Death of Lazarus Averbuch

[4] The incident occurred during an era of public fear of foreign-born anarchists in the United States, following their involvement with the Haymarket affair in 1886.

[5] The exact circumstances of the shooting remain contested, but Averbuch's death has inspired speculation, ideological arguments, and works of fiction.

[10] They lived in a small apartment in the Eastern European Jewish neighborhood on Chicago's Near West Side.

[7] Early in the morning of Monday, March 2, 1908, Lazarus Averbuch visited the home[11] of George Shippy, Chicago's Chief of Police, in Lincoln Park.

Then, Averbuch drew a revolver and fired, striking Shippy's son, Harry, as he entered from upstairs[13] to investigate the noise.

A federal law was adopted shortly after Averbuch's death, allowing authorities to deport recent immigrants for involvement with anarchism or other misbehavior.

Due to public outrage and negative press coverage of anarchists, she was harassed by police and cancelled her planned address.

[7] Without first knowing he was dead, Olga was confronted with Averbuch's body, damaged from gunfire and ill treatment by angry policemen.

[7] Chief among the community members who financially and otherwise supported Olga Averbuch following her brother's death was Jane Addams.

Addams' Hull House assisted many Eastern European Jewish immigrants since its establishment in 1889, near Averbuch's neighborhood.

[5] Jane Addams wrote that in the days following Averbuch's death, "In the public excitement, good citizens jumped to the conclusion disseminated by certain newspapers that the ghetto was full of 'anarchists' and 'anarchist plots'.

[5] Jane Addams responded to the Averbuch murder with an essay, "The Chicago Settlements and Social Unrest," printed in Charities and the Commons.

Walter Roth and Joe Kraus's book, An Accidental Anarchist: How the Killing of a Humble Jewish Immigrant by Chicago's Chief of Police Exposed the Conflict between Law and Order and Civil Rights in Early Twentieth Century America, aims to reconstruct the context of Averbuch's death and studies the perspectives of the parties involved.