The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-15
BOMB SOON FOLLOWS THREAT.
ITALIAN BLACK HAND? OH, NO;
PLAIN AMERICAN STRIKERS.

Their Store-Same Here as In idaho.
The firm Of Clark, Chaplin g. Bushnell,
Wholesale grocers and tea importers at
1T and 17e Duane street, has been engaged
In q fight with the Truck Drivers Union for
the last three months. just as an incident
In Inc warfare somebody threw what Is
believed to shave been a specially made
torpedo through a broken window in one
OF the front doors OF the building at 4 o'clock
yesterday morning. The ~torpedo-if it
was q torpedo-blew out the door, ripped
up the flooring and tore a hole in the floor
above, whore the office is. Nobody was
hurt because nobody was In the building,
and $500 will probably cover the damage,
but the firm believes that the bomb ac-
complished the purposeA was meant for,
namely, to show just what a serious busi-
ness il is to quarrel with the Truck Drivers
Union.
The police had had a guard Of two de-
t~ectives in front OF the building up to mid
night. After that a patrolman was sta
toned to keep a watch on the building.
He was on the corner a hundred feet away
when the explosion occurred. Two other
policemen were on another corner about
the same distance away. They all caught
nobody.
Late in the afternoon Acting Captain
Leery's men arrested Charles Bsunan, a
d.; or. Of lts Hudson street, Oh suspicion,
and he was held in the Tombs police court
to give the police more time to dig for
evidence. According to the police, Bau.
mar was heard to remark to another man
in a group Of drivers yesterday morning
that he knew that the firm was going to get
it in just the way it did. The police said
they were also after two other men. one
of them a union man, who they believed
knew something about the case.
Clark, Chaplin h Bushnell might have
given in to the union, as most Of the firms
in that district did last December II they
had not had a fighter in the firm in the per-
son of F.. r. Bushnell. The firm has been
in business twenty-five years, occupies
a big six story warehouse n employs
eight or ten truck drivers. All Of the
drivers, according to the firm. got union
wages and were satisfied. There came a
demand from the union 10 the early part Of
December that the firm employ none but
union drivers and pay extra for all work
over time. The firm commended that under
such a rule drivers could purposely come
in two or three hours late and collect extra
money. According to Mr.. Bushnell they
sounded the men, found that they had no
complaint and decided to pay no attention
20 the demand. Then one day, according
int reduced himself as Hoffman, general
business agent Of the union.
five come to see II you people are pre-
pared to do business with me, said Mr..
Hoffman, according to Mr.. Bushnell. Mr..
Bushnell had the backing Of the firm to do
- 10 l;Eal and hn vrNnorfly ahnuraH Mr.
Hoffman the door. Hoffman left declaring
he would -tie up every wheel OF your damned
concern
That was about December g.. The next
day all the men quit. Some OF them had
been with the firm for years. They told
the members Of the firm that they had been
oontented. But the union says they'll
break our heads II We stay and we've got
to quit, the spokesman told the firm. For
one day not a wagon was moved. The
protection to every man they hired and
didn't have much trouble for awhile. Police
were detailed to ride on the trucks and the
signs were taken off these to prevent trouble.
Save for two other firms uptown the
firm was the only one that had not given in;
1t was beginning to think IL had w~eathered
the storm, and two weeks ago decided 1t
was safe enough in this Int of liberty to
put the firms sign on the outside OF its
trucks again, That was where it made a
mlStahe, DTiN6TS DtbdH COlhII6 III wv
broken heads almost Immediately. One
assault succeeded another. They occurred
on the piers and in the streets. The most
serious one Of all was a week ago yesterday.
On that day Charles Schafer was driving
one of the FIRMS trucks up Hudson street
at s o'clock in the afternoon. Two men
Jumped on at Laight street and said they
wanted a ride. Schafer goodnaturedly
told them to pile aboard, turned his back
TO drive and the next moment was being
I-..-- z.o. ,La hood uyith Nln In nGa IF not
ton hooks. His head was broken in two
places. Then he was thrown of into the
street and kicked across Hudson street
into the gutter, He is in the Hudson street
hospital at the point OF death, Two days
ago the detectives arrested William MeNally,
delegate Of the union, and Joseph Farley,
a union driver, whom they charged with
the assault. The firm appeared In the police
court proceedings, and the evidence was
such that bail was fixed at $4,000 in each
two men in jail, for they succeeded yes
terday in getting bail and getting out.
Mr.. Bushnell made up his mind early in
the game that the only way to fight such
tactics was by securing evidence and getting
convictions. He has been in court every
day for the past ten days. On Monday
John Bliss was convicted OF assault on a
driver at the Erie pier and sentenced to
pay S25 fine and serve five days in jail.
On Tuesday John Smith was sentenced
10 blAty udyb III jan iV bcotnhS VOhh DOSn'
a driver. with a piece Of lead pipe. While
he was waiting in court to press these cases,
Mr.. Bushnell says, be was approached by
Hoffman, who told him that if the firm
would let up on the prosecutions they
would nave no more trouble.
Il told him that ] would try his word
on this" said Mr.. Bushnell yesterday,
"and we waited a few days. Assaults
continued and we determined to press
the cases. Every day in court some Of the
union people were there, but we wouldn't
|. give in. Yesterday, after the arrest Of
McNelly and Farley. | received a message
that unless we let up we would regret it
and that dynamite would be used as it was
in Brooklyn recently.
Yesterday afternoon we discovered that
the grating covering the window in one of
the doors had been wrenched of n the
window broken. We notified the police
and they sent around two detectives. Tn
detectives said they Thought it had been
lone by miscellaneous boys and went away.
I understand that the captain sent them
back to guard the place last night up to
midnight. Then they were taken away
and a policeman was sent around. He
was on the corner when the explosion oc-
CURED, he says. That's the result OF u
warning"
Whatever the explosive was it was APP
parently dropped through the broken win
do- Tha an,ind ~ tho axploeinn was hea rd