DYNAMITE OUTRAGES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 107, 13 January 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

DYNAMITE OUTRAGES.

LABOR METHODS IN AMERICA. San Francisco, December 13. Without any doubt, the most stunning blow that the cause of organised labor in the United States ever received was the confession by the brothers John J. and James B. McNamara, union leaders, of complicity in dynamiting outrages. The confession of the last-named involved a plea of guilty to the charge of murder upon which he was being tried in Los Angeles, the accused man admitting that he had placed 16 sticks of 80 per cent, dynamite under the building of the Los Angeles Times on the night of September 10, 1910, thus occasioning the death of twenty-one employees of the newspaper. For this atrocious crime he received a sentence of life imprisonment, the death penalty having been remitted in consideration of his having pleaded guilty and saved the county of Los Angeles, in the opinion of the district attorney, the sum of £200,000, the estimated cost of the trial. The other brother, John J., who was secretarytreasurer of the International Structural Ironworkers' Union, pleaded guilty of the destruction of the Llewellyn Ironworks by dynamite, in which no life was lost, and received 15 years' imprisonment. It is known, however, that he was privy to the Times outrage, but in the opinion of the prosecuting officers there was not sufficiently strong proof upon which to 1 convict him of murder.

The unions of the United States, and many of Canada also, had unreservedly identified themselves with the cause of the accused men. In resolutions denouncing the "capitalist-controlled judiciary" and by pouring out unstintedly from their funds for the purposes of defence in the trial, the labor organisations of America pronounced a verdict of "not guilty" in advance of the trial. They declared that Detective Burns, acting for the employers' organisations, had "framed up" bogus evidence fox the purpose of bringing about the conviction of the two McNamaras. Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, made what amounted in effect to this charge. Just to the extent which the unions insisted upon prejudicing the case they are now suffering. And all over the country their suffering was expressed in one loud howl for blood. Labor leader after labor leader demanded, immediately after the confessions were made, that the McNamaras be hanged. Gompers, in tears, complained that his credulity had been imposed on. On the other hand, Detective Burns asserts that during the months while Gompers has been urging unionists to contribute to the defence fund he has known of the guilt of the dynamitards, but there is no evidence that this is true. Gompers has always opposed violent methods.

Whether the union labor cause will be seriously weakened by the astounding end of the Los Angeles trial, or whether by eliminating lawless methods it will recover its power, depends upon the outcome of the investigations now being made by the authorities of the Federal Government. Thus far, there is little but assertion to support the theory that the McNamaras acted with the connivance and in accordance with the decisions of a powerful inner ring of unionists. A grand jury investigation is now being conducted by the Federal Government with the object of pushing responsibility beyond the McNamaras, if that be possible, and already there are rumors that this this and that Labor leader has disappeared from his usual haunts; among the suspected men are several prominent in San Francisco union ranks. The McNamaras having already been sentenced, it does not appear likely that much assistance will be forthcoming from them, although the Federal prosecuting officers say that Ortie McManigal, the dynamiter whose confession'- brought about the arrest of the McNamaras, has furnished them with sufficient information to implicate others. The only confession so far made public is the following, written in the hand of the murderer:—

"I, James B. McNamara, defendant in the case of the people, having heretofore pleaded guilty of the crime of murder, desire to make this statement of facts, and this is the truth: On the night of September 30, 1910, at 5,45 p.m., I placed in Ink-alley, a portion of the Times building a suit case containing seven sticks of 80 per cent, dynamite, set to explode at 1 o'clock the next morning. It was my intention to injure the building and scare the owner. I did not intend to take the life of anyone. I sincerely regret that these unfortunate men lost their lives. If the giving back of my life would bring them back I would gladly give it. In fact, in pleading guilty to murder in the first degree I have placed my life in the hands of the States.— James B. McNamara."

This confession was read in Court on the day on which the dynamitards were sentenced. Judge Bordwell told James B. McNamara that the widows and orphans of the murdered men would look upon his assertion that he did not intend to destroy life as mockery, that he must have been a murderer at heart, and that he well deserved the maximum penalty prescribed by law; and the judge added that the only reason he did not pass the death penalty was "because it appears to the Court the part of wisdom to do otherwise."

The Court had been engaged eight weeks in endeavoring to secure a jury when the plea of guilty, as unexpected from the outside world as it was sensational, halted the trial. Startling as was the denouement to the general publice, negotiations had been in progress between the District Attorney and the lawyers for the defence for several weeks. Lincoln Steffens, a magazine writer, interested himself in the matter, and induced several prominent employers to represent to the District Attorney that in the cause of industrial peace he should accept a plea of guilty and urge the Court not to impose the extreme penalty. This the prosecuting officer agreed to do, insisting at the same time that John J. McNamara should also plead guilty. James B. McNamara, however, said he would rather go to the gallows than that his brother should suffer, and there was a hitch. Finally, it was agreed that John J. should plead guilty of dynamiting, but not murder, and with this understanding the trial came to an end.

Clarence Darrow, the principal attorney for the defence, admits that he and his associates knew during all the weeks of the empanelling of jurors that their clients were guilty; he admits, further, that he was urging the unions to contribute to the defence fund. "I have known for months that our fight was hopeless," said Darrow. "But a lawyer's business is to save life." He said that the evidence which the prosecution had assembled against the dynamitards was absolutely convincing. Just what brought the matter to a head on December 1, the day of the confession, it is not easy to say. It might have been the fact that revelations of jury-bribing on behalf of the accused men were being made; or, as some people say, J. B. McNamara's life was spared as the price of a confession calculated to defeat the Socialist candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles. That candidate was Job Harriman, who was one of the attorneys for the accused men. In the primary election Harriman had run exceedingly well, and there was fear he would be successful at the polls on December 5. Whatever the fact be, the confession absolutely destroyed his chances. He was de-

feated by 40,000 votes on the very day his clients were sentenced.

The desperation of the murderers is shown by the fact that it has since transpired that every accepted juror was approached and offered a bribe to vote for acquittal. Bert Harrington, a detective employed by the defence, has been arrested on a charge of bribery. Darrow and the other lawyers say they had nothing to do with the bribery, although Darrow had the handling of the immense fund contributed by the unions. The wife of a juror, both of them elderly people, told of an emissary of the defence coming to her and offering her £BOO if her husband would favor the defendants. This man told her that the other side were buying jurors, and that it was necessary for the McNamaras to do likewise, even though they were innocent.

Detective Burns is still actively investigating the dynamiting outrages, and asserts that the ringleaders will shortly be arrested. That the Ironworkers' Union knew that the McNamaras and McManigal were destroying non-union plants all over the country by dynamite is the assertion of Burns. In support of this he says he has the union books, which show that a fund of £2OO a month was voted to John J. McNam&ra to be expending by him without accounting to anybody. According to McManigal's confession, he was employed by McNamara to blow up bridges and other structures built by non-union labor in various States. He was paid a fee for each job, but was never permitted to collect the fee until he could show McNam'ara a newspaper clipping giving an account of the explosion. McManigal's wife, who attempted to induce him to disavow his confession, used to watch the papers to get the clippings and forward them to McNamara. She remained loyal to the McNamaras to the last, and is now suing for a divorce. It is supposed McManigal will be let off with a nominal sentence in view of his assistance to the prosecution from the first.