The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-10-03
George E. Davis Makes Writ
ten Confession, Giving ins
Detail Story of Many Bridges
Destroyed
ALWAYS Baked AT
TAKING HUMAN LIFE
Tells His Captors That While
He Had Blown Up Struc-s
lures He Has Killed None
duplicates Many Officials on
Union

Union
NEW YORK. Oct 2.--George F..
/ Davis. an iron worker, was taken tosM
+ INDIANAPOLIS tonight after he had
confessed that for four years he mad "
+ been dynamiting nonunion bunsS
bridges in accordance with directionsM
/ furnished to him by the eXecutlssas
/ committee Of the International BridgeN
and Structural Iron Workers associa-
ton.
4 In his confession he laid bare th0
| methods and purposes OF wara
against nonunion builders similar tO@
that which was carried on in the WcsrsS
by James b. and John j. McNamaTa \
and Ortie McManigal He proclasmed
himself the Mechanical of the dyna-
hitting campaign in the East and de-
c1ared that Frank c. Webb, a mems
Der Of the executive board OF the
( union who was convicted last Feb
! ruary in indianapolis, is the man who
directed his movements just as the
Mcnamara brothers directed those
Of McManlgal.
Gives Detailed Accounts.
/ Davis gave detailed accounts of tho y
blowing up of eleven bridges and
/ told of plans TO do other jobs Of the
kind that for one reason or another
failed 10 materialize, He traced his
own movements from one section OF
the country TO another. described his
meetings with the big men of the
union. and told how every step he
took was carefully dovetailed into =
general scheme- outlined In The can
trail office of the association in In
dianapolis
The names he mentions are those
Of men now in prison or of men whose
names always just failed Of being con-
nected with the outrages because Of
L.. 1t,x .tr, ~
! evidence that the investigators wovo
about them. Among the men he inn
plicates Is Harry Jones. now the secs
rotary Of the international Brtdge
and Structural Iron Workers assoc
citation, Jones was arrested today In
indianapolis.
Davis dynamited one structure
after another and went about his
work in a way that frightened tina
very men who directed It.
There was one thing that Davis says
he would not do. He baked al TAX
made all arrangements to blow up
the biackweIls Island bridge. he laid
down when he learned that firemen
working in the power house would
almost certainly he killed, They had
. offered him $4,000 for the job and
told him he was Chicken hearted
when he said he wouldn't do II. They
, offered him SIS, 600 If he would kill
William J. Burns the detective, or
the counsel for the National Erectors'
J. A. G. Badorf. and Walter Drew.
association. He told them he wasn't
in that kind OF business.
Was Not Treated Fairly.
Running all through the confess
sion and getting always stronger to-
ward the end Is the Implication that
, he was not treated fairly by the men
who employed him. He seems never
y n 49, t.-a fkx~A 49,
was not being paid sufficiently for his
services, but he tells what others were
getting for the same kind of work
and their price was higher than his
Following the conviction of the
forty leaders in the dynamite plot
Davis had an increasingly hard time
getting along. His employers failed
TO supply him with funds and they
made it difficult for him to get work.
on one occasion he was nearly beaten
to death in a New York saloon.
He was haunted by the suspicion
that some one was trailing him and
when he stood face TO face with the
man who had followed him he de@s
cided to tell all he knew and trust
to the mercies of the United Statea
authorities. His confession Is q res
markable document. He laid be~
fore the detectives and district at~
torney the details of every move he
made.
Robert J Foster, head OF the Fos-H
ter Industrial and Protective bureau.
of Louisville. KY. is the man who
caught Davis Foster Is the man who
planted the dictagraph in a Los Ans
geles hotel and caught Clarence Dar~A
row, counsel for the Mcnamara broth~S
ers He planted a dictagraph In the
office of President Frank NJ. Ryan
and sent him to Jail Hs
From Place to Place.
= y7y~~--
tors association. went from place to-
place in his pursuit of Davis. In
Pittsburg he got Davis to come to his
room in the Fort Pitt hotel. That wa
on September 10th. He told Davis
that he knew great many thinEa
Then Davis admitted his identity, ana
the next morning they started Ton
New York. Foster got into c0r1~
munication with United States Dis
trict Attorney Charles w. Miller. M
Indianapolis. The district attornays
Foster and Davis met at the Hoee&s
Aberdeen. There they worked d.
and night on the confession.
Marshal Henkel received word th3M3
morning TO come TO room 1915 at th4yS
Hotel Breslin He went there AnMs
,, placed Davis under arrest
The prisoner was immediately aMAa
J raigned before United States ComntMs&
sioner Shields, and held In &iOs0NM
bail. Ie was willing to go 70 IASs
dianapolis immediately and left Co.
that city accompanied by Depnt39
: Marshal Joseph Knumb. They Wt a
/ arrive in indianapolis tom0rr6S
: morning. ssssHs
Davis. in his confession. says thax Na
did his first dynamiting In TremecMS
ron December "a. 1907, he blew M
the bridge ever the Newark hF9A
OF the Erie railroad. II HArri6cnS
|, n NJ Avs Webh told him fhx& W8l
lmar9 had cent 5000 % locat