John Peter Altgeld sacrificed a successful career by making some politically unpopular
decisions in his only term as governor. He lost favor both with the citizens of Illinois
and with his colleagues, some of whom are pictured here in the Illinois Senate.

Altgeld's Sacrifice

Lucy Scharbach
University of Chicago Laboratory School, Chicago

John Peter Altgeld was governor of Illinois in the 1890s. One of his major accomplishments included pardoning three men convicted in Chicago's Haymarket Riot of 1886. He was also involved in the Pullman Strike of 1894. Many people thought his involvement in both was a mistake. Yet, Altgeld was a man of such fairness that he was willing to sacrifice his political career and his standing in polite society to promote justice in the labor movement.

John Peter Altgeld was born in Germany on December 30, 1847, and came to Mansfield, Ohio, as an infant. At sixteen, he served for one hundred days in the Civil War. After that, he worked as a manual laborer while educating himself to pass the bar exams in 1869. He eventually became a state's attorney for Cook County. From 1886 to 1891, he was a Superior Court judge. He accumulated a fortune in real estate and became interested in politics. Although Altgeld had little formal education, his experience in law gave him a cold, hard commitment to justice. He was familiar with legal proceedings, which became an important factor in pardoning three men convicted in the Haymarket Riot.

Altgeld was elected governor in 1892. He supported the public demand for reform legislation and was elected by farmers and laborers. Among his supporters were leaders like Clarence Darrow. He was elected "in a time when the German element in the U.S. was still growing in size and importance," according to historian Richard O'Connor.

For years before Altgeld was elected, Chicago had been experiencing labor strikes and labor unrest. One of the most dramatic occurrences at that time was the Haymarket Riot. On May 4, 1886, nearly one thousand men gathered at Haymarket Square in Chicago to protest police brutality during a strike at the McCormick Harvesting Machinery Company. The meeting was orderly and attended by the mayor. But as soon as Police Captain John Bonfield learned that the mayor was gone, he hurried to the meeting with two hundred policemen to disperse the crowd, which was slowly leaving. A bomb was thrown, and seven policemen were killed. The police opened fire on the unarmed bystanders. "Although it was impossible to tell who had thrown the bomb, eight Chicago labor leaders were tried on the grounds that they had preached labor agitation and violence, and had incited the bomb. All were found guilty; and seven were sentenced to death," in the words of Alt-

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geld biographer Henry Christman. Four men were executed before Altgeld came to office and the fifth committed suicide in prison. The other three were still in prison, waiting for their sentences to be carried out when Altgeld became governor. Many influential and wealthy Chicagoans signed petitions and wrote to urge executive clemency, claiming that the convicted were guilty but had been punished enough.

Altgeld's election as governor excited some. He had more liberal views than his predecessor, had a reputation of being totally honest, and was not afraid to act. The laborers of Chicago had high hopes of an easier time and some justice toward them. After months of reviewing the Haymarket case, on June 26, 1893, Governor Altgeld decided to pardon the three men on the grounds that they were not guilty. Altgeld showed in his pardon that the men had been convicted by a prejudiced jury and that no reliable evidence had been produced to show the men had any connection to the thrown bomb. He also made plain the bias of Judge Gary against the defendants. He made plain the fact that the justice system was unfair to the men, and it was a disgrace. Altgeld also accused the police department of brutality toward a peaceable gathering. Though some praised the dissection of the trial record, they thought Altgeld had been too blunt and bitter in his comments.

Altgeld never believed the pardon would be popular or accepted even if it was grounded on mercy alone. When asked it he thought the pardon was a mistake, Altgeld thundered, "it is right!" And though he knew the storm would break, he never

Altgeld lost the bid for reelection due largely to his pro-labor position.

expected it would break with such ferocity. The newspapers paid no attention to the factual content of Altgeld's pardon. On the contrary, they tried to divert attention from it. Instead they launched a barrage of slander against him. To conservatives of the country, Altgeld's message was frightening because they genuinely feared trade unions and radicals. They wanted to suppress those groups, and Altgeld made it all the harder for them to do so. Altgeld was called everything from a "promoter of murder," to an "enemy of society," to the "destroyer of American values." Finally, Altgeld was labeled a foreigner, and there was talk of impeachment. Even Altgeld's supporters and friends, like Clarence Darrow and Jane Addams, were dismayed at his attack on the police and Judge Gary. Still, Altgeld stood his ground. Although the newspapers and polite society reviled him, the poor, the laborers, and the oppressed revered him. Many people wrote to Altgeld to thank him for his courage. But the most moving letters came from the pardoned men themselves.

Following Altgeld's Haymarket decision, another incident involving labor occurred. Workers in the American Railway Union, who were angry because of low wages, struck in 1894. Clashes were bitter throughout Illinois when strikers tried to separate Pullman cars from trains. President Cleveland called for Federal troops to intervene and keep order on the railway. Altgeld vigorously protested any kind of federal interference, saying the state troops could keep order. The strike was finally broken at the cost of twelve lives, and polite society was once again angry at Altgeld, this time for criticizing the President's judgment. Altgeld knew the consequences of his actions, but he did what he felt was right.

The following year, 1896, was an election year, and, needless to say, Altgeld lost the reelection bid, largely because of his Haymarket and Pullman stands. After that, he was an advocate for free silver and still spoke publicly, much to the dismay of some. He published several books and died on March 12, 1902, still hated by some. Though bitterly resented at the time, Altgeld's action concerning the Haymarket Riot came to be regarded as a wise and noble decision, and Altgeld himself thought it to be his most noteworthy achievement.

In conclusion, although Altgeld knew that the consequences of exposing injustice toward the labor movement might be controversial, he went ahead anyway. As a result, Altgeld lost his standing in polite society, his political career, and his friends, but being a man who believed he must do what he considered right, John Peter Altgeld is remembered today.—[From Paul Avrich, The Haymarket Tragedy; Henry M. Christman, The Mind and Spirit of John Peter Altgeld; Finis Farr, Chicago; Ray Ginger, Altgeld's America; Rudolf Hofmeister, The Germans of Chicago; Richard O'Connor, The German Americans.]

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