“A Bomb Explodes in Chicago”

Background: Published in the Chicago Tribune in 1886, this account purportedly described the scene after an unknown person exploded a bomb during a labor protest at Haymarket Square. This excerpt of a lengthy article appeared on May 5, the day after the incident. One of the first reports of the violence at Haymarket, the story reflected prevailing views of the police, anarchists, and immigrants.  

A Hellish Deed: A Dynamite Bomb Thrown into a Crowd of Policemen.

It explodes and covers the street with dead and mutilated officers— A storm of bullets follows— The police return the fire and wound a number of rioters— Harrowing scenes at the Desplaines Street Station— A night of terror . . .

The Anarchists slunk back as a large company of policemen on foot marched down Desplaines Street, their faces white with determination and their hands on their revolvers ready to shoot to kill at their commanding officer’s order. This company of police marched in front of the station while the dead and dying were being carried in.  Several times the mob advanced with wild shouts from the north, but they were kept back as far as Randolph Street. The Anarchists, led by two wiry-whiskered foreigners, grew bolder and made several attempts to renew the attack but the police held their ground. The wind-bag orators who had harangued the fire-eaters earlier in the evening were not the leaders after business began, but they slunk away and were out of danger. At 11:30, the police made a grand drive at the mob, which was growing larger instead of diminishing. Blank cartridges were fired from hundreds of revolvers in two volleys which set the crowd flying in all directions. The police gave chase as far as the Lyceum Theatre, firing again, and the crowd, covering Madison Street from curb to curb, did not stop running until Halsted Street was passed. This fusillade from the officers practically dispersed the mob, and at 11:45 there were but few people on the streets near the station.

Source: Chicago Tribune, May 5, 1886, http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/haymarket/news5-5.html