Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-07-22
TWO RED CATCHERs-By Frederic j. Haskn

<~%HICAGO,, Ill, July 17.-~There are two
men in Chicago who probably know
~ more about anarchy than most anar-
| chists They are as familiar with the famed
and dreaded Reds" you are with your
neighbors. They know Redness in all it's
shades and varieties, from pale-pinll intel
| lectuGl kind that flourshes in the rarefed
atmosphere of the Dill Pickle Club to the
scarlet madness of the half-demented bomb
plotters.
These two men are Detective Sergeants
Charles Egan and l.. l.. McDonough. They
are the only men on the Chicago police force
who devote all of their time to enforcing the
espionage law and detecting bomb plots.
Their business is to haunt the gathering places
! of radicals and to ferret out those individuals
who preach or practice the overthrow of gov
eminent by violence. When radical meet
| ing is scheduled to take place, these men
know where it is to be, who are the appointed
| speakers and about what the speakers will
| say. If radical leader whom they consider
dangerous comes to Chicago, they meet him
at the train and watch him until he leaves
again. Sometimes he leaves at their sugges-
ton. When Emma Goldman came to Chi
cago they accompanied her to the hotel, al
though she didn't know it, and they also
searched her baggage without mentioning the
fact to her. They we're the leaders and
planners of the raid on I. w. w. headquar-
tiers which took place in Chicago not long ago
up against you must know that Chicago is
something of a national center for various
| radical organizations. This is not because
Chicago is any more hosptable to the Reds
than any other city, but solely because it
| is centrally located and the chief inland me-
tropolis. The Reds would congregate in Chi
cago if they could. That they do not is due
largely to the persistent and invisible activ-
| tiles of these two men.
| Egan and McDonough present an interest
| ing contrast. Egan is a typical Irish police
sergeant, keen, energetic and afraid of moth
| ing. He is young, boyish-looking chap and
seems to get lot of fun out or hunting Reds
He carries two automatics and a billy and
he regards the latter as an especially effective
| argument in converting a radical into a con-
sentative, He knows all about radicals and
| little about radicalism. The Reds to him are
| simply obstacles in the path of law and order
| which he has been appointed to remove, and
| he proceeds to remove them with dispas-
| 5Onate thOrOughness.
| very different man is McDonough He
| mas been devoting all his time to the Reds
for about two years, and has had career
that would make a good book. Before he
| became member of the police force in Chi
cago he was in the navy for six years. and
| spent large part of his leisure reading
He is an Notwithstanding young man with
| a corrugated brow, an eagle nose and deep
set, thoughtful eyes He is perhaps the only
QSCSCLlN0 III ALu6flCd VINO wears a DIaCk
| flowing, bow necktie, such as poets and ar
! lists are prone to affect. His conversation
| bristles with long words, and occasionally
| expands into an Impressive generalization. He
not only knows the radicals but he also
knows their creeds, for he has read all their
| books and pamphlets and listened to their
| speeches. .r
The fact that he looks and talks like a
| radical has made McDonough invaluable to
| the Chicago police department. In order to
enforce the espionage law it was absolutely
necessary to find out all about the various
radical groups in Chicago, and McDonough
was assigned to that task
Posing as radical and an agitator, he
gained the confidence of the radical leaders to
such an extent that he was made secretary
| OF Branch IS offs the Industrial Workers of
the World. He learned how to make a rad
1cal speech and how to write radical Iitera-
ture. There is probably not another police
man IN the United States who has stirred
| crowd to applause with eloquent denuncia-
! tions of the existing social and political order
| These two men make a fine team Their
respective abilities are Complementary Nc