Michael Schwab
(1854-1898)
Schwab was editorial writer for the German language worker's journal, Arbeiter-Zeitung. With August Spies he helped write the leaflet protesting the police attack on McCormick strikers and announcing the Haymarket rally on May 4, 1886. He briefly attended the rally, but had to leave to speak to a group of workers at the Deering Harvester plant on Clybourn Avenue. He was miles away from the rally when the bomb exploded.
In a travesty of courtroom justice, Schwab and the other members of the Haymarket Eight were found guilty of conspiring to throw the bomb that exploded at the rally. Schwab was originally given the death sentence, which was changed to life imprisonment by Governor Oglesby. He served 6 years in the Joliet penitentiary before he was pardoned by Governor John Altgeld. After his release, Schwab returned to work again at the anarchist daily Arbeiter-Zeitung, but resigned from the paper in 1895. He died 3 years later, leaving his wife
In a travesty of courtroom justice, Schwab and the other members of the Haymarket Eight were found guilty of conspiring to throw the bomb that exploded at the rally. Schwab was originally given the death sentence, which was changed to life imprisonment by Governor Oglesby. He served 6 years in the Joliet penitentiary before he was pardoned by Governor John Altgeld. After his release, Schwab returned to work again at the anarchist daily Arbeiter-Zeitung, but resigned from the paper in 1895. He died 3 years later, leaving his wife
Additional Resources
- Chicago History: Michael Schwab
- John P. Altgeld, "Reasons for Pardoning Fielden, Neebe and Schwab," Chicago Historical Society, www.chicagohs.org/
