Sigmund Zeisler

Sigmund Zeisler (1860-1931) was a German-Jewish U.S. attorney born in Austria and known for his defense of radicals in Chicago in the 1880s. His wife was the famed concert pianist Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler.

Childhood, marriage and legal education
Sigmund Zeisler was born in Bielitz, Austrian Silesia in 1860. He began his education at the University of Vienna and emigrated to Chicago in 1883.

Zeisler graduated from Northwestern University Law School in 1884. In 1885 he married Fannie Bloomfield. The Zeislers had three sons: Leonard, Paul and Ernest.

After Fannie Bloomfield-Zeisler's death in 1927, Zeisler married Amelia Spellman in 1930. He died in 1931.

Professional career
In 1886-1887, Zeisler was co-counsel for the defendants in the Anarchist cases, popularly known as the Haymarket cases. Zeisler was a progressive and was a member of the American Anti-Imperialist League, the Municipal Voters' League, and the Civil Service Reform Association.

Zeisler was a writer and lectured on legal topics. Zeisler was a member of the Chicago Literary Club, The Little Room, Book and Play and the Cliff Dwellers.

Cases

 * The Haymarket trials
 * HEATH & MILLIGAN MFG CO. v. WORST 207 U.S. 338 (1907) regarding lead-based paint.

Publications

 * Zeisler, Sigmund "The Legal and Moral Aspects of Abortion," remarks at the 1910 meeting of the Chicago Gynecological Society, printed in the Journal of Surgery, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Vol. 10, p. 539.
 * Zeisler, Sigmund Reminiscences Of The Anarchist Case Chicago Literary Club 1927 1st Wraps, very good, 40pp, 1/570. PB

Text of Jewish Encyclopedia article
''American jurist; born at Bielitz, then Austria, April 11, 1860; educated at the University of Vienna and at the Northwestern University, Chicago. He was admitted to the Chicago bar, and was associate counsel for the defense in the anarchist cases of 1886 and 1887. In 1893 he was elected chief assistant corporation counsel for Chicago, but resigned his position in 1894 on account of ill health. After traveling for several months in Europe, he returned to Chicago, where he has since been engaged in private practise. Zeisler is a prominent Democrat, and took an active part in the presidential campaigns of 1896 and 1900. He has contributed to reviews and law journals.''