The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-11-28
F|NKS IN
PLOT TO MURDER
JOLIET STRIKER
Three Arrested for a
Conspiracy to Kill
BY A Worker Correspondent

Dy - WoTkcr correspondent
Three private detectives, alleged to
be operatives Of the notorious strike
breaking Burns agency, were arrested
yesterday on warrants charging them
with conspiracy to murder Attic de la
plaza, striking member Of Ma
ehinists' Union Local 1874, Of Joliet,
III. Their names are Daniel Bottee, A.
r. Lopez and n. L. Hendricks.
The case arose over a strike by
garage workers in Joliet, and a swarm
of finks Immediately descended on the
little city with well planned scheme
Of the agent provocateur type so GUS
tomary to the Burns agency.
protection"
Windows were broken in some gar
ages and the Winston Motor company
was bombed. When apprehended by
the Joliet police Bottee admitted that
the National Automotive Protective
association of st. Louis was paying
the bill. The association now knows
what sort of protection" the Burns
agency deals in.
Machinists' Union members, strik-
ing against the five scab firms, the
Buick, Hudson, Essex, Studebaker and
Dodge companies, and supported by
the important Garments Local 1872, had
already won agreements with seven
teen local garages.
On a Mission.
The Burns men came to town to
break up the strike and crush the
union. Some of them inveigled them
selves into an acquaintance with De
la Piazza, a striker. Bottee was the
chief friend" in this case. Bottee
fixed it up so that on certain night,
he and De Lapiazza would sit up till
midnight playing cards.
At midnight, Bottee persuaded De
la Piazza to accompany him to a near
by restaurant for lunch. In the
meantime the fink Hendricks and his
equally inky companion, A. R. Lo-
pei, went to Joliet police headquar-
tiers and told the cops that they had
information" that bomb was to be
placed in the passageway between the
Studebaker and Buick garages.
Ready to Kill.
The police sent three men, Captain
McCraney and Detectives Lehner and
Talkie. The two Informed" finks,
Hendricks and Lopez, were Joined by
two more of the Burns skunks, ]. A.
Wise and ]. ]. Garvey. All seven
waited in ambush across the street
from the garage passageway.
The chief fink, Bottee, took care
when he and De la Piazza went out for
lunch, to take the sidewalk along the
front of the two garages and by the
passageway. Bottee had a bomb"
made of rags. When the two neared
the passageway, Bottee lit a match
and set the bomb" afire. tossing II
into the passageway.
Shot Down Striker.
At once the three police and four
Burns finks rushed across the street
to capture the bomb" throwers. De
- @NNNNt cumming a AOlQuU gang WAS
attacking him and his companion, ran
north on Scott street with both the
police and the Burns finks shooting
at him. He finally collapsed after
being shot thru both legs and the
police captured" him. He is still re-
covering in the st. Joseph's hospital.
But the police became a little indig-
nant when the bomb" was found to
be fake, and questioning the finks
ELECTED the information of the con-
spiracy which nearly caused the death
OF the innocent striker they had
plotted to have shot as a means OF
discrediting the strike. The present
arrest of three of the Burns operatives
is the result. Joliet labor unions and
particularly the machinists. are
watching the case with interest and
mean to see that the finks do not get
away with their usual dismissal by
secret influence on the prosecuting Of
fipiaIo