Scope and Contents: Canute R. Matson became the sheriff of Cook County late in 1886, following the Haymarket Riot and the subsequent trial of eight men charged with murdering a policeman during the riot. This collection contains photocopies of Matson's official correspondence from this period, including petition for a writ of error, instructions from Gov. Richard J. Oglesby regarding the commutation of the sentences of two of the defendants, personal statements from the defendants' lawyers, an invitation to the execution, a certificate of witness to the execution, and the defendants' directions for the disposition of their bodies.
Frederick Matson, of Pennsylvania State University, donated this collection to the Library in 1978.
| Illinois History and Lincoln Collections
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