroadman. This is a significant fact. Who were the strikers? The Pariahs of the streets, the Communists, the idle and the vicious, who were not workingmen, who would not work for any wages, at any time. The railroadmen struck for higher wages, or to resist the reduction of the pitiful pittance they received for the dangerous services they performed, but they were, as a class, neither rioters, incendiaries, thieves nor murderers. The attempt to class the railroadmen with the mobs that showed so ugly a front in some of the large cities of the country, deserves the stern reprobation of every man, actuated by a sense of justice and humanity. They do not deserve it, and those who claim that workingmen constituted the mob, do so without evidence, and are guilty of slandering a useful class of citizens.
The day of excitement had passed away in Chicago, the events of the day had become a part of the history of the times. Another day had dawned, and the rumor-mongers were early busy with all sorts of startling reports. There were numerous assertions made that the mob was preparing for a more desperate re-encounter with the police; that they had secured arms and were organized, and would attempt to capture the city. The extravagance of the rumors circulated the day before, had a tendency to discredit the sensational stories that were circulated during the morning of the 27th. The adage, in time of peace prepare for war, had been acted upon by the military authorities, acting under the direction of the Mayor and Chief of Police. During that morning the forces were distributed as follows: Stock Yards, sixty regulars; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Freight House, Sixteenth street, two hundred; Twelfth street bridge, three hundred and fifty regulars of the Second Regiment; corner Twelfth and Halstead streets, two hundred of the First Regiment; Canal Park and South Morgan street, fifty of the First Regiment; south side of the Gas-works, General Lieb’s Battery, numbering sixty-five men; north side Water-works, sixty-five veterans; Union Street Police Station, fifty of the Second Regiment; corner Chicago and Milwaukee avenues, a possible rendezvous of Communists, sixty veterans; Halstead street, north of Twelfth, forty of the Post Office Guard, while Dalye and Walrus Mounted Guard were constantly patrolling that dangerous section.
Four hundred regulars were at the lake front awaiting orders. The regular and special police were at the center of the trouble. Citizens with police powers were in every section of the city.
There were some small crowds collected on Halstead street, and on Archer avenue, but these evinced no disposition to resort to violence. The sensation-mongers had no basis from which to send forth their exciting rumors. There was no mob, and of course there could be no riot. The mob had dissolved. The history of the whole day’s events would simply be a record of the evolutions of the mounted militia, and the police. The Mayor issued another proclamation, in which he declared that the city authorities had dispersed all lawless bands in the city, and law and order were restored. He urged and requested all business men and employers generally, to resume work and give employment, as much as possible, to their workmen. He considered this the first duty of the business community. He said he was amply able to protect them and their workmen.
Some unimportant strikes in stables, and among cigar makers took place, but there was no unpleasant demonstrations in connection with them.
The railroads were resuming business, and the city, though not in its normal condition of commercial activity, was rapidly recovering from the depression caused by the excitement of the four or five days preceding.
Chicago had indeed passed through an ordeal and had come out of the difficulties, which at one time were so threatening, with less loss of life and destruction of property than was expected.
There are no reasons for doubting the statements made at the time that a large number of people stopped in Chicago, who would not hesitate to apply the torch to buildings, or the knife to throats, if only the opportunity should present itself. Nor are there wanting proofs of the fact that a formidable attempt was made to create such an opportunity. It was fortunately frustrated. The only thing to be lamented was the necessity to take life in the suppression of disorders. This, however, could not be avoided. The misguided, hapless beings, who were hurried from the busy scenes of life on that day of turmoil and excitement, were men after all, men with dispositions not so greatly unlike those which prompt other men, actuated by emotions of kindness and love, and wrath and hate, just as other men whose position in life and surrounding circumstances alone gives them a precedence and a preference in the world’s regard. Were the seven men who met the messengers of death in Chicago more wicked than the thousands who escaped? We say certainly not.
Meanwhile so far as the great strike affected Chicago it was practically at an end. There were a few days of uncertainty, perhaps anxiety in the public mind, but no further actual trouble was experienced, and within the week business resumed its wanted channels, and Chicago was at peace.