The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1914-06-25
PAGE TEN
William j. Burns, ssThe Great
Detective.

roll. the STanQeSC rascal ana the most COM
prehensive criminal that ever foisted himself
upon the credulous as "The Great Detective"
The truth is, Burns is no detective at all.
He is a man who does, on large scale, what
the individual thug does on small one: he
commits crime in behalf of rich criminals.
He hires himself and his gangs to the Big
Money w-breakers, who either want to
unload their own crimes upon the innocent,
or who want to crush the laboring classes in
their efforts to obtain fair wage and humane
treatment.
Burns is a Knight Of Columbus; and he
is quite good enough for that organization of
papists whose 4th degree oath makes them
traitors to our Government, and whose rifles,
stored IN the underground vae1ts Of churches,
keeps them prepared for treason.
Let me quote what others say about the
eminent Knight of Columbus, William j.
Burns.
The Milwaukee Le0dcr, arraigns the infa-
NOUS scoundrel in these terms:
The king of American gunner, the chief, of
the tribe of sneaks, who, by succession of press
agent stunts that rival those of his friend ROose-
Velt has risen to national notoriety seems to be
getting little publicity that he does not like.
When he first burst through the front pages
of the capitalist press, and was deuging the
magazines with eulogstic articles written by his
agents. the Socialist and labor press called atten-
ton to the fact that documents published by the
National government showed him to have been
guilty of fabricating evidence, bribing witnesses
and half dozen other crimes which should have
put him behind bars.
But Burns given the credit for landing
number of labor leaders and that expiated all
other sins.
Then came the case of the California hop-pick-
ers, where Burns tortured witnesses, bribed and
intimidated and assaulted those whom he wished
to get rid Of, and then permitted to send his
into court to exploit their crimes for the
purpose of sending workingmen to prison
So long Burns confined his work to labOrerS
he was able to 'get away with it." When he
interfered in the Frank case where the class
lines not drawn, he was promptly called to
time Although the actions of the Burns men in
the Frank case were mild in comparison with
their reckless disregard of law and decency in the
they conducted against labor yet because
laborers were not the victims, some of his
went to jail, Burns himself barely escaped from
Imprisonment and was mobbed by an angry
crowd.
Now the International Association of Police
Chiefs, whether moved by professional jealousy
or a fine sense of honor, it would be difficult to
say, are threatening to pull the lid off Burns
operations and disvoW him.
Yet this is today at the head of a private
army of desperate cutthroats, thugs and criminals,
every one Of whom is armed and licensed to prey
society and especially on the working class.
These most deprayed elements OF our society are
given an opportunity to crafty their debauched
instincts under the cover of legal authority and
in the name of law and order.
These men are Sneaking about in every union
hall. They fomenting trouble inside the
Socialist movement. They the chief agents
of violence in every strike. And while they
paid and equipped for this service by the exploit
ing class, they backed by the authority of the
State and hide behind it's shelter when committing
crime
The San Francisco T0a0n Tazh publishes
an editorial on Burns, from which we quote
a few lines:
Our daily papers have been denying their read
ers news Of great local interest that comes from