The Wagner leader. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1912-1912, 1912-02-23
LETTERS UNCOVER
DYNAMITING PLOT;
BASIS OF EVIDENCE

O0uSeFy Notsy rSo. tUSH
never trusted me as Mcnamara new
or trusted me" said Henry w. Leg
lsitner, former member Of the ma
tional executive board Of the iron
workers, under indictment in In
d~ianapoiis charged with being .
party to the dynamite conspiracy.
~ liked Mcnamara and he liked
me, and I never knew why he did
not trust me. When they talked
of buildings or bridges being blown
up, they always passed me up, m
explained the ~dynamiting affairs by
saying il was others outside of the
union who wanted to get The struc..
tural iron workers in bad repute."
Judge Lewis in the United States
district court here today declined
to hear a petition for the issuance
of a writ Of habeas corpus tor
Henry w. Lesleitner, arrested
Tuesday on an indictmenS returned
at indianapolis.
Simon j. Heller, Of Mullins &
Heller, counsel for the petitioner,
announced that they would try to
bring the matter before the SUI
preme court of the United States.
Indianapolis, Ind, Feb. 11.-New dis
closures made in the dynamite con-
spiracy cases through 10000 letters
and kilograms quoted in the indict-
ments as duplicating practically all the
Officers of the International Association
of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers,
will be the basis, 1t Is declared today,
on which the government will seek to
convict the 81 defendants who are
charged with committing or abetting
in almost 100 explosions
The correspondence, contained In one
of the 80 indictments and embracing
what are termed ''unconsummated acts
Of conspiracy are held as showing that
a ast plot known to and furthered
by Frank M. Ryan, president OF the
iron workers, and to OF his
executive board and many business
agents, was carried on for six years to
destroy the property Of steel and iron
contractors who employed n~on-uniop
labor.
All Are implicated.
1t charges all the defendants with
being equally guilty as abettors. 1t
also puRports to revea evidence that
Jobs became the accepted term to be
sent through the mail to designate
some place that was to be blown up
and that gradually the officials OF local
unions began to call on the information
al headquarters In Indianapolis to as
sist by dynamite and nitroglycerin In
increasing the expenses OF open shop"
contractors. Ortie Z. McManigal, Her
bert S. Hockin, second vice president
n James B. Mcnamara became, it is
charged, an organized "dynamitins
crew."
Letters are included to show regular
fees were paid to McManigal and that
the cost of doing local Jobs" frequent
ly was discussed in letters.
A letter from Olaf A. T~veitmore, OF
the local union in Ia Francisco. tc
=. J.. Mcnamara in indianapolis, after
the Los Angeles Times disaster, stat
ing he hoped Santa Claus would be
as kind and generous to you with sur
prises," Is quoted to show that the con-
spiracy spread from Boston to the Pa
cifc coast.
Four More Indictments.
Four more Indictments not yet made
public supplement- the principal indict.
ment concerning the correspondence
These indictments name all the 81 de-
PENDANTS as implicated in the genera
conspiracy and make these charges:
THAT ON "a counts all the defendant
are guilty as principals in Illegal trans
porting of dynamite.
ION "a counts, McManigal, John J
Mcnamara, James b. Mcnamara ant
Hockin are guilty of Illegally trans.
porting dynamite and all the other de
PENDANTS are guilty of aiding n abet'
ting them.
THAT. on 16 counts, all the defend
ants are guilty as principals in illega
transportation of nitroglycerin.
THAT, on 16 counts, Mechanical
Iohn j. Mcnamara, James B. McNa.
mara and Hockin are guilty of illega
transportation of ni~troglycerfn and al
other defendants are guilty of aiding
n abettfng them.
Scope Is Very Wide.
1.-THE wide scope of the 50 indict-
ments, which contain in all 128 counts
is due, 1t is announced, to the theor,
Of the government that the defendants
alleged guilt is equal no matter hov
small an individuals personal ~activit,
in the conspiracy may have beer Mr.
Miller said it had been determined te
press all the counts of the indictmen
against each of the defendants.
1.-The Indictment setting out uncon.
summated acts of conspiracy, exten.
sive as 1t is, in presenting a mass o.
alleged discriminating correspondence
between the defendants" said Mr.. Mil
Ter, "Only submits typical acts. If W.
Ia chosen, this indictment might hav
been run into many more hundreds Q
pages. Forty thousand letters wer
seized at the headquarters of the In
ternational Association of Iron Work
ers and from them the investigator
chose evidence that we consider mucl
more than sufficient to prove u cas-
when offered in connection with cor
roborative evidence of wide extent an,
varied character. The freedom wit
which these men put on paper thei
plans, motives and the working out o
their purposes is amazing"