The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-04-08
LABOR UNION DYNAMITERS
Stevenson Brewery Explosion Traced
Down aud the Perpetrators Arrested.
They Prove to Be the Executive Committee of
q Labor Union, and the Information Is
Furnished by an Ex-Walking Delegate.

NEW YORK, April THE explosion, pre-
sumably that of a dynamite bomb, which
occurred on the evening of Feb. s in the
area of David Stevenson's brewery, which
occupies the west side of Tenth avenue
from Thirty-ninth to Fortieth streets. has
been found to be the work of Labor Union
men, four of whom are now in custody at
police headquarters. The explosive was
placed in an area on the Thirty-ninth-street
side, and tore away a large piece of wall,
but the solidity of the masonry prevented
extensive damage. By the arrest of the
perpetrators Inspector Byrnes got to the
bottom of the crime, and one of the four
men he has in charge has confessed his COM
plicity with and told of the guilt of the
other three. The informer is Henry A. Fitz-
gerald, formerly walking delegate of the
Ale and Porter Brewery Employees Protect
i've Association. who compose Local AS
sembly $500, embraced in D.. A. 49, X. of l..
The men whom he duplicates in his con-
f~ession, and who are in custody, are John
O'Connell, president of the local assembly;
Patrick +. Close and Thomas Reardon,
members of the executive committee
Of the local assembly. OConnel was
president of the executive committee,
and reduced its members from nine to five
when he undertook to bring Stevenson to
terms, he having discharged all union men
and refused to re-emplOy any but those who
severed their connection with the union.
The four prisoners constituted the eXecu-
tive committee at the time of the explosion.
According to the story gathered from the
infOrmer'S statement, this committee went
ahOnf To 1nVanf Soma scheme whereDV
Stevenson would be made to recognize the
union by re-emplOying It's members and dis
charging the scab w~orkingmen. The first
plan approved of by the committee was to
apply for work. and state that they
were not attached to the union. The
men who might secure employment under
this disguise were to place grease I'D the
offered, and in this way destroy the brew:
Several applicants, thus advised, visited
the brewery, but were not given employ
ment. At a subsequent meeting of the ex-
ecutlve committee 1T was determined to ap-
| prOpriate $50 to continue the tight against
Stevenson. The union ratified this action.
Now, the conspiratOrs in the executive
committee, made furious by the failure of
their first attempt, conceived the plan to
| blow up the brewery. ReardOn and Close
were delegated to see a person whose
name, though in possession of the police, is
withheld, for instruction as to the de-
structive. element to be used and the
method in which it should be operated.
| These two men followed instructions re-
ported that they had succeeded in learning
all that was necessary in the use of an ex-
plosive with which they had been provid-
ed. The engine of destruction, it was
planned. should be exploded in the engine
room. The opportunity to reach the en-
gine-room was not afforded the conspira-
tors, and they became involved in a quarrel
among themselves which delayed the use
of the explosive. In carrying out the boy
colt against the brewery. Fitzgerald was
charged with inactivity, and was threat
ened with suspension from the position of
walking delegate, which yielded him $3.50
a week. He finally was ordered to be sus-
pended, but anticipated the action by re-
signing. The explosion followed.
Central office detectives who have been
on the case learned, recently, that O'COn-
nell, who had been succeeded by Reardon
as president of the union. stated at a meet
ing that it was lone thing to blow up a
brewery and another to prove it" Inspector
Byrnes, after securing Fitzgeralds con-
fession, took him before the grand jury
on Friday, where he repeated
sented the grand jury found indictments
against OConnell, Reardon and Close. and
bench warrants were issued for their ar
rest. O'Connell was taken from work in
evening. by detective sergeants Won
Grichten and Handy. He describes him
self as a married man, forty-four years old,
and residing at No.. 81 Bergen s~ereet,
Brooklyn. The other two, who were ar
rested at their homes, are entered on the
police books as Patrick S. Close, forty
years old, married, of 341 East FOrty-frst
street, New York, and Thomas Reardon,
thirty-three years, single, 301 West Forty
sixth street. The pedigree and residence
of the informer is kept Concealed by the po-
lice. He is at present an inmate of the
House of Detention. aud is held as a wit
ness. The case will come up in the General
Sessions Court tomorrow, when the men
will be called to plead to indictments
charging them with.felOny.