Travis,

The following is from the Grollier Multimedia Encyclopedia; although the
article is hardly a paradigm of objectivity, I hope the information will
help.

Joe Towson
[log in to unmask]

Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket Riot occurred in Chicago on May 4, 1886, when police broke up
a
workers' demonstration organized by anarchists.  On May 3 laborers had
battled
police at the McCormick Reaper Company, which had hired nonunion workers
during a strike to obtain an 8-hour working day.  One person was killed, and
the anarchists accused the police of brutality, calling a protest rally at
Haymarket Square the next day.  When police tried to disperse the rally, a
bomb exploded in police ranks and rioting erupted.  Eleven people were
killed.
The bomber was never identified, but eight anarchist leaders were convicted
as accessories to murder.  Four were hanged, one committed suicide, and
three
were jailed.  In 1893, Governor J. P.  Altgeld of Illinois pardoned the
three
survivors.

Bibliography:  Avrich, P., The Haymarket Tragedy (1984); David, Henry,
History
of the Haymarket Affair (1936;  repr. 1964);  Foner, Philip S., ed.,
Autobiographies of the Haymarket Martyrs (1969).