Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1911-12-08
MCNAMARAS GUILTY
Confessed That They Blew Up
Buildings in Los Angeles
James Sentenced to Life Imprisonment
at San Quentin and John to a Term of
IS Years.

10 Years.
James b. Mcnamara pleaded guilty to
murder in the first degree in open court
before Judge Walter Bordwell in Los
Angeles, Calf, Friday, and his brother,
John j. Mcnamara, secretary of the
international association of bridge and
structural iron workers. entered a
plea of guilty to having dynamited
the Llewellyn iron works in Los
Angeles Christmas day, 1910 James B.
Mcnamara confession clears up abso-
lutely the tragedy of the explosion and
fire which destroyed the plant of the
Los Angeles Times early on the morning
of Oct. l, 1910, causing the death of 81
persons and the manning of many 9TH
ers. For 10 of these deaths indictments
were returned against the Mcnamara
brothers. j. b. Mcnamara was on trial
specifically for the murder of Charles NJ.
Haggerty. a machinst, whose body was
round nearer than that of any other per-
son to the spot where the dynamite was
supposed to have been placed.
On the morning that the Los Angeles
Times building was blown up an internal
machine was found at the house of Gen.
Harrison Gray Otis, publisher and own
er OF the Times, and another of similar
construction was discovered under the
dormer window of the home of Felix
Heehandelaar, secretary of the Merchants
gees.
Gen. Otis, from the time he became
| owner of the Times, refused to unionize
| his plant and had stood at all times for
the open shop. In his fight with the la
| Dor organizations of the city he had an
| able ally in Zeehandelaar.
/ When the investigators started to open
| the dress suit case found at Gen. Otis S
house the machinery inside began to
whirr. They fled and in another minute
an explosion took place which tore a big
hole in the street.
The bomb that was found on the Zee
| handelaar premises was safely opened
| Inside the police found an alarm clock, a
| dry battery and a can of nitroglycerin
| The alarm had been set for l o'clock, but
| the clock had been wound too tightly
| and had stopped. The key of the alarm
| had fastened to 1t strip of metal This
| strip when the alarm went off. would
have turned and hit metal plug. form
! ing contact. The contact would have
let a current run from the dry battery
The current, in turn, would have de-
| tonated a cap of illuminate of mercury
| set In the nitroglycerin.
On the can of nitroglycerin was the
name of the Giant Powder company o.
| Giant, Colo, and the date Sept. 90 1
was found that three men had bought
500 pounds of nitroglycerin Sept. % anC
that 1t was made of unusually high pow
er by their special order.
| The mayor of Los Angeles called into
| the case William j. Burns who already
| had the foremost detective reputation II
| the country from his secret service worl
| for the government and his discoveries II
the San Francisco graft cases. Burns wal
| at that time closing in on set of meI
| who had been suspected of various job!
Mt dynamiting in the middle west HI
had worked up his case against thes'
suspects from an uneXploded inferno
machine found in Peoria. ILL.,, similar Il
the one seized In Los Angeles. Burn!
and his workers soon had strong cas-
against the McNamaras and one OF thei
associates named Mechanical, but waite,
to catch them red-handed.
At last, on April 81, Burns arrested
McManigal and Mcnamara together a
the oxford hotel, in Detroit The mel
had a suit case apiece, which the!
checked at the hotel. The suit cases re
covered by the detectives containd in
fernal machines of the same time-clocl
pattern as those found at Los Angelo
and Peoria.
once he had hands on the two mino
members OF the dynamite set, Burns IL
conjunction with the Indianapolis police
arrested John j. Mcnamara and raide,
the unions headquarters in that city. II
found clockwork, nitroglycerin and othe
discriminating articles in three separat
hiding places to which the secretary
treasurer had access.
The minute the labor organization
heard of John j. McNamara's arrest tn
unions lawyers put forth every effort t