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May 4th marks the day of the Haymarket Affair in which eight anarchists were accused of throwing a bomb, and four of them condemn to death despite lack of evidence.

Their graves are by Emma Goldman who wished to be buried besides the Anarchists accused of setting the bomb off.

They went on to inspire other luminaries in the Anarchist movement such as Parsons, who went on to be a founding member of the IWW, and Voltairine de Clayre, both buried alongside them.

Someone oft forgotten is Mena Neebe whose husband, Oscar Neebe, was imprisoned after the fact despite the clear lack of evidence against him. In court he said, “There is no evidence to show that I was connected with the bomb-throwing, or that I was near it, or anything of that kind. So I am only sorry, your honor-that is, if you can stop it or help it-I will ask you to do it-that is, to hang me, too; for I think it is more honorable to die suddenly than to be killed by inches. I have a family and children; and if they know their father is dead, they will bury him. They can go to the grave, and kneel down by the side of it; but they can’t go to the penitentiary and see their father, who was convicted for a crime that he hasn’t had anything to do with. That is all I have got to say. Your honor, I am sorry I am not to be hung with the rest of the men.”

She died while he was in prison and he wasn’t allowed to attend the funeral.

Her name now eroded from the tombstone.

“Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty.”

On November 11, 1887, Albert Persons, August Spies, George Engel, and Adolph Fisher were all executed on false charges.