The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1910-10-07
DYNAMITE OUTRAGE.
PLANT OF LOS ANGELES TIMES IS
WRECKED AND TWENTY MEN
LOSE THEIR LIVES.
Explosion Was Followed by Flash Of
Flame That Made a Roaring Furnace
Of Doomed Building and Men Had
No Chance of Escape.

Los Angeles men are known
to be dead and fifteen are missing.
there being no doubt that their
charred bodies will be found later, as
the result OF an explosion and fire
which destroyed the plant of the Los
Angeles Times, early Friday morning,
causing monetary loss of half mil
lion dollars. In addition to the Times
building, the building of the Baumgart
publishing company, adjoining the
Times, together with the plant of the
Weekly Graphic, was also completely
destroyed.
The known dead are: Harvey c..
Elder, assistant city editor; J. Wesley
heaves, secretary to Assistant Gen
eral Manager Chandler; r. l.. Saw
yer, telegraph editor, and Harvey L.
Crane, assistant telegraph editor. The
fifteen missing are printers, linotype
operators and machinists, all but
three being married and leaving ia
miles.
1t Is charged by employees OF the
Times who escaped that the fire was
the result of dynamite explosion
which occurred In the alleway be-
tween the two buildings, the explosion
being of such force as to overthrow
the linotype machines, which were
on the second floor of the building,
and thrown the operators clear to the
ceiling. The men who perisned had
no chance for their lives, the building
being seething, roaring mass of
flames in a moment after the explo-
sion. and it is supposed those who
persisted were stunned by the explo-
sion. Those who escaped did so by
rushing at once to the doors and win
dows.
General Harrison Gray Otis, pub
Usher of the Times, and the RESPONSE
BILE heads of the paper, charge the dis
aster to labor union sources.
With emphasis, the labor leaders
here and throughout the state repu-
date the accusation, and have of
fered all aid in their power to run
down the culprits.
For twenty years, following quar-
rel with the Typographical union,
which resulted in making the Times
nonunion paper, General Otis has
been opposed to unions and has fought
unionism with every resource at his
hands. The Times has long been rec
ognized as the most bitter opponent
of unionism in the United States; and
it has been seconded in its fight
against organized labor by the Mer-
chants & Manufacturers association
of this city.
Following the terrible loss of life
as result of the destruction of the
Times plant comes the announcement
that dynamite bomb, operated by
clockwork, was discovered by the
gardener at the residence of General
Otis in the fashionable section OF the
city. The bomb had been placed un
der some vines underneath a bay win
dow. The gardener telephoned the
police. who removed the bomb to
nearby park, where 1t exploded, but
did little damage. 1t probably would
have destroyed the Otis home, had II
exploded in the place it was discov.
cred. General Otis was in Mexico at
the time. but has since returned to
Los Angeles, and boldly charges the
labor unions with the crimes of blow
ing up the Times building and max
ing an attempt to destroy his home.
Another internal machine was
found at the residence of Secretary
Zeehandelaar, of the Merchants &
Manufacturers association. 1t was
composed of fifteen sticks of giant
powder and was timed to go off at the
same hour the explosion occurred at
the Times office.
Assistant General Manager Chand-
Ter, of the Times, who probably es-
capped death owing to the fact that he
left the office an hour earlier than
usual, is authority for the statement
that a similar attempt was made to
blow up the Times auxiliary plant at
College and San Fernando streets
few minutes before the explosion oc-
Cured which destroyed the main
building.
The succession of tragic events and
the rumors of attempted outrages has
set the populace of Los Angeles in a
state of mind bordering upon panic
Hundreds of detectives and policemen
are busy in every direction. running
down clues and endeavoring to find
the alleged perpetrators of the crimes
So far two arrests have been made,
but these are only upon suspicion.
The president of the local Typo
graphical union has issued orders to
union printers that they may work in
conjunction with the non-union print
ers of the Times in any of the local
newspaper offices in getting out the
editions of the Times until new
plant has been installed
The city council has appropriated
$4,000 for the purpose of determining
the cause of the explosion at the
Times office. and has offered a reward
of $4,000 for the capture OF those re-
sponsible for the outrage.
Chief of Police Shot Down.
McAlester. Okla.-George England, |