Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-12-05
Confession of the MeNamaras.

L
of momentary consequence, the all
important outcome Of the confession
of the Mcnamara brothers as to their
connection with the blowing up OF the
office of the Los Angeles Times, some
thing over a year ago, is the unques-
tionable effect it is bound to have in
vindicating and upholding the majes-
ty of the law.
In most of it's essential features this
case Is one Of the most remarkable to
be found in the criminal annals OF
this or any other country, for as the
facts are now coming out, 1t appears
that the McNamaras, high in the coun-
ellis of organized labor, have been
committing dynamite outrage after
dynamite outrage, and until sometime
after the blowing up Of the Los An
giles Times there was no breath of sus-
picion against them.
1t is now shown as fact that, as
had been frequently stated, the blow
ing up of the office of the Los Angeles
Times, was an incident in the long
continued fight between organized
capital and organized labor. Though
claiming that he did not deny the
right of labor to organize, General
Harrison Gray Otis, the millionaire
owner of the Los Angeles Times, in
sisted that union labor leaders had no
right to interfere with or attempt to
coerce independent labor or the en-
ployers of it. Because General Otis
had so distinguished himself in the
defense of the principles for which he
stood, he became an especially con-
spicuous object of the more militant
contingent of the union labor forces.
And from the moment of the dyna-
mite outrage which blew up the Times
building and killed twenty-one per-
sons, few people familiar with the
feeling on both sides had any doubt as
to where the responsibility belonged.
With a less determined or less pow
erful crowd than that Of which Cen
eral Otis was the leader, the probable
ity is that the responsibility for the
outrage, as in many previous similar
cases, would not have been fixed. But
General Otis is a fighter He offered
princely rewards for the arrest and
evidence to convict the guilty parties,
and in addition retained the services
of William ]. Burns, the most noted
detective in America, to spare no la
Dor or expense in sitting the whole
thing to the bottom.
How Detective Burns followed up
clue after clue and finally effected the
arrest of James B. and John ]. Nc
Namara and Ortie E. McManigal Is a
story that is more or less familiar. as
Is also the story Of how Samuel Comp
ers, president Of the American Fed
Grafton Of Labor, and John Mitchell,
the vice president, and other priminent
labor leaders denounced the detec-
tive's work as a diabolical effort at
a gigantic frame up.
Even up to the very publication of
the news of the confession Of the Nc
Namaras, the labor leaders stood their
ground firmly, holding that the whole
thing was absurd; that the Times
building was not dynamited at all; but
was wrecked by an explosion Of gas
In the meantime they continued to ap-
peal to the union laborers of the whole
world to contribute to the defense of
men who were in danger of being
made martyrs to the cause, and con-
tributions were pouring in from every
side.
AS to just what led the McNamaras
J to confess there is difference Of opin-
ion. 1t is stated that Burns had work.
ed up his case so thoroughly they
knew there was no possible hope for
them, and there is something in that
1t is said also that if the case had gone
to trial there would have been devel-
opments that would have implicated
other prominent labor leaders as ac-
cessory to this and other diabolical
crimes that have been committed, and
there may be something in that. The
district attorney says that the men
confessed because they were guilty
and knew there was no hope of ac-
quittal. There is certainly something
to that.
Gompers shed tears when he heard
of the confession. John Mitchell was
astounded. Both claimed that the
McNamaras had deceived and imposed
upon them, and agreed that the self
confessed murderers and incendiaries
should be punished. They, however
the labor leaders, insisted, that organ
lied labor was in no wise responsible
for the outrages and they hold also
that unionism will not he affected by
the developments.
But whatever may be the ins and
outs of it all, the fact remains that the
majesty and power of the law has won
great victory, and that organized
society Is safer than 1t has been.