This chronology is the same as that published in Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, Volume One: Made for America, 1890-1901, which the University of California Press has generously allowed us to make available on Sunsite.
This chronology is the same as that published in Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years, Volume One: Made for America, 1890-1901, which the University of California Press has generously allowed us to make available on Sunsite.
EG born to Taube Bienowitch and Abraham Goldman in Kovno, Lithuania, a province of the Russian empire.
Ezra Heywood published Uncivil Liberty, in support of suffrage and against marriage, which later served as the introduction to Cupid’s Yokes, the harbinger of free speech and obscenity cases for years to come.
Alexander Berkman born in Vilna, Lithuania.
The congress at Saint-Imier, Switzerland, marked the beginning of the Anti-Authoritarian International, following the split in the First International at The Hague. Among the delegates in attendance were Michael Bakunin, Carlo Cafiero, and Errico Malatesta.
Comstock Act signed into law in the United States.
National Free-Love Convention held in Ravenna, Ohio. Ezra and Angela Heywood and Benjamin Tucker attended.
Lassallean Social Democratic Working-Men’s Party of North America (SDWMPNA) formed with Adolph Strasser as head of executive board.
Comstock Act amended.
Ezra Heywood published Cupid’s Yokes.
In Philadelphia, the National Liberal League founded the First Centennial Congress of Liberals, called by the Free Religious Association and attended by freethought advocates. Opposition to the Comstock laws of 1873 (amended 1876) was organized.
At a Unity Convention in Philadelphia, the Working Men’s Party of the United States was founded when American delegates of the International Working Men’s Association dissolved their party and merged with the Workingmen’s Party of Illinois, the Social Political Workingmen’s Society of Cincinnati, and the Social Democratic Working-Men’s Party of North America.
At their secret congress held in the village of Tosti (near Florence), the Italian Federation of the Anti-Authoritarian International formally adopted the ideas of anarchist communism, breaking with Bakunin’s collectivist ideology.
First in series of strikes, later known as Great Railway Strikes. Baltimore and Ohio freight fireman and brakemen halt work after learning that lucrative dividends were paid to company shareholders, on the heels of another 10 percent cut in wages. Albert Parsons blacklisted for speaking at rally for Working-Mens Party of the United States in Chicago's Market Square.
At the final congress of the Anti-Authoritarian International in Verviers, Belgium, European anarchists groups were represented, as well as anarchist groups from Mexico, Uruguay, and Argentina. Peter Kropotkin was among the delegates.
Anthony Comstock personally arrested Ezra Heywood at meeting of the New England Free Love League in Boston; Heywood was charged with mailing two obscene publications, Cupid’s Yokes and R. T. Trall’s Sexual Physiology pamphlet.
The Working-Mens Party of the United States became the Socialist Labor Party of North America (SLP) at its convention in Newark, New Jersey.
Ezra Heywood’s trial began. Cupid’s Yokes deemed obscene by the jury, while Sexual Physiology was not. Sentencing postponed pending Heywood’s appeal.
National Liberal League presented petition (with 70,000 signatures) to Congress protesting the Comstock Act and calling for its repeal.
National Defense Association formed by E. B. Foote, A. L. Rawson, Edward Chamberlain, and others. Heywood, Benjamin Tucker, and Flora Tilton joined its executive committee.
Heywood’s appeal scheduled but delayed pending the outcome of a Supreme Court decision of the constitutionality of the Comstock laws. Sentenced to two years imprisonment and a $100 fine when the Supreme Court upheld the Comstock Act.
Mass meeting to protest Heywood’s conviction held in Boston by National Defense Association, which petitioned President Hayes for pardon.
Anti-socialist laws passed in Germany.
D. M. Bennett, the editor of The Truth Seeker, arrested on obscenity charges under Comstock Act for sending Cupid’s Yokes through the mail.
President Hayes pardoned Heywood.
Heywood released from prison.
Bennett’s case set to begin. He was found guilty of mailing obscenity.
The ruling against Bennett upheld.
Bennett sentenced to thirteen months at hard labor and a $300 fine.
Bennett released from prison.
In Switzerland, Peter Kropotkin’s definition of anarchist communism was adopted at the Congress of La Chaux-de-Fonds of the Jura Federation.
Alexander II mortally wounded by bomb in St. Petersburg set by the revolutionary group Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will).
Johann Most arrested in London for endorsing the assassination of Alexander II in 19 March Freiheit. Held for three months during his arraignment and trial (25–26 May); after an unsuccessful appeal (18 June), was sentenced (29 June) to sixteen months at hard labor.
Pogroms in Russia, tolerated and in some areas abetted by the authorities; instigated by rumors that the tsar’s assassins were Jews.
N. I. Kibalchich, Alexander Mikhailov, Sophia Perovskaya, Ivanovich Rysakov, and Andrei Ivanovich Zhelyabov, members of Narodnaya Volya, hanged for their part in the assassination of Alexander II.
International Social Revolutionary and Anarchist Congress in London. Delegates overwhelmingly endorsed propaganda by the deed. Among the participants were Victor Dave, Frank Kitz, Peter Kropotkin, Errico Malatesta, Saverio Merlino, Louise Michel, Johann Neve, and Joseph Peukert. Several American revolutionary groups were represented, including the Social Revolutionary Club of New York, Social Revolutionary Group of Philadelphia, and Socialist Labor Party of New York, German Branch; Gustave Brocher represented the Iowa Icarians; Miss M. P. LeCompte, associate editor of the Labor Standard, represented the Boston Revolutionists. Closed sessions were followed by a public meeting on 20 July.
Liberty founded, Boston, Massachusetts.
Congress of Social Revolutionary Groups in Chicago. Proceedings led by Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab, and August Spies. The Revolutionary Socialistic Party was formed, the first national anarchist association in the United States.
Johann Most released from prison.
Ezra Heywood arrested by Anthony Comstock for mailing Cupid’s Yokes and also mailing a special issue of The Word, featuring two poems by Walt Whitman including “A Woman Waits for Me” and an advertisement for a contraceptive syringe called by Heywood “the Comstock syringe.”
Most arrives in the United States; Freiheit reestablished in New York.
Ezra Heywood found not guilty of charges arising from his arrest on 26 October 1882.
Lucifer, the Lightbearer founded, Valley Falls, Kansas.
Pittsburgh congress convened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh Manifesto written largely by Johann Most but amended by Victor Drury, Albert Parsons, Joseph Reifgraber, and August Spies; document served as the ideological and programmatic basis of the International Working People’s Association. This was the first and last congress of the IWPA.
The Alarm founded, Chicago, Illinois.
Der arme Teufel founded, Detroit, Michigan.
EG arrived in the United States with her sister Helene; they settle in Rochester, New York, with their sister Lena.
EG found work as a garment worker. The rest of EG’s family immigrated to Rochester from St. Petersburg.
The Alarm is suppressed in Chicago.
Several hundred thousand workers across United States struck for eight-hour workday.
In Chicago, striking workers of McCormick Harvester plant clashed with police; four workers killed, several wounded.
At a rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square, bomb was thrown into midst of police. One officer was killed, several officers wounded. When police fired into the crowd, six policemen died from their wounds, and an unknown number of civilians. Casualties totaled 67, most from police bullets rather than bomb fragments. The identity of the bomb thrower was never determined but prominent Chicago anarchists subsequently arrested and tried for murder.
Johann Most arrested for incendiary nature of speech given to Workingmen’s Rifle Club in New York.
Most sentenced to one year in prison on Blackwell’s Island for inciting to riot as a result of his speech on 11 May.
Seven of the Haymarket anarchists found guilty and sentenced to death (George Engel, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab, and August Spies). Oscar Neebe was also found guilty of murder but sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
Comstock again arrested Heywood and charged him with mailing obscene materials; the case, however, was not prosecuted. EG heard New York socialist Johanna Greie Cramer speak in Rochester on the Haymarket case. See LML, p. 7.
EG married Jacob Kershner, gaining U.S. citizenship.
Most released from Blackwell’s Island.
Buffaloer Arbeiter-Zeitung founded, Buffalo, New York.
After a year of appeals, the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Haymarket anarchists.
The Alarm resumes publication under Dyer D. Lum’s editorship.
Refusing to let the state take his life, Haymarket anarchist Louis Lingg committed suicide by exploding in his mouth a dynamite cartridge that had been smuggled in by Dyer D. Lum in a cigar. Illinois Governor Oglesby commuted Fielden’s and Schwab’s death sentences to life in prison.
Haymarket anarchists George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parsons, and August Spies executed.
Most arrested in New York for illegal assembly and incitement to riot, later sentenced to one year on Blackwell’s Island; but out on bail pending appeal until 1891.
Between November 1887 and February 1888, EG and husband, Jacob Kershner, were divorced, and EG left Rochester for New Haven, Connecticut; met Russian socialists and anarchists, including Hillel Solotaroff; found work at a corset factory. Returned to Rochester, living with sister Helene’s family, and worked in sewing factory. According to LML (pp. 23–25), EG remarried Kershner, remained with him for three months, and then was shunned by her parents when she left Kershner for good.
AB immigrated to the United States.
According to its masthead, The Alarm began publication in both Chicago and New York until its cessation in February 1889.
Lucy Parsons left for speaking tour of England.
The Alarm ceased publication.
Der Anarchist founded, St. Louis, Missouri.
EG arrived in New York; met AB at Sachs’s restaurant and later met Johann Most at a meeting. Later in the month she found work first in a corset factory, then in a silk waist factory. See LML, pp. 25–29, 37.
EG worked at Freiheit office, helped organize 11 November Haymarket commemoration. EG and AB became lovers. They shared an apartment with Modest Stein, and the sisters Helene and Anna Minkin. See LML, pp. 43–44.
Most arranged EG’s first public lecture tour to Rochester, Buffalo, and Cleveland to speak on the limitations of the eight-hour movement. See LML, p. 46.
Most arrested in New York on 16 November 1887 charge but then released, pending second appeal.
Joseph Barondess asked EG to recruit women workers for the cloakmakers. See LML, p. 55.
EG became ill and forced to spend several weeks convalescing; had a brief affair with Modest Stein.
Although she and AB contemplated returning to Russia to help with revolutionary activities, EG instead accompanied Most on a two-week lecture tour of New England. See LML, pp. 63, 70.
EG spoke to Group 1 of the IWPA in Clarendon Hall, New York.
EG gave a talk at the home of J. Kuirim, 443 Pearl, New York, sponsored by IWPA, Agitation Committee.
EG spoke to Group 1 of IWPA in New York.
Spoke on the Paris Commune to a Newark branch of the IWPA in Phoenix Park Hall, Newark, New Jersey.
Spoke on “The Right to Be Lazy” in New York at Matthei’s, organized by IWPA .
Scheduled to speak to Group 1 of IWPAD, New York.
Ezra Heywood arrested for sending obscene material through the mail in his March 1890 publication of The Word. Two articles, one a “Letter from a Mother” on the topic of sexual education, and the other an article written by Angela Heywood charging Anthony Comstock with discrimination against women, were cited as obscene.
Demonstrations celebrating the labor holiday in Andalusia, Spain, end in reprisals by government authorities. In the wave of arrests that followed, over 150 anarchists and labor militants jailed.
EG spoke on “The Pittsburgh Proclamation of 1883” to the IWPA, West Side Group, New York.
Heywood’s trial began; found guilty and sentenced to two years at hard labor, without appeal.
AB attended talk in Clarendon Hall by Joseph Peukert, sponsored by Radikaler Arbeiter Bund.
First issue of Freie Arbeiter Stimme, New York.
To earn money to return to Russia and join the revolutionary work there, EG moved with AB, Stein, and Helene and Anna Minkin to New Haven to start a dressmaking cooperative. Until they built a clientele, EG worked temporarily at the corset factory where she had worked in 1888. AB gained employment in the printing trade.
They helped organize an anarchist educational group that attracted German, Russian, and Jewish immigrants; among the invited speakers were Most and Hillel Solotaroff. See LML, pp. 70–71.
EG and AB moved back to New York and began attending meetings of the Gruppe Autonomie, led by Joseph Peukert. See LML, pp. 74–75.
EG lectured in German before German- and Yiddish-speaking workers’ societies in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
EG spoke in Baltimore to members of IWPA in the afternoon. Later spoke in German to Workers’ Educational Society at Canmakers’ Hall. Michael Cohn and William Harvey also spoke.
Most arrested in New York along with others, including Lucy Parsons and Hugh O. Pentecost, speaking on the Haymarket anarchists.
Conference of Yiddish anarchists held in Clarendon Hall, New York; called by Freie Arbeiter Stimme. AB attended and proposed an investigation of the charges by Johann Most against Joseph Peukert.
EG spoke at mass meeting of the International Working Men’s Association in New Haven, Connecticut, Trades Council Hall.
Spoke at a “Great Commune Celebration” sponsored by the International Working Men’s Association in New Haven, Connecticut, Trades Council Hall.
Marched with the Working Women’s Society of the United Hebrew Trades at May Day parade in New York. See LML, pp. 79–80.
At a May Day demonstration in Clichy Levallois, France, two anarchists were arrested after violent clashes with the police and sentenced to three and five years, respectively, although the prosecutor had asked for the death sentence.
Most began second term on Blackwell’s Island.
EG addressed a mass meeting held to protest the Supreme Court’s upholding of Most’s 1887 conviction for illegal assembly and incitement to riot.
EG moved to Springfield, Massachusetts; worked in a photography studio with Modest Stein. In Worcester, AB, Stein, and EG opened their own studio. When this failed, they opened an ice cream parlor; when the ice cream parlor opened “it was spring and not yet warm enough for an ice-cream rush” (LML, p. 82). They planned to raise money to return to Russia to respond to the political repression under Alexander III.
Socialist League of New York founded during the early part of this year.
Der Anarchist moved to New York from St. Louis, Missouri.
Joe Deakin arrested in London. First arrest in the Walsall case.
As a result of the government persecutions in 1890, uprising of Spanish peasants in Jerez. Hundreds were arrested and beaten by government agents. Sixteen men tried and convicted; their sentences ranged from ten years to life. Anarchist Fermín Salvochea, known as the “saint,” was later tried for inciting the “riot,” although he had been imprisoned in Cadiz during the incident.
Four anarchists, arrested in the wake of the Jerez uprising, executed in Jerez.
A meeting was held at Cooper Union, organized by New York anarchist communists to protest against the execution of Spanish comrades in Jerez. John Edelmann, Henry Weismann, and Roman Lewis all spoke.
Ravachol bombed house of the judge who conducted the trial against the Clichy Levallois anarchists involved in 1 May 1891 incident; also bombed the prosecutor’s house on 27 March; there were no injuries from either bomb.
Ravachol arrested in Paris for bombings.
Trial of Walsall anarchists began.
Liberty moved to New York.
Four of the six Walsall anarchists (Fred Charles, Jean Battola, Victor Cailes, and Joe Deakin) found guilty in an English court of conspiracy to make a bomb. William Ditchfield and John Westley found innocent and released.
Most released from Blackwell’s Island.
Ravachol sentenced to life for bombings.
Liberty’s first issue in New York.
Freie Arbeiter Stimme ceased publication.
EG, Most, and other anarchists attempted to speak at the Central Labor Union’s May Day celebration in Union Square, New York.
Solidarity (John Edelmann, editor) founded, New York.
Ravachol found guilty of murder of French miser (unconnected with bombings).
Workforce locked out of Homestead steel works.
In a battle with Pinkerton strikebreakers, at least nine striking Homestead steel plant workers and three Pinkerton detectives killed.
Henry Bauer and two others attacked by strikers at Homestead, who “want nothing to do with the agents of Most.”
EG composed an appeal to workers in English and German. See LML, p. 86.
Ravachol executed by guillotine.
AB left New York for Pittsburgh, arrived 11 p.m. on 13 July.
AB registered at the Merchants Hotel near the train depot as Mr. Rakhmetov.
At 10 a.m., AB went to Carl Nold’s home, where he stayed for eight days. Met Bauer through Nold.
AB shot and stabbed Carnegie’s steel company manager, Henry C. Frick, wounding but not killing him. In the aftermath, EG suspected of complicity but not charged; police raided her apartment, seizing her papers. The press refer to EG as the “Queen of the Anarchists.”
Debate over AB’s act began within anarchist and radical circles.
Nold arrested.
Bauer arrested.
In an interview with the New York World, Most criticized AB’s action.
EG attacked Most in Der Anarchist
EG chaired meeting at Military Hall, 193 Bowery, New York, in defense of AB’s act. Speakers included Dyer D. Lum, Saverio Merlino, and Joseph Peukert.
EG spoke at meeting of Gruppe Autonomie, along with Joseph Peukert at the Zum Großen Michel saloon, 209 Fifth Street, New York.
Most’s article “Attentats-Reflexionen,” criticizing AB’s action yet praising his courage, written 31 July, appears in Freiheit.
AB sentenced to twenty-two years in prison; EG learns about his sentence while lecturing in Baltimore. Announcement prompts audience alarm, police action, and EG’s arrest.
Simon Wing and Charles H. Matchett received 21,164 votes for president and vice-president, respectively, on the SLP ticket, marking the first time the socialist movement entered the national political scene.
EG visited AB at the Western Penitentiary, Allegheny City, Pennsylvania. See LML, p. 111.
Met Robert Reitzel in Detroit. Lectures intermittently. Met Edward Brady.
Spoke in Clarendon Hall, New York, at a meeting denouncing congressional schemes to restrict immigration. John Edelmann, Pedro Esteve, and Saverio Merlino also spoke.
EG struck Johann Most in the face with a small horsewhip at a meeting at 98 Forsyth Street, New York.
EG begins her relationship with Ed Brady.
Freie Arbeiter Stimme resumes publication.
New York stock market crashed. In a series of events, beginning with the failure of a major railroad, the Panic of 1893 began. U.S. Treasury will be bankrupted for first time in its history, threatening collapse of U.S. government. Events lead to public panic and subsequent rush to withdraw money. By end of year, close to 500 banking institutions and 16,000 businesses declared bankruptcy and hundreds of thousands out of work.
At a meeting at Ulrich’s Hall in Chicago, the American Railway Union was officially launched, with Eugene Debs as president.
Approximately 8,000 attended dedication of monument to Haymarket anarchists at Chicago’s Waldheim Cemetery.
Illinois Governor Altgeld unconditionally pardoned the remaining Haymarket anarchists—Samuel Fielden, Oscar Neebe, and Michael Schwab—condemning the Haymarket affair as judicial murder, and effectively ending his political career.
EG returned to Rochester to recuperate from illness. See LML, p. 120.
Die Brandfackel began publication, New York.
Solidarity ceased publication.
Anarchists in attendance at the Zurich congress of the socialist Second International were excluded, and a resolution was passed stating that only those who regarded political action as a necessary strategy would be permitted into the proceedings.
Unemployed rioted at Walhalla Hall in New York.
EG addressed a meeting at Golden Rule Hall, New York, urging the needy to take bread if they are hungry.
After speaking at a demonstration in Newark, EG led procession of several hundred to Union Square, New York, where she and others addressed a crowd of the unemployed.
EG spoke to a large crowd at Union Square, New York, in German and English.
EG lectured in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn; went to Philadelphia where she met Max Baginski and Voltairine de Cleyre. See LML , pp. 123–24, 216.
Warrants issued at Essex Market Police in New York for the arrest of six of the speakers at the 21 August Union Square meeting. EG, Joseph Barondess, Julius Bodansky, Pauline Sieger, Claus Timmermann, and Adolph Ury were charged with incitement to riot.
Claus Timmermann arrested and held on $5,000 bail. Charged with unlawful assembly.
As she was about to address a rally of the unemployed in Buffalo Hall in Philadelphia, EG arrested on the New York warrant.
Claus Timmermann tried for inciting to riot at the 21 August Union Square demonstration; sentenced to six months on Blackwell’s Island.
A New York grand jury indicted EG on charges stemming from her 21 August speech.
EG returned from Philadelphia to New York by police.
Pled not guilty.
Bail set at $1,000; released on bail.
Benefit concert held at New Irving Hall in New York to raise money for EG’s defense.
In retaliation for the Jerez executions, on 16 February 1982, Paulino Pallás attempted to kill the captain general of Catalonia, Arsenio Martínez de Campos, wounding him slightly, killing 2 and wounding 12. He was immediately arrested, subsequently convicted, and sentenced to death within days of the incident.
The International Anarchist Convention, Chicago, coinciding with the world’s fair, was banned by the police but held anyway, on the premises of the Chicago Times. Broad range of anarchist opinion was represented by the twenty-five in attendance, including William Holmes, Voltairine de Cleyre, and C. L. James.
EG tried; defended by ex-New York mayor A. Oakey Hall; found guilty of inciting to riot.
Paulino Pallás executed by firing squad.
EG sentenced to Blackwell’s Island for one year.
EG began serving her term; worked first in the prison’s sewing department and later as an orderly in the prison hospital.
Avenging Pallás’s execution, Santiago Salvador French, an associate, bombed a Barcelona opera house, killing 22 and injuring almost 50. Spanish government suspended constitutional liberties; many suspected radicals detained, tortured. Seven anarchists, including French, later executed, four given life terms.
Auguste Vaillant threw bomb of nails into the French Chamber of Deputies; no one killed; Vaillant injured in the blast, later confessed while in hospital.
The French government passed the first of the three lois scélérates, making provocation of violence, possession of explosives, and conspiratorial associations punishable by long prison terms. The other two laws were passed on 18 December 1893 and 28 July 1894.
A “Grand Concert and Ball” held at New York’s Clarendon Hall for the benefit of EG “and others now suffering for freedom of speech.” Features performance by the Internationale Arbeiter Liedertafel. Voltairine de Cleyre delivered “In Defense of Emma Goldmann and the Right of Expropriation.” Afterward de Cleyre visited EG in prison.
Vaillant on trial for bombing of Chamber of Deputies, found guilty and sentenced to death.
Vaillant executed.
In response to the lois scélérates (the “draconian” measures of the French government against anarchists) and the execution of Vaillant, Émile Henry bombed Café Terminus in Paris, killing one person, and injuring many.
Claus Timmermann released from Blackwell’s Island.
Strike breaks out at Pullman railroad car plants in Chicago over savage wage cuts.
Émile Henry executed.
French president Marie François-Sadi Carnot assassinated in Lyons by Sante Caserio, in retaliation for Vaillant’s execution.
American Railway Union (ARU) servicemen, under the leadership of Eugene Debs, began refusing to service trains with Pullman cars in support of the striking Pullman workers.
A federal injunction issued against the leaders of ARU over their actions.
President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago.
Fires caused by 6,000 protesters destroyed 700 railcars and caused $340,000 of damage in South Chicago Panhandle railway yards.
National Guardsmen fired into crowd of strikers in Chicago, several people killed. Eugene Debs and other ARU leaders arrested for disobeying the federal injunction.
Pullman plants reopened; the strike broken.
Sante Caserio executed.
EG released after serving ten months. Her account of her experience, “My Year in Stripes,” appeared in the New York World on 18 August.
A meeting at the Thalia Theatre, New York, welcomed EG back; Sarah Edelstadt, John Edelmann, Pedro Esteve, Charles Mowbray, and Maria Roda also spoke.
EG spoke on “The Right of Free Speech” at a mass meeting in Phoenix Park Hall in Newark called by the American Labor Union, Branches 1 and 2. Voltairine de Cleyre, John Edelmann, and Charles Mowbray also spoke.
Met with John and Orsena Swinton (both had visited her at Blackwell’s Island), and resolved to conduct more propaganda in English. Spoke in Baltimore. Moved into an apartment with Edward Brady. See LML, pp. 154–56.
Began a new campaign for the commutation of AB’s sentence; worked as a nurse. See LML , p. 157.
Alfred Dreyfus, member of the French War Ministry, arrested and accused of selling military secrets to the Germans.
The 15 October arrest of French officer Alfred Dreyfus for espionage publicly announced in the antisemitic paper La Libre Parole.
EG spoke at a Haymarket commemoration in New York; Max Baginski, Voltairine de Cleyre, John Edelmann, Charles Mowbray, and Justus Schwab also spoke.
Spoke with Charles Mowbray in West Hoboken, New Jersey.
Left New York for Pittsburgh.
Spoke in Pittsburgh.
Spoke in German in Baltimore at Canmakers Hall. Mowbray also spoke, in English.
Santiago Salvador French executed.
Alfred Dreyfus court-martialed, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison on Devil’s Island, French Guiana. The controversy surrounding his case, known as l’Affaire, will grow over the next ten years, dividing the country and sparking debate internationally.
C.W. Mowbray arrested and charged with inciting to riot and sedition against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Die Brandfackel ceased publication.
EG helped organize a ball at Clarendon Hall, New York, sponsored by the Joint Anarchist Groups of New York. Proceeds went to Solidarity which was struggling nancially.
Lectured in hall on 54 East St., New York, on Strikes. Landlord at first barred EG from hall but later relented for one lecture only and returned a three-month rent deposit.
The Firebrand founded, Portland, Oregon.
Alfred Dreyfus transferred to Devil’s Island, where he was placed in solitary confinement.
EG, Claus Timmermann, and Ed Brady opened an ice cream parlor in Brownsville, Brooklyn; the venture failed within three weeks.
AB s appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court proved legally impossible; EG began soliciting funds for an appeal to the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons. SeeLMLp. 175.
Der Anarchist ceases publication.
Debs begins a six-month sentence for conspiracy over the Pullman strike in McHenry County Jail, Woodstock, Illinois.
La Questione Sociale, Italian-language anarchist paper, founded, Paterson, New Jersey.
EG traveled to England, arrived in London on 22nd.
Reception in London for EG sponsored by French anarchists. EG met Louise Michel.
EG addressed crowds at open air meetings in London’s Hyde Park; spoke in Whitechapel, Canning Town, Barking, and Stratford. Topics included “The Futility of Politics” and “Its Corrupting Influence.” Met Kropotkin and Malatesta. German police monitored her movements in London, prepared to arrest her if she entered Germany.
The Rebel founded, Boston.
EG appeared at the South Place Institute in Finsbury with James Tochatti and Louise Michel, among others. Spoke on “Political Justice in England and America,” highlighting AB’s case.
EG traveled to Scotland; during her stay lectured in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Maybole. OCTOBER Freie Gesellschaft, Yiddish-language anarchist cultural and literary journal, founded, New York.
EG traveled to Vienna to begin formal training in nursing and midwifery at the Allgemeines Krankenhaus. While there read works by Friedrich Nietzsche, attended Richard Wagner operas, saw Elenora Duse perform, and attended lectures by Sigmund Freud. Delivered lectures on Saturdays in the circle of the independent socialists. SeeLML p. 170.
Debs released from prison.
Left Vienna for Paris; there met Augustin Hamon.
Die Sturmglocken founded, Chicago. Ceased publication in April.
The Rebel ceased publication.
Lucifer, the Lightbearer moved to Chicago from Kansas.
EG back in New York, continued to live with Ed Brady on Eleventh Street; worked as midwife and nurse; solicited Voltairine de Cleyre’s support on AB’s behalf; helped arrange lectures for John Turner. SeeLMLpp. 176 78.
Spoke at Clarendon Hall at John Turner’s last New York lecture (before he traveled to Boston). Speakers included John Edelmann, Charles Mowbray, and Lothrop Withington.
At a demonstration in Union Square, helped distribute a manifesto written by her and a group of American-born comrades in New York.
Bomb exploded during the Corpus Christi Day procession in Barcelona killing 11, wounding approximately 40; Spanish authorities imprisoned hundreds of anarchists and radicals suspected of involvement. Subsequent reports of torture in Montjuich Prison sparked international protests.
London congress of the socialist Second International.
Anarchist delegates expelled from the London congress of the Second International; anarchists and social revolutionaries convened their own meeting that night. Delegates included Peter Kropotkin, Errico Malatesta, Pietro Gori, Louise Michel, Élisée Reclus, Jean Grave, Harry Kelly, and Charles Mowbray. Final break between anarchism and organized international socialism.
EG acted as chief usher at a debate in Clarendon Hall, New York, between John Turner and Charles H. Cook on “Will Free Coinage of Silver Benefit the People?” During EG’s speech advertising a commemoration meeting for the Haymarket anarchists she was interrupted by an abusive and drunken Johann Most.
EG spoke before the Philadelphia Ladies Liberal League on her experiences on Blackwell’s Island.
EG spoke before a mass meeting called by a Philadelphia Jewish group to honor the Haymarket anarchists and raise money for AB; spoke later that evening on “Woman’s Cause” to the Young Men’s Liberal League.
EG lectured in Baltimore; raised money for AB’s appeal.
Lectured in Pittsburgh, primarily in German; raised money for AB. Aided by Harry Gordon. Topics included “The Jews in America,” “Anarchism in America,” and “The Effect of the Recent Election on the Condition of the Workingman.” Her concluding lecture addressed the Haymarket affair.
Eighty-seven Spanish anarchists on trial for the Corpus Christi Day bombing.
Sentences handed down in Corpus Christi Day bombings. Eighteen given long prison terms, five sentenced to death.
EG gave several lectures in Providence, Rhode Island, including “What Is Anarchism?” and “Is It Possible to Realize Anarchism?” Police prevented her from addressing a second open-air meeting on the grounds that she had no permit. Local socialists disavowed connection to EG.
EG spoke in Philadelphia on the topic “The Women in the Present and the Future.” Back in New York EG underwent an operation on her foot, requiring several months of recuperation.
Five Spanish anarchists executed in connection with the Corpus Christi Day bombing.
Carl Nold and Henry Bauer released from prison. SeeLMLp. 197.
Social Democracy of America was organized at the annual convention in Chicago of the American Railway Union. Leading members included Eugene Debs and Victor Berger.
Michele Angiolillo assassinated Spanish prime minister Cánovas del Castillo in retaliation for the deaths of the five Spanish anarchists executed 4 May.
EG spoke at meeting of 1,000 at Clarendon Hall in New York celebrating Cánovas’s death. Harry Kelly and Salvatore Pallavencini also spoke.
At a public meeting in Clarendon Hall, New York, EG faced criticism from Charles B. Cooper and other anarchists for glorifying Cánovas’s death rather than advancing the cause of anarchy by explaining the reasons for his assassination.
Beginning a four-month lecture tour, EG spoke at an open air meeting in Olneyville Square, Providence, Rhode Island.
Spoke at an open air meeting in Burgess Square, Providence.
Spoke in Boston on the topic “Must We Become Angels to Live in an Anarchist Society?”; collected money for victims of Spanish repression. That evening spoke on Cánovas’s assassination at Providence Casino. John H. Cook chaired meeting.
Having been warned by Providence’s mayor that she would be arrested if she spoke outdoors again, EG held an open-air lecture at Market Square, Providence, Rhode Island, in opposition to his warning. She was prevented by the police from continuing her speech, taken to the police station, held overnight, and released the next day at noon, but was threatened with three months imprisonment if she did not leave town within 24 hours.
At least 19 striking coal miners shot and killed at Hazleton, Pennsylvania; close to 40 others seriously injured.
EG spoke in Boston at Phoenix Hall. Her original lecture topic was “Free Speech.” In response to the Hazleton massacre, she spoke instead on “The Rights of the People.”
Scheduled to speak in New Haven and New York on the Hazleton massacre.
Spoke on “Free Love” before the Philadelphia Ladies Liberal League. Spoke to the Philadelphia Single Tax Society on “Anarchist-Communism.”
Firebrand editor A. J. Pope arrested for sending obscene material through the mail, including Walt Whitman’s poem “A Woman Waits for Me”; co-editors Abe Isaak and Henry Addis arrested soon thereafter on same charge. Firebrand ceased publication that month.
EG delivered an afternoon and evening lecture before the Philadelphia Friendship Liberal League.
EG in Pittsburgh; met Nold and Bauer, who informed her that AB planned to escape from prison if his appeal failed. Spoke before a Turner gymnastic society in Monaca, Pennsylvania.
EG addressed convention of reform clubs and trade unions in Chicago. Eugene Debs, Ross Winn, and Jay Fox were also in attendance.
EG held her own meeting after walking out of the convention on the 28th.
Spoke in Chicago to the Lucifer Circle on “Prostitution: Its Causes and Cure.”
Spoke in Chicago to the Lucifer Circle on “Free Love” at 1394 Congress Street.
Kropotkin toured the United States for the first time.
EG spoke with Max Baginski, Moses Harman, and Lucy Parsons at Zepf’s Hall in Chicago at a fundraiser for imprisoned Firebrand editors.
EG gave lecture in German in St. Louis at Harugari Hall on “Anarchy.”
Spoke in German at Ohlman’s Hall, St. Louis.
St. Louis’s House of Delegates supported mayor’s ban on EG’s open-air meetings; her lectures, including “Revolution” and “Why I Am an Anarchist and Communist,” were held in private halls under police surveillance.
Spoke at Walhalla Hall in St. Louis.
EG in Caplinger Mills, Missouri; meetings arranged by Kate and Sam Austin; topics included “The Aim of Humanity,” “Religion,” “Anarchy,” and “Free Love.” Told a St. Louis reporter she planned to lecture next in Kansas City, Topeka, and Denver.
Sturmvogel founded, New York.
EG spoke at a commemoration of the Haymarket anarchists in German in Turner Hall in Chicago. Meeting chaired by Jay Fox and Theodore Appel.
Free Society founded, San Francisco.
EG spoke in German at Turner Hall, Detroit, Michigan; meeting commemorated Haymarket, organized by Central Labor Union.
Having been invited by its pastor, Reverend McCowan, despite considerable opposition, EG spoke at the Detroit People’s Tabernacle. Jo Labadie helped arrange the meeting. It was reported in local newspapers that the following day a majority of its congregants and deacons asked McGowan to resign and threatened to leave the church.
Lectured in Cleveland on “What Anarchy Means”; collected money for Firebrand editors. Meeting arranged by Fred Schulder.
Spoke at Council Hall, Buffalo, New York.
AB’s hearing before Pennsylvania Board of Pardons postponed.
EG spoke in Buffalo, New York, at Spiritualists Tabernacle on “Anarchy.”
Spoke in Rochester, New York, at Germania Hall.
Lectured on “The Aim of Humanity,” at the Labor Lyceum in Rochester.
EG returned to New York.
EG’s brother Morris Goldman moved into EG and Brady’s New York apartment.
Lectured in German on “The New Woman” to the Brooklyn Social Science Club.
In the French journal L’Aurore, Émile Zola published an open letter to the French president of the Republic, accusing the of cials involved in the Dreyfus case of meddling with the truth. Zola’s letter became known as J’Accuse, coined by the owner/editor of L’Aurore, Georges Clemenceau.
EG announced lecture topics for the coming year in Sturmvogel: “Charity,” “Patriotism,” “Authority,” “Majority Rule,” “The New Woman,” “The Woman Question,” and “The Inquisition of Our Postal Service.”
Returned to Providence, Rhode Island; lectured without interference from the mayor or police; assisted by John H. Cook. James F. Morton, Jr. also spoke. To defray traveling expenses, EG made sales for Brady’s stationery business while on tour.
Lectured on “Authority” to economics students in Phoenix Hall, Boston. James F. Morton, Jr. also spoke.
Addressed 66 meetings in 12 states and 18 cities; participated in one debate. Reporters noted EG’s improved command of English.
Spoke before the Brooklyn Philosophical Society.
The USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana harbor.
EG lectured in Philadelphia before Ladies Liberal League, Single Tax Society, Society of Ethical Research, and German Anarchist Society; lectured twice before Friendship Liberal League. Topics included “The Absurdity of Non-resistance to Evil,” “The Basis of Morality,” “Freedom,” “Patriotism,” and “Charity.”
Nold and Bauer invited EG to lecture in Pittsburgh and nearby mining towns. Topics included “Patriotism,” the Hazleton massacre, and “The Coming War with Spain.” EG suffered nervous attacks from the strain of continuous lecturing.
Lectured at Odd Fellows Hall in Pittsburgh in English.
Lectured in German at Vorwaerts Saenger Hall in Lawrenceville, Pa.
Lectured in Monaca, Pennsylvania, in front of the Glass Blowers Union local.
Lectured in Beaver Falls, Pa., and in Marion Hall in Pittsburgh in English.
Lectured in Carnegie, Pa.
Scheduled to speak in Allegheny City but the lecture was canceled when the owners of Northside Turner Hall refused to let her speak.
Lectured in Duquesne, Pa.
Spoke in McKeesport, Pa.
Spoke in Pittsburgh, Pa. in German at the Imperial Dancing Academy.
Lectured in Challeroi, Pa.
Spoke in Roscoe, Pa.
Spoke in Newton, Pa.
Lectured in Tarentum, Pa.
Spoke with Nold and Harry Gordon in Pittsburgh at a twenty-seventh anniversary celebration of the Paris Commune at the Imperial Dancing Academy on Wylie Avenue.
Traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, lectured before the Franklin Club on the Basis of Morality.
Lectured at Glessen’s Hall in Cleveland on “Charity.”
Lectured again before the Franklin Club in Cleveland on “The New Woman.”
Visited the ailing Robert Reitzel in Detroit.
Gave several lectures before Chicago labor unions, aided by Joseph Peukert. Visited Max Baginski at the Chicagoer ArbeiterZeitung of ce; discussed women’s emancipation with Moses Harman. Visited Michael Schwab, who was hospitalized with tuberculosis.
Lectured in front of the Economic Educational Club in Chicago on “Authority.”
Spoke to the Brewers and Malters Union in Chicago on “Trade Unionism.”
Spoke in Chicago to the Painters and Decorators Union on “Trade Unionism.”
Addressed the Cooperative College of Citizenship group of the IWA in Chicago on “Patriotism.”
Spoke in Chicago to the Turnverein (Turner Gymnastic Society) of the Vorwärts newspaper on the “New Woman.”
Spoke on “Passive Resistance” to the Bakers and Confectioners Union in Chicago.
Lectured before Ohio Liberal Society in Cincinnati.
Returned to Chicago; lectured on “Charity.”
Spoke in Chicago to the International Group on “The Basis of Morality.”
Lectured in Chicago on “The Inquisition of Our Postal Service” to a Bohemian workers group, addressing the Firebrand case; group unanimously adopted a resolution protesting postal censorship.
Robert Reitzel died in Detroit.
EG honored at a farewell meeting held by the Committee on Agitation of the Progressive Labor Organization of Chicago. Moses Harman also spoke.
Spoke in Milwaukee at Central Park and Garten Falls on the 3rd; and at Ragger’s Hall on the 4th.
Delivered five lectures in St. Louis; no interference by mayor or police.
Spoke on “Patriotism” in St. Louis.
Spoke on “Authority vs. Liberty” in St. Louis.
Spoke on “Basis of Morality” in St. Louis.
Spoke on “The Absurdity of Non-Resistance” in St. Louis.
Final lecture in St. Louis on “Charity.”
William and Lizzie Holmes arranged EG’s five lectures in Denver, Colorado; William rated “The Basis of Morality” her best. Sponsors included the Denver Educational Club, a Jewish group.
Spain declared war on the United States.
United States Congress declared war on Spain and made the declaration retroactive to 21 April.
EG in San Francisco. While in town stayed with Abe Isaak; met socialist Anna Strunsky and, through Strunsky, writer and socialist Jack London.
Spoke on “Patriotism” at the Turk Street Temple in San Francisco.
Spoke at a May Day rally with socialist Emil Liess and others in San Francisco.
Debated Emil Liess in San Francisco.
Violent demonstrations in Milan over taxes, rising food prices; martial law declared. Death toll was over 80, including 2 policemen; approximately 450 wounded. King Umberto awarded General Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris Italy’s highest award for his role in suppressing the riots. Incident given the name Fatti di Maggio.
EG spoke in San Jose and Los Angeles. Returned to San Francisco for additional lectures.
EG’s three Portland lectures arranged by Henry Addis.
In Ulrich’s Hall, Chicago, EG attended first convention of Eugene Debs’s Social Democracy, held 7–10 June, and labeled the event a fiasco. At the end of the conference a large group of members walked out, including Eugene Debs and Victor Berger, who proceeded to form the Social Democratic Party.
Firebrand case dismissed by United States District Court in Portland, Oregon.
Michael Schwab died.
EG returned to New York. Supported textile strike in Summit, New Jersey, with Salvatore Pallavencini and other Italian anarchists.
Empress Elizabeth of Austria stabbed to death by Luigi Luccheni.
EG lectured in Boston on “Charity.”
EG lectured in Lynn, Massachusetts, on “Authority vs. Liberty.”
With Justus Schwab and Brady, EG sought Andrew Carnegie’s influence in granting AB a pardon. They approached Benjamin Tucker to act as intermediary but withdrew their request after reading Tucker’s proposed letter to Carnegie; plan was eventually abandoned.
International Anti-Anarchist Conference convened in Rome by the Italian government under international pressure after the assassination of the Austrian empress by Luigi Luccheni. Organized to coordinate international efforts to police and punish anarchist activity, the conference was attended by diplomats, ambassadors, and law enforcement agents. The delegates represented twenty-one countries, including all of Europe as well as Russia and Turkey. Among the items discussed at the conference were methods for identifying anarchists (including the portrait parlé, a system based on criminal anthropometry), and extradition and deportation tactics, including the deportation of anarchists to their countries of origin. The network of international police communication created during the conference contributed to the development of the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol.
President McKinley signed peace treaty with Spain. As part of the treaty, United States acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines; Spain relinquished claim to Cuba.
EG scheduled to lecture at Lear’s Hall, 61 E. 4th Street, New York, on “The Power of the Idea.”
EG ended relationship with Edward Brady.
Spoke at a large meeting at Cooper Union, New York, protesting the Anti-Anarchist Conference in Rome. Other speakers included George Brown, J. H. Cook, Pedro Esteve, and Saul Yanovsky.
EG conducted nine-month lecture tour of eleven states, beginning in Barre, Vermont, where she was hosted by Salvatore Pallavencini. Met Luigi Galleani.
Gave lecture in Barre on “Authority v. Liberty” at Tomasis Hall, Mairs Street.
Gave another lecture in Tomasis Hall, Barre, on “Trades Unionism What It Is and What It Ought To Be.”
Third lecture at Tomasis Hall, Barre; spoke on “The New Woman.”
Final lecture in Barre at Tomasis Hall, on “Authority vs. Liberty” suppressed by police. Local anarchists printed and distributed copies of the speech she was to deliver.
Insurgent forces began rebellion against rule of United States in Philippines.
Congress approved treaty with Spain by one-vote margin, after Senate opposition.
EG delivered lectures in German and English in Philadelphia; spoke before Friendship Liberal League, Ladies Liberal League, Fellowship for Ethical Research, Knights of Liberty, and Radikaler Arbeiter-Bund.
Spoke in Cleveland.
EG scheduled to speak in Detroit at 224 Randolph Street on “The Dying Republic.”
EG scheduled to speak in Detroit at the Trade Council Hall on “Trade Unionism: What It Is and What It Should Be.”
EG scheduled to speak in Detroit at Turner Hall, Sherman Street, in German.
In Cincinnati spoke on trade unionism before the Ohio Liberal Society; in St. Louis gave ten lectures, including one before the Bricklayers Union; two lectures in the nearby mining town of Mount Olive, including “The Eight-Hour Struggle and the Condition of the Miners of the Whole World.”
Spent over a month in Chicago; delivered about twenty-five lectures in German and English; topics included “Religion,” “Women’s Emancipation,” “Origins of Evil,” and “Politics and Its Corrupting Influence on Man.” Aided by Max Baginski and other German comrades, spoke before trade unions, philosophical and social societies, and women’s clubs; English lectures included “Trade-Unionism and What It Should Be.” Her address before the conservative Amalgamated Wood Workers Union was the first by an anarchist.
EG spent a few days visiting miners in Spring Valley, Illinois.
Sturmvogel ceased publication.
In Tacoma, Washington, debated “Socialism versus Anarchism.” Spiritualist temple was offered to EG free of charge for her lecture series, but offer withdrawn when she proposed to lecture on “Free Love.”
Lectured at the Germania Hall in Seattle, Washington, on “Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideas.”
Lectured at the Germania Hall in Seattle on “Politics and its Corrupting Effects.”
Visited the anarchist Home Colony, near Lakebay, Washington.
French Court of Appeal overturned the 1894 sentence of Alfred Dreyfus.
Supported by Henry Addis, lectured in Portland, Oregon, and in the farming town of Scio met Gertie Vose, Donald Vose’s mother, where town marshal offered her use of city hall.
Arrived in San Francisco; began seven-week lecture series in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Stockton, California. Topics included “Why I Am an Anarchist Communist,” “The Aim of Humanity,” “The Development of Trades-Unionism,” and “Charity.” Socialists were antagonistic to her on several occasions. “Sex Problems” talk stirred debate.
Lectured on “The Aim of Humanity” at Grand Army Hall, Oakland.
Second trial of Alfred Dreyfus began before a French court martial.
EG delivered three lectures arranged by William Holmes in Ouray, Colorado; in Denver, lectures included “The Power of the Idea,” “Education,” and an open air meeting on “Patriotism.” Traveled to the farming town of Caplinger Mills, Missouri, as the guest of Kate and Sam Austin; delivered three lectures, including “Patriotism.”
In the mining town of Spring Valley, Illinois, headed a Labor Day procession. Afterwards spoke in defiance of the mayor’s injunction at a meeting arranged by the miners union.
Spoke in Pittsburgh.
Spoke in Fayette City, Pa.
Alfred Dreyfus found guilty of treason once again, with extenuating circumstances, and sentenced to ten years detention. .
Spoke in Pittsburgh.
Alfred Dreyfus formally pardoned.
Spoke in West Newton, Pa.
Spoke in Collinsburg, Pa.
Spoke in Hope Church, Pa.
Spoke in Lawrenceville, Pa.
EG arranged for work to begin on AB’s escape tunnel.
Spoke in McDonald, Pa.
Spoke in Roscoe, Pa.
Anglo-Boer War began.
Returned to New York. With Saul Yanovsky and others, raised money for AB’s escape tunnel under the guise of pursuing new legal action on AB’s behalf.
Traveled with Mary Isaak to Europe via London with the intention of attending the 1900 International Revolutionary Congress of the Working People in Paris, and then to study medicine in Zurich, Switzerland. Also planned to meet AB in Europe after his escape from prison.
In London stayed with Harry Kelly and family; lectured in English and German. Topics included “America: The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave,” “Strikes and Their Effect on the American Worker,” and “Marriage.” Visited Peter Kropotkin at his home in Bromley, met Nicholas Chaikovsky. Argued with Kropotkin over political significance of the sex problem. Met Hippolyte Havel; met German anarchist Rudolf Rocker, editor of the Yiddish anarchist Arbeter Fraint.
Spoke with Louise Michel, Kropotkin, Varlaam Cherkesov, Tom Mann, and Tarrida del Mármol at a London meeting on behalf of victims of Italian political repression.
Traveled to Leeds to deliver several lectures. Scheduled to remain until the 23rd, she left after a week, returning with pleuritis to London where she was confined to bed for two weeks.
Freie Gesellschaft ceases publication.
EG attended a Russian New Year party in London; met Russian revolutionary exiles. Cherkezov, Chaikovsky, and Kropotkin present. See LML p. 262.
Scheduled to lecture in Glasgow, Dundee, and Edinburgh, where she met anarchist Thomas Bell.
Lectured in Glasgow.
Gave two lectures in Dundee. The afternoon lecture was entitled “Authority vs. Liberty”; the evening lecture was entitled “The Aim of Humanity.”
Back in London, spoke out against the Anglo-Boer War in “The Effect of War on the Workers” at a meeting of the Freedom Discussion Group in the Club and Institute Hall, Clerkenwell. Other speakers include Harry Kelly, Samuel Mainwaring, Tom Mann, and Lothrop Withington.
Honored at a farewell concert and ball; Peter Kropotkin and Louise Michel spoke.
With Havel, traveled to Paris to prepare for the International Revolutionary Congress of the Working People, scheduled to begin 19 September. Decided against pursuing medicine to concentrate on political activity. Addressed organizing committee of the Paris congress on the state of the American movement.
EG presented papers on behalf of Lizzie Holmes and William Holmes, Abe Isaak, Susan Patton, Kate Austin, and others.
EG lectured at the Libertarian Library, 26 rue Titon, Paris.
EG spoke on women’s emancipation at the Harmonie Hall, 94 rue Angoulême, Paris.
French police surveillance noted presence of EG and Havel at a women’s congress in Paris.
SDP and Hillquit’s section of the Socialist Labor Party merged to form SDP based in Springfield, Massachusetts. There remained another SDP that disfavored the union being headquartered in Chicago. They decided to form tacit truce in order to present a unified campaign in upcoming presidential elections.
AB’s escape tunnel discovered. Shortly thereafter, Eric Morton left for Paris.
King Umberto of Italy assassinated by Gaetano Bresci to avenge the victims of Fatti di Maggio, 5–8 May 1898.
International Conference of Neo-Malthusians held in Paris. Representatives attended from Holland, England, France, and Germany. EG obtained birth control literature and contraceptives to take back to the United States and informed participants on the illegal status of birth control dissemination in America.
Der arme Teufel ceased publication.
The primarily anarchist International Revolutionary Congress of the Working People, scheduled to begin the following day, was prohibited by the French Council of Ministers.
That evening a protest meeting was prevented by the police.
EG attended two secret meetings held by anarchists at 26 rue Vitou in Paris regarding the barred International Revolutionary Congress of the Working People.
The socialist ticket of Debs and Job Harriman as president and vice president, respectively, gains 96,978 votes.
EG reported by French police as departing Paris for Boulogne with Havel and John Leroy (Eric B. Morton), en route back to the United States.
Arrived in New York with Havel and Eric Morton.
EGaddressed Social Science meeting at Everett Hall in New York. Owner threatened to “turn out lights” if meeting took anarchistic turn. Pedro Esteve addressed meeting in Spanish.
Spoke to the Italian group of New London, Connecticut. Pedro Esteve also spoke.
Worked as a nurse; re-established friendship with Ed Brady. See LML pp. 283, 288.
Dutch anarchist Douwe Boersma charged EG as the instigator of slanders against Most in Domela Nieuwenhuis’s paper, De Vrije Socialist, prompting debate about EG’s character and her role in the anarchist movement.
Salvatore Pallavencini died in Paris.
Free Society moved to Chicago from San Francisco.
Kropotkin’s second U.S. tour. EG helped with arrangements.
McKinley inaugurated for second term.
EG lectured at the Manhattan Liberal Club in New York at 8:00 p.m. on “What Will Lessen Vice.”
Spoke in Lynn, Massachusetts; Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Spring Valley, Illinois. Topics included “Anarchism and Trade Unionism,” “The Cause of Vice,” and “Cooperation a Factor in the Industrial Struggle.”
A letter in defense of EG (with regard to attacks on her character and charges that she has unfairly incited attacks against Johann Most), dated 30 March, appears in De Vrije Socialist. Letter signed by Victor Dave, Christiaan and Lily Cornelissen, Tárrida del Marmol, Max Nettlau, Albert Zibelin, Marie Goldsmith, Marc Pierrot, and Léon Rémy.
EG in Philadelphia. She gave one lecture in the afternoon under the auspices of the Workingmen’s Cooperative Association on the subject “The Necessity of Cooperation among Labor Organizations.” A second lecture under the auspices of the Social Science Club was prohibited by the police.
EG forcibly prevented from speaking on “Trade Unionism” at Standard Hall in Philadelphia. The meeting was sponsored by the Shirt Makers Union, and EG was accompanied by Natasha Notkin before being barred entry by the police.
EG spoke to an audience of 200 at the Single Tax Society of Philadelphia at Mercantile Library Hall. The police were unaware of the meeting until it ended.
Spoke at the Social Science Club in Philadelphia with Voltairine de Cleyre and others before 2,000 people at the Industrial Art Hall; Social Science Club passes a resolution protesting the violation of her right to free speech. The police did not attempt to stop EG from speaking on this occasion.
Lectured with Voltairine de Cleyre at Bricklayer’s Hall, Philadelphia, sponsored by United Labor League.
Spoke in Pittsburgh; gave four lectures: “Modern Phases of Anarchism,” “Anarchism and Trades Unionism,” “The Causes of Vice,” and “Cooperation a Factor in the Industrial Struggle.” She also gave a lecture in Cecil, Pennsylvania, during this time.
Delivered eulogy in Pittsburgh at the funeral of a young Italian anarchist who had committed suicide.
Lectured on “The Modern Phase of Anarchy” before the Liberty Association of the Franklin Liberal Club in Cleveland. Leon Czolgosz in attendance. EG later recognized Czolgosz as the young man who approached her at the intermission and asked her recommendation for books to read. Later that evening EG spoke on the “Cause and Effect of Vice.”
Pennsylvania’s Commutation Act of 1901 passed. The act allowed for the reduction of prison sentences for good behavior and shortened AB’s sentence to just five more years.
Czolgosz visited Cleveland anarchist Emil Schilling to ask for suggested readings and information on secret anarchist societies. He visited Schilling three more times by early August.
The brothers Jesús and Ricardo Flores Magón arrested in Mexico City office of Regeneración, charged with writing an inflammatory article, sentenced to eleven months.
EG spoke in Chicago to the Scandinavian Painters Union on “Cooperation an Important Factor in the Industrial Struggle.”
Bresci died in prison, reportedly by suicide.
Spoke before the Blacksmith Helpers Union in Chicago on “Trade Unionism from an Anarchist Standpoint.”
Spoke before the Anthropological Society in Chicago at 3:00 p.m. on “Modern Phases of Anarchism.”
EG delivered address at Decoration Day gathering in Chicago’s Waldheim Cemetery.
Spoke in German on “Trades Unionism from an Anarchist Standpoint” in front of the Brewers and Malters Union at 122 West Lake Street, Chicago.
Spoke to the Lucifer Circle in Chicago, 500 Fulton Street, on “Failure of So-called Free Unions.”
Spoke in German before the German Painters Union in Lauterbach’s Hall in Chicago. Lecture entitled “Cooperation an Important Factor in the Industrial Struggle.”
Czolgosz left Cleveland for Chicago.
Czolgosz attempted to visit office of Free Society in Chicago, came back later the same day and introduced himself as Mr. Nieman from Cleveland. Havel, Max Baginski, and others from the office were leaving for the train station to see EG off to Buffalo and Rochester. Czolgosz joined them. After EG left Chicago, her comrades became suspicious of Nieman’s repeated references to acts of violence. A letter (from Emil Schilling) later arrived at the Free Society office from Cleveland warning that “Nieman” was an assumed name and that Czolgosz was probably a spy.
EG left Buffalo for Rochester, where she stayed for the next five weeks. During her stay with her sister, she took short trips to Niagara Falls and New York. While in Rochester, EG learned that AB’s sentence had been commuted by two and one-half years and he was permitted to receive visitors.
At the Socialist Unity Convention in Indianapolis, in what was the largest gathering of socialists in the United States at that time, the two SDPs voted to unite and the Socialist Party was created, based in St. Louis and led by Eugene Debs and Victor Berger.
EG left Rochester for Buffalo.
EG visited Pan American Exposition in Buffalo with Marie Isaak, Abe Isaak’s sixteen year-old daughter.
EG went to Pittsburgh to work as a traveling saleswoman for a New York firm (Ed Brady’s stationery and office supply company). During her stay in Pittsburgh she visits AB for the first time in nine years at the Western Penitentiary, Allegheny City.
EG left Pittsburgh for Cincinnati, Ohio.
In Chicago, Czolgosz read in the paper that President McKinley would be visiting the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo. He immediately bought a train ticket for Buffalo, although he was not yet planning to kill the president.
Czolgosz called on his friend Walter Nowak and asked to stay with him. Began visiting the exposition grounds a few times each day.
EG in Cincinnati. Left that night for St. Louis. Abe Isaak’s Free Society carried a notice warning people against an agent provocateur who is “soliciting aid for acts of contemplated violence.” This is Leon Czolgosz.
EG arrived in St. Louis, where she worked for Ed Brady’s firm until after Czolgosz shot McKinley.
Czolgosz followed McKinley around to public appearances, waiting for a chance to shoot him.
Czolgosz waited in line for the president at the Temple of Music during the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo. He shot and severely wounded McKinley. Czolgosz was arrested immediately and later confessed to the crime.
EG was canvassing stores in St. Louis for Ed Brady’s firm when she first heard of the McKinley shooting.
Czolgosz signed a statement at 10:20 p.m. saying that the last public speaker he had heard was EG, but that she had never told him to kill the president.
Secret Service officers in Buffalo sent a telegram to Chicago officials,