THE LABOUR DYNAMITERS OF THE UNITED STATES.*
THE series of dynamite outrages by accredited representatives of Trade Unions in the United States—outrages which caused the death of at least a hundred persons—are the most startling episodes in the whole struggle between Capital and Labour. For five years, from 1905 to 1910, the outrages con- tinued, the most serious of them being the culminating one— the wrecking of the office of the Los Angeles Times, when twenty-one persous were killed. The criminals were run to earth by Mr. W. J. Burns, the head of a private detective agency, who from the first had believed that the outrages were engineered by Labour leaders. It is probable that the vast majority of American working men, including the members belonging to the Union of the International Bridge and Structural Iron Workers, were ignorant that the crimes were committed in their cause and in their name by members of the Iron Workers' Union. When Mr. Barns had amassed enough evidence for the dynamitere to be arrested there was a great outcry all over the United States that innocent men had been kidnapped through the machinations of capitalists; huge demonstrations were organized and working men subscribed money freely in order that their leaders might be adequately defended and delivered from their martyrdom. Fortunately Mr. Burns had drawn the net so tight that the infamous MeNamaras recognized the hopelessness of their plight and pleaded guilty. The feet that they did so is in a sense the pretext for this book, in which Mr. Burns describes in detail how he tracked the criminals down; for, owing to the plea of guilt, little evidence was laid before the Court. Mr. Burns, while supplying the omission, has incidentally written a fine advertisement for his agency.
Mr. Burns, we gather, has a contempt for lawyers who meddle with detective work which is not their business. The contempt is natural, and is probably justified in the circum- stances; but though Mr. Burns resented the proposal that a lawyer should co-operate with him in the task of discovering the dynamiters, we cannot help wishing that a lawyer bad co-operated with him in the task of writing this book. The main thread of interest is often lost in the details of the reports forwarded by his "operatives," who followed the trail of suspected persons. A good criminal lawyer, who bad been briefed at the moment when Mr. Burns's work was finished, might have unfolded a story of fascinating power. Even as it is, the narrative is captivating enough, and the book is a valuable document of the methods of modern detective work. Mr. Burns bolds firmly to the comforting doctrine that a criminal always leaves a track. The " track " which gave him a means of identification after the explosion at Peoria was a little sawdust. Other rather vague clues took him to a plate two hundred miles away where he suspected that the dynamite used for the Peoria explosion had been bought. There he discovered sawdust of exactly the same wood and having the same coarseness as the sawdust which had been found at the scene of the explosion. When the Los Angeles • The Masked War. By William J. Bums. London Hodder and Stoughton. p. ed. net] Times explosion occurred Mr. Burns already bad certain men under very close observation, and if the Peoria and Los Angeles crimes could be traced to the same authorship his belief in a great conspiracy directed from the headquarters of Labour would be enormously strengthened. He told himself that at least his agency bad a fair field, for be thought that the State police would never desire to ferret out a Labour conspiracy, even if they were confident that one existed, because police work was too intimately tied up with politics. If this belief was justified in anything like the form in which Mr. Burns states it, it is the most damaging fact against the police of certain American States that could possibly be adduced. After the Los Angeles explosion Mr. Burns was himself shadowed by rival detectives, some of them represent- ing the political party whom Mr. Burns incidentally injured whenever he attacked Labour, and others representing the criminals themselves. In this diamond-cutting game, however, Mr. Burns was always much the sharper stone.
In the course of the pursuit Mr. Burns and his" operatives" made the acquaintance of what is called the Home Colony at Tacoma, Washington
"Home Colony is the neat of Anarchy in the United States. There are about 1,200 of them living there without any regard for a single decent thing in life. They exist in a state of free love, are notoriously unfaithful to the mates thus chosen, and are so crooked that even in this class of rogues there does not seem to be any hint of honour. The Colony did have a post office, but when McKinley was assassinated the people of this community gave n. celebration of the event ending in a debauch. The Government took the post office away from them. They do share, however, in the rural free delivery, but the ordinary business of Anarchists is of such a nature that before depositing or receiving a letter, as we later found out, all kinds of precautions were taken to prevent an outsider getting hold of any communication?'
The political opponents of Mr. Burns at Los Angeles were powerful enough to undermine the confidence placed in him by his employers, and at a critical stage his employers com- plained that the results of his work were unsatisfactory, and cut off funds. From this time he financed the work himself. He, in fact, made a large and wise speculation. He ardently believed in his theory, and he knew that if he were successful in establishing its truth his money would be returned to him a hundredfold. Apart from the stoppage of funds, there were the delays incidental to all detective work when the shadowed persons became suspicions. Mr. Burns, we learn, makes it an absolute rule for his "operatives" that, when a suspected person shows any trace of consciousness that he is being followed, the pursuit shall cease for the time being, however promising the clue may be at the moment.
By far the most delicate and dangerous piece of work done by Mr. Burns's " operatives " was when some of them dis- guised themselves as hunters and joined in a bunting expedition with their human quarry in Wisconsin Woods. In this way they "roped" (i.e., won the confidence of) McManigal, who afterwards turned State evidence, and I. B. McNamara. "The bunch of men my operatives were tailing," says Mr. Burns, "could stand off in the road and roll a tomato can along with the bullets from their guns." There is an entertaining account of how an operative " Woke photograph of J. B. McNaniara. The latter was evidently very shy of having his photograph taken, and when his excuses might themselves have looked suspicious if be bad pressed them farther; he was careful to see that the camera was set for a time exposure. A group of persons was then arranged, and J. B. McNamara moved his head so as to blur the picture. The "operative," however, who appeared to be taking a time exposure, bad moved the lever back to "Instantaneous," and he therefore got a snapshot.
The prime intellect in the conspiraoy of terrorism and massacre was .3. J. McNamara, J. B. McNamara's elder brother. These desperate men were unlike the type of "bad, men" who used to shoot at sight for robbery, and of whom Billy the Kid was one of the most notorious types. The hfcNamaras had had a good education, and physically were not at all men of power and endurance. Mr. Burns says that J. B. McNamara was naturally weak and tubercular, and he weakened himself still more by dissipation. The description reminds one rather of some of the French motor bandits. J. B. McNamara, who was the actual perpetrator of the Los Angeles explosion, was sentenced to imprisonment for life. J. J. McNamara was sentenced to fifteen years'. Two other
proved dynamiters were never caught, and Mr. Burns still receives threats purporting to come from them, which may or may not be genuine.
Previous page
