The trial, Illinois vs. August Spies et…

The trial, Illinois vs. August Spies et al., which began on June 21, 1886, and goes on until August 11, has been conducted in an atmosphere of extreme prejudice by both public and media toward the defendants.

It is presided over by Judge Joseph Gary, who has displayed open hostility to the defendants, consistently ruled for the prosecution, and failed to maintain decorum.

A motion to try the defendants separately had been denied.

The defense counsel includes Sigmund Zeisler, William Perkins Black, William Foster, and Moses Salomon.

Selection of the jury had been extraordinarily difficult, lasting three weeks, and nearly one thousand persons called.

In the end a jury of twelve had been seated, most of whom had confessed prejudice towards the defendants.

All union members and anyone who expressed sympathy toward socialism had been dismissed.

Despite their professions of prejudice, Judge Gary seated those who declared that despite their prejudices they would acquit if the evidence supported it, refusing to dismiss for prejudice.

Eventually the peremptory challenges of the defense were exhausted.

Frustrated by the hundreds of jurors who were being dismissed, a bailiff had been appointed who selected jurors rather than calling them at random.

The bailiff proved prejudiced himself and selected jurors who seemed likely to convict based on their social position and attitudes toward the defendants.

The prosecution, led by Julius Grinnell, argued that since the defendants had not actively discouraged the person who had thrown the bomb, they were therefore equally responsible as conspirators.

The jury has heard the testimony of one hundred and eighteen people, including fifty-four members of the Chicago Police Department and the defendants Fielden, Schwab, Spies and Parsons.

Albert Parsons' brother claims there is evidence linking the Pinkertons to the bomb.

This reflects a widespread belief among the strikers.

Police investigators under Captain Michael Schaak had had a lead fragment removed from a policeman's wounds chemically analyzed.

They reported that the lead used in the casing matched the casings of bombs found in Lingg's home.

A metal nut and fragments of the casing taken from the wounded also roughly matched bombs made by Lingg.

Schaack concluded, on the basis of interviews, that the anarchists had been experimenting for years with dynamite and other explosives, refining the design of their bombs before coming up with the effective one used at the Haymarket.

At the last minute, when it was discovered that instructions for manslaughter had not been included in the submitted instructions, the jury had been called back, and the instructions were given.

The jury returns guilty verdicts for all eight defendants.

Before being sentenced, Neebe tells the court that Schaack's officers are among the city's worst gangs, ransacking houses and stealing money and watches.

Schaack laughs and Neebe retorts "You need not laugh about it, Captain Schaak. You are one of them. You are an anarchist, as you understand it. You are all anarchists, in this sense of the word, I must say." (Robert Loerzel, Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 (University of Illinois Press; 2003), p. 52.)

Judge Gary sentences seven of the defendants to death by hanging and Neebe to fifteen years in prison.