The
People of the State of Illinois vs. August Spies et al.
Transcript of witness testimony: Samuel Fielden, Teamster. Defendant.
Witness for the Defense, August 6, 1886
SAMUEL FIELDEN,
one
of the defendants, called on behalf of the defendants, was duly sworn
and testified as follows:
DIRECT EXAMINATION,
By Mr. Foster.
Q What
is your full name?
A Samuel
Fielden.
Q Mr.
Fielden what is your age?
A 39
the 25th of last February.
Q Where
were you born?
A I
was born in the town of Dolderdon, Lancashire, England.
Q At
what age did you come to the United States?
A I
came to the United States in the following July after I was of age,
21, 1868.
Q Where
have you resided since 1868?
A I
worked one day, I believe in Brooklyn, in a hat factory and from there
I went to Providence and lived in North Providence and worked in Chapin
& Town's woolen mill until the following March.
Q When
did you come to Chicago?
A Well,
I came from there to Ohio, worked on a farm four months there and from
there in August I came to Chicago in 1869.
Q That
would be August of 1869?
A Yes
sir.
Q You
have resided then, about seventeen years in Chicago?
A Well,
most of the time. I have been down South twice working on levees and
railroads down there and I have worked---the first work I did in Illinois I worked
on John Wentowrth's farm at Summit, 12 miles from Chicago, and worked
around.
Q What
had been your business before the 4th of May, for a considerable time?
A I
have worked in stone yards and driven stone teams most of the time since
1872, the year following the fire.
Q Are
you a married man?
A I
am.
Q Is
your wife living?
A My
wife is living.
Q At
what place?
A 110
West Polk.
Q Was
that your home prior to your arrest?
A Yes
sir, I was arrested there.
Q And
is yet your home?
A Yes
sir.
Q Have
you got a family of children?
A I
have one child.
Q You
are a socialist?
A I
am.
Q Do
you remember a meeting held at the Arbeiter Zeitung office, or at the
building, at least, 107 Fifth Avenue, on the evening of the 4th of May
last?
A Yes
sir.
Q How
and when did you receive notice of the holding of that meeting?
A I
had been with a load of stone to Wadheim cemetery that day and I had
engaged to speak at 12th street, 268 that night, and intended going
there until I got home and bought a Daily News and saw the announcement
of a meeting of the American Group to be held at 107 Fifth Avenue that
night, important business, I believe it said; and I was the treasurer
of that society or of that organization and had all the money that the
organization was worth and and we should have had our semi-annula election
the Sunday previous to the 4th of May, and I thought that possibly some
money would be wanted as it was advertised as important business, so
that I thought that I would go and not go to the meeting that I had
engaged the Sunday night previous to go to that night, and that is what
brought me there.
Q At
what time did you arrive there, Mr. Fielden?
A I
arrived there, I think, about 10 minutes or perhaps a little less than
that, before eight.
Q Were
you there at the time that there was any telephoning done with reference
to the Deering meeting?
A Yes
sir.
Q You
heard the witnesses testifying on that subject?
A Yes
sir.
Q Is
your recollection different from theirs?
A The
witnesses who have detailed the occurrence are substantially correct,
I think.
Q What
was the object, as you afterwards learned, of the meeting which was
held there that night?
A
I asked when I went in there what the meeting was for and a gentleman
named Patterson, who was not a member of an organization, but I believe has been interesting
himself in organizing different---
MR.
GRINNELL: I do not think it is proper for him to state anything about
that.
THE
WITNESS: Mr. Patterson showed me a hand bill.
Objected to.
Q Did
you see there a handbill calling that meeting?
A Yes
sir.
Q A
printed circular?
A No
sir, not calling that business meeting, but a hand bill that I was told
was the reason---
Objected to.
Q Did
you see a hand bill with reference to the organization of the sewing
women?
A Yes
sir.
Q That
is the handbill that you referred to?
A Yes
sir.
Q What
business was performed there, that is, upon what general subject, not
going into details?
A I
brought some money with me as I had intended, and I paid $5 to those
who had paid for the printing of those handbills and who might need
a little money or street car fare in going around to hire halls, and
other incidental expenses.
Q You
paid this money as treasurer, I understand?
A As
treasurer of our organization.
Q Do
you remember at or about what time Mr. Schwab left that meeting, if
he had left it at any time?
A I
think Schwab must have left there about quarter past 8 or 10 minutes
past 8, perhaps, as near as I can think of now.
Q After
Schwab left or at any time during the progress of that meeting I will
ask you, Mr. Fielden, o state whether or not a request was received,
as you understand it, from the Haymarket meeting for speeches?
A Yes
sir.
Q In
response to that request whom went to the haymarket meeting?
A Mr.
Parsons and I.
Q Did
you go in company with each other?
A Mr.
Parsons I believe, brought his two children down stairs and gave them
a drink of water in the saloon, if I remember correctly, and I waited
at the corner for him.
Q From
the corner did you go together?
A We
walked together, I think, Mr. Parsons and I, through the tunnel and
then after that I think I walked with Mr. Schneider from about the other
end of the tunnel, the west end of the tunnel; I don't know whether
Parsons was with us, but there was three of us in that group at that
time, but I know that I had some conversation with Mr. Schneider there
and I think that I walked with him over there.
Q You
remember the fact from the conversation that you had with him?
A Yes
sir.
Q When
you arrived at the Haymarket, who, if any one, was speaking?
A Mr.
Spies.
Q How
soon after you arrived did Mr. Spies stop speaking?
A
Well, I think about five minutes.
Q Who
was introduced as the speaker following Mr. Spies?
A Mr.
Parsons.
Q By
whom was Parsons Introduced?
A By
Mr. Spies.
Q Where
were you when Parsons spoke?
A I
was on the wagon.
Q After
the conclusion of Mr. Parson's speech, who, if anyone, was introduced
to speak at that meeting?
A I
was introduced to make a short speech and I did not wish to speak but
Mr. Spies urged me and I did.
Q By
whom were you introduced to that audience, Mr. Fields?
A By
Mr. Spies, I think.
Q By
Spies?
A I
think so, yes sir, as far as I can remember.
Q About
how long did you sepak?
A Well,
I think I spoke about 20 minutes.
Q Now,
I will ask you, without making a twenty minutes speech Mr. Fielding,
if you will state in a general way to the jury, the tenor of your speech,
as near as you can remember it?
A
I think I referred to some adverse criticism of the socialists by an
evening paper published in this city which had been calling the socialists
cowards and other uncomplimentary names, and told the audience that
this was not true; that the socialists were true to the interest of
the laboring classes, and that they were not cowards and would not desert
the laboring classes, but would continue to advocate the rights
of labor. I think that that was the essence of the first part of the
speech. I then went on, so far as I remember now, to speak briefly of
the condition of labor. Then I referred to that class of people who
were continually posing as labor reformers for their own benefit, and
who had never done anything to benefit the laboring classes, but had
at all times approved the cause of labor on order to get themselves
into office, and then to back up that, or substantiate it, I cited the
case of Martin Foran, who had in a speech in congress, on the arbitratioon,
bill that was brought in by the labor committee there, stated that the
working classes of this country could get nothing through legislation
in Congress, and he had stated further then that, that only when the
rich men of this country understood that it was dangerous to live in
a community where there were dissatisfied people, would the labor problem
be solved. I stated this, and someone on the audience cried out: "That
is not true", or "That is a lie." That here was a man
that was rich on the spot, a man who had been there for years, who had
had experience and knew what could be done there, and this was his testimony;
it was not the testimony of a socialist at all. And then I went on to
say that this being the case, the only thing that they could do, the
only way in which they could get any
satisfaction, from the gradual decreasing opportunities for living of
the working people---the only thing that they could do with the law
would be to "throttle it". I used that word in figurative
sense. I said to throttle it, because it was an expensive article to
them and could do them no good. I went on further, so far as I can remember,
to state that men working all their lifetime, their love for their families
influencing to put forth all their efforts that the children that came
after them might have a better opportunity of starting in the world
better than they had done; and the facts, the statistics of Great Britain
and of the United States would prove that every year it was becoming
utterly impossible for the youngest generation, under the present system,
to have as good an opportunity, as the former ones had had. Mr. Spies
had stated to me before I commenced to mention the boycott that the
Chicago Herald had advised the labor organizations of this city to give
it to the red flags.
MR.
INGHAM: The question is what you said at that meeting.
THE
WITNESS: I spoke briefly and told them not to boycott the red flag as
they had been advised to do, because the red flag was the symbol of
universal freedom and universal liberty. I didn't speak very long about
that, and I was just closing my remarks--------I think I had just closed
that part of my speech------when some one said "It is going to
rain." There was a very dark heavy cloud which
seemed to be rolling over just a little to the northwest of me, and
I looked at it and someone proposed to go to Zeph's Hall and finish
the meeting there. Some one else said "No, there is a meeting there."
And I said "Never mind, I will not talk very long. I will close
now in a few minutes, and then we will all go home." I talked then
a little longer. I think the last portion of my speech was advising
them to organize into different organizations, to organize any way as
laboring men; to organize for their own protection; not to trust to
anyone else at all, but to organize among themselves and depend only
upon themselves to advance their condition. Now, I was speaking in that
way and I do not think I should have spoken one minute longer, when
I noticed the police. I stopped speaking and Captain Ward came up to
me, and he raised his hand---and I do not remember now whether he had
anything in his hand or not-----and he said: "I command this meeting,
in the name of the People of the State of Illinois, to peaceable disperse."
I was standing up, and I said "Why Captain, this is a peaceable
meeting," in that tone of voice, in a very conciliatory tone of
voice, and he very angrily and defiantly retorted that he commanded
it to disperse, and called, as I understood----I didn't catch those
words clearly---he called up the police to disperse it. Just as he turned
around in that argry mood I jumped from the wagon and said "All
right, we will go," and jumped to the side walk. This is my impression
after being in jail now for three months, and I am telling it as near
as I can remember it, very incident of it:
MR.
FOSTER: Go right on and tell.
A Then
the explosion came. I think I went in a somewhat southeasterly direction
from the time that I struck the street. It was only a couple of steps
to the sidewalk. I had just, I think, got on to the sidewalk when the
explosion came, and being in a dioganal position on the street I saw
the flash as if in that corner (indicating) as it were, from where I
was. Then the people began to rush past me and I heard someone-----I
was not decided in my mind what it was---but I heard some one say "dynamite",
and then in my own mind I assented that that was the cause of the explosion
they rushed past me and I rushed with them, and I was crowded with them.
There were some of them falling down and others calling out in agony,
and the police were purring ahots into them. We tried to get behind
some protection. Some men got there, but I saw there was so many trying
to get there that there was very little protection afforded. I then
made a dash for the corner of the street around to
a saloon, I believe it is Bryan's saloon.
Q What
corner.
A On
the northeast corner of Randolph and DesPlaines. I turned that corner
and ran down the street. I ran, I suppose, until I got to Jefferson
street, and seeing there was no pursuit I dropped into a fast walk.
I walked down to Clinton and turned on Clinton, intending at that time
to go home. I have omitted one circumstance, and that is, that immediately
after the explosion of the bomb---I had possibly gone three or four
steps----I was struck with a ball. It felt, as near as I can estimate
the feeling, now, as though a small hammer had struck me very quickly
there with a strong powerful blow. I didn't feel much pain at the time
in the excitement, but as I dropped into a walk down there on Randolph
street I felt the pain and put my finger in the hole in my pants and
felt my knee was wet. Then I concluded I had been shot, but I hadn't
a great deal of pain in it at that time. As I walked down Clinton street
I was thinking about going home. Then I began to think about those who
had been with me, and, remembering about Mr. Spies being on the wagon
at the time I was speaking, and at the time the police came up, I thought
surely that some of these men must have been killed, from all that shooting.
I concluded then that I would take a Van Buren street car
and ride down past the Arbeiter Zeitung building and see if any one
was there. I caught the car at the corner of Canal Street and VanBuren,
but I found I had made a mistake. It was a car that runs directly east
to State street. I turned the corner of Fifth avenue then, and walked
from the corner of fifth avenue until I got to Monroe street. There
came a car from down there which I thought was a Twelfth street car.
Of course I was near the place and I could have walked there, but I
thought at the time that I was so well known in Newspaper Row by the
reporters that if I should walk I should be known. So I jumped on to
the car and stood in front. I thought if I saw a light in the Arbeiter
Zeitung building I would jump off and go up there; but there wasn't
any. So when I got down near the Briggs House I alighted, and I thought
then I would go up to Parson's House. I took an Indiana Street car and
rode up to Clinton street. When we got to Clinton street the driver
said "Why there is firing going on up there yet" and I saw
a couple of flashes up near where I thought the Haymarket was, and I
said "If there is I am not going up there." I then walked
over on Jefferson street until I came to the north corner of Lake street,
and I saw a terrible crowd of people around there, and I thought possibly
that there would be a good many detectives there. So I turned back again
and caught a Canalport Avenue car and rode down to the corner of Canal and Twelfth streets. There I got my knee
dressed, it was becoming very painful at this time.
Q Who
dressed your knee?
A A
young doctor who was on the stand here the other day; Epler, I think
was his name. I then went home.
Q At
the time the police came up there and Captain Ward made the proclamation
to the audience, or to the meeting, to disperse, you may state whether
or not Mr. Spies at that time was on the wagon with you?
A Well,
I feel sure that Mr. Spies was at my side when Captain Ward, but at
the time that Captain Ward came up and made those remarks Mr. Spies
was there. I will swear that he was there when Captain Ward began to
talk.
Q Did
you see Mr. Spies leave the wagon?
A I
did not, I jumped off at the rear end of the wagon, what we always call
the tail end of the wagon, jumped off into the street.
Q That
would be the south end of the wagon?
A Yes
sir. that would be the south end of the wagon.
Q So
that you know as a matter of fact, that Mr: Spies was on the wagon at
the time that the proclamation was begun?
A Yes
sir, I do.
Q After
that you paid no particular attention in that direction?
A
No sir, I looked at the Captain, and from him I turned around to leave----to
get off the end of the wagon.
Q How
many other persons were on the wagon at that time besides you and Mr.
Spies?
A Well,
I didn't look much at the crowd on the wagon. I would sometimes turn
my face to the sidewalk, sometimes south and sometimes north in addressing
the audience, and I didn't pay any attention to the wagon, but I think
I noticed there were four or five on there a little previous to the
police coming up.
Q Did
you see Mr. Schneider on the wagon?
A Mr.
Schneider assisted me to get on the wagon. He went on the wagon before
I did. When he got on there he caught hold of my hand and assisted in
pulling me up.
Q Did
he remain on the wagon, so far as you know, until the order to disperse
was given?
A No
sir, I think Mr. Schneider was on the ground when I got down. I think
I saw him on the sidewalk there. Of course I don't remember everything
as distinctly now as I did the next day.
Q Mr.
Fielden did you have a revolver that night?
A I
never had a revolver in my life. I never carried one in my pocket three
feet out of doors, and I never had one in my house, and I don't believe
that my wife knows what a revolver is.
Q You
say, then, that you didn't have one in your pocket or about your person
on the night of the 4th of May?
A
No sir, I did not.
Q I
will ask you whether or not you fired at any policeman at any other
person at the Haymarket meeting on the night of the fourth of May?
A No
sir, I never fired at a person in my life.
Q Did
you on the fourth of May, did you fire?
A No
sir.
Q Did
you, at any time after you got off the wagon step back between the wheels
of the wagon, crouch down, rise and fire, and crouch down again and
rise and fire repeatedly?
A No
sir, I didn't stay there, I went the other way from the wagon. I went
from the first man that I met when I came on the street----my whole
course was from the wagon south.
Q You
never came to a stop at any time?
A No
sir; I may have stopped for the smallest perseptible space of time when
I was startled with the explosion, but it was hardly any stoppage at
all, I think, before I began to go with the crowd.
Q Mr.
Fielden, when did you first hear of the word Ruhe having been published
in the Arbeiter Zeitung, or hear anything as to the import or siginficance
of that word?
A I
think I saw it in one of the papers when I was in the County Jail here.
Q How
long were you in the County Jail?
A I
cannot tell now, I think it was some days.
Q At
the time you were in the Arbeiter Zeitung office attending the organization
of the sewing women, or the meeting that was called for that purpose,
or at the Haymarket that night, or at any time during that day or night,
did you hear of that word?
A No
sir, I never saw the word before in my life, and, as I understand it
is a German word, I would not have known what it meant if I had seen
it.
Q Do
you read German?
A No
sir.
Q Was
there any understanding, arrangement or agreement on the part of you
or any other person or persons, to your knowledge, that violence should
be used at the Haymarket meeting?
A No
sir.
Q Or
that arms should be used or that dynamite should be used at the meeting?
A No
sir.
Q You
anticipated no trouble of that character of kind?
A No
sir.
Q How
long did you speak that night, Mr. Fielden?
A I
think I spoke about twenty minutes, as near as I can remember now.
Q
I will ask you whether or not, upon the approach of the police there
you used these words of words of similar report: "There come the
bloodhounds", or "There come the bloodhounds, you do your
duty and I'll do mine?
A No
sir, I did not.
Q Did
you hear any such expression as that from any person that night?
A I
did not.
Q When
did you first hear of the Haymarket meeting?
A I
heard of it after I got to the American Group meeting. that is the first
I heard of it.
Q At
the Arbeiter Zeitung building,
A Yes
sir.
Q On
the night of May 4th?
A Yes
sir.
Q Now
you have heard the testimony with reference to a Monday night meeting
that had been held by certain persons at number 54 Lake street, I presume?
A Yes
sir.
Q When
did you first hear that such a meeting had been held?
A I
heard of that about four days----no, I heard of that, I think, about
ten or fourteen days after I was in the County Jail. I saw it, I think,
in the morning Times, and the gist of what I saw there was that the
police had got track of some meeting that had been held there on Monday
night. That is the first that I had heard of any such meeting. However,
I wish to say that I was at number 54 Lake street on Monday night. I
spoke to the wagon makers in the upper hall.
Q What
floor did you speak to them on?
A On
the upper floor the largest hall.
Q Do
you remember how many floors there are in that building?
A
There are some living rooms on the second floor. Then there is a hall
on the third floor, and the largest hall is on the top floor. The one
on the third floor is not so large. In the rear of the saloon there
is a little room I believe it has been called a kitchen here, but sometimes
committee meetings and small meetings have been held there that I know
of.
Q Were
you ever down in the basement of that building?
A I
was never in the basement, except to the water closet in my life.
Q You
simply have been down under the sidewalk?
A Under
the sidewalk. You go down a space and then turn back under the sidewalk.
Q But
were you ever in the basement proper under the main room?
A No
sir, I didn't think, from the appearance of it, but what it was full
of old lumber and trash and so fourth? I never thought that there was
anything of a hall there.
Q You
didn't go down stairs that night?
A No
sir, I didn't go down stairs at all.
Q And
didn't hear of any meeting being held there until you learned it ten
or fifteen days after the fourth of May.
A That
was the first notice that I had of it.
Q Were
you a member of any armed section or organization of similar purport?
A Well,
we drilled there at number 54 Lake street on that
Monday night without arms, but there never was anybody ever had any
arms there.
Q How
many times did you drill there, Mr. Fielden.
A Not
over six times, I think, so far as I can remember now.
Q What
did you call yourselves, what was your society.?
A I
think it was proposed to call it the International Rifles, but I don't
think, as near as I can remember now, that it was ever really decided,
as the organization was in an imperfect state, and never was perfected,
because it never became an armed organization. I don't think we really
decided positively to call it that, but that name was talked of.
Q When
was the last time, if you know, that there was any drilling or any meeting
of that group or the International Rifles at Lake street or anywhere
else?
A I
think it must have been----I think we began there in August.
Q What
year?
A Last
year, a year from this fall, a year back, and the last meetings must
have been in the latter part of September, very near to that, I think.
Q The
last of September of that year?
A The
last of September of that year.
Q Then
there was no drilling during the winter of 1885--6 and the spring og
1886?
A No,
sir.
Q And
no arms were ever obtained?
A No
sir.
Q You
never had any arms at the time of any drilling?
A
No sir----well, there were a few men belonging to the Lehr and Wehr
Verein who came in there as one of these witnesses said----Johnson,
one of the Pinkerton agents----one night with their guns and grounded
arms, or shouldered arms, something of that kind, but that is the only
time that I ever saw any arms there. They didn't belong to the American
Group at all.
Q I
am only speaking now of you own group, the International Rifles, they
never had any arms?
A No
sir.
Q You
never had any arms or exercised with any?
A No
sir.
Q Now,
Mr. Fielden, you say that the shots were puring in thick and fast after
the explosion of the bomb?
A Yes
sir.
Q Where
did these shots come from?
A They
came from the street.
Q With
reference to the position of the police on the street where did they
come from?
A I
should judge they came from the police.
Q At
any time when you were getting off from the wagon, was there, to your
knowledge, an explosion of firearms from the wagon?
A No;
I didn't hear the explosion of anything I can remember of before the
explosion of the bomb.
Q As
you were rushing down the sidewalk did you hear an explosion
of any arms among the citizens who had attended the meeting?
A No
sir.
Q You
heard the witness Johnson testify?
A Yes
sir.
Q You
know Johnson?
A Yes
sir, I have seen him.
Q You
remember of his testifying with reference to a conversation had with
you at the Twelfth street Turner Hall?
A Yes
sir, I have heard him testify with reference to that conversation.
Q What
was that particular conversation that he testified in regard to, Mr.
Fielden?
A I
don't remember now what it was that he did testify to but I think he
testified something to my advocacy of dynamite, and I believe he testified
now that it had occurred down in the saloon after I had done speaking,
in the presence of a man named Boyd.
Q That
was it and his notes stated at the same time that he hadn't time to
talk with you at that time? Did you have any conversation with him down
there in the presence of Boyd and the Twelfth street Turner Hall?
A I
did not, Mr. Boyd was not in the city of Chicago at that time. His son
had told me-
Q What
was it you were going to say?
A His
son told me-----
Objected to.
A Boyd
and his son were both members of the American Group.
I missed the boy's father and I asked him at one time where his father
was.
Objected to.
Q Did
you at any time, whether at the Twelfth street Turner Hall on the occasion
that he referred to, or at any other time, have the conversation which
he stated he had in regard to you and the dynamite?
A I
did not, I knew that he was a detective long before that, and I would
not be fool enough to go and advocate anything of that kind, if I was
a dynamiter, to him.
Q As
a matter of fact, Mr. Fielden, your doors have always been open to membership?
A Yes
sir.
Q Ten
cents was the admission and no questions asked?
A It
was not necessary to have ten cents. I was financial secretary and treasurer
for a long time, and I always, in speaking and calling upon persons
to join the organization, told them if they had no money they could
join, but the fee was set at ten cents per months, so as to cover the
expenses of paying for hall rent and advertising.
Q You
say that on the fourth, if I remember correctly, you were hauling stone?
A On
the fourth I took a load of sawed stone from Rodenscratz & Ernshaw's
dock out to Waldheim Cemetary, which is the other side of Oak Park,
and it is a day's work.
Q
What time did you return home that evening?
A I
returned home about half past five.
Q It
was after you returned home that you bought the paper?
A I
bought the paper on the sidewalk just before I went into the house.
Q And
then it was, If I understand, that you first ascertained of the meeting
that was called for at number 107 Fifth Avenue?
A Yes
sir, the American Group Business meeting.
Q Where
had you been the day before?
A Well,
I had worked three quarters of a day that day. At the beginning of May
business was not so brisk because most of the building was stopped.
Of course in hauling stones to buildings the space given to depositing
our loads soon became clogged up, and sometimes a man would be at a
building and would be informed not to bring any more until they began
to work again. Consequently the work was not brisk. I only worked three
quarters of a day on Saturday, which was the first day of May, and three
quarters of a day on Monday.
Q Commencing
with the day previous to the fourth which was on Monday, what were you
doing on that day?
A In
the morning I took a load of stone, which was roof coping up to Division
street.
Q Where
did you get that stone?
A At
Bodenschatz & Ernshaw's stone dock, Harrison street and the river.
Q
What did you do the rest of the day?
A In
the afternoon I took two loads of ashler from that dock to Deekman Bros.
at the corner of Sixteenth and Jefferson, near the old Burlington tracks,
Burlington freight house.
Q Did
that constiture a days work?
A No
sir, my wife only got three quarters of a day for that day.
Q Whom
were you working for at that time?
A I
was working for Bodenschatz & Ernshaw. I worked for them three or
four years.
Q Did
you own your own team?
A Yes
sir.
Q You
were working with a stone team, a span of horses and wagon, and your
own services?
A Yes
sir.
Q That
is, they hired you, your team and wagon?
A Yes,
sir.
Q And
you were working by the day?
A Yes
sir.
Q What
were you doing on Saturday, the first day of May?
A Saturday
the first load I hauled was to the new building going up at the corner
of Lake street and that little street which runs diagonally over from
Randolph street, just on the east side of Union Park. At the sharp corner
there they were putting up a lot of new buildings and I hauled a load
of dimension stone there for the basement, in the morning. That was
a quarter of a day's work. When I got back I got a load for forty-six
and Woodlawn Avenue, in Hyde Park. That is all that I did that day.
Q So
your business has been that of teamster?
A Yes
sir. that has been my business for the last six years. I have owned
my own team for that time and previous to that I worked for different
firms around town.
Q How
many years of that six have you been engaged for that stone firm?
A This
would be the second consecutive year. The year previous to that I worked
for Heldemeyer & Boldenwick. The year before that I worked for Bodenschatz
and Ernshaw and two years before that I worked for Boyer & Corneau.
Q When
you were arrested, Mr. Fielden?
A As
near as I can remember I was arrested at home about 10 o'clock on the
morning of the 5th of May.
Q Were
you ever arrested before?
A No
sir, I never was arrested in my life.
Q Where
were you taken upon being arrested?
A I
was taken to the Central Station.
Q By
whom?
A I
don't know the names of the officers with the exception of one of them
who testified here, I think----Slayton---and four more.
Q Were
they police officers or detectives?
A Detectives.
all in citizens clothes.
Q
Have you been constantly under arrest ever since?
A Yes
sir.
Q Have
you ever had any examination, preliminary or otherwise?
Objected to.
A I
had no examination except that I was brought before the corner's jury
on the evening of the Fifth of May.
MR.
INGHAM: That is the only examination anybody ever has for murder.
MR.
FOSTER: Q Before the corner's jury?
A Yes
sir.
Q On
the fifth day of May?
A Yes
sir.
Q Is
that all the examination you have had?
A Yes
sir. That is all the examination I have had.
Adjourned to 10 A. M. August 7th 1886.
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