Oscar Neebe
Encyclopedia
Early life
Neebe was born on July 12, 1850 in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, a son of German immigrants of French Huguenot origin from Kassel, Germany. He had two brothers, Conrad Neebe, who moved to Boston and Louis, who moved to Chicago. The family went back to Hesse Kassel for their children's education and returned to the United States in 1864. Neebe worked for a time manufacturing gold and silver leaf in Brooklyn, but was forced to quit for health reasons.
In 1866, he moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where he had a hard time until he was finally hired as a waiter in a saloon. The saloon was frequented by workers from the nearby McCormick reaper works, and it was here that her learned of the worker's plight of workers and how they were exploited. He also learned of the 8-hour working day movement. In 1868, he started working as a cook on the boats carrying iron ore across the Great Lakes. However, he soon resigned and returned to New York City.
There he became an apprentice tinsmith and later worked in factories manufacturing milk and oil cans. He encountered the realities of the 19th century working class: tenement housing with families too poor to feed themselves and children forced to work for low wages and often injured in the factories. In 1871, he heard his first speech by a communist party member.
In 1873 Neebe moved to Philadelphia, where he married Anna M. Monsees. They would have three children. In 1877, Oscar moved his family moved back to Chicago. He worked in a manufacturing plant, but was fired for daring to stand up for his fellow workers. The same year he joined the communist party. Neebe was mostly unemployed during the next two years. In 1881, he and his brother Louis opened a yeast business.
It was on his visits to bakeries and breweries that Neebe became interested in the labor movement. He also became the office manager for the Arbeiter-Zeitung
Arbeiter-Zeitung (Chicago)
The Arbeiter-Zeitung, also known as the Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung, a German language anarchist newspaper, was started in Chicago, Illinois, in 1877 by veterans of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. It continued publishing through 1931...
, a German-language workers' rights newspaper edited by August Spies
August Spies
August Vincent Theodore Spies was an anarchist labor activist who was found guilty of conspiracy and hanged following a bomb attack on police at the Haymarket affair.-Background:...
and Michael Schwab
Michael Schwab
Michael Schwab was a German-American labor organizer and one of the defendants in the Haymarket Square incident.-Early years:...
Haymarket Riot and Trial
Neebe was not present at the Haymarket Square on the day of the meeting and subsequent bombing, and stated that he was not even aware it had happened until he was told about it the following day. When he heard that Spies and Schwab had been arrested in connection with the bombing, he took over management of the Arbeiter-Zeitung. He was himself arrested only a few days later because of his association with the defendants and the Arbeiter-Zeitung.At trial, the evidence against Neebe was particularly weak, as even the State's Attorney reportedly admitted. The evidence presented against him was based on his political views and that he had attended socialist meetings, was associated with Arbeiter-Zeitung, and that a shotgun, a pistol and red flag were found in his home. One witness claimed that he had been seen distributing the famous "Revenge" Circular,. Neebe insisted he had only handed him one that he found and hadn't even read himself.
Despite this, Neebe was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In his final address to the court, he declared: "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."
While serving his sentence, his wife Meta died in 1887. He was promised he could attend her funeral, but finally he was not allowed to go. On June 26, 1893 Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
John Peter Altgeld
John Peter Altgeld
John Peter Altgeld was the 20th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1893 until 1897. He was the first Democratic governor of that state since the 1850s...
pardoned Neebe and two of his co-defendants, having concluded that they were innocent.
Later years
Neebe remarried the year he was released. He had three more children with his new wife Regina Hepp. Neebe, who had been involved with (and then expelled from) the Socialist Labor Party and active in the trade union movement prior to the Haymarket Affair, joined the Industrial Workers of the WorldIndustrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
soon after its founding in 1905. He was listed as one of their main speakers in Chicago for Labor Day, 1906, and attended the union's 1907 Convention. He spent his final years quietly as a saloon
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
keeper, and died in Chicago on April 22, 1916 at the age of 65.
Neebe was buried at the Haymarket Martyrs' Monument in German Waldheim Cemetery
German Waldheim Cemetery
German Waldheim Cemetery, also known as Waldheim Cemetery, was a cemetery in Forest Park, a suburb of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. It was originally founded in 1873 as a non-religion specific cemetery, where Freemasons, Roma, and German-speaking immigrants to Chicago could be buried without...
in Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park, Illinois
Forest Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in the United States. The population was 15,688 at the 2000 census...
.