John Peter Altgeld (1847-1902): politician. Altgeld was born in Germany and came to the U.S. in 1848. He arrived in Chicago in 1875 after serving in the Civil War. Altgeld was a lawyer and bought the Unity Building. He was voted to the bench of the Cook County Superior Court in 1886 and was elected governor in 1892. Altgeld pardoned anarchists in the 1893 Haymarket uprising, and he opposed use of federal troops at Pullman in 1894. Date of death: March 12, 1902; Joliet, IL