She Lauds Czolgosz for His Act
Mrs. Schwab Says, Too, That Emma Goldman’s a Martyr.
In her little dingy
saloon, the low ceiling of which is black with the smoke of cheap
tobacco and from which the odors of vile whiskey are wafted into
First street, Mrs. Justus Schwab sullenly sneered at the existing
order of society to a reporter of The Evening World to-day.
“Poor Emma Goldman,” she cried. “I
hope the police haven’t found her. If she wants money she knows
where she can get it. What do they want her for? She speaks truth,
and can she be blamed if her words bring action?
“Czolgosz heard her talk and did what
he regarded as his duty. Can he be blamed? John Brown did his duty
and was hanged for it. To-day he is regarded as a martyr.
Emma Goldman a Martyr.
“Emma Goldman is a teacher
of the gospel of mankind and will one day be viewed as a martyr
to humanity. I don’t know where she is. She was in St. Louis a week
ago. I had a letter from her there. I hope she is where nobody can
find her.”
“Did you hear of any plot to kill
Vice-President Roosevelt?” asked the reporter.
“No, I never heard of such a plot,”
was the reply. “Would I tell you of it if I had? I believe Roosevelt
is a better friend of the masses than McKinley ever was. Some day
it might be a good thing if many of that kind of men were dead and
the true government prevailed. Then the dreams of Emma Goldman and
my poor dead husband will be realized.”
Mrs. Schwab, when informed that President
McKinley would probably recover, said:
“As a woman I am glad for his wife.”
Then, in the same breath, she asked: “What will they do with Czolgosz?”
“He may get ten years in prison,”
was the answer.
“The world will hang him if the law
allows,” said Mrs. Schwab. “I presume he will be imprisoned and
one day we’ll hear of his going to an insane asylum. It will probably
never come out why he went insane. They will do with him as they
did with Bresci.”
Czolgosz a Hero.
Among those in the saloon
of Mrs. Schwab was Phillip Scherer. He says he is not an Anarchist,
but knows many of them and is conversant with their views.
“Anarchists look at Czolgosz as a
man of action,” said Scherer to an Evening World reporter. “In their
eyes he is a hero. He has done something more than to sit at a table
and drink beer and talk. A man like Czolgosz does more good to the
cause of Anarchy than 1,000 pages of written matter.
“I was talking to Most, who said there
ought to be more like this apostle. Most said his name deserved
to be written in the book of Anarchistic fame, not for shooting
the President, but because he is a man of action.”
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