On 1st
October, 1910, a bomb exploded by the side of the Los
Angeles Times building. The blast weakened the second floor
and it came down on the office workers below. Fire erupted and spread
quickly through the three-story building. By the time the fire brigade
had put out the fire, twenty-one of the people working for the newspaper
had died and several more were seriously wounded.
Another bomb exploded in the home of Harrison Gary Otis, the owner
of the Los Angeles Times, and
a third bomb was found at the home of the secretary of the Merchants
and Manufacturers Association. The police assumed that all three bombs
were the work of one group. The third bomb was made safe and the police
were able to trace the dynamite to James B. McNamara, of the Typographical
Union, and the brother of Joseph J. McNamara, the secretary-treasurer
of the International Union of Bridge and Structural Workers.
The two brothers were arrested and charged with murdering the twenty-one
workers at the Los Angeles Times.
Some believed that it was another attempt to damage the reputation
of the emerging trade union movement. Charles
Darrow, who had successfully defended, William
Hayward, the leader of the Industrial Workers
of the World (IWW), when he had been falsely charged with the
murder of Frank R. Steunenberg, in
1906, was employed by Samuel Grompers,
head of the American Federation of Labor,
to defend the McNamara brothers.
Although many trade unionists believed
the brothers had been framed, Charles Darrow
discovered that the police had a considerable amount of evidence against
the men. Darrow became convinced that the men would be found guilty
and would probably be executed. After much discussion, the brothers
agreed to admit their guilt in exchange for a prison sentence. The
judge agreed and James B. McNamara was sentenced to life in prison.
His brother, Joseph J. McNamara, who could not be directly linked
to the Los Angeles bombing, received a 15 year sentence.
(1)
Clarence Darrow, The Story of My Life (1932)
The one reason that made me most anxious to save their lives was my
belief that there was never any intention to kill any one. The
Times building was not blown up; it was burned down by a fire
started by an explosion of dynamite, which was put in the alley that
led to the building. In the statement that was made by J. B. McNamara,
at the demand of the State's attorney before the plea was entered,
he said that he had placed a package containing dynamite in the alley,
arranged the contraption for explosion, and went away. This was done
to scare the employees of The Times and others working in non-union
shops. Unfortunately, the dynamite was deposited near some barrels
standing in the alley that happened to contain ink, which was immediately
converted into vapor by the explosion, and was scattered through the
building, carrying the fire in every direction.
(2)
The journalist Lincoln Steffens visited
the McNamara brothers in prison during their trial.
I spoke to Darrow, who gave me permission to see his clients, and
that afternoon, when court adjourned, I called on them at the jail.
There were J. B. McNamara, who was charged with actually placing and
setting off the dynamite in Ink Alley that blew up part of the Times
building and set fire to the rest, bringing about the death of twenty-one
employees, and J. J. McNamara, J. B.'s brother, who was indicted on
some twenty counts for assisting at explosions as secretary of the
Structural Iron Workers' Union, directing the actual dynamiters.
He was supposed in labor circles to be the commanding man, the boss;
he looked it; a tall, strong, blond, he was a handsome figure of health
and personal power. But his brother, Jim, who looked sick and weak,
soon appeared as the man of decision. I had never met them before,
but when they came out of their cells they greeted and sat down beside
me as if I were an old friend.
Last
updated: 1st August, 2002
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