Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-05-03
BITS OF BRASS GAVE CLEW.
How Detective Burns Decided ExpIo.
SiOnS Were Duo to Same Men.

Los Angeles, Cal, April 26.-Com-
parison Of bits Of brass soldered on
\ the backs Of two small alarm clocks
gave William j. Burns his first in
portant clew In his pursuit Of the
men accused Of having blown up the
building Of the Los Angeles Times in
this city on the morning of October
l last, causing the death Of 81 en-
ployees Of that paper. Two abortive
attempts to explode Internal ma
chimes, N In Peoria, Ill.,, and the
other here, made possible the COM
parison which had such Important
results for the detective and spelled
doom for the dynamiters.
The first Internal machine was
found after an explosion among some
steel girders in the foundry OF A.
Louis & Sons, In Peoria, ILL.,, Sep
TENDER d, 1910. Some fault in the
mechanism caused the clock-work to
fail, and 1T passed into the possession
OF Burns, to whom was intrusted the
task Of finding the men who caused
the explosion. A few hours after the
destruction Of the Times building In
this city two more Internal machines
were ~found-onea at the home Of Gen,
Harrison G. Otis, owner Of the Times,
and the other at the home Of f. J.
Zeehandelaar, secretary Of the Mer-
chants and Manufacturers Associa-
ton, long the implacable foe of the
closed shop.
Bomb for Otis ExpIodcs.
The device found at the home Of
Gen. Otis was IN a suit case, and 1t
exploded an instant after a detective,
who was carrying 1t away from the
building, heard the rattle Of the
alarm. He narrowly escaped death,
and the device was blown to frag-
rnents, tearing a great whole in the
ground. The bomb at the 3eehande-
larr house was recovered intact, and
when Burns was called upon by the
city to undertake an investigation Of
the Times explosion it was one of the
first things he Inspected. 1t looked
like the mechanism found after the
Peoria explosion and comparison
showed it to be identical.
The device consisted of q small
alarm clock. a dry battery. and the
nitroglycerin. The clocks alarm de-
vice was used to fix the time of the
explosion. When the ringing of the
bell began, the mncoiling spring caus-
n1 tho Inu IF t1, nl..
'Soldered to this key was a small
piece Of brass, and when it came in
contact with a similar piece on the
back Of the clock the electric circuit
was closed and decorating CAPS ex-
ploded the nitro j., cerin.
The brasswork was the handiwork
or the same men, ever though the
explosions were many miles apart.
Burns began to check carefully other
dynamite explosions as they occur
red. IN every case he gathered evil
dence which, he alleges, traces the
explosions to the three men now be-
Ing hurried to Los Angeles-John B.
Mcnamara, James J. Mcnamara and
ortie MECHANICAL. 1t is alleged that
James McNamara is the man who
was known in San Francisco as a..
rs. Bryce and who negotiated for
the explosive used to wreck the
Times building when it was purchas-
ed at Giant, CAL, several weeks be-
fore the Times was blown up. 1t Is
believed two more men will be ar
rested, aside from other arrests,
which probably will be made to hold
certain persons as witnesses.
Trio Indicted In Secret.
The two McNamaras and McMani-
gal were indicted secretly in this
city Saturday. April Is, after Burns
had telegraphed request that such
action be taken, accompanied by
meager portions Of evidence obtain
ed. His kilograms were in cipher,
and hours were required to trans
late them. The grand Jurors, who
previously had indicted Bryce. David
kaplan and NJ. A. Schmidt, reassem-
bled with the utmost secrecy and re-
turned true bills against the men
Burns was waiting to arrest.
The rewards that will be paid If
the men are convicted total only
$4,000, offered by the supervisors
of Los Angeles county-$5,OOO for
each man. Many other rewards were
offered following the destruction of
the Times, and at one time the total
was near the 800, 900 mark. How
ever, nine-tenths Of these were not