United States 1886

Synopsis

The Haymarket Riot, which is also often referred to as the Haymarket Massacre or the Haymarket Incident, was a radical labor protest meeting on 4 May 1886 in Chicago, Illinois, that turned deadly. Although the assembly began peacefully, an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb when the police began to raid the meeting. While the identity of the bomb thrower has never been determined, hysteria over the event, which had been organized by anarchists, was sufficient to secure the conviction of eight people for murder and conspiracy, despite little or no evidence to prove the charges brought against them. Four men were eventually hanged for a crime they did not commit.

Timeline

• 1866: The Winchester repeating rifle is introduced.
• 1871: Chicago fire causes 250 deaths and $196 million in damage.
• 1876: General George Armstrong Custer and 264 soldiers are killed by the Sioux at the Little Big Horn River.
• 1878: Thomas Edison...