DYNAMITE OUTRAGES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 173, 20 January 1912, Page 4

DYNAMITE OUTRAGES.

MORE DYNAMITARDS. DETECTIVE SAYS JOB NOT YET ' FINISHED. "Every person who was responsible directly or indirectly for the dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times building, in which twenty-one men lost their lives ,will be brought to justice. I am not' going to mention the names of the persons whom we are after, but the grand jury in Los Angeles has returned twenty 'John Doe' indictments, and these can apply <to any of the persons now being fought." William J, Burns, head of the Burns National Detective Agency, made that statement when asked if. Jic were after "the men higher up." : . "Of course it would not. be wise for me to tell who these men are,", he said, "but I will mention the names of two persons who aided James B. McNamara in the blowing up of the Times Wilding. They are David Kaplan, a red-hot anarchist, and M. A. Schmidt, alias Schmity. These two men lived together in Chicago and plotted in the city the blowing, up of the Los Angeles Times building. "Kaplan and Schmidt went with the McNamaras to" Los AngeJ'es. They assisted James B. McNamara, who went under the name of Brice, in the placing of the dynamite. There are other men in the plot. Some have gone to Europe and others are hiding in the United States. ; The confessions of the McNamara brothers will not prevent further arrests. The McNamaras know tue men for whom we are searching. They have made no written or verbal confession, merely pleading guilty in Court, and therefore have not mentioned the names of the persons implicated with them. But whether they give the names or not, I know, who the fugitives are, and the McNamaras know that I know. "I knew all along that the defendants had no avenue of escape. I told this to Clarence S. Darrow, their counsel. Attempts were made to frame up alibis for the McNamaras. We blocked their game, and then when they that wo had obtained a confession from Fred. Erchoff, of Cincinatti, who would have been one of the most important witnesses against the McNamaras, the lawyers realised that their plan of defence had been crushed and it was better to have their clients confess. "I cannot say what the testimony of ErchoflE would have been. It is sufficient to say that a conviction would have been secured. The evidence was so overwhelming that even a fixed juror could not have held out. „ ; , "Saippel Gonipers, president oi ,the American Federation of Labor, now denies that he said that the case worked up by me was a 'frame-up,' and that I personally placed the dynamite in the various places and charged that the McNamaras placed the explosives. . I want to say that Gompers made his statements in speeches before labor organisations all over the United States. "I was hired by the Mayor of Los Angeles to find the persons responsible for the dynamiting of the Times building, and I found them. "The confession of the McNamaras means a great deal to the honest union men of this country. I can say safely that nine-tenths of the union men were anxious that I sift this matter to the bottom. Since the arrest of the McNamaras not one dynamiting has be»!n traced to the Structural Iron Workers' Union. "I knew that the McNamaras were guilty, so did many other persons, and I felt that I would have no trouble in proving their guilt. "The confessions of the McNamaras are a great object lesson to the labor world. It impresses on the minds of union men that the taking of human l'fo is more than a mere incident."