His Father's Namesake
High School: Grades 9–12
Story
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
A few hours later Albert Jr. was asleep. A pounding at the door roused him. He heard hushed voices—he knew it was his parents talking, but there were other voices he couldn't identify. He lay still in bed, terrified, as he heard: "I really think it's best that you get out of town as fast as you can." "Go now before daybreak and before the police come." "We'll be in touch." He heard the front door slam shut. He got out of bed, but his feet instinctively did not move.
Finally he forced himself to walk into the room where his mother stood, alone. He looked around, "Where is Papa?"
"Why are you up? Your father has had to go away. You will see him soon."
"But, Mama, why didn't you wake me up? Why didn't Papa come and say goodbye?" he said through his sobs.
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"We didn't want you to be upset. You know your father loves you. I didn't want to explain it to you tonight, but he just has to leave for awhile. There is a witch-hunt going on and your father is one of the people this corrupt city wants to put behind bars because he spoke at the Haymarket meeting. You'll just have to trust me that your father is better off not being here."
Albert Jr.'s heart ached trying to understand. His father wasn't a witch. All the next day, people came and went, talking about his father and about the events that happened at Haymarket after the Parsons family had left the meeting.
Albert Jr. started to walk up the stairs, but as soon as his mother's gaze turned away from him, he tiptoed back down the stairs and stood outside the door of the room where his mother and others were convened. "Now tell me exactly what happened," Lucy demanded.
"Well, after you left, the crowd got smaller. I went up near the platform to listen to Fielden. I would say that by about 10:30 P.M., there were only a few hundred there. The mayor had left, too. But while Fielden was still talking, I heard people suddenly whispering and looking away from him. I turned around and almost jumped. I saw at least a couple hundred policemen walking toward the platform. They came south from Desplaines. They immediately approached the platform. Everyone in the crowd was quiet. You could have heard a pin drop. One captain demanded of Fielden, 'In the name of the people of the state of Illinois, end this meeting immediately and peaceably.' Now I have to say, he was not rude or gruff, but he did speak sternly as though he meant it. Fielden stopped talking and looked down at the captain and said, 'But Captain, we are peaceable.' Then the captain told him again to stop talking. This time he was a little sterner. Fielden said, 'All right, we will go.' Then he climbed off the wagon."
Another of the Parsons' colleagues now took over the story: "I was about 25 feet away. I saw Fielden talking to the captain and then I saw him get off the platform. But suddenly I heard this loud hiss overhead. I looked up and saw a bomb flying over my head. I ducked. It didn't land near me, but it landed near the policemen who were around the platform. The next thing I know I hear policemen screaming, 'Matthias was hit.' With the crowd getting kind of crazy, I was pushed closer to the platform. I saw an officer writhing on the ground, blood gushing from his leg. Then it was just pandemonium. I have never seen anything like it. Crowds of people started running this way and that, huddling along side buildings for safety. Policemen and the crowd were firing willy-nilly. I got the feeling no one really knew whom they were shooting at or even why."
Albert Jr. heard his mother sigh and then say in a quiet voice, "It was right that you came here and we persuaded him to go. He'll be safer away from here."
Listening a little more, Albert Jr. learned that although the violence at Haymarket was over in a few minutes, seven police officers and at least four workers were dead. Albert Jr. went to bed but didn't sleep. He lay in bed petrified of any creak or moan he heard. Finally as dawn came, he had calmed himself by imagining his father's homecoming. Little did he know that the real tragedy for the Parsons family was just beginning.
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