The Haymarket Riot.

An event that could be considered a black mark in

American history. It was an anarchist rally, after a protest at McCormick works
turned violent the day before in Chicago. The media, for one example, a German
newspaper the Arbeiter Zeitung translating to the Workers Newspaper stirred
the public to come to a rally held on the day after the McCormick incident. Tensions
were high, and with the police detachment sent, armed with plenty of firepower, the
whole thing was a powder keg waiting for someone to strike the match that would
light the whole thing up.
It was a rainy night, the crowd had been dispersing. Police watched over what
was left of it. A labor rally had just been in full gear, and had begun winding down.
However this rally, would be the beginning of an event that would snowball into a
riot leaving many people, dead or injured; and eight people convicted of a crime
they didnt even do. Going back to the point, said labor rally had been put into
motion from another protest resulting and some of these peoples fellow workers
deaths. The protest was led by anarchist leaders, acting on behalf of their fellow
anarchists, and fellow workers, remaining within the lines of their first amendment
rights. Just as the rally was drawing to a close, the unthinkable happened. A bomb
was thrown into the police line, resulting in the deaths of seven officers, as well as
the injuries of many others. Not only that but the officers proceeded to open fire on
the crowd, resulting in many more deaths and injuries. In the chaos, anarchist
leader Albert Parsons managed to sneak away, knowing very well that despite the
lack of evidence, he would be a first target for blame and arrest. While he had
gotten away, others were not so fortunate.
Which leads me into my next point: The Trial. After coming back to the town,
turning himself in basically, Parsons was among the eight men, known as the
Haymarket Eight. These eight men were anarchists who supposedly were
responsible for the bomb. These eight mens fates were determined by what was in
hindsight, a very biased judge, and jury. These eight men, despite the lack of
evidence, were convicted. Because of their being anarchists, saying their backs
were to the wall would be an understatement. Seven of these men were sentenced
to death, Parsons among them. Two of these mens sentences were reduced to life
in prison. On November eleventh, four of these men were executed. Family
members watched their slow, strangled death. The fifth one sentenced to death
committed suicide the day before his execution. This man; Louis Lingg committed
suicide via explosive in his mouth. It was said that he held it in his mouth like a
cigar, blew half his face off and suffered before dying roughly six hours later. The
rest of the eight began serving their prison time, obviously the lucky ones.
But, who really threw the bomb is the question, still posed today. It has
basically been proven, but is still skeptically looked upon by many that a man
named Rudolph Schnaubelt was the true bomber. Supposedly hired by police to
stir the whole mess up. The theories revolving around the events that played out
amass to a lot. Some even relevant to today.
In conclusion, the thoughts of what happened are somewhat frightening. The
idea that many riots, then, and now even could be provoked by an inside man.

Someone causing the deaths of many people because of some unknown reason.
The amount of conspiracy theories that have spawned about modern events, that
resemble what happened then are insane. They can leave one questioning the truth
about so many modern events, its frightening.