Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1911-12-08
BOTH M'NAMARAS
PLEAD GUILTY
MAKE COMPLETE CONFESSION or
Los ANGELES DYNAMITE
oUTRAGES.
JAMES {. IS A MURDERER
For Causing the Deaths Of Twenty Lone
Employees Of the Times When He
DynamIted the Plant, Oct.
I, 1911.

pleaded guilty to murder in the first
degree In Judge Walter Bordwelpl
court. His brother, John ]. McNama,
ra. secretary Of the International As.
ISOLATION of Bridge and Structural Iron
Workers. entered plea OF guilty t.
having dynamited the Llewellyn Iron
Works in Los Angeles ON Christmas
day. 1910.
James B. McNamara's confession
clears up absolutely the tragedy Of
the explosion and fire which at |
O'clock on the morning of Oct. l.
1910. wrecked the plant Of the Loa
Angeles Times at First and Broad
way and caused the death Of Fl per
sons For nineteen of these death(
the Mcnamara brothers were indicted
]. B. Mcnamara was on trial spe
cifically for the murder Of Charles
Haggerty. q machtnist whose body
was found nearer than that of am
other to the spot where the dynamite
was supposed to have been placed.
It is expected District Attorne,
John D. Fredericks will ask for life
imprisonment for James B. McNa
mara. the confessed murderer, and
probably fourteen years for his
brother. The mems lives are CON
sidered saved. The great contention
that the Los Angeles Times was not
dynamited is dead beyond resurreo
tion or argument.
II "He was counciled to confess be
cause that was the best thing he
could do. in the opinion Of counsel,'
said Attorney Clarence 8. Darrow
chief counsel. Il will say now that
there was no other reason or motive
in IT, I've studied, this case for
months. 1t presented stone wall"
! Darrows statement was made az
looking sQnarely in the faces OF the
charges that the recent arrest OF
Burt H. Franklin, an investigator EN-
ployed by the defense, and two 9th
ers with him. might have precipitated
q situation untenable save by con.
fession Of the prisoner.
barrow also denied that external
pressure was exerted from union la,
Dor socialist sources as General
Harrison Gray Otis charged in a for.
NAL statement, or that the municipal
election to be held next Tuesday in
which Job Hartman. one of the de.
fense's counsel. Is candidate for
mayor. carried any weight. It was
learned that Hartman was not con.
suited at all in the deliberations.
A brotherly affection bordering on
worship, 1t became known, brought
about James McNamara's confession.
A desire to save his brother from the
necessity OF confessing anything at
all held back day after day the word
that would end the trial.
Artie E. McManigal the confessed
dynamiter whose admissions are said
to have been a big factor in the Nc.
Namaras pleading guilty. will go vir.
tually free. II the plans of the state
In his behalf do not go wrong.
The chief crime charged against
the McNamaras and the one which
finally led to their undoing was tho
destruction Of the Los Angeles Times
building. Organized labor opposed
this paper because Of its successful
fight against the unions. There was
much talk of gas explosion" at the
time. and Socialist and labor union
papers discussed the theory serious.
", hut men on the inside invariably
smiled when they attributed the de.
struction of the Times to gas.
Shortly after the big presses in the
basement had commenced rumbling
on the morning Of October 1, 1910,
the Los Angeles Times building
which was one Of the landmarks Of
the southern California metropolis.
was destroyed by an explosion which
startled the city. Twenty.one lives
we're lost. The property loss was es.
:imated at 100000.
Twenty minutes after the explosion
which shattered windows and broke
glass in houses many blocks away.
he seven.story brick and stone build.
ng was a mass Of ruins. under which
he score of victims lay. with the an.
cry flames licking up every bit of in.
material in sight. including
several carloads Of print paper stored
n the basement. It was believed the
explosion together with two other un.
attempts. by which It was
fought to destroy the homes of the
,wners of the Times, General HarrL
on Gray Otis. and Harry Zechande
aar, secretary OF the Merchants and
Manufacturers association, was the