Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-10-02
INVESTIGATION OF
DYNAMITE 0UTRAGES
TRIAL OF FTFTY-ONE ALLEGED
PARTICIPANTS BEGINS
Defendants Include Prominent Labor
Union Men-Cases Grew Out of
Los Angeles Times Outrage and
Other Dynamite Explosions.
Associated Press.

ever participated with the McNa-
mara brothers in the series of dyna-
mite and nitroglycerin explosions
which preceded and followed the
wrecking of the Los Angeles Times
building, Oct. |, 1910, when 81 per-
sons were killed, the government
hopes to disclose in the trial which
begins today before Judge A. B. An
derson of fifty-one men,
At the head Of the list Of defend
ents, who thus are brought into
court exactly two years after the Los
Angeles disaster, are:
Frank NJ Ryan. president of the
International Association of Bridge
and Structural Ironworkers.
Ortie E. McManigal, once known
as -. w. McGraw' on the pacific
coast, confessed dynamiter and ac-
complice of the Mcnamara brothers,
who has been kept in custody as a
witness for the prosecution ever since
his arrest in Detroit a year ago last
April
Herbert S. Hockin, successor Of
John J. Mcnamara as secretary
treasurer of the union, whom Nc
Manigal accuses of being the organ
izer of the "dynamiting crew. and
one of the originators Of the alarm
clock scheme by which explosions
were set off several hours after The
mine was placed
Most of the other defendants are
present or former union officials
whom the government charges were
linked together in a conspiracy by
IN extensive correspondence from
1905 to 1911, during which time
more than 100 explosions in states
scattered from Massachusetts to CAL
ifornia occurred in works under con-
struction by employers of nonunion
labor.
Fifty-four men were indicted last
February, but John J. McCroy of
Wheeling W. Va, never has been To-
Gated and the Mcnamara brothers
are in prison in California.
The court room which probably for
weeks will be the scene of the trial,
has long been ready. Bvery precau-
ton has been taken to secure quiet.
The windows Of the small room, To-
Gated on an outside corner of the sec
ond floor of the federal building,
have been heavily curtained to ex-
clude the daylight. Recently Judge
Anderson had the walls and ceilings
thickly padded with felt to improve
the sound conditions.
United States Senator John W..
Kern has been retained as counsel
for the defendants, while the gov
ernment will be represented by Dis
trict attorney Charles w. Miller and
his assistants.
Sixteen defendants were placed
under $4,000 bonds each, to appear
for trial and the others each under
$4,000 bonds, making an aggregate
in bonds Of s35O,000.
Witness are to be called from
many parts of the country. While
it is not the intention of the gov
ernment to go thoroughly into the
cases which resulted in the imprison-
ment Of the McNamaras, all that part
Of the evidence of the Pacific coast
explosions as pertains to the illegal
interstate shipment of explosives has
been made available to District At
torney Miller.
Each Of the 80 indictments re-
turned last February contains
charges against all of the defendants
and the charges are embraced In
three groups. They are:
Transporting dynamite and nitro
glycerin in passenger trains from one
state to another; as Ortie e. McMani-
gal confessed was done when these
texplosives were carried in suit cases
from hiding places at Muncie Ind,
Rochester, Pa, Tiffin. o.. and Indian
apolis. to cities where "jobs" were
7 TO be blown up.
Conspiring to violate Interstate
regulations relative to explosives
/. Concealing knowledge Of the con-
spiracy or abetting the illegal trans
portation OF explosives.
Most Of the explosions Of which
the government has made record
were directed against members of
the National Erectors' Association,
an organization Of contractors who
had broken of relations with the
union and were conducting "open
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