John Peter Altgeld
Altgeld, John Peter (1847–1902), a United States political leader notable for his courage in taking unpopular positions in the name of righting injustice. As governor of Illinois, 1892–96, he pardoned three anarchists who he believed had been wrongfully convicted of conspiracy to incite murder in connection with the Chicago Haymarket Riot of 1886. In 1894 Altgeld protested President Cleveland's sending troops to maintain order during the Pullman strike in Chicago. These actions cost Altgeld his political career; he was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1896.
Altgeld was born in Germany, and in infancy was brought by his parents to Richland County, Ohio. Altgeld served briefly in the Civil War, studied law, and was state's attorney in Andrew County, Missouri, before coming to Chicago in 1875. He was judge of the Superior Court of Cook County, 1886–91. His book Our Penal Machinery and Its Victims (1884) was the beginning of a long fight for prison reforms. He was the first Democratic governor of Illinois since the Civil War.