Matson, Canute R. Correspondence, 1887

This collection consists of the photocopied correspondence of Canute R. Matson, sheriff in Cook County following the Chicago Haymarket Affair in 1886.

Canute R. Matson was born on a farm in Norway in 1843. His family moved to the United States six years later. Matson enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and became a prominent member of the Illinois Republican Party in the aftermath of the Civil War. Matson was deputy sheriff of Cook County, under Seth Hanchett, during the Haymarket Affair of 1886. Matson succeeded Hanchett as sheriff of Cook County late in 1886 and presided over the trial of the 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 Governor 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.