Illinois vs. August Spies et al. trial evidence book. People's Exhibit 80.
Arbeiter-Zeitung (Newspaper) article, "Editorial," 1885 Dec. 28
2 p.
Introduced into evidence during testimony of Eugene Seeger (Vol. K p. 701-720), 1886 July 31.
Transcript of translation of article.
Peoples' Exhibit, 80. page 80.
December 28th, 1885. Second page.
EDITORIAL.
At last Chicago also has its dynamite sensation. Last Saturday morning, before the door of the palace whose proprietor is Lamber Tree, a little can was found, which as it was afterward shown, contained dynamite. The fuse partially burned up, indicating that there was a terrible attack, which had only failed on account of the unaccountable extinguishing of the fuse, evidently the dynamiter proposed to explode into the moon this big stone palace with a quarter of a pound of dynamite. And especially that fact speaks for the correctness of this theory, that he chose such a small quantity, and that he put it in stairs so carefully and so cleanly the terrible bit of--- well, of course, an anarchist.
Such a clumsy humbug has never before come to our notice. No man who has a little experience needs doubt for a moment who the perpetrator was. A fuse once ignited in a dry night is never extinguished by itself. The explanation of the shrewd police that the wind had extinguished it, shows the amount of culture of these protectors of law and order.
To be brief, that tin can, with the explosive and partially burned fuse, was put there by the firm of Pinkerton, a very ordinary business trick of that despicable gang, to give a serious aspect to that attack the end of the fuse was
allowed to burn before it was put into the can. The citizens will be exited about this "diabolical" plot, and all means must be engaged to find out the perpetrators. They call on Pinkerton, who at once puts three men at eight dollars a day, at their disposal. Now they have a sure trace of the perpetrator, he cannot fail to fall into their hands, the engagement must be prolonged. To prove that they were not idle, a poor devil is arrested once in a while, etc.
We want to caution our capitalistic fellow-citizens against this last attack of the Pinkertons upon their pockets, at the same time we want to advise them that true dynamiters are not so stupid as to enjoy such childs play. They do not joke in such matters, they do not blast a stone palace with a quarter of a pound of dynamite by laying it on the steps; and if they do undertake something like that, the fuse does not fail.