Adolph Fischer
| Adolph Fischer | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 1858 Free City of Bremen, German Confederation |
| Died | November 11, 1887 (age 28-29) Chicago, Illinois |
| Occupation | Printer |
| Criminal penalty | Death by hanging |
| Criminal status | Deceased |
| Conviction(s) | Conspiracy |
Adolph Fischer (1858 – November 11, 1887) was an anarchist and labor union activist tried and executed after the Haymarket Riot.
Adolph Fischer was born in Bremen, Germany and attended school there for eight years. His father frequently attended socialist meetings, but in school Fischer was taught that socialism was an unhealthy lifestyle. However, after observing the working conditions in Germany, Fischer reached the opposite conclusion.
Fischer immigrated to the United States in 1873 at the age of 15. He became an apprentice compositor in a printing shop in Little Rock, Arkansas. Later, in 1879, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he joined the German Typographical Union and in 1881, married Johanna Pfauntz (they would have three children – one daughter and two sons). Adolph and his wife moved in 1881 to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked for his brother as a compositor for Anzeiger des Südens, a journal for German immigrants.
In 1883, he moved his family to Chicago, where he became a compositor at the Arbeiter-Zeitung, a pro-labor newspaper run by August Spies and Michael Schwab. It was around then that he also joined the International Working Person's Association and the Lehr-und-Wehr Verein, a radical offshoot which was formed to teach workers to defend themselves.
After the riot at the McCormick Reaper Plant on May 3, 1886, in which several workers were killed, Fischer attended a meeting at Greif's Hall, on Lake Street, to formulate a response. This was the infamous "Monday Night Conspiracy" which prosecution would use to prove foreknowledge of the bombing the following day. Also in attendance were George Engel and Godfried Waller, who chaired the meeting and who would later testify for the state in return for immunity (Waller was also arrested after the bombing).
The meeting concluded with a plan for a meeting the following night in the Haymarket. Fischer was charged with printing handbills to announce the meeting. The first handbills, which were printed in English and German, contained the line "Workingmen, arm yourselves and appear in full force." Spies, who had been invited to speak at the meeting refused unless this line was removed, so Fischer prepared another circular without the offending line.
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