The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1912-01-16
Prosecutor, Declares Union
Man, Wanted Him to Impli.
cate Federation Head
immunity and ''0ther Consider
atiOns" Held Out as Bait,
Is Assertion
Secretary-Treasurer of Building
Trades Coancil Flags At
torney in Report

~ RESNO. Jan. 15.-In his annual
report to the California Building
Il Trades council this afternoon,
Secretary-treasurer o. A. Tveit-
moe declared that United States Prose
cutor Oscar Lawler at Los Angeles had
attempted last December to induce
Tveitmoe and other labor leaders to
implicate Samuel Gompers in the Nc
Namara affair. under promise of i'm
munity from prosecution. "and other
consideration Tveitmoe declared that
Lawler wanted to have them say that
Gompers knew in advance of the trial
that the McNamaras were guilty.
This was the only startling feature
of the Tveitmoe statement which had
not been predicted. It was received
with applause. and apparently the Off
GERS of the council will be supported by
the members in the defense they will
make to the present Los Angeles pro-
ceeding. Tveitmoe has not yet asked
for officiaI Endorsement from the coun-
ell.
Following is an excerpt from Tveit-
NOES report dealing with the federal
investigation. in which he declares that
Oscar LAWYER strongly intimated that
the men who are now under indictment
would be immune from punishment and
might possibly receive substantial con-
sideration if they would state that
Samuel Gompers knew that the Nc
Namaras were guilty before they en-
tered their pleas" Continuing, Tveit-
moe says:
The so called federal grand jury
investigation of the dynamite out
RACES, conducted by Special Prose-
cutor Oscar Lawler and the United
States district attorneys Office in
Los Angeles, is nothing but a drag
net manipulated and operated by
the Burns detective agency. Both
men and women witnesses who
were connected with labor organi-
cations were repeatedly and wan
tonly insulted and threatened with
indictment and Imprisonment.
Labor officials were held for days
and weeks without being called
before the grand jury. simply to
annoy them and inconvenience
them, and hamper and prevent
them from serving their organiza-
tions.
Blow Aimed at Labor
The blow is aimed at labor, and
the arch fiend behind the scene is
wasteful Wiflie, who once posed as
the great champion of labor, soured
by his many political defeats, is
still plotting TO regain his lost po-
litical bearings. He believes he
can accomplish his sinister purpose
by imprisoning and killing the men
union labor has honored and
trusted for years.
Oscar Lawler, the special prose-
cutor, first became famous as the
reputed author OF the Dick to
Dick" letter in the Ballinger scan
dal and the Alaska land steal Be-
fore that time Lawler served as
bellhop for the Southern Pacific
machine in Los Angeles. He is
dapper young man with an uncon-
trollible ambition to become a fed
eral Judge. and. to further his po-
liticaI aspirations, he would not
hesitate for a moment TO cut the
heart out Of every labor official in
the country IN order to please the
trust magnates whom he believes
control the gift of the ermine and
the toga-
In his private office in the post
office building Mr.. Lawler strongly
fntimated to witnesses summoned
before the federal grand jury, men
who are now under indictment,
that they would be immune from
prosecution and possibly receive
a substantial consideration if they
would state that Samuel Gompers,
president Of the American Fedora
tion of Labor. knew the McNamaras
were guilty before they entered
their pleas December 1, 1911. Be
ing informed by the witnesses re-
fered to that they would not lie or
perjure themselves to please any
body or help any ones political
ambition, the special prosecutor
waxed eloquent and forthwith de-
livired a lecture on good citizen
ship. He wound up by telling them
they would have to take the conse-
quences.
Is Political Persecution
The case. or cases, as ii may be,
will be tried in the courts. and
need no discussion in this report;
neither will they be discussed in
the newspapers by the defendants,
or by anv Of their attorneys Suf-
fee 1t to say that there is no
foundation for any of the charges
So far as the defendants know, the
indictments were returned without
vesJige of scinti1la of evidence
tending to connect them with the
crime alleged They consider 1t all
a personal. political persecution.
But * is more--it is a blow aimed