WHOLESALE MURDER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 327, 14 June 1911, Page 7

WHOLESALE MURDER.

AMEHICAM JjAMUR LEADERS ACCUSED.

THE LOS ANGELES OUTRAGE. j

Could any man be so base that he would plot for months to bring punishment upon innocent men for the loss of scores of human lives (says the San Francisco correspondent of the Wellington Post). Could the evidence against the men accused of blowing up the Los Angeles Times plant and perpetrating numerous other dynamite outrages have been de-; liberately concocted by William J. Burns, the detective, for tlie sake of the rich re-1 ward placed on the heads of the guilty men or for other motive? However unlikely that theory may appear at a glance, it appears to have been accepted by the defence. Labor union men have more than hinted that the plants of dynamite discovered by Burns in places that would indicate the guilt of j the accused men were planted by Burns' himself or his confederates, and that Ortie Mllanigal, who is reported to have confessed and to have implicated the other prisoners is acting as an accomplice of the detective.

The story of the arrest of John J. M'Namara, secretary of the International Association of Structural Iron Workers, his brother James W. M'Namara, and another labor unionist named Ortie : M'ManigaJ, stirred the whole country recently. The arrest caricd with it the accusation that union men had been waging. a widespread campaign of terrorism against hostile employers throughout the United States. A repetition of tlie exciting scenes of the trial of Meyer, Heywood, and Pcttibone, officials of the Western Miners' Federation, for the murder of former Governor Steunenbery, of Idaho, was foreseen. But the crimes charged against the M'Namaras are more heinous by far than the murders once attributed to the Western miners. A despatcli from Chicago states that the prisoners are suspected of outrages that brought death to 112 persons, and destroyed property worth over £700,000. The Los Angeles Times explosion alone killed 21 men, and occasioned a loss of £ 100,000. In addition the following crimes of destruction have been charged against the men by Detective Burns, according to a published report:—

The destruction of a car dump of tho Susquehannah Coal Company at Erie Penn.

Two,dynamite explosions at the new plant of tlie Iroquois Iron Company, in South Chicago.

The blowing up of a big viaduct on the M'Kinley traction system. The wrecking of the unloading bridge of the Milwaukee Western Field Compary. Two dynamite explosions at property of the Caldwell and brake Iron Works at Columbus, Ind. The damaging of an ore-convcvor on the Erie railroad right-of-way at North Randall. Ohio. The destruction of Streeter's viaduct at South liecd.

The blowing up ot the tower of the municipal building at Springfield, Mass. All these explosions have occurred since the beginning of the present year.

The man who claims to have solved the riddle of the Wholesale crimes is Wiliam J. Burns, the detective who worked on the side of the prosecutors in the famous San Francisco graft cases. The Los Angeles dynamiting case was placed directly in his hands by the city authorities. in nn interview, Burns is reported to have told the following story of his pursuit oi the dynamiters:— •'After working a long time on the Peoria, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and American Bridge Company cases, it came to me suddenly that all of these crimes were part of a labor union war against certain linns in the structural iron business. The establishing of surprising coincidences in the kind of nitro-glycerine and dynamite used, the similarity of the clocks, the copper wire, and other apparatus furnished additional clues. Then scores of my men shadowed the labor union suspects day and flight for months in succession—allowing tliem, it is, true, to go their ivay even when they saw them with cases and packages of dynamite in their possession, because they wanted to get still more damaging evidence." The detective gave an account of the evidence he had collected. By handwritings in hotel registers, he said he would prove that the accused men were in certain cities at the times when the explosions occurred, lie would call witnesses to prove that the prisoners were near the scene of some of these explosions. He would produce the clocks and other apparatus used to show the similarity of the machines used. Burns did not claim the confession of M'Maniga.l as part of his evidence. But it is generally admitted now, even by union olFicials, that this prisoner did make a statement accusing himself and .T. W. M'Namara as principal, and John J. M'Namara, as accessory, to several outrages. The details ot' the confession, are unknown. Even without M'Manigal's statement, however. Burns hopes to trace the crimes directly to the headquarters of the ironworkers' union, first by means of the dynamite plants which lie claims to have found, and, secondly, by the entries of blank payments in the cash book of the union. The union officials will be asked to account for these expenditures. Unionists have pledged large funds for the defence of the M'Xamaras. They are determined to get the best legal talent, and it is probable that Clarence Dnrrow, the lawyer who secured the acquittal of Moyer, ITeywood, and Pettibone, will be with them.

The unions have already won a preliminary victory. They have had Tiurns and sonic of the officials who aided him arrested for Kidnapping tlx' M'Namaras, instead of arresting them illegally. He hud had the men rushed across the country in automobiles, apparently to escape (he possibility o? interference Vy their friends.

When the ca«e comes ui> to trial the unions, it is believed, will base their defence on a plea almost, identical with that used in tlie Western Miners' .case.

They will claim that 'M'Manipal is the counterpart of TTarrv Orchard, who con-

fessed perpetrating numerous crimes of violence, and accused the officials of the Miners' Federation of iimtinatimr him. They will attempt to prove, it is said, tint M'ManiL'al lias had relations willi the Hums detective airenev which will impeach' bis confession. Then they will attach the genuineness of the dynamite plants that Burns claims to have discovered. And, furthermore, Fhey will see"; to undermine the whole ease of tile prosecution by brinaiui; evidence that the explosion at the Los Angeles ''Times' 1 plant was caused by <r,is, not dvnamite.