On May 4th. the
Chicago anarchists called for a rally at
Haymarket Square. August Spies arrived late to find a small number of workers milling around. He looked for Albert Parsons, an important co-worker in the
anarchist movement, but failing in finding him Spies climbed upon a wagon to use as a speakers rostrum and called the meeting to order. His speech was pretty moderate placing all the blame for the
destruction and
violence on uncompromising factory owners, the
bullying of the police, and the exaggerations of the press. Parsons finally arrived and spoke for about an hour blaming the
police and the Pinkertons for the worker's woes. Then Fielden, another local anarchist leader, spoke and in the midst of his oration a rain storm passed through causing the 1200 person crowd to dwindle to 400. Just as Fielden was closing his remarks a body of 180
officers--headed by John Bonfield--arrived and demanded the meeting be closed. Fielden, Spies and Parsons started to come off the podium saying that "We are peaceable." Then a
bomb struck killing one officer outright and six others died from wounds later. Fifty percent of the officers stationed at DesPlaines were
wounded. A general melee ensued in which many workers were
slain or wounded. The country, fanned by the press, was thrown into
hysteria. No one could possibly be treated fairly by the criminal
justice system.
source: http://www.its.ilstu.edu/cjhistory/hatmark.htm