The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1911-05-12

II NHlle Columns ana columns nave
been written about the arrest o
John j. Mcnamara, his irregular depor
tation from the state, the crime he i;
accused of, his associates and his posi-
ton in the labor world, but very little
has been written about the man him.
self, his personal characteristics or his
private conduct. He is no ordinary
man and no one who knows him be
lieves him to be criminal. He is a
man of superior education, a lawyer by
profession, an intimate friend of Sena-
tor Kern, Samuel Gompers, Henry w
| Bullock, all well known in Fort Wayne
and of many other men prominent in
state and national politics and affairs
and when he is arraigned at Los An
geles on the charge of completely in the
dynamite outrages he is alleged to have
planned, one of the strongest and
strangest figures in the organized labor
world will be revealed.
Against the cunning of William j.
Burns, the noted detective, who caused
the arrest of the Mcnamara brothers
and Ortie McManigal, and against the
shrewd representatives of the National
Erectors' Association of New York, who
have been working with Burns, will be
arrayed man who passed years in
equipping himself for supreme test.
The arrest of Mcnamara brought to
light the fact that he is man of
strangely composite character. He was
practically unknown to the public until
he was presented as the dynamite plot
in the history of the alleged master
mind of the greatest country. Even his
associates in the union labor movement
seem to have known very little regard
ing him, although they speak of him as
man of firm convictions, honest and
energetic.
Mcnamara, it develops, probably is
better prepared for his own defense than
We're Meyer, Haywood, Pettibone and
other labor leaders who have figured
in trials of national interest. While it
is asserted that his arrest came as a
surprise, Mcnamara knew that he was
marked man and that he had been
shadowed for months by detectives.
Henry w. Bullock, attorney, who was
an intimate associate of McNamaras
and who probably knows him better
than any one in the country, said in an
interview that Mcnamara told him that
detective had been living under the
same roof with him at his boarding
house for weeks. Bullock says that Nc
Namara was apparently unconcerned
about the detective, and that he took
| it as a matter of course that he was
being shadowed all the time. He de
clares that Mcnamara told him that he
and another roomer at this boarding
place talked frequently to the detective
The latter finally learned that McNa'
mara knew why he was rooming at the
same house with him.
Bullock says the detective left, but
that Mcnamara told him that another
soon took his place. Always the shadow
was at his heels, yet Bullock and 9th
ers who knew Mcnamara, say that thu
latter went along quietly about hi
work as though nothing out of the or
dinary was happening to him.
If Mcnamara does not prove a mar
velous witness in his own behalf h
will surprise those who know him well
He was regarded by them as man VIII
knew how to keep his own counsel. II
has trained himself to move quietl,
and to be ready to meet whatever come
! up.
His friends say that he lost no time
He made it business to increase hi
mental resources. He was editor of tn
Bridgemen's Magazine, monthly pub
lication devoted to the interests of th
members of his organization. In hi
magazine work he displayed literar.
touch unusual in such publications. II
applied himself to it and succeeded i
|
making it different from all othe
trades unionist publications. His owl
editorials show that he has been clos
student of the relationship between la
Dor and capital and that he was bette
informed than the ordinary individual
! regarding the great characters in his
tory. He added to his magazine a po
etic touch here and there, and he raj
under one department known as tn
"cozy corner human interest features
; He Is bachelor, but in recent edition
of his magazine he ran clever picture
of babies belonging to members of hi
union.
4 Stories regarding him have been mis-
leading as to his age and physical make
up. He has been reported as being I
man of AS. He was just "a, according
J to his own statement. His picture
give the impression that he was leai
and bent in his shoulders. He was bull
! like trained athlete. Years of har'
work as an iron worker gave him a goo'
muscular foundation, He weighed 20'
poundss two weeks before his arrest
He is about six feet tall. His hair 1
tinged with gray in very peculia
manner, which gives him the appearance
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