The San Francisco call., 1910-12-26
iron WORKS
BLOWN Up
IN SOUTH
Los Angeles Plant of LIeweIIyn
Company Shattered by Mys-
teriOus Explosion
Early Morning Defamation Af-
fects Houses Two Miles
From Scene
Watchman Is Buried in Ruins,
but Escapes With Minor
Injuries
os ANGELES. Dec. 25.-A mys.

i os ANGELES Dec. 25.-A mys-
terious explosion. presumably OF
dynamite. wrecked a considerable
portion OF the main building Of the
Llewellyn iron works, one Of the big
gest Industrial institutions of the kind
in the southwest. at Redondo and Main
streets. At 1854 a. m today. J. E. AS
bury, a night watchman who was in
the of1ce Of the building. was slightly
injured. Windows Of the adjoining
plants OF the Lacy manufacturing com
psny, the Johnson machine works and
the Stearns gas engine company were
blown out, and minor damage done.
Residents Of the Westlake district
two miles away, were awakened by the
force OF the explosion which shook the
whole neighborhood.
A hole in the ground IS inches deep
and about feet in diameter bears wit
ness to the place Of origin and proba-
bic cause Of the damage This hole is
just outside the business line and ad-
jacent to what was the wagon en-
trance. On the other side of the hole
was a wooden shed which. with its
contents Of stored iron. was reduced
TO q mass Of debris.
Office Shot to Atoms
The front Of the main building. q
three story frame for a distance of
probably IS feet was shot to pieces and
its contents Of furniture and Office fix
lures are piled together in apparent
ruin. The material damage. however.
is confined to the shipping room. the
once and the space above them, and
is relatively small.
The big machinery of the plant is
apparently not damaged and the build
ing to which the chief injury was done
is frame shack which has been in
use for more than a generation The
officers Of the company announce that
the work Of the plant viii be resumed
as usual on Tuesday morning, and
early today carpenters were busy
building a temporary structure for the
use Of the Office force.
Debris BurieS Watchman
Asbury. the watchman, was seated
in the Office about 80 feet from the
center of the explosion when it oc-
Cured. He was buried under a mass
Of debris but was dragged out Of it by
Policeman Cahill, who was in front OF
the Office when the explosion occurred
with the exception Of a cut on his
right hand and an abrasion Of the
scalp and face, Asbury was uninjured.
7 saw fash and heard report
like the crack Of a whip" said Police
man CahilI. and next the front Of the
building seemed TO crumble and the air
was filed with debris. called out rs
there any one in the buildingT and
hearing a cry for help from Asbury
found him and dragged him from un-
der the ruins to the street"
The Llewellyn iron works has long
been prominent IN the fight against the
recognition Of union labor in this city
and is one of the concerns involved in
the existing metal workers strike
which went into effect on June l of this
year.
Wanted 8 Hour Day
The strike was called originally for
the purpose Of enforcing a demand foI
an eight hour day for all the metal
workers and uniform wage of 81
cents an hour The struggle was pre-
cipitated by notice from the men en-
gagged in the metal trades in San Fran
cisco that the employers there had
made a condition Of concessions to their
employees that they should not thereby
be placed at a disadvantage in compe-
tition with nonunion Los Angeles firms
in the same line Of business.
After the strike was on for some time
an anti-picketing ordinance was en-
forced by the Los Angeles authorities
and a number OF union sympathizers
charged with its violation were arrest
ed. convicted and sentenced TO mes OF
Imprisonment They refused to pay
their fines and were committed to jail
The officials of the Llewellyn com
pany are OF the opinion that the efori
to. destroy their plant is the outgrowtl
OF their differences with and attitude
toward union labor. and the police il
their efforts to discover the perpe.
traitors are working on this theory
Waller Taylor. vice president. and Johr
Llewellyn. secretary OF the company
however. both give it IS their belle
that the local union men were not re.
sponsible for the crime. Lleweliyn said
There is no doubt in my mind ira
this effort 10 destroy our properE i.
due to the fact that we are staadins
n our rights to run our business II