The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-08-05
DETECTIVE BURNS TELLS HOW HE
TRACED THE LOS ANGELES DYNAMITERS

1
"The thing got so bad that a war
wouldn't have been much worse. For
1909 and down to the time of the
Peoria affair in September, 1910, we
made a list of thirty-five destructive
explosions, three other unsuccessful
attempts, and seven assaults on work
men. A viaduct in Hoboken, New
Jersey, was blown up in March, 1909,
| by charge of dynamite that wrecked
several neighboring buildings and
nearly killed a number of people who
| lived around there A viaduct over
the New York Central tracks in Buff
, falo, New York, was wrecked in Oc-
tober, 1909, by an explosion that drove
pieces of bridge column through the
walls of the near-by-houses. A tres
: tie for a street railway in Pittsburg
was blown up in the night, July 10,
1910, and if a street car had been
passing at the time all on board
might have been killed. In Indian
apolis, early in the morning of October
25, 1909, four simultaneous explosions
wrecked buildings on which a con-
tractor named Won Spreckelson was
working. One damaged the Central
Exchange building, another the Pub
| lie Library building, a third Won
I Spreckelson's planning mill, and the
fourth his barn; the latter took fire
from the explosion. and burned
horses, carriages, and automobiles. A
New York Central bridge across East
Ferry Street in Buffalo was dyna-
mited, in mistake apparently for an
'open-shop' bridge that was being
built near by. Materials belonging to
the Pennsylvania Steel Company were
dynamited on a pier in New York
City in May, 1910, and after the ex-
Iplosion parts of an alarm clock and a
dry battery were COMMUNICATING
/ the clock-work bomb. There were
other explosions in Chicago, Buffalo,
Cleveland, Pittsburg, Philadelphia,
Cincinnati, Kansas City, Boston, De-
troit, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Green
Bay (Wisconsin), Steubenville (Ohio),
Indiana Harbor (Indiana), Mount
Vernon Qllinois), Davenport Qowa),
iGreenville New Jersey, Superior
CWisconsin), Clinton Qndiana), and
elsewhere. After an explosion in the
plant of the Pan-American Bridge
Company at Newcastle, Indiana, the
works were 'unionized,' and a member
of the executive committee of the In
lternational Association of Iron-Work-
ers assured the general manager that
the company would not be molested
again.
Detectives Put on the Trail Without
Results.
Nov, Of course, he put up his
notebook and took off his glasses
"of course, all these plants and build
ings and bridges and viaducts weren't
being destroyed without some attempt
being made by the companies to find
out who was destroying them. A
number of different detective agencies
had been put on the trail. One had
drawn $4,000 without turning up a
dynamiter. Some of the city authori-
ties had offered big rewards-the
mayor of Indianapolis had offered
$4,000 for the men responsible for
the Won Spreckelson explosions. But
the Deceive agencies had kept turning
in reports of the 'to-be-continued' sort,
just going to catch the villain in the
next chapter all the time,-and there
didn't seem to be any prospect of ar.
resting any one, much less of stop
ping the explosions. Consequently,
you see, the call from McClintic,
Marshall & Company put me on my
mettle. l resolved to get those dyna-
miters and to get the 'higher-ups,' if
there were any behind them"
He threw out an emphatic forefn-
ger. Pm no respecter of persons when
they're criminals. If l had found evil
dence in this case to implicate the
president of the largest corporation in
the United States and the board of
directors, I'd have been right after
them ALL That's my business, my call
ing. I'm conducting a detective
agency. When I'm employed to find
out who committed a crime, go out
to find him. l don't care a row of
red apples who he is or where he is.
The people who call me an enemy of
labor for running down these dyna-
miters are as muddle-headed as the
iawsmiths in San Francisco who call
ed me an enemy of capital for going
after the big fellows in the graft in
vestigation out there. When l have