Carl Hamblin + 

The press of the Spoon River Clarion was wrecked, + 

And I was tarred and feathered, + 

For publishing this on the day the Anarchists were hanged in Chicago: + 

“I saw a beautiful woman with bandaged eyes + 

Standing on the steps of a marble temple. + 

Great multitudes passed in front of her, + 

Lifting their faces to her imploringly. + 

In her left hand she held a sword. + 

She was brandishing the sword, + 

Sometimes striking a child, again a laborer, + 

Again a slinking woman, again a lunatic. + 

In her right hand she held a scale; + 

Into the scale pieces of gold were tossed + 

By those who dodged the strokes of the sword. + 

A man in a black gown read from a manuscript: + 

‘She is no respecter of persons.’ + 

Then a youth wearing a red cap + 

Leaped to her side and snatched away the bandage. + 

And lo, the lashes had been eaten away + 

From the oozy eyelids; + 

The eye-balls were seared with a milky mucus; + 

The madness of a dying soul + 

Was written on her face⁠— + 

But the multitude saw why she wore the bandage.” + 