Rock Island Argus., 1911-05-08

FL ra, secretary-treasurer OF the
- International Association Of
Bridge and Structural Iron
Workers; OF his brother, James B. Nc
Namara, and Of Ortie E. McManigal
on the charge of being implicated in
the dynamidng OF the Los Angeles
Times building is Of worldwide in
terest because of the magnitude Of the
crime and the prominence of one Of
the accused and is of far greater I'm
portance as one more chapter in the
struggle between capital and labor. Of
ficers of the National Erectors' associa-
ton and their partisans say that that
Is but one of long series of destruc-
tive explosions for which Mcnamara
and his confederates are responsible
Representatives OF union labor retort
that the whole case is a ''frameup"
similar TO that against Meyer, Hay
wood and Pettibone and is one more
attempt Of organized capital to dis
credit organized labor. In such wide
diversity OF opinion the only thing the
average citizen can do is to wait for
the evidence
Mcnamara and his friends complain
of the manner of his arrest. They
say he had no chance to consult an
attorney or protect his rights. He had
no opportunity to oppose extradidon
and was taken from his home to q
far distant state without time to ar
range his affairs or bid goodby to his
family. This is pointed out as
further parallel to the MoyerHaywoOd
affair. II the case against Mcnamara
is good one, say the labor men, why
such unusual measures?
The Los Angeles Times Office was
blown up early in the morning Of
Oct. 1. 1910. More than twenty per-
sons lost their lives. The paper and
General Harrison Gray Otis. its pro-
prietor, Immediately charged that the
crime had been committed by mem
bers of union labor. For years the
Times had been making a fight for
the open shop" and had incurred the
enmtty of the trade unions. Immense
rewards were offered for the perpe-
traitors Of the deed. Various stories
came out TO the effect that the dyna-
mite to blow up the building had been
conveyed in a boat, the name of
which had been changed; that three
men were concerned in the matter.
which three men were given different
names in the various accounts. AS
proof OF the charge that the explosion
was caused by some Internal machine
the fact was cited that a bomb was
found in the vicinity of General Otis
home and another near the house OF
the secretary OF the Commercial club,
who had been supporting the Times in
its fight for the "open shop"
Union Labor's Side.
Against these stories it was urged
that the explosion IN the Times ofI1ce
was probably caused by defective gas
mains and that the bombs found were
planted by the police and enemies Of
labor, who announced in advance that
they expected to hnd an internal ma
chine near the home OF General Otis:
furthermore, even II labor officials
were so depraved as to do this deed
they would not have been such fools,
since they must have known that the
previous nI1at between themselves and
the Times would subject them to sus-
pict0n
Investigations were Immediately set
on foot, and the police and private de
tecdvs agencies began work on the
case An oficial finding declared that
the explosion was caused by dynamite
and implicated three men of the name
Of Bryce, Schmidt and Kaplan- It is
now claimed that Bryce is an alias
Of J. B. Mcnamara
One Of the private detectives brought
into the case was William j. Burns.
who became famous as q member OF
the government secret service and aft
erward helped 20 cinch the Oregon
land thieves and TO expose Schmitz
and Ruef In San Francisco As a
sleurh Burns has Sherlock Holmes
looking ike a cheap Conan Doyle imi7.
tatton- Holmes may come back. but
Burns never goes away. He Is al
ways on the job
All the things discovered by Burns
will never be known until the trial is
pulled on. Enough IS made public,
however. TO form a mighty interesting
tale. The newspapers have been fea-
turing II as q continued detective
story. and putting # on the front page
at that For one thing. Burns located
enough Dynamite 10 blow Pixies peak
into the state OF Texas. There was
dynamite in the basement of office
buildings, dynamite in old barns and
dynamite IN suit cases. Why any one
should want to take the stuff around
as q travelling comps MON Is beyond
the power Of timid mortals TO under
stand A man stands some sort of a
chance In an ordinary railroad wreck.
but not with a suit case fun OF dyna-
mate in the other end OF his seat. Be
sides. there is always the chance OF
stnbbing ones toe. stepping on a step
that isn't there, treading on q banana
peel or being violently bumped into by
the man IN q hurry.
Dynamite is 8 nervous proposition
and is no fit associate for refined peo.
pie. Sooner or later anybody that coz