HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN. [caption title:] Clemency for the Anarchists. A Letter from Mr. W.D. Howells. To the Editor of The [New York] Tribune...Dansville, N.Y., Nov. 4, 1887. [Dansville: Privately Printed, probably December 1887]. Broadside, 8vo, 5 5/8 x 5 1/4in. (193 x 133mm.), printed in black on cream-colored paper, laid down. CORRECTED PROOF COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY HOWELLS at top to Dr. Albert Leffingwell (of The Sanatorium in Dansville): "Dear Dr. L. All right except for the errors marked. W.D.H.," with one correction and two revisions by Howells, marked "Proof" at top by Leffingwell and with two directions for spacing by him. See BAL 9633. Howells' letter supporting clemency for the eight rioters condemned to death after being found guilty of being involved in the bomb throwing at the Haymarket Riot in Chicago on 4 May 1886 was first printed in the New York Tribune for 6 November 1887, p. 5. It then appeared as a broadside -- of which this is a proof -- printed in blue on the recto of a 10 x 5 3/4-inch leaf (BAL locating the Harvard copy only). BAL dates the broadside as "[n.p., n.d., 1887?]." In a letter from Howells to Leffingwell (see below) of 30 November 1887 the author states: "I also send you my Tribune Letter, and I wish you would have it printed in type and 20 or 30 copies printed for me." In all probability Clemency for the Anarchists was printed in Dansville in December 1887.[with]HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN. A group of 11 letters, notes, typed and printed items, by or relating to Howells and his support for clemency for the anarchists, all 1887, tipped or laid down, with some leaves out of order, with the above broadside on four sheets of stiff paper removed from an album, comprising: (1) Three autograph letters signed and one typed letter signed from Howells to Dr. Albert Leffingwell in Dansville, written from Buffalo, 20 - 30 November 1887, together 10 pages, 8vo, one with margins possibly cut down, with address panels of three envelopes; (2) Typescript of "W.D. Howell's Books," 2 pages, 8vo, margins cut close, with a couple of corrections and revisions probably by Howells, a list of his books on the same paper and with the same typewriter at that of his TLS above, with a few dates in ink added (up to 1887); (3) Autograph note from Howells to Rev. Wm. M. Salter in Chicago, n.p., n.d., an oblong, in pencil on both sides of Howells' engraved calling card, introducing Leffingwell to Salter; (4) Printed petition "To his Excellency Richard J. Oglesby, Governor of the State of Illinois...," Dansville, n.d. [November 1887], broadside, square 8vo, printed in blue with red borders, bottom margin trimmed, signed by the petitioners William Dean Howells and Dr. Albert Leffingwell, with a holograph note by the latter at bottom; (5) Autograph letter signed from Albert R. Parsons (one of the condemned rioters) to Leffingwell, "Cell 29, Chicago...," 28 September 1887, one page, 8vo, sending copies of "Speeches of Anarchists" and other pamphlets regarding the Haymarket case and closing: "...With thanks for your interest in the cause of simple justice even to the despised & helpless Anarchists...," a rare autograph; and (6) A retained draft (unfinished) of a letter from Leffingwell to Howells and 2 letters to Leffingwell from others.The Howells letters to Leffingwell. 20 November 1887: "...The whole Anarchist matter keeps boiling up in my mind, and seems more and more atrocious [Howells was the first prominant American writer to support the accused anarchists]. I've suggested to Mr. Salter the publication of a sort of Clemency Memorial, which should be not only a collection of the expressions in favor of mercy, but a brief, unimpassioned history of the affair from first to last. The atonement cannot begin too soon, nor can this guilty nation be too sharply roused from its bloody dream of self-satisfaction..." 30 November 1889: "...There were five or six men at [table?] who think as we do, and we got hot as fire talking it over. One...said the men who threw the bomb [into the ranks of the police (killing seven) called out on 4 May to break up a street meeting protesting the police killing of strikers the previous day] was right. 'By God, sir,' he said, 'I'd have thrown it myself, in the name of free speech!'...There will yet be a tidal wave of indignation in this affair. We must do justice to the dead, or their ghostly hands will have power to shake the whole fabric of our state." Four of the condemned anarchists were hanged, one committed suicide, and three had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment by Governor Oglesby. In 1893 the new Governor, John P. Altegeld, charged a miscarriage of justice and pardoned the remaining three. (12)

HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN. [caption title:] Clemency for the Anarchists. A Letter from Mr. W.D. Howells. To the Editor of The [New York] Tribune...Dansville, N.Y., Nov. 4, 1887. [Dansville: Privately Printed, probably December 1887]. Broadside, 8vo, 5 5/8 x 5 1/4in. (193 x 133mm.), printed in black on cream-colored paper, laid down. CORRECTED PROOF COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY HOWELLS at top to Dr. Albert Leffingwell (of The Sanatorium in Dansville): "Dear Dr. L. All right except for the errors marked. W.D.H.," with one correction and two revisions by Howells, marked "Proof" at top by Leffingwell and with two directions for spacing by him. See BAL 9633. Howells' letter supporting clemency for the eight rioters condemned to death after being found guilty of being involved in the bomb throwing at the Haymarket Riot in Chicago on 4 May 1886 was first printed in the New York Tribune for 6 November 1887, p. 5. It then appeared as a broadside -- of which this is a proof -- printed in blue on the recto of a 10 x 5 3/4-inch leaf (BAL locating the Harvard copy only). BAL dates the broadside as "[n.p., n.d., 1887?]." In a letter from Howells to Leffingwell (see below) of 30 November 1887 the author states: "I also send you my Tribune Letter, and I wish you would have it printed in type and 20 or 30 copies printed for me." In all probability Clemency for the Anarchists was printed in Dansville in December 1887. [with] HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN. A group of 11 letters, notes, typed and printed items, by or relating to Howells and his support for clemency for the anarchists, all 1887, tipped or laid down, with some leaves out of order, with the above broadside on four sheets of stiff paper removed from an album, comprising: (1) Three autograph letters signed and one typed letter signed from Howells to Dr. Albert Leffingwell in Dansville, written from Buffalo, 20 - 30 November 1887, together 10 pages, 8vo, one with margins possibly cut down, with address panels of three envelopes; (2) Typescript of "W.D. Howell's Books," 2 pages, 8vo, margins cut close, with a couple of corrections and revisions probably by Howells, a list of his books on the same paper and with the same typewriter at that of his TLS above, with a few dates in ink added (up to 1887); (3) Autograph note from Howells to Rev. Wm. M. Salter in Chicago, n.p., n.d., an oblong, in pencil on both sides of Howells' engraved calling card, introducing Leffingwell to Salter; (4) Printed petition "To his Excellency Richard J. Oglesby, Governor of the State of Illinois...," Dansville, n.d. [November 1887], broadside, square 8vo, printed in blue with red borders, bottom margin trimmed, signed by the petitioners William Dean Howells and Dr. Albert Leffingwell, with a holograph note by the latter at bottom; (5) Autograph letter signed from Albert R. Parsons (one of the condemned rioters) to Leffingwell, "Cell 29, Chicago...," 28 September 1887, one page, 8vo, sending copies of "Speeches of Anarchists" and other pamphlets regarding the Haymarket case and closing: "...With thanks for your interest in the cause of simple justice even to the despised & helpless Anarchists...," a rare autograph; and (6) A retained draft (unfinished) of a letter from Leffingwell to Howells and 2 letters to Leffingwell from others. The Howells letters to Leffingwell. 20 November 1887: "...The whole Anarchist matter keeps boiling up in my mind, and seems more and more atrocious [Howells was the first prominant American writer to support the accused anarchists]. I've suggested to Mr. Salter the publication of a sort of Clemency Memorial, which should be not only a collection of the expressions in favor of mercy, but a brief, unimpassioned history of the affair from first to last. The atonement cannot begin too soon, nor can this guilty nation be too sharply roused from its bloody dream of self-satisfaction..." 30 November 1889: "...There were five or six men at [table?] who think as we do, and we got hot as fire talking it over. One...said the men who threw the bomb [into the ranks of the police (killing seven) called out on 4 May to break up a street meeting protesting the police killing of strikers the previous day] was right. 'By God, sir,' he said, 'I'd have thrown it myself, in the name of free speech!'...There will yet be a tidal wave of indignation in this affair. We must do justice to the dead, or their ghostly hands will have power to shake the whole fabric of our state." Four of the condemned anarchists were hanged, one committed suicide, and three had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment by Governor Oglesby. In 1893 the new Governor, John P. Altegeld, charged a miscarriage of justice and pardoned the remaining three. (12)

Details

HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN. [caption title:] Clemency for the Anarchists. A Letter from Mr. W.D. Howells. To the Editor of The [New York] Tribune...Dansville, N.Y., Nov. 4, 1887. [Dansville: Privately Printed, probably December 1887]. Broadside, 8vo, 5 5/8 x 5 1/4in. (193 x 133mm.), printed in black on cream-colored paper, laid down. CORRECTED PROOF COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY HOWELLS at top to Dr. Albert Leffingwell (of The Sanatorium in Dansville): "Dear Dr. L. All right except for the errors marked. W.D.H.," with one correction and two revisions by Howells, marked "Proof" at top by Leffingwell and with two directions for spacing by him. See BAL 9633. Howells' letter supporting clemency for the eight rioters condemned to death after being found guilty of being involved in the bomb throwing at the Haymarket Riot in Chicago on 4 May 1886 was first printed in the New York Tribune for 6 November 1887, p. 5. It then appeared as a broadside -- of which this is a proof -- printed in blue on the recto of a 10 x 5 3/4-inch leaf (BAL locating the Harvard copy only). BAL dates the broadside as "[n.p., n.d., 1887?]." In a letter from Howells to Leffingwell (see below) of 30 November 1887 the author states: "I also send you my Tribune Letter, and I wish you would have it printed in type and 20 or 30 copies printed for me." In all probability Clemency for the Anarchists was printed in Dansville in December 1887.

[with]

HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN. A group of 11 letters, notes, typed and printed items, by or relating to Howells and his support for clemency for the anarchists, all 1887, tipped or laid down, with some leaves out of order, with the above broadside on four sheets of stiff paper removed from an album, comprising: (1) Three autograph letters signed and one typed letter signed from Howells to Dr. Albert Leffingwell in Dansville, written from Buffalo, 20 - 30 November 1887, together 10 pages, 8vo, one with margins possibly cut down, with address panels of three envelopes; (2) Typescript of "W.D. Howell's Books," 2 pages, 8vo, margins cut close, with a couple of corrections and revisions probably by Howells, a list of his books on the same paper and with the same typewriter at that of his TLS above, with a few dates in ink added (up to 1887); (3) Autograph note from Howells to Rev. Wm. M. Salter in Chicago, n.p., n.d., an oblong, in pencil on both sides of Howells' engraved calling card, introducing Leffingwell to Salter; (4) Printed petition "To his Excellency Richard J. Oglesby, Governor of the State of Illinois...," Dansville, n.d. [November 1887], broadside, square 8vo, printed in blue with red borders, bottom margin trimmed, signed by the petitioners William Dean Howells and Dr. Albert Leffingwell, with a holograph note by the latter at bottom; (5) Autograph letter signed from Albert R. Parsons (one of the condemned rioters) to Leffingwell, "Cell 29, Chicago...," 28 September 1887, one page, 8vo, sending copies of "Speeches of Anarchists" and other pamphlets regarding the Haymarket case and closing: "...With thanks for your interest in the cause of simple justice even to the despised & helpless Anarchists...," a rare autograph; and (6) A retained draft (unfinished) of a letter from Leffingwell to Howells and 2 letters to Leffingwell from others.

The Howells letters to Leffingwell. 20 November 1887: "...The whole Anarchist matter keeps boiling up in my mind, and seems more and more atrocious [Howells was the first prominant American writer to support the accused anarchists]. I've suggested to Mr. Salter the publication of a sort of Clemency Memorial, which should be not only a collection of the expressions in favor of mercy, but a brief, unimpassioned history of the affair from first to last. The atonement cannot begin too soon, nor can this guilty nation be too sharply roused from its bloody dream of self-satisfaction..." 30 November 1889: "...There were five or six men at [table?] who think as we do, and we got hot as fire talking it over. One...said the men who threw the bomb [into the ranks of the police (killing seven) called out on 4 May to break up a street meeting protesting the police killing of strikers the previous day] was right. 'By God, sir,' he said, 'I'd have thrown it myself, in the name of free speech!'...There will yet be a tidal wave of indignation in this affair. We must do justice to the dead, or their ghostly hands will have power to shake the whole fabric of our state." Four of the condemned anarchists were hanged, one committed suicide, and three had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment by Governor Oglesby. In 1893 the new Governor, John P. Altegeld, charged a miscarriage of justice and pardoned the remaining three. (12)