The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1911-06-02
DarrOW On[
the Ground
HAS ASSUMED CHARGE OF THE
M'NAMARA DEFENSE AND WILL
DIRECT ALL LEGAL STEPS IN
FAMOUS CASE.
(By National Socialist Press. .

Darrow the day after he arrived in Cal
ifornia to take up the details of the
defense of John j. Mcnamara and his
brother who are charged with dynamit
ing the Los Angeles Times building last
October.
81 am looking over the points and the
defense will reach definite conclusions
as to the moves to be taken. The plea
of "Not Guilty" will be entered June 1.
We will move to quash the indictments
at that time. In the meantime there
are multitudinous tasks ahead of us.
We shall investigate the construction
of the grand jury. There are 1900 fol-
los of testimony to be gone over and
that, in itself, is detail that will con-
sumo much time.
"We shall probably not ask for a
change of venue because, in the event
it were granted, it would compel lis to
go where the judge sent us and tnaC
might not work to our advantage. We
shall have to study the case from all
these points. I have been here but a few
days and have not yet gone over the
entire ground. I shall have to get bet
ter posted on California law and practice
and then can work from better basis.
81 have seen the Mcnamara brothers
several times. They are cheerful, calm
and confident. But there is big fight
ahead. There is strong similarity be-
tween the way John ]. Mcnamara was
brought here and the way the Western
Federation of Miners men were taken
from Denver to Boise. l will not go
farther into details in that direction at
this time.
'NIr. Hartman and the other attor-
neys have been very busy on the case
up to this hour and find everything in
excellent shape. There will be nothing
given out about the case to the daily
newspapers and few statements will be
made"
Mr.. Darrow is in excellent health and
| says he never entered on big case
feeling better.
Attorney Job Hartman has been work
ing on the case since the hour of the
| arrest of the Mcnamara brothers. He
has had charge of all the large number
of cases where striking brewery workers
and metal workers have been prosecuted
under the infamous anti-picket ordi-
nance An insight into one of the lines
of the defense may be had from a
statement made by Mr.. Hartman few
days before Darrow's arrival. the at
torney is in possession of evidence
gathered by DIR. A. j. Holmes, director of
the United States bureau of mines show
ing that dynamite could not have caused
the explosion in the Times building. Mr..
Hartman said:
detective Burns says he has caught
the men who 'dynamited' the Times
building-that one of them has even
confessed. OF what value could be con-
fession of an act never committed. Why
give credence to McNIanigal and his tale
of dynamiting building that was never
dynamited. Evidence such as Offered by
DR.. Holmes is above price and this ex-
pert who is held to be the highest au-
thority on explosives in the United
States utterly destroys the dynamite
theory.
"First The dynamite asserted to
have been used is made by the Giant
Powder Company of Berkeley. This
brand has been tested by the United
States Bureau of Mines and will not set
fire to gas. This dynamite will not set
fire to inks or oils. An explosion of this
sort would not be followed by flames
it would extinguish flame.
Second. A gas explosion would, on
the contrary set fire to inks and oils,
according to DR.. Holmes, and would be
followed by sheets of flame
This evidence in itself makes Nc
Manigars confession worthless. There is
an abundance of evidence of this sort
but this is merely feature. The al
legged confession of McManigal looks
even thinner today after the Connors-
Parks fiasco. The public would do well
to disregard all these fake stories OF
confession and identifications."
The arrest of Bert II. Connors and j..
NJ. Parks. on charge of conspiring TO
dynamite the county Hall of Records
last September, has turned out to be the
worst sort of fraud. No one in Los
Angeles-aside from the dupes of the
Times-placed any credenee in the story
of an attempt to blow up the Hall OF
Records. A drunken man was arrested
in the vicinity of the Hall of Records
and the next day Detective Rico, the
professional and authorized bomb finder
did his duty and found a stick of dyna-
mite in an alley near the Hall OF Rec
ords. This was before the Times explo-
sion and It will be recalled that this
same headquarters detective found
bombs at the right hour in the places
where the Times could make the best
stories of them.
Bert Connors was found in the vicin-
ity of the Hall of Records and was ar
rested and held in Jail So days without
the police finding anything against him.