John Peter Altgeld – 1847–1902

 As Democratic governor of Illinois (1893–1897), Altgeld reformed the state’s penal system and promoted strict child labor laws, but when he courageously pardoned (June 26, 1893) German-American anarchists unjustly condemned to death for involvement in Chicago’s Haymarket Riot of May 4, 1886 (in which seven Chicago policemen were killed), he destroyed his political career. Out of office, he returned to the private practice of law with his partner, Clarence Darrow.