With the Anarchists of America.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue XIII, 28 September 1901, Page 598

With the Anarchists of America.

When Gaetano Bresci killed Italy's King he turned the eyes of nations on the town of Paterson, in New Jersey. U.S. The "silk city" sprang into notoriety as "the hot-bed of Anarchists.” as if it were the capital of the whole red world and the headquarters for the training of regicides. It is said that here the Anarchists hatched their plot, here Bresci drew the blood number, fifty-eight, that meant "remove" a king or commit suicide. Whether this be true or not. secret-service men have yet to determine; but, meanwhile, if the latest tragedy of the Italian throne were to be written for the stage, the scene of the first acts would certainly have to be laid in Paterson.

The Italian quarter, in the heart of the town, is full of the footprints of the assassin. In the silk-mill in Straight-street one may see the loom at which Bresci worked and earned his last honest dollar: across the street is the cheap hotel where he lived: on the corner is the hardware store at which he bought the revolver ami the bullet destined for the heart of Humbert; and not far away is the steamship agency office where he purchased his steerage ticket to Havre. Then, in Market-street, there is a certain row of ramshackle tenements which is known in the town as "The Anarchist Nest.” Here lived the three accomplices and La Bella Teresa, the sweetheart who. it is said, sailed with Bresci on the Gascogne. Here als > lived Sperandio. who. at the first drawing of lots, drew the fatal number. but who. in the sight of his fellows. proved a coward and look his own life instead of a king's. His murderous task is supposed to have been assumed by Bresci. Here also lived Count Enrico Malatesta. the intellectual arch-Anarchist. of good Italian family, who for thirty years has pushed others to deeds of violence, and who dominated Bresci. encouraging him till the deed was done. In one of these tenements. No. 355.

Market-street, is published "La Questione Sociale," the organ of the Paterson Right to Existence Group, and here, in a back room up two dark flights, lives Pedro Esteve, a Spaniard. the editor of the paper, and the leader of the 3500 Anarchists in the city. Fanaticism is written in his faee. What little of his skin is left free of beard is sicklied o'er with the pale east of discontent. The room is thick with dust. Cleanliness is not in favour with any Anarchist. Portraits of Herr Most and other Anarchist leaders hang on the walls. Soon after the assassination of the King of Italy an American obtained an interview- with Esteve. Introducing the subject of that bloody deed, he keen-

ly wati-hed the latter. Esteve bangel the table with hi sly. skiuny fingers. "The newspapers lie." he shouted. "Reporters make all the trouble. We did not plot the killing of the King. We do not draw lots for such things. Each man for himself is our way. Tiresei has rendered a great service to the 30,000,000 people of Italy. He did not kill the man Humbert, he killed a king, a tyrant. I cannot weep for the death of such a one, for I do not care —that," and he snapped his fingers. "Anarchy is firmly established in Paterson." he added. "And yet the police ignore us. So they should. It is no erime to say one is an Anarchist. Our organisation is getting stronger every day. We are opposed to government, which means political tyranny, in any form. We hope to accomplish our end by scattering our doctrines over the world until the people are united in one vast brotherhood. We do not believe in government. in individual ownership of property. in religion, nor in laws.” The editorial rooms of “La Questione Sociale” are used by the Anarchists as headouarters. H«-re their

secret meetings are held. They have no constitution, no by-laws, no rules. They have no ruler, no president, no officers of any sort. On Wednesdav

nights tbex simply drift in and talk. If a member has an opinion of what

should be done to help the “cause” he freely expresses it. Besides the meetings of this particular group, the “Dritto AH' Esistenza” (Right of Existence). nightly councils of other groups are held in various Italian saloons in the quarter, each saloon having a rear room used for the purpose. These Anarchists nearly ail work in the mills, and have never given the police the slightest trouble, beyond the disorder at tending a strike. The night before the murder of Huml>ert meetings were held in various places, as they said, to receive tin reports of agents abroad. But the meetings seemed to be of special importance. only “actives” being admitted. and doors locked. When came the news from Monza, a few hours later, many of them became as if drunk with enthusiasm, openly gloating in the streets over the trueness of Bresci’s aim. On the top floor of the tenement next door to the office of “La Questione Sociaie.’’ No. 353. the interviewer found the Italian girl. Ernestine Cravello, who had said: “I am an Anarchist. and proud of it.” She had not returned to her loom at the Paragon Mill since noon the day before, when a hooting mob had chased her th rough the streets to the very door of her home. She was pale and tired, but defiant. She looked fully twenty-five, though she said her age was eighteen. She has beautiful violet eyes. the t \ pical Italian mouth, curved and full lipped, a voluptuous form —and there her beauty stops. Her features artirregular. her cheeks sunken, her chestnut hair, though abundant, has not that oily glossness common to Italian women, but is dry and lifeless Still >he would be a picturesque figun. in the story if she was real'y wha». the papers called her —the leader of the Anarchists. Though she lias spirit and intelligem-e superior to other loom girls, she has not the educational foundation of a Lucy Parsons or an Emma Goldman, to whom she has been compared. At the first interview between the reporters and the Anarchists she hap* pened to act as interpreter, or spokesman. because she could speak English more fluently than her compatriots. With almost savage enthusiasm she put words into their mouths and said too much. Hence she was given undue prominence anti importance. She came from Italy five years ago. an experienced weaver even at that early age. and went to work at once in tlni Paterson mills. This “daughter of the people.” as she kept calling herself. said rabid things in gentle way. as if she did not fully realise the full import of hr words. I suspect she was repeating what she had heard the men sax at the meetings, such as. “This is not a free country.

Killing a king makes |K*ople think We nex er think of consequences. We w ant to exterminate evils by force, right now.”

On the fourth day after Humbert’s assassination Paterson was smeared with posters announcing a mass meeting of Italians no mention of Anarchists—to be held that evening in Bartholdi Hall. The “reds” said they would show that their meetings were no worse than other political meetings. Everybody was invited. The news had just appeared that the Italian Government. through Ambassador Baron Fava, had asked the I'nited States to uncover if possible the details of the plot, and Secretary Hay hail notified Governor Voorhees, of New Jersey, to set machinery in motion to clear Paterson of Anarchists. but first to obtain evidence preliminary to the prosecution of any persons within the State who conspired to bring about the assassination of Humltert.

That noon. accompanied by a photographer, the writer turned into Straight-street towards Bartholdi Hall. A tough looking man in a red shirt, standing sentinel on the corner, evidently put there to spot strangers, followed them. He was joined at intervals down the street by other toughs. In front of the saloon called the Bartholdi Hotel. where Bresci lived, they closed around us. Out poured a group of Italians from within. headed b\ Botta. the proprietor. “No. no.” he protested. “You no taka da photograph of my saloon. 1 smasha da camera and I pusha your face in. If you giva me hundred dollar you can taka da photograph.” When the time came for the mass meeting a few hundred curious people gathered on the sidewalk opposite the saloon, too timid to come in. ami about 300 filed into the very dirty back room, which was dignified as. Bartholdi Hall. Bresci himself used often to address his pals in this room. As the place filled with pipe smoke tin air became fold. The first words of the orator of the evening, the Pedro Esteve before referred to. were directed at the score of reporters from New York newspapers, who sat near the platform. “Well.” said he. “this is a meeting of the ‘reds’ and the ’yellows.* ” A prayer meeting could not have been tamer. The subject discussed was “The Situation in Italy .” but never an Anarchist utterance. It was plain that this “open meeting” was held solely for the purpose of making a favourable impression on the press and the police. When the late President McKinley was in Paterson attending the funeral of Vice-President Hobart be was mon than usually closely guarded by detectives. while fully half the Paterson police force of 104 men were on watch, in citizens’ clothes, in the Italian quarter.